Local Brew Barons Reveal Plans to Make Every College Student His Own Distillery

American skill and ingenuity have done it again. Wherever, across this broad land, there is a challenge, men respond with their hearts and brains.

Industries throughout the nation are working day and night to turn out the tanks planes, and guns which will make this troubled world secure. University men too are engaged in a singuler, it somewhat different, endeavor.

The news that moonshiners were at work within the University shocked both professors and students last week: Only a small, far-sighted group declined to make brash assumptions of the crime and corruption. To that group, only the positive side of the situation became evident.

This group of men has triumphed. They have made their names legendary--high among the greats of science. They have carried the theory of liquid distallation to its logical extension. They have invented the pocket still.

Plans Made Public

Realizing the enormous weight of their discovery, these pioneers feared immediate government anti-trust action. They decided to loose their knowledge upon an unsuspecting world. On this page, for the first time local experts present the plans and instructions for building the pocket still, right in your own room.

Two sets of plans are included. To the right is the basic one Follow it closely and you can build a simple still in less time than it takes to build the advanced still, pictured below. A still is always a still, but the basic model must be powered by lung.

Tools are rudimentary, say Men Who Know Only a knife, a pair of blurt pliers, a pair of needle nosed pliers, a file, a hammer a drill and a set of assorted bits a pair of shears, a bench rise, a jeweler a screwdriver, and a simple soldering iron are required.

Kick the Can

The sides, top, and bottom of the basic still, with which we shall deal, are made of tin. Take any large can and jump on it soundly. If it does not squash immediately, repeat the process. When you have flattened the can, cut it into two squares, 2" x 2", and into four rectangles, 3" x 2". Take one of the squares and call it the bottom piece. Either square will do.

Again working with the tin, you must now make two boxes. The large one, containing the original mash, is found at the left, of the plans, which were adopted from the basic chemistry texts. The other, containing the moonshine, is found at the right of the plans.

Both of the boxes must fit flush with the sides of the still, say the local distillers, most of whom have gone underground. Cut the boxes from the tin can, following the plans closely. You will have to drill a large hole in the mash container, to accomodate that bottle-looking thing, which, indeed, is a bottle. A small medicine bottle, the pill kind, is supposed to make the best bottle for this still. If you haven't got a drill large enough for that size hole, drill smaller holes around and then file out. Drill, file; drill, file; drill, file . . . you'll get it eventually.

The alcohol container, on the right, necessitates two holes, one on top and one on the side. After you have finished drilling, solder the parts together to make the two boxes. One word of caution: because this still requires heat, the fuel box, at bottom left, must have hinged, closable cover. Otherwise, you will lose your pants on a windy day.

Miles of Tubing

You are now ready for the intimate construction. Materials are abundant. For example, Adams C-entry currently sports a sign which reads. "For sale Cheap; 15 ft. 3/8" copper tubing; two kettles, with covers; several packages of Brewer's Yeast; 12 lbs, sugar."

Tubing comes next, Glass tubing is preferable, although an all-rubber construction is possible. One point of clarification. The small bottle will serve as the cooling jacket for the condensed vapor emitting from the larger box to the left of the diagram on the right. If you don't understand this technicality, do not worry. Just follow the directions.

Four holes must be drilled into the bottle, one on top, one on the bottom, and two on the sides. Into these holes, attach the tubing. Heat will fuse glass to glass. Another important point: the insulation, marked on the plans with vertical lines, must not be omitted. This can be made from cork, asbestos, or any other material with insulation characteristics. Cut the insulation to correct size, drill the necessary hole to allow the tubing to pass through, and glue to the tin box with some product that claims to make anything stick.

Nearing the Climax

Passing the tubing through the box on the left, through the insulation, through the bottle, and through the box on the right, glue everything together.

You have finished most of the work. The remaining chore is to run the two longer pieces of tubing from the bottle to the tin side. This is the cooling mechanism. The longer of the two pieces of tubing runs to the water-container, which you must make or procure and carry in another pocket. Any old flask will do modified to take a small piece of copper tubing.

Rubber tubing can be used to connect the two flasks. The more ingenious will find a means of hitching this to suspenders, belt, or some other support.

The shorter piece of tubing must ultimately lead to your mouth. By inhaling experts declare, you will force water to circulate in the cooling system. One point of caution: do not forget to circulate the water in the cooling system often. Once you have drawn the water in your mouth, spit it out.

The final step is to solder the sides of your still together. Soldering directions usually come with the Iron.

Whew!

Your still is finished. Procure yourself a method of heating it, and you're set for the trial run.

The more complex still, for which plans are still in the middle of the article, can be constructed by adapting these directions somewhat. The more versatile will have little trouble, and much less spitting.

For those who wish to preserve some social decorum, the still looks especially well when finished off with a crocodile skin cover. Monograms are in style too.

As Louis F. Fieser, Sheldon Emery Professor of Organic Chemistry, remarked yesterday. "In prohibition days there were many devices." Now there is no longer, any need for makeshift, unsafe devices. One last word of caution, however. The CRIMSON's consultants wish to point out that the entire process, of course, is highly illegal.

On Monday morning three kindly gentlemen turned up at the College and began to ask some penetrating questions. The men were from the Boston branch of the United States Treasury Department and they were interested in reports of stills at the College. They made no arrests, but warned against extreme outgrowths of the spirit of free enterprise.

The same evening the Associated Press carried this ominous despatch: "Boston, Nov. 19--A federal grand jury today indicted Manuel D. Craveiro of Seekonk on three charges of liquor law violations. The charges stemmed from the operation of an illegal still in Seekonk last August."