With a little work, you really shouldn't need to worry about the head or tail that much.GettingBetter wrote:I thought this was a fantastic solution. With the distilling process of fine spirits, the cutting of the head, heart and tail are integral to achieving a great product. While water may not be as complex a mixture that requires cutting, I immediately began wondering if an analysis of the different stages of distilled water yielded different purity for a given water source. Not that I'm suggesting anything for you, just my thinking.
Bring the water to good rolling boil for a minute or two before sealing the system. That takes care of much of the head and volatiles.
Stop your distilling process while there's still a fair bit of the water left. That takes care of the tail and probably helps a bit with the scale buildup.
Hazards of making your own still
I'm a bit concerned with too much discussion of building your own still. Someone will try to do it and end up getting a kinked hose or something and a boiler explosion. There's an amazing amount of destructive energy in an overheated, pressurized boiler. There can be both explosion risk, and risk of burns from steam.
Yes, you can avoid these risks fairly easily, but someone will do it wrong and "boom."
There are also risks from simple burns, fire, or spilling boiling water.
If you're planning on drinking the product, you need to worry about lead or other heavy metal contamination, depending on the materials used in the still.
It's also a bit more complicated if you're starting from any water source that isn't safe to drink.
