What it basically is: Well, we will start with a mash. A mash is fermented sugar. By combining sugar, water and yeast and letting it ferment it will produce alcohol up to certain percentage. The maximum percentage you can ferment to is 20% alcohol by volume. But this does not have a pleasant taste or odor. There are a number of combinations and things you can ferment, such as molasses which is used to make rum. You can convert starch to sugar and ferment it, as in a whisky. So first you have to have a fermented wash (wash is a combination of sugar water and yeast that has produced alcohol already).
Next the distillation! This is removing the alcohol/ethanol from the wash and making a concentrate or concentrating the alcohol into a more pure state. Such as taking the 20% ABV wash and extracting it to let's say a 96% ABV or 192 Proof product. Please note that alcohol or ethanol at this percentage should be cut to consumable level AKA: 50% or 100 proof with distilled water!
This is just a short explanation of distilling. We strongly recommend getting our software that has everything you need to know about distilling. We have spent thousands of hours wading through all the facts and fiction so you don't have to!
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