Moonshining in the Blue Ridge

[stingray1]

While you can brew a certain amount of beer or wine for personal consumption, all distilled alcohol requires a federal permit & tax, last I knew of, even for personal consumption. If using for fuel, you have to contaminate it with gasoline or something so it can't be consumed.

:laughing:I have yet to see tax stamps on any mason jars here in upper East Tennessee.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I was watching something about distilling small amounts of liquor. Seems you should resist the temptation to sample the first drops, and in fact don't consume the first shot glass as it's Methanol, which can cause health problems, but only the rest which is Ethanol.

Good to know! If the Methanol is mixed with the majority of Ethanol, it's not the end of the world. I just think of the various television I have seen where they drink the first drippings.

 

[Jstpssng]

Back when I was young and dumb, a guy down the hall handed me a bottle of 190 proof grain and dared me to take a drink. Wow! I don't believe that any of it ever got to my stomach, what didn't evaporate on the way down taking my breath away dried my mouth, tongue and throat. That's one of the lessons of college which aren't in the brochures. That stuff would have been great for McGyver to use to sterilize his knife before doing a tracheotomy using a pen barrel for the airway.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My Hungarian friends Dad mad hooch. Double distilled. You would swear it would rip out your throat lining and take it down with it. Remember once seeing an odd dark swirl in the mickey. Seems it was eating the black plastic cap! Like brake cleaner!

 

[bunyip]

What is labelled methylated spirits here is now ethanol, the vagrants used to drink it with orange concentrate so it was changed to minimise health issues, still has a bittering agent to make it unpalatable.

 

[/pine]

People that actually know what they're doing (not the clowns on so called reality TV)..."white liquor" should be smooth as silk and have a slight aftertaste of the main mash ingredient (corn, apples, peaches etc.)...

Just curious...does anyone know what the term "set" means when discussing white liquor ??

 

[MossRoad]

:laughing:I have yet to see tax stamps on any mason jars here in upper East Tennessee.

Better look under the lid...

 

[MossRoad]

I was watching something about distilling small amounts of liquor. Seems you should resist the temptation to sample the first drops, and in fact don't consume the first shot glass as it's Methanol, which can cause health problems, but only the rest which is Ethanol.

Good to know! If the Methanol is mixed with the majority of Ethanol, it's not the end of the world. I just think of the various television I have seen where they drink the first drippings.

Foreshots need to be tossed or saved for paint thinner. There's no good way to say what volume of them you should discard. It depends on a lot of stuff. Here's a good guide...
Making Moonshine - The Dummies' Guide – Clawhammer Supply

 

[MossRoad]

People that actually know what they're doing (not the clowns on so called reality TV)..."white liquor" should be smooth as silk and have a slight aftertaste of the main mash ingredient (corn, apples, peaches etc.)...

Just curious...does anyone know what the term "set" means when discussing white liquor ??

Here's my set...

 

[/pine]

Here's my set...

Pros can tell the purity of a batch by watching the "set"...here's a clue...it's basically a visual observation of time...!