Moonshining in the Blue Ridge

[Molalla1]

Depends on who's making it and for what purpose... :licking:

No doubt . . .

I have no dog in this fight, but I do know people who do. And they would beg to differ with you.

I will have to agree with you here Wolfman . . . :thumbsup:

 

[Gunny]

There's one area near here that has several moonshine operations going on, some do deliveries to your door (if they know you). From talking to friends that live there, each moonshiner has a pretty much dedicated customer base and each has a different method of distilling or different equipment. I would guess that there are some customers that are after a particular taste and some that are just after a particular result.

I had some instructors come up here from Alabama a few years ago and they all wanted some "shine" to take back home with them. I talked to one of friends while in that area, he made a phone call and it took every bit of 30 minutes to have 24 quarts delivered to his front door.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

There's one area near here that has several moonshine operations going on, some do deliveries to your door (if they know you). From talking to friends that live there, each moonshiner has a pretty much dedicated customer base and each has a different method of distilling or different equipment. I would guess that there are some customers that are after a particular taste and some that are just after a particular result.

I had some instructors come up here from Alabama a few years ago and they all wanted some "shine" to take back home with them. I talked to one of friends while in that area, he made a phone call and it took every bit of 30 minutes to have 24 quarts delivered to his front door.

Yep... that is pretty much how it is around here. It's all in who you know... and never ask questions.

 

[/pine]

Curious if anyone remembers seeing the bootleg liquor display at the Knoxville worlds fair in 1982 ?

Even though they were represented as being from TN the group that actually set up and ran the display (including functioning stills, both wood and gas fired) were recruited from this area of N. GA...The Jack Daniels Co. supplied the charred barrels to show how white liquor can be colored the same as most legal spirits...

At any rate...unknown to the powers that be...the clan was actually making real liquor right there at the fair...(it was supposed to be just a simulation) right under the noses of the crowds and the authorities...

Other than some minor coloring of brandy from the fruit used it's the only time I remember seeing "white liquor" that was not crystal clear...

 

[k0ua]

There are some you tube videos on how to make white lightening and one of my sons found a recipe he really likes as do some of his buddies. He only makes it a certain time of year,I think winter, and has a bunch of guys waiting around for it to be ready.

Back during the depression my Dad got into bootlegging and one of his partners wives ended up blind drinking some of it. I'm like Step,I can't handle it .

Drinking Methanol can cause blindness. Drinking Ethanol will not. The Iodoform test on the product will show the presence of Methanol. We made some shine in chemistry class back in high school. This took some time as we started with cornmeal and sugar and water. We performed the test and our "shine" was pure Ethanol. We didn't get to taste any of it, but we did use the Ethanol in several other experiments thru the year.

 

[k0ua]

Don't be so hard on him. When you see an 800 gallon submarine still made with galvanized metal, sipping quality doesn't come to mind.

And seams soldered together with lead based solder. Which some people did when they didn't care about adding lead in their product.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Drinking Methanol can cause blindness. Drinking Ethanol will not. The Iodoform test on the product will show the presence of Methanol. We made some shine in chemistry class back in high school. This took some time as we started with cornmeal and sugar and water. We performed the test and our "shine" was pure Ethanol. We didn't get to taste any of it, but we did use the Ethanol in several other experiments thru the year.

Some ingredients make more methanol than others; potatoes I believe, make a bit more, but it's still not really high. I wouldn't drink the fraction that methanol is in, but if the stuff is triple or quadruple distilled and tested, I
it should be OK. Back during prohibition, some of the bootleg stuff actually had other alcohols added, like methanol and isopropyl ...too much, and it would kill you. I recall my Dad talking about a malady called "The Jake leg". It was a condition where the person had trouble walking; their limbs were partially paralyzed, and gave them a jerky, awkward gate when walking...caused by drinking impure bootleg liquor, and something called "Ginger Jake", which was supposed to be an after shave as I recall, imported from somewhere in the Caribbean.

Thank goodness

 

[k0ua]

Some ingredients make more methanol than others; potatoes I believe, make a bit more, but it's still not really high. I wouldn't drink the fraction that methanol is in, but if the stuff is triple or quadruple distilled and tested, I
it should be OK. Back during prohibition, some of the bootleg stuff actually had other alcohols added, like methanol and isopropyl ...too much, and it would kill you. I recall my Dad talking about a malady called "The Jake leg". It was a condition where the person had trouble walking; their limbs were partially paralyzed, and gave them a jerky, awkward gate when walking...caused by drinking impure bootleg liquor, and something called "Ginger Jake", which was supposed to be an after shave as I recall, imported from somewhere in the Caribbean.

Thank goodness

Yes the "jake leg" is another symptom of drinking Methanol. Partial paralysis and or blindness. A lot of our tractor tires are filled with Methanol. Methanol is the active ingredient in windshield washer fluid. Methanol is a from the Methane molecule. One carbon atom with 4 hydrogen atoms. A primary alcohol is just adding one oxygen atom bonded to the carbon atom with the hydrogen atom stuck on the end of the oxygen. Ethanol of course has 2 carbon atoms from the Ethane gas with the OH radical on the end of one of the carbons. Propanol has the 3 carbon atoms from Propane BUT we usually see Propanol as an isomer with the OH radical bonded to the middle carbon atom. Isomers have the same chemical formula but with the bonding at different parts of the whole molecule. Isopropanol is an intentionally made poison to keep people from drinking it. This is as much as I can remember from 10th grade chemistry. Been a while.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Yes the "jake leg" is another symptom of drinking Methanol. Partial paralysis and or blindness. A lot of our tractor tires are filled with Methanol. Methanol is the active ingredient in windshield washer fluid. Methanol is a from the Methane molecule. One carbon atom with 4 hydrogen atoms. A primary alcohol is just adding one oxygen atom bonded to the carbon atom with the hydrogen atom stuck on the end of the oxygen. Ethanol of course has 2 carbon atoms from the Ethane gas with the OH radical on the end of one of the carbons. Propanol has the 3 carbon atoms from Propane BUT we usually see Propanol as an isomer with the OH radical bonded to the middle carbon atom. Isomers have the same chemical formula but with the bonding at different parts of the whole molecule. Isopropanol is an intentionally made poison to keep people from drinking it. This is as much as I can remember from 10th grade chemistry. Been a while.

That's pretty remarkable; I spent 16 years as a technician and then Research Chemist with 30 + hours of College Chemistry and it's pretty fuzzy to me today; although it's been 40 years since I was in a laboratory. FWIW, I usually just dump a bottle of rubbing alcohol in my WW container for the Winter; works as an antifreeze too.

I don't think isopropyl is as toxic as methanol, but it will kill. When I was at the Health Department, one of the residents in an assisted living facility drank a couple of bottles of the stuff, and it did do him in.

 

[MossRoad]

Methanol boils off at a lower temperature than ethanol. That's why, when the distillation process starts, and first fluid that comes out of the condenser, you through out (the foreshots); it's methanol and poisonous.

 

[teejk]

I watch that tv show "Moonshiners". They always toss a fair amount of the first liquor coming out of the still. They call it the head.

 

[MossRoad]

I watch that tv show "Moonshiners". They always toss a fair amount of the first liquor coming out of the still. They call it the head.

Foreshots
Heads
Hearts
Tails

Foreshots are methanol and get tossed.
Heads are the start of the ethanol, drinkable, but off-tasting. Save those.
Bottle the hearts.
Tails are the end of the ethanol, drinkable, but again, off-tasting. Save those.

Put the heads and tails back into the next batch of mash and run again.

Repeat.

 

[Molalla1]

Foreshots
Heads
Hearts
Tails

Foreshots are methanol and get tossed.
Heads are the start of the ethanol, drinkable, but off-tasting. Save those.
Bottle the hearts.
Tails are the end of the ethanol, drinkable, but again, off-tasting. Save those.

Put the heads and tails back into the next batch of mash and run again.

Repeat.

Moss . . . . . . . :thumbsup:

 

[Peter 315]

Foreshots
Heads
Hearts
Tails

Foreshots are methanol and get tossed.
Heads are the start of the ethanol, drinkable, but off-tasting. Save those.
Bottle the hearts.
Tails are the end of the ethanol, drinkable, but again, off-tasting. Save those.

Put the heads and tails back into the next batch of mash and run again.

Repeat.

Did you learn that from the tv or do you have a still going....

 

[Molalla1]

Did you learn that from the tv or do you have a still going....

Please Peter . . .

 

[k0ua]

Methanol boils off at a lower temperature than ethanol. That's why, when the distillation process starts, and first fluid that comes out of the condenser, you through out (the foreshots); it's methanol and poisonous.

Yep. Gotta watch your temps. We did all of this in 10th grade, and had a big thermometer stuck in the mash.

 

[k0ua]

Save those foreshots for your tires

 

[Fuddy1952]

Ok...I have to tell this story, in hopes it may bring a chuckle or two.
My wife and I have been together 48 years now (don't laugh yet...that's not the funny part). In the early 70s she decided to make dandelion wine. So I helped pick dandelions and get ingredients. From memory sugar, lemons, oranges, yeast...so long ago can't remember how, but at her parents house in town they had this huge jar about 5-6 gallons at least.
We of course didn't know what we were doing, but I remember after so many days it was like a giant lava lamp, this gunk slowly floating up, bubbling, gunk sinking back down. At some point it was very full, so I tilted it over put some in a glass.
It was horrible like I would guess battery acid would be like.
One night we're watching the "lava lamp" in action and a knock at kitchen door. It was the neighborhood drunk! He says "heard you guys are makin' some hootch here!".
I stick a couple of soda straws together for him. He pokes it down in bottle...he takes a swig, pulls straw out and end was melted off! He says wow-eee that's some gooood stuff! So I helped him carry that heavy bottle down to his place.
She heard later he polished it off. I don't think he lived too long afterwards!

 

[FTG-05]

We're not far from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
I'm pretty sure anyone can "still" make a certain amount of alcohol a year without problems. The trouble I'm thinking is selling it without Uncle Sucker getting tax revenue.

Watch "Laurel & Hardy - The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine (1937) (Colour) (HD)" on YouTube
Laurel & Hardy - The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine (1937) (Colour) (HD) - YouTube

Careful: Owning a still is legal; using it to distill alcohol as booze is not; at least not without the required Fed permit (read $$$ and PITA):

Is Making Moonshine Legal? – Clawhammer Supply

Why Is Distilling Whiskey At Home Illegal? - The Whiskey Wash

 

[MossRoad]

Save those foreshots for your tires

Makes good paint brush cleaner.... from what I hear, of course.