It’s very easy to screw up distilation. If the temperture is not carefully controlled and you miss the points to discard the head and tails, you end up with lighter (like methanol) and heavier (like propanol or butanol) alcohols, all of them much more toxic than good old ethanol.
You don’t control level of aldehydes, sulfur oxides, and cyanide, and you also cannot know in some cases if it got contaminated by something toxic - that’s not always molds.
Granted, it’s relatively hard to brew something deadly, but it’s possible to undermine your health in a bad way.
I think you’re overstating the dangers of homebrewing with an improvised setup. If you screw up, you get mold and it’s very obvious.
I’ve never distilled before, but from what I’ve read, that’s really hard to screw up too.
It’s very easy to screw up distilation. If the temperture is not carefully controlled and you miss the points to discard the head and tails, you end up with lighter (like methanol) and heavier (like propanol or butanol) alcohols, all of them much more toxic than good old ethanol.
You don’t control level of aldehydes, sulfur oxides, and cyanide, and you also cannot know in some cases if it got contaminated by something toxic - that’s not always molds. Granted, it’s relatively hard to brew something deadly, but it’s possible to undermine your health in a bad way.