Questioning legality

[anonymous-user]

How does one go about finding out whether something is actually illegal?

Specifically I'm thinking about distilling denatured alcohol. I understand it's illegal to distil alcoholic drinks without a licence, but I have seen reference to US legislation that says it's okay if you add a percentage of petrol to it to make it undrinkable (at least by any sane person).

So, who do I ask / where do I look to find out if it is legal or illegal to ferment sugar and distil what remains to add to petrol? At a guess it's not something I can ask the next police officer I see walking through the town centre.

[^Slider^]

You would have no hope of asking police as it appears to be a customs offence. I think this is the full legislation!

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20051524.htm

[anonymous-user]

That would make more sense. Many thanks for finding me the link!

[Dwight VanDriver]

Speak to the horses mouth:

E Mail HM Customs and EXCISE

[e-mail].

dvd

[EU_Foreigner]

hmm, last time I emailed C&E with a question I got an inspection within a month ...

[10 Pence Short]

EU_Foreigner said:

hmm, last time I emailed C&E with a question I got an inspection within a month ...

Just tell the immigrants to stay in the cellar and keep their mouths shut.

[thinfourth2]

can i be the first one to ask

Why what are you thinking about

[anonymous-user]

I'm thinking about playing with homebrew E85 with Megasquirt. It's something to keep me off the streets.

[hairykrishna]

It's a pain in the arse. We use duty-free medical alcohol in serious quantities in our lab and there are many paperwork hoops to jump through. We also buy in our distilled water these days because of the amount of effort involved in running our own water still (semi regular C&E inspections).

[andmole]

hairykrishna said:

It's a pain in the arse. We use duty-free medical alcohol in serious quantities in our lab and there are many paperwork hoops to jump through. We also buy in our distilled water these days because of the amount of effort involved in running our own water still (semi regular C&E inspections).

Distilled water is easy, just run a de-humidifier, the stuff you have to empty is effectively distilled water, but no still. Good for putting in your steam iron.

[Mr2Mike]

andmole said:

Distilled water is easy, just run a de-humidifier, the stuff you have to empty is effectively distilled water, but no still. Good for putting in your steam iron.

Don't think it will be medical grade though