Hi, new poster here. I apologize if this question is in the wrong place, or not allowed for some reason.
I’ve brewed beer from kits before. We bottled the fermented result and added sugar to ferment in the bottle. That’s the extent of my experience, and I note there was no step involved that heated the fermented product to “boil off” any harmful chemicals, like ethanol.
I’m thinking about trying some recipe experiments and maybe make some things from rice, like rice beer or sake, and maybe some other wines too. However, I’m concerned about safety and especially ethanol and other harmful chemicals. I’ve recently read about distilling spirits to make bourbon, and how the first 5% (foreshots) contains ethanol and is discarded. Also the next 30% has other harmful chemicals and should be discarded. So does that mean that beer or wine contains these chemicals too, or is it just certain types of grains or yeast that produce them (like corn)? Is there a list of ingredients I should avoid? Thanks.