Somebody please help me!
I keep reading that I need to get the meth out of my joy juice. I normally use Prestige Vodka Yeast from Brewhaus, but on occasion, I would like to make a grain based whiskey or perhaps a fruit based brandy. My question is, If I leave the mash/wash/beer ,whatever, on the yeast for a couple of weesk to let the yeast work until the little buggers die from too high alcohol level, am I really making more meth than ethyl? I read an article by Jessie Dukes ,Master bootlegger?, that this is the case! I guess I don't understand what is happening here, I mean, When one distills alcohol, doesn't all the meth come of before the temp reaches 175F? ,Sorry you blokes what don't fancy USA measurements, but I'm just as lost with metric!, So if I let my grain or fruit based wash sit for a longer time, why wouldn't I get the same amount of meth/ethyl as any other ferment and separate by temp? I'm sorry if I am ploughing over old ground, but Mr. Dukes was very emphatic in this matter.

PS a side note for Tony Ackland, how can I reach you by e-mail? I have tried using the address you provided in this forum, but I keep getting the message 'unknown user' Did you change addresses?
Thanks, Spirit Maker

If you leave the wash to sit on the yeast ,lees in the wine world, you are not producing methanol. Many wines are purposefully left 'Sur Lie' ,french term, to add flavor and complexity. Some wines from the Loire ,Sancerre for example, and Champagnes are noted for this.

Sherry wine from Jerez Spain is noted for the flor yeast that may cover the wine for years.

In the beer world many famous non pasturized beers still have active yeast in the bottle. It can be like drinking bread. I like it myself.

I have let a batch of turbo yeast fermented sugar wash sit for several months with no ill effect. Granted it was in a cool place. You don't want to let things get to warm or the yeast will autolyse and give off an unpleasant aroma and flavor.

This story sounds like one of those myths put out by certain Governments to discourage their citizens from making their own whisky. Like the myth that distillation makes methanol. I wouldn't worry about it.

Tommy, thanks for your reply. I have had a devil of a time trying to monitor the vapors in my tiny pot still. But didn't the old time 'moonshiners' just run their still until the product was more water than alcohol and then stop collecting? I think read this from Jessie Dukes where he said 'then you run it a second time, discarding the first 100 or so ml!' Anyhow, why can't one work with just the liquid temp, after all, it seems that the vapor concern only applies where you are using a refluf or refraction still and want to be sure that the vapor entering the condensor is really alcohol. With a pot still, you get a lot less reflux ion the first place, so why worry about the vapor temp as long as the liquid is hot enough to boil off the alcohol, but not so high as to include too much water?
I am interested in hearing fro both you and Hans,
Thanks,
Spirit Maker

tzac has pointed out where the methanol comes from. Many vintners use a pectalayse enzyme to help break down the fruit.

I have left many different fruit and grain mashes sit on the yeast and have never noticed any increase in the amount of methanol that is produced. When the heads ,foreshots, come out the smell of methanol is very distinctive.

If you were producing more methanol by letting a batch sit on the yeast then you would just collect more heads. But you are not turning ethanol into methanol by letting the batch sit. Distillation won't produce methanol either.