As long as they are making sugar wash (or wine as the article calls it) instead of a fruit based one the chemistry does not allow for methanol to be created, is my understanding having researched this fairly heavily in college before making my own still.

Also if you did make a fruit based wash when you ferment it the methanol will evaporate first (or at a lower temperature than the ethanol if you have that level of control).

This whole article is rather poor as a guide and there are much better and more complete resources on how to build better distilling equipment with a tea kettle, some copper tubing, and a bucket. It is a good article for understanding how prisoners do it, which is its intent.

I mean if you are a prisoner or you are limited to the same resources as a prisoner; then sure, I guess its a guide that you could use. Otherwise a better guide and $20 bucks at the hardware store will have better results, for home distilling experiments.

Keep in mind home distilling is illegal in most states, some have alternative fuel creation exceptions or small allowable amounts.