haha. I wonder if it was one I was going to argue with myself. For the record, at least in the USA: distilling alcohol is NOT 'illegal.' You just can't sell it without a license and tax stamp. That's not all bad: you wouldn't want to drink something that somebody ran through a car radiator to produce and purity for medicinal use cannot be legally certified out of somebody's home still - unless it's your own and you take the risk with eyes open. You can make at least 200 gallons of distilled liquor per year with no scutiny from the watchdogs.

It's not as if anybody's going door to door to check how much you have: you only attract attention when you're trying to sell and make a profit. Just as we'd expect, the government couldn't care less what we make at home: (else kids' chemistry sets would be illegal too) they only care if we're making any money off of it and not giving them a cut.

People buy grain alcohol to put in their heaters too - I think they're lots safer for use indoors than the kerosene ones. I wouldn't try to make alcohol for 'barter' but that's just because I'm paranoid and watching the behavior of humans over the last year of lockdowns and scarcities has made me more so. Distilling is a necessary domestic skill that every family should have so maybe teaching it is a better kind of barter anyway.

Here's a page about countertop water distillers I'm looking at. Electric ones could run off a solar panel, a deep cycle battery and inverter. I've even used a car battery in a pinch; they just don't last as long with repeated charges.
[link to watersafetylab.com (secure)]