Are you running a whiskey still?

[RobertN]

There is an old set of books titled, "Foxfire", 1, 2, and so on. I think I remember reading about stills in there. They are good reference books and just plain enjoyable to read. They cover the old way of doing things.

The early Foxfire books did have a section on making still's, and distilling. Those books are still available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.

they are pretty fun to read through too. One had artilces on how folks made banjo's, from scratch.

 

[jimg]

Got this from TTBGov FAQs - Frequently Ask Questions.

G1: Can I produce beer, wine or spirits for my personal or family use without paying Federal excise tax and filing Federal paperwork?

Beer

Production.

Removal of beer.

Wine

Wine for personal or family use.

Spirits

You cannot produce spirits for beverage purposes without paying taxes and without prior approval of paperwork to operate a distilled spirits plant. [See 26 U.S.C. 5601 & 5602 for some of the criminal penalties.] There are numerous requirements that must be met that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal or beverage use. Some of these requirements are paying excise tax, filing an extensive application, filing a bond, providing adequate equipment to measure spirits, providing suitable tanks and pipelines, providing a separate building (other than a dwelling) and maintaining detailed records, and filing reports. All of these requirements are listed in 27 CFR Part 19.

Spirits may be produced for non-beverage purposes for fuel use only without payment of tax, but you also must file an application, receive TTB's approval, and follow requirements, such as construction, use, records and reports.

 

[Logan]

It costs too much money to make it legally and too much "time" to make it illegally. People can and do still go to prison for making it, even for private consumption. Especially if he or she has any kind of criminal record at all. Even with a clean record, and if a person were lucky enough to get probation, the lawyer costs and fines would buy an awful lot of Jim Beam. And Jim Beam tastes a lot better, so I hear.

Most people now use propane for fuel so wood smoke fires are no longer a tip off to the law. The smell when it is cooking off is more than noticeable and would probably alert neighbors anywhere around a 150 acre patch of woods and it is noisy. Now if it were legal I'd probably be one of the first to sign up. I see no difference in allowing people to make wine and beer for home consumption but not allowing a small still for spirits.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Aw come on now guys. Can anyone name me one person in the past 20 years that has gone to prison for making this stuff for their own consumption? If you are selling it, yes, you will probably get in trouble. If you are making it for yourself, the local cops will probably drink it with you. There are no black helicopters flying tree top level over the woods at night spying on your home.

 

[dmccarty]

Aw come on now guys. Can anyone name me one person in the past 20 years that has gone to prison for making this stuff for their own consumption? If you are selling it, yes, you will probably get in trouble. If you are making it for yourself, the local cops will probably drink it with you. There are no black helicopters flying tree top level over the woods at night spying on your home.

Can't name his name but one of our state legislators got in trouble a few years ago for passing out home made brandy as gifts. I don't know if he went to jail or not though.

In NC the black/green helicopters as well as single engine planes are out at all hours looking for pot plants, shine, and poachers.

Later,
Dan

 

[Logan]

The county where I now work is patroled regularly for shine and pot. Several stills have been staked out and later blown up. Since I have been there no one has been arrested, but had anyone shown up at the stills, they would have been. I thought I said prison time could depend on your criminal history. Thats what I meant to say anyway. Nothing in the law guarantees a clean record will keep you out of prison and nothing in the law requires the arresting officer prove intent to sell. But my point is that once you are caught running a still you will be arrested and you will start spending big money. And no law enforcement officer that I know will sit and drink it with you.

 

[jimg]

Just for the record even though the batf makes a big deal about labeling and purity its really the taxes that theyre interested in. In the end its all about money. This fights been going on since the Whiskey Rebellion.

 

[GaryM]

That sure is a pretty pile of shiney copper though!

 

[curly]

...And no law enforcement officer that I know will sit and drink it with you.

I guess it depends on which ones you know. I have a friend that regularly smoked pot with a police officer. So yes, there are those that would drink a little shine with you. BTW, my friend hasn't smoked any rope in about 25 years, but that police officer may still be at it for all we know

 

[gordon21]

Piece of advice:

If you see a man at a club store (Costco, Sam's etc) and he has 25 bags of sugar on a cart, don't strike up a conversation. He is not making iced tea or baking a cake.

The easiest way 40 years ago to effectively find moonshiners was to follow the sugar trail. Homeowners buy 20# or less at a time. Restauarants in the south regularly buy 50-200# per week for tea. However, if you are the local cop and you stop a truck with 2000-20,000# of sugar in it and you are not a food distributer or legitimate trucker, then as Ricky Ricardo would have said "you got some splainin to do!!!"