So here it is; the Moonshine thread. As some of you know I am a DIY guy and fully enjoy getting into things that require thought process, effort and most importantly have an element of risk. Distilling has all three to varying degrees. Distillation does not have to be just alcohol for drinking. You can distill spirits for fuel among other things. What I will be covering in this thread will be confined to just the distillation of alcohol.
We will try to distill 3 different types of liquor; Sugar mash, White Lightning and Rye. This will be done in 3 separate 'distillation runs'. The sugar will have the least complexity and will be the easiest to make. The Rye will have the largest flavor pallet to it but will not be any more complex to mash out than White Lighting. I chose these three to show the ease of mashing out and distilling with the sugar and to show the different processes involved with real moonshine like the WL & Rye.
I have a 5 gallon stainless steel still with a 1 gallon thumper and a 1 gallon worm. This setup is basic and I would recommend it for any beginner. If you wanted to take this up as a real hobby I would make the jump to a real copper still but I would go with a cheap stainless still first. It isn't a hard process but just like anything else in life it is a process. You will invest plenty of time into setting things up, mashing out, distilling and cleaning. Do not think this is a fast hobby. Cleaning takes forever. Good mash takes time. Distilling takes hours. With all of that being said I have to admit that I want to take it to the next level; I want to leave the stainless behind and make the jump to copper and that's exactly what I did today. I purchased a 10 gallon copper still with a reflux condenser. I will be using around 10 lbs of 99.9% copper mesh in the reflux per run. Between the amount of mash each still will hold and the proof that the mash will be at prior to distillation, I anticipate the sugar shine to hit around 65% - 70% with the WL & Rye near 55% on the first pass through the still. I haven't used a reflux to this point so these are rough estimates for percentages.
As a DIYer I decided to go with a Clawhammer still. The 10 gallon was the largest they have so naturally that's the one I bought. You can see it on their website. I chose this route rather than a finished still because I wanted to save some money and I though it would be cool to actually make a still from the ground up. Some of you know of Clawhammer, if you don't I suggest checking out their site.
This is in no way a Clawhammer advertisement FYI. Outside of this post and the construction of the still I wouldn't anticipate much more mention of them.
I am by no means a leading authority when it comes to distilling but I do have some real world experience with it. I have had some really good success as well as multiple failures lol, so if I can any way help a novice brewer I would love to. Feel free to ask any questions you have.
Next substantive post will be pertaining to the construction of the actual still. Thanks for reading guys!!
We will try to distill 3 different types of liquor; Sugar mash, White Lightning and Rye. This will be done in 3 separate 'distillation runs'. The sugar will have the least complexity and will be the easiest to make. The Rye will have the largest flavor pallet to it but will not be any more complex to mash out than White Lighting. I chose these three to show the ease of mashing out and distilling with the sugar and to show the different processes involved with real moonshine like the WL & Rye.
I have a 5 gallon stainless steel still with a 1 gallon thumper and a 1 gallon worm. This setup is basic and I would recommend it for any beginner. If you wanted to take this up as a real hobby I would make the jump to a real copper still but I would go with a cheap stainless still first. It isn't a hard process but just like anything else in life it is a process. You will invest plenty of time into setting things up, mashing out, distilling and cleaning. Do not think this is a fast hobby. Cleaning takes forever. Good mash takes time. Distilling takes hours. With all of that being said I have to admit that I want to take it to the next level; I want to leave the stainless behind and make the jump to copper and that's exactly what I did today. I purchased a 10 gallon copper still with a reflux condenser. I will be using around 10 lbs of 99.9% copper mesh in the reflux per run. Between the amount of mash each still will hold and the proof that the mash will be at prior to distillation, I anticipate the sugar shine to hit around 65% - 70% with the WL & Rye near 55% on the first pass through the still. I haven't used a reflux to this point so these are rough estimates for percentages.
As a DIYer I decided to go with a Clawhammer still. The 10 gallon was the largest they have so naturally that's the one I bought. You can see it on their website. I chose this route rather than a finished still because I wanted to save some money and I though it would be cool to actually make a still from the ground up. Some of you know of Clawhammer, if you don't I suggest checking out their site.
This is in no way a Clawhammer advertisement FYI. Outside of this post and the construction of the still I wouldn't anticipate much more mention of them.
I am by no means a leading authority when it comes to distilling but I do have some real world experience with it. I have had some really good success as well as multiple failures lol, so if I can any way help a novice brewer I would love to. Feel free to ask any questions you have.
Next substantive post will be pertaining to the construction of the actual still. Thanks for reading guys!!
I've made corn mash, sweet feed mash but sugar whiskey seems to be the most popular to sell where I'm at...and the strongest 
