"If I where to define major events involved with crafting a distilled alcohol I would say they are:

*Preparation
*Fermentation
*Distillation
*Constipation (just kidding)

Depending on the type wash, yeast and conditions, fermentation time can vary.

For a basic neutral spirit

• 10 pounds of sugar dissolved in 25L (~5 gallons) of water
  
• Package of Turbo yeast (24 or 48 hour type)
  

Fermentation can take about a week before it clears. It pays to wait longer then you think so all the yeast clears up. It's generally good to take everything slow.

Distillation I find varies until you learn your equipment. I can usually collect a little over half a gallon of ~90+% distillate from a 25L wash /w reflux in about an afternoon and finish the process out in about 10 hours. Not sure if that's typical for everyone else but that's my experience.

After you have the good stuff collected, it's up to you how you want to flavor and age it. I've made a nice amaretto / Disarono clone, mango / coconut maceration and a very basic gin so far. The flavors for each of these take about a week to really mature. I plan to do run of rum soon and toss it in a charred oak barrel for a month.

Cutting what you collect with water (minus the heads and tails), you should be able to drink it right away but if you wait at least a week after you mix it, the taste will be allot nicer. Some things you will want to age longer depending on what you're making and what you're trying to achieve. Read these forums some more and you should get a better idea of what to expect.

This is also a good site for learning about distilling:
http://www.homedistiller.org"