Moonshine!

[MichiganMat]

Breakin' the law, breakin' the law... - Judas Priest

My family in Austria cooks up some serious spirits every year: Grappa, Williams Pear, Apricot, Clove, the list is endless. Their new still is something serious, like 5 feet tall, the old one was from 1932. Im bored, America sucks, its going to be a long, wet winter here in CA and I think maybe Im ready to make up some firewater in the great tradition of my forefathers.

Now that my house is cleaned up and ready for business i have plenty of room to build a nice little still, the floors the limit

So heres to all the homebrewers and moonshiners here on Pelican, may your vision be blurred, your speech be slurred, and your sleep be long and restful. And if your glass be empty, you're welcome to come by my homestead and go blind with me a while (I'll need victims to test the first few batches on!)

[Zendalar]

Just make the "wine" and distill it via help of 10 liter pot on the stove.

On top of this put a metal hat with a water cooled pipe, and voila, there you have it.

[johnco]

just started a batch fermenting yesterday for the holiday season.. makes a great Christmas present.. a better reason for the season. get em piss drunk and open all their presents. heheh

[dd74]

Need a partner? I swear I won't drink away the profits...I swear...

[on2wheels52]

There's a few that make an occasional run in this area. I prefer beverages with a bit lower alcoholic content but my wife says it substitutes well in margaritas.
Jim

[notfarnow]

A [EDIT:] err... heard about a guy who spent ~$1500 making a still. It is designed to boil out pure alcohol from anything.
He makes a mash using sugar, water lemon juice & yeast. It ferments to ~14%, then he runs it through the still to get ~100% alcohol. He then waters it down to make vodka, or water & flavor to make gin.
Works out to ~ $1.5/liter for 120 proof vodka.

Pretty neat to see it working, it's built using an electric water heater that is digitally controlled to keep the temperature just right. There is a 5' copper "stack" that the alcohol condenses in as it cools going through. He bought the plans online.

Makes cool presents, and everyone he knows gets a real laugh out of it. Anytime he visits he drops off at least a gallon. I have a 2 gallon gerry can full.

[Eric P]

Isn't there an electric water distiller out there that can be regulated to the right temp and thus an "easy" still?

(I've got 5 gal of fermented cider that doesn't taste great...perfect candidate for distilling)

[notfarnow]

Some guy I heard about recommended this site for info:

http://homedistiller.org/

[Eric P]

Ah, cool.

Yeah Jake, that guy sounds like he has a good setup. I think I'll just drink the cider I made. I know a guy who is thinking about looking into this stuff though.

[RallyJon]

I wonder why this is still illegal? Why wouldn't there be a personal use exemption?

[notfarnow]

I should have been more clear... I got this info from a guy I heard about's father.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by RallyJon
I wonder why this is still illegal? Why wouldn't there be a personal use exemption?

I think it's because it can be dangerous. Fires, methanol poisoning... all kinds of fun stuff.

[RallyJon]

Methanol? I thought it was ethanol?

[Rikao4]

Can be lethal, while playing in the 'Sandbox" hooch could be had for $20 per liter.Some 82nd guys tried to make their own.. we picked up 20+ guys, some where in a real bad state.
tip from a Brit..add iodine and it 'looks' like scotch.
Rika

[Eric P]

Then there is ice-distilling...

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by RallyJon
Methanol? I thought it was ethanol?

Maybe that's why I have such a damn headache!

Just kidding, yeah you're right. I meant to say that home distilling is probably illegal because of people accidently getting methanol instead of ethanol.

[Hugh R]

I can attest that Johnco makes some kick ass shine! It burns a real pretty blue color. Methanol comes from cellulose (wood) ethanol comes from grapes, grain, etc. Methanol=bad, ethanol=good, sort of.

[arcsine]

I once double distilled about a dozen cases of homebrew ale down to about 6 ounces of ethanol. My best estimate was that it rocked about 150 proof. Has me thinking now, that minus the hops and add in a wood cask for a few years and some tweaking of the distillation setup and starting material, homemade scotch or whiskey or rum or vodka is well do-able.

[johnco]

Hugh, the offer for sending a care package is always open..I need to get you a Registered Coon Ass T-shirt next time I see one. Not sure if they have any Honorary Coon Ass shirts available, but you've proved yourself and earned the Registered status. you accepted the challenge and came out the winner. I must have eaten some bad food or had the flu that night.. maybe I had sunstroke from working in the sun all day. yeah, that's the ticket. that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Hugh R]

Thanks John, I was just glad the motel was right out your back door. Don't say any more, my wife reads this stuff.