Sam was glad hear her drop the BS. The regulations against real alcohol on a ship were among the most ignored in Starfleet and he had every intention of continuing to ignore them (particularly in light of the stash in his own quarters), but it wouldn't do to let people they think they could pull the wool over his eyes.
He rubbed his chin, considering the device. "Well, the first still I ever worked on drew residual heat from a field generator. As I recall, the combat engineers in the unit came up with a nice trick to smooth out the fluctuations but I'd have to make some calls to find someone who remembers how they did it. As to ingredients, there are some people in the botany labs who might be able to help. I mean," he winked, "since this is obviously a research project on alternative fuel for jetpacks there's no reason not to reach out to other researchers."