# moonshine



## bonecollector822

Anyone know of any recipes to make a legal moonshine like beverage such as apple pie or peach moonshine.any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.


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## Nicodemus

I don`t believe there is a legal monshine that has been distilled by home brewers. Beer and wine, up to a certain amount, yes, whiskey, no.


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## mickbear

as nick says distilling is illegal.trust me on that one!!
  distilling is the process of seperating two liquids (lets say alcohol and water :aka the mash)by turning one into a gas (the alcohol) before the other (the water) by heating them,and taking the one that is in a gas form (alcohol) back into a liquid by cooling it.no magic here.
 with that said, you can do the same process (all most) by freezing the liquids (aka "jacking") because alcohol and water freeze at different temps.water will freeze far faster than alcohol.its a slow process but you can remove the other ingredients from a mash by dipping out small amounts of icy-slush from the solution over a long period of time untill you have mostly the alcohol left. i'v done it before but its a long process and you still are left with a product that is not very tasty.


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## Nicodemus

mickbear said:


> as nick says distilling is illegal.trust me on that one!!
> distilling is the process of seperating two liquids (lets say alcohol and water :aka the mash)by turning one into a gas (the alcohol) before the other (the water) by heating them,and taking the one that is in a gas form (alcohol) back into a liquid by cooling it.no magic here.
> with that said, you can do the same process (all most) by freezing the liquids (aka "jacking") because alcohol and water freeze at different temps.water will freeze far faster than alcohol.its a slow process but you can remove the other ingredients from a mash by dipping out small amounts of icy-slush from the solution over a long period of time untill you have mostly the alcohol left. i'v done it before but its a long process and you still are left with a product that is not very tasty.





Mick, is that how "applejack" is made? 

I tried some that somebody made one time, and it wasn`t real good.


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## Buck Nasty

Just drive up to Tennesee and get some of Popcorn's..... it is now on the market up there, legally.....


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## mickbear

Nicodemus said:


> Mick, is that how "applejack" is made?
> 
> I tried some that somebody made one time, and it wasn`t real good.


i guess you could say some "applejack" was made that way.there are writtings of Washington,Jefferson Ect.. and others from the 1700's that talk of crushing apples and mixing with water and allowing that to ferment .then setting it out on the back porch and they would dip out the slush untill they came up with something they could drink. as far as todays applejack its mostly a mixture of half moonshine,half apple cider and a couple of cinnamon sticks . i dont like it my self either


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## Nicodemus

mickbear said:


> i guess you could say some "applejack" was made that way.there are writtings of Washington,Jefferson Ect.. and others from the 1700's that talk of crushing apples and mixing with water and allowing that to ferment .then setting it out on the back porch and they would dip out the slush untill they came up with something they could drink. as far as todays applejack its mostly a mixture of half moonshine,half apple cider and a couple of cinnamon sticks . i dont like it my self either





Thanks for the info.   (good sippin` whiskey. not the bad stuff!)


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## Outlaw Dawgsey Wales

*Drank some*

Stump juice up at the cabin last year.Good stuff


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## Burl E.

A lost and dying art ... Moonshine... It is a shame that people won't stay true to the things that made this country great... I guess that there is too much money in making meth than alcohol ... What a shame that this art will be lost forever!


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## bonecollector822

Has anyone ever tried the legal corn whiskey thats labeled moonshine. Such as georgia moonwhich is supposedly the same whiskey that used to be made by junior johnson?


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## mickbear

Burl E. said:


> A lost and dying art ... Moonshine... It is a shame that people won't stay true to the things that made this country great... I guess that there is too much money in making meth than alcohol ... What a shame that this art will be lost forever!


it may sound a little strange but moonshining is actually making a come back as a hobby.it will never be what it was back in the day though.my first dealings with it was back in the early 70's.its realy changed alot.i'm glad i got to see and learn what i did back then.


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## redman2006

bonecollector822 said:


> Has anyone ever tried the legal corn whiskey thats labeled moonshine. Such as georgia moonwhich is supposedly the same whiskey that used to be made by junior johnson?



I tried one that was pretty good, but I do not remember the name.  

Jack Daniels is coming out with an unaged clear whiskey available around the first.  I want to give it a try.


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## Dustin Pate

bonecollector822 said:


> Has anyone ever tried the legal corn whiskey thats labeled moonshine. Such as georgia moonwhich is supposedly the same whiskey that used to be made by junior johnson?



http://www.olesmokymoonshine.com

It is pretty decent!


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## bunnyhunter

Apple Pie-

1 gallon of apple juice
1 gallon of apple cider
2 cups of sugar
5 cinnamon sticks or apple pie spice
750 mL Everclear or moonshine

Heat up ingredients,  dissolve sugar and let cool. Enjoy but careful.

Peach Pie-

1 gallon Welchs Peach Melody
1 gallon peach cider
2 cups of sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
750 mL Everclear or moonshine

Heat up ingredients,  dissolve sugar and let cool.


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## tim scott

omg where do you all come up with this garbage..... i think i found out the truth... your all carpetbaggers or gucci baggers to have no knowledge of southern culture or having never been apart of it. lol there was a time when we all had our family doctor, a maid, a black nanny to care for the young ones and a bootlegger.... i got to spend alot of time around my bootlegger as i was dating and totally corrupting his daughter....

first if you take a bunch of apples smash them n water n let it ferment all you'll ever get is a nasty foul smelling moldy beer and a rather weak beer at that... using wild yeast that way it will turn to vinager about the same time it's done fermenting. and freezing mash is the worlds worst way of seperateing the alcohol.... been there done that. and all you'll get by mixing apple juice with shine is something so watered down you can give it to the kids.

most bootleggers refer to the apple and peach flavored whiskey as apple brandy.... not apple jack, apple pie... why.. just to make it classier sounding since it costs two or three times what quality shine would run. so how was the good stuff made.... you got to start with quality high shots.... nothing thats been watered down... has to be high shots approx 160 proof... add this to a crock full of freshly dried apples or peaches seal good and let sit for a month. strain and filter good, most added a little touch of sweetness. a cup of simple syrup 1/2 sugar and water to three gallons and a good pinch of salt to enhance the flavor and a little splash of water to bring things down to about 120 proof nice and very drinkable.... then bottle. you can easily make it with store bought..... golden grain just cut it with a little water... not much and the results will be nearly as nice even if you did pay tax on it. i'd never had made it thru ngc all the little boys playing soldier... without alot of fine apple brandy and a warm girl friend.
tim

oh almost forgot the apples or peaches you strain out don't throw them away... great over ice cream. also never heat a bunch of ingredients after you add the alcohol the heat drives the alcohol away.


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## silentK

Buck Nasty said:


> Just drive up to Tennesee and get some of Popcorn's..... it is now on the market up there, legally.....



the store bought aint as good as popcorn's home brew...trust me 

theres still a few folks around here making some good shine...


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## slightly grayling

My understanding is that applejack is made just like corn shine except apples are used in lieu of the corn.  Rumor has it that it isn't a lost art.  I once worked with a guy from the N. GA mtns who claimed you could still find either from Dawsonville, GA to N. Wilksboro, NC and beyond........just a rumor, but I don't think he would lie

.





Nicodemus said:


> Mick, is that how "applejack" is made?
> 
> I tried some that somebody made one time, and it wasn`t real good.


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## NCHillbilly

silentK said:


> the store bought aint as good as popcorn's home brew...trust me
> 
> theres still a few folks around here making some good shine...



Well, I lived right down the road from Popcorn most of my life and knew him, and have drunk his likker. It wasn't really anything special, to be honest. Some of it was pretty good, some not so good, pretty average stuff. I've had a whole lot better, really. Popcorn was an interesting feller, to say the least. Miss seeing him around. 



bonecollector822 said:


> Has anyone ever tried the legal corn whiskey thats labeled moonshine. Such as georgia moonwhich is supposedly the same whiskey that used to be made by junior johnson?



Georgia Moon is awful. It doesn't taste anywhere near like the good real stuff. Good white likker tastes more like single-malt Scotch than anything else. Junior Johnson has "moonshine" on the market now, haven't tried any of it yet. 

And for what it's worth, growing up in the middle of likker-makin' country, and coming from a family who made a lot of it back in the day; I've never that I remember heard anybody from around here call corn liquor "moonshine," at least, not until recently. It's usually called "white likker," or "corn likker." Some of the old timers called it "blockade liquor." Moonshine seems to be an outside term.


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## 8ball

I would like someone to teach me how to build a still and shine. Got Mountian creek in back yard .


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## guntrader33

What are the temps of when tails start to come out in shine? I really need to know when to stop keeping the stuff to drink. I would also like any other tips from yall that know what yall that know what yall are doing. I used to watch my grandpa all the time but i was so young I dont remember the details of making it. Any information yall could pass on to help me out I would thank you.


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## Artfuldodger

When did the flavored moonshines become popular? That's not really my cup of tea but Pinnacle Vodka makes gobs of strange flavors that are popular. I've drunk some whiskeys flavored with honey that were good. I don't like flavored beer either. Just beer with good flavor.


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## NCHillbilly

Artfuldodger said:


> When did the flavored moonshines become popular? That's not really my cup of tea but Pinnacle Vodka makes gobs of strange flavors that are popular. I've drunk some whiskeys flavored with honey that were good. I don't like flavored beer either. Just beer with good flavor.



Good question. I've never seen likker improved by adding fruit and stuff to it to make it taste like something besides likker. If it's so rough a likker that you have to soak apples in it to be able to drink it, you oughta pour it out, it's probably full of lead and fusel oil anyway. And if it's good likker to begin with, it just ruins and insults it to put fruit in it.


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## BGA

http://www.coppermoonshinestills.com/id28.html

YouTube is your friend


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## tim scott

8ball.... why bother to make a still unless your wanting to go huge/ sell the stuff and go to prison, lose your rights to own a firearm or vote.... up side is you'll have a nice warm bunk mate to keep you warm at night. but if you insist and if you just want to make a few gallons for your self try checking out the web site brewhaus.com and buy one all good clean stainless or get the neat little electric ones you can set up on your kitchen counter.... for your own use its a matter of how hard core are you..... just guessing you bad enough of an alcoholic that you can drink a bottle a day?  the small cheap elec. ones can turn out enough that you and 2 or 3 friends can each have a bottle a day.... every day.

artfuldodger... not sure what you mean... nearly all distilled spirts are flavored and always have been... the only ones that aren't are plain vodka and pure grain alcohol such as golden grain or everclear..... all beer and wine is flavored always has been... think about it. the new rather wild odd flavored stuff is made and marketed to all the light weight or none drinkers out there... so they can drink and not know it..... good for children too.... it's become a huge market share in the business.

nchillbilly..... popcorn was a interesting charactor.... but he should have known how things would turn out getting on tv the way he did. hope your able to find decent stuff up your way. down in ne ga i don't think anyone has a clue what they are doing... last bottle i was given.... was truely the worst stuff i've ever tasted. funny thing was the guy ran the batch mostly for me trying to impress me with the high quality he could make..... NOT... would rather try drinking the brown runoff from a barnyard. 
tim


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## tim scott

hillbilly... let me ask you this... do you eat the same thing every meal.... not from your posts i've seen... you eat a nice interesting mix of good food.... why would you limit yourself to just one drink? while i do mostly drink scotch, there's times like after dinner that a nice little sniffer of orange or blackberry brandy is tasty or when out camping a flask of amaretto is a must have for me.... gets the nasty taste of all the dust and dirt you've been sucking down all day and leaves a long lasting pleasant flavor in your mouth as you settle down for bed. even better when it's all home made. had my own winery for about thirty years til i got bored with it... that and it's back breaking work. still have cellered several life times supply for fine wines. have been making fine liquors and brandies for about thirty years. the apple brandy my bootlegger made back forty plus years ago wasn't trash it was made with the best of their output for their special customers and was very expensive. 120 proof and smooth as silk, everyone that tried it feel in love... very pleasant sipping stuff. not a replacement for the good shine they made.... just something different. i'd rather not say names as old man that made the shine had about 20 years on popcorn... he's long dead but his son and other family are still around. they had one of the biggest operations in north ga and were always known for their quality. only operation i ever saw that always had at least a 1,000 gallons stored away in the woods.... never understood what the old man did with all his money.... i know he made a good hundred grand a year but lived by himself in a two room wood shack and no running water nor indoor toilet. old broken down truck to get into town for groceries..... strange old duck, friendly as all get out... would talk your ear off for hours. have often wondered if there wasn't a fortune stashed away in the woods. and the bootlegger that even stranger... his daughter that kept me warm thru college.... broke up and thirty years passed and we're back together... hates for me to talk about moonshining and bootlegging not good memories having to ask me to take her down to the gainesville so she could visit her dad in jail... he never got caught with any likker always dumped the load in the road so no evidence just a big wet spot that smelled good and alot of broken glass but they sure got him enough times for blasting thru helen and other towns at 120 or more. cops there just had no sense of humor. he died young, drank himself to death.

one day we'll have to get together and i'll introduce you to to some fine liquors and brandies, or if you like wine....
cheers tim


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## HillbillyJim

There is still some mighty fine corn liker made in SW Va. and East Tenn.  If you know someone up that way, I bet you could get your hands on some.  As we say in the hills...smoooooth!


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## NCHillbilly

tim scott said:


> hillbilly... let me ask you this... do you eat the same thing every meal.... not from your posts i've seen... you eat a nice interesting mix of good food.... why would you limit yourself to just one drink? while i do mostly drink scotch, there's times like after dinner that a nice little sniffer of orange or blackberry brandy is tasty or when out camping a flask of amaretto is a must have for me.... gets the nasty taste of all the dust and dirt you've been sucking down all day and leaves a long lasting pleasant flavor in your mouth as you settle down for bed. even better when it's all home made. had my own winery for about thirty years til i got bored with it... that and it's back breaking work. still have cellered several life times supply for fine wines. have been making fine liquors and brandies for about thirty years. the apple brandy my bootlegger made back forty plus years ago wasn't trash it was made with the best of their output for their special customers and was very expensive. 120 proof and smooth as silk, everyone that tried it feel in love... very pleasant sipping stuff. not a replacement for the good shine they made.... just something different. i'd rather not say names as old man that made the shine had about 20 years on popcorn... he's long dead but his son and other family are still around. they had one of the biggest operations in north ga and were always known for their quality. only operation i ever saw that always had at least a 1,000 gallons stored away in the woods.... never understood what the old man did with all his money.... i know he made a good hundred grand a year but lived by himself in a two room wood shack and no running water nor indoor toilet. old broken down truck to get into town for groceries..... strange old duck, friendly as all get out... would talk your ear off for hours. have often wondered if there wasn't a fortune stashed away in the woods. and the bootlegger that even stranger... his daughter that kept me warm thru college.... broke up and thirty years passed and we're back together... hates for me to talk about moonshining and bootlegging not good memories having to ask me to take her down to the gainesville so she could visit her dad in jail... he never got caught with any likker always dumped the load in the road so no evidence just a big wet spot that smelled good and alot of broken glass but they sure got him enough times for blasting thru helen and other towns at 120 or more. cops there just had no sense of humor. he died young, drank himself to death.
> 
> one day we'll have to get together and i'll introduce you to to some fine liquors and brandies, or if you like wine....
> cheers tim



I wasn't referring to brandy and such, people been making apple and peach brandy around here as long as they've been making corn likker, I guess. I was referring to all this "apple pie" mess you see nowadays-every time somebody gets hold of a jar of white liquor, the first thing they wanna do is go fill it full of chopped up apples, peaches, grapes, cinnamon sticks, and such. Nasty!

 If I'm gonna drink white likker, I want it to taste like white likker.


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## holton27596

back in the 60s/70s around McRae clyde brewer and fish amerson used to make some good shine


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## fishfryer

bonecollector822 said:


> Has anyone ever tried the legal corn whiskey thats labeled moonshine. Such as georgia moonwhich is supposedly the same whiskey that used to be made by junior johnson?



Georgia Moon tastes and smells like hogfeed!


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## JustUs4All

I have a friend who tells me about a magic stump just off the road.  One can put money by the stump, drive away for a quarter of an hour and the money will be transformed into a jar.


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## Artfuldodger

I understand the flavors of snapps and brandies and know various spirits have their unique flavors. Some like gin is flavored with juniper berries. But like hillbilly said I think you answered is why would someone look for a regional whiskey and then want to buy it flavored? It's just different than buying snapps, liquers, and brandies. I'll have to agree it's geared for young people. Everytime someone shows up with moonshine around here someone wants to know if it's flavored.
On a side note I ran across a liquer made with roots & herbs that sounds good:
http://www.artintheage.com/spirits-landing/root/#


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## tim scott

hey hilbilly, sounds like we're both on the same track, maybe just not expressing ourselves so well.  i know what you mean about the silly apple pie junk.... what you need to do is to just do the math..... use the recipe the guy gave above and his end result isn't likker rather the alcohol level has been diluted down to a strong beer if that.... yet they do seem to get so much enjoyment passing the jug around and acting drunk.... kinda like watching a couple of 8 or 10 yr olds splitting a beer they snitched form dad.... they know they're drinking and act out being drunk.... yeah right.... all in their minds.

artfuldodger... i know the herb and root stuff can sound so good... i tried a few years ago..... if you do some research, you'll find most weren't made to be drunk but rather were used as a medicine, stomac tonic. lots of talk of how they will settle an up-set tummy, aid digestion etc..... well i found they were really good the first little sip, not so the second or third.... and about twenty minutes later i was belching the taste back up... each belch got nastier and nastier. an hour later and i was just wishing someone would shoot me and put me out of my misery. try them if you want but remember you were warned. roots and herbs have some strong flavors that come back at you with completely different taste than they went down with. 
my favorites are a sweet orange brandy, i also love the taste of vanilla... ever try nassau royale... it's a vanilla infused rum... kinda hard to find, so hard i got mad and duplicated it, then improved on it's flavor... if your interested can look up my recipe. i better cut this short for now, with all the years making making them, i could chat about liqueurs and brandies for days. for many years a really good friend was vp of one of the largest wine and liquer dist. in the country.... we'd go to dinner then back at home they give me an expensive liqueur and i'd duplicate it and often improve on it at a fraction of the cost. right now i'm working on a duplicate of chambard... it's been years in the works, no one has ever been able to duplicate it exactly... i now have a batch that is the right taste but the mouth feel isn't right... theirs feels thick and seems to coat your tongue, mine while perfect taste feels thin and watery on the tongue.... but i think i know where to take this.... and mine would cost about a forth that of the original stuff.

yeah i've heard about lots of magic stumps over the years... this is about the best way for you to die a horrible nasty death... if you don't know exactly who makes the stuff then it could have anything in it..... years ago a real sick pervert got his kicks putting stricnine (sp?) in his stuff he killed about a dozen people and put hundreds in the hospital... he never was charged because his brother was the sheriff and they had a atf agent on the take...
cheers tim


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## WOODIE13

Good thing I took mine down, party poopers


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## Bkeepr

You can make your own peach or apple brandy by just purchasing some plain brandy or what have you, vodka or rum.  Then chop up some peaches or apples.  Pour the brandy into a larger jug and add your fruit.  Boil one cup sugar and one cup water to make a simple syrup.  Add the syrup to the brandy/fruit mix.  Cap and mix.  Invert daily for 5 weeks or so, then strain out the fruit and refrigerate the liquid to drink at your leisure.  Cheaper and tastier than that stuff they sell up in Gatlinburg, and you know there is no lead in it!

Hmmm, bet that fruit would be good in a fruit cake!  I made some blackberry brandy and some peach brandy this summer and I am still drinking it!  Yum!


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## Artfuldodger

I don't even drink mixed drinks just spirits over ice. Someone on here introduced "Tito's handmade vodka",to me recently, it's pretty smooth. I would drink one or two sweet drinks for a dessert drink. My two daughters are both waitresses and the trend now is to mix two beers or ciders together. That's nothing news as my Dad said they did that in England in WWII.


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## rigderunner

Buck Nasty said:


> Just drive up to Tennesee and get some of Popcorn's..... it is now on the market up there, legally.....



theres several on the market now


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## olcowman

NCHillbilly said:


> And for what it's worth, growing up in the middle of likker-makin' country, and coming from a family who made a lot of it back in the day; I've never that I remember heard anybody from around here call corn liquor "moonshine," at least, not until recently. It's usually called "white likker," or "corn likker." Some of the old timers called it "blockade liquor." Moonshine seems to be an outside term.



I growed up with folks who made it and drank it, some on a big scale, and I've made a little myself here and there... might've drunk a gourd full ever now and then. I never heard it called moonshine neither until I came to Georgia in the 1970s. It was always white likker', corn, or as my own Pap called it 'un-taxed whiskey'... he said it sounded official and kinda legal when you said that? He drunk a good bit of what he made... 



NCHillbilly said:


> Good question. I've never seen likker improved by adding fruit and stuff to it to make it taste like something besides likker. If it's so rough a likker that you have to soak apples in it to be able to drink it, you oughta pour it out, it's probably full of lead and fusel oil anyway. And if it's good likker to begin with, it just ruins and insults it to put fruit in it.



Never did go to adding stuff to our likker' but my Granny would toss in some yeller' root for the jar she kept in the house. She was a christain women and weren't going to be caught with none of that ol' devil's brew in her house. She explained that the yeller' root turned evil whiskey into good medicine... she was sick alot I reckon?

My great uncle took 4 five gallon buckets full of reject/bruised strawberries I got off one of them pick your own places and run them through a little stovetop still he had pieced together outta copper and my Aunt's pressure cookers. It was a heap of work, we strained all them little seeds out and cut off every little bruised spot, but to this day I swear that was some of the finest tasting whiskey ever made. It was smooth as silk but was subject to kick like a mule after you had you three or four good swallers'... he dosed it out by the drink to only his finest friends and a few family members he thought alot of. A couple of gallons lasted a pretty good spell for us like this, but we both bout cried when we took them last two sups...


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## BradMyers

olcowman said:


> My great uncle took 4 five gallon buckets full of reject/bruised strawberries I got off one of them pick your own places and run them through a little stovetop still he had pieced together outta copper and my Aunt's pressure cookers. It was a heap of work, we strained all them little seeds out and cut off every little bruised spot, but to this day I swear that was some of the finest tasting whiskey ever made. It was smooth as silk but was subject to kick like a mule after you had you three or four good swallers'... he dosed it out by the drink to only his finest friends and a few family members he thought alot of. A couple of gallons lasted a pretty good spell for us like this, but we both bout cried when we took them last two sups...


According to this site it's up there in price too. Sound like good times.
http://www.coppermoonshinestills.com/id28.html


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## faceplate66

Burl E. said:


> A lost and dying art ... Moonshine... It is a shame that people won't stay true to the things that made this country great... I guess that there is too much money in making meth than alcohol ... What a shame that this art will be lost forever!



I do believe this art is still alive and well, I know a guy or 2.


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## irishredneck

Jack Daniels are bringing out a new un-aged Rye Whiskey this month, can't wait to try it.






If any of y'all can make a moonshine thats as good as the 25 year Macallan let me know  I'd almost go to jail for that!


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## Dan DeBord

Back in the 60's-70's some of the finest was made in Rabun Co. We made our pickup's at the courthouse. For medicinal purpose's only.


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## rubicon_in_ga

There's an art to it, to be sure.  There's a saying, "Moonshine's for selling, not drinking."  If you want to make good, drinkable stuff that rivals commercial liquor, it takes practice, ALOT of knowledge of things like specific gravity, hydrometers, different yeast strains, sugar sources, and the different types of stills and condensers.  There's a TON of info on places like homedistiller.org

Keep in mind, while beer and wine are legal to produce up to a certain amount per year, it's illegal to make any form of liquor or distilled spirits, in any amount.  It's legal to posess a distilling apparatus (i.e, a copper pot still), but if you're caught with any fermenting mash, or finished liquor, each can be charged as separate felonies.  And don't forget, if you are distilling at home, and you have any guns in your house, then you may also be charged with possession of a firearm during the comission of a felony, which is almost certain jail time.

Despite the risk, thanks to shows like Moonshiners on Discovery, there's alot of guys getting into 'moonshining' now, and I honestly think it's only a matter of time before the BATF and local police start cracking down.  On the flip side, it's because of shows like Moonshiners, and people like Popcorn Sutton, that the BATF and states like Tennessee have rewritten certain laws, and allowed 'legal' moonshine to be produced and named as such for the first time ever.  That's why we're now seeing such an increase in new brands (like Ol' Smoky Moonshine) and new products (like the Jack Daniels unaged rye).

Best advice I can give to anyone considering it?  Weigh the pros and cons.  If you make it, and you don't know what you're doing, you could have a boiler explosion, you could potentially poison anyone who drinks it (lead poisoning, methanol poisoning, etc), and of course there's always a chance you'll get caught.  If you sell it, the chances go WAY up.  You might get a fine.  You might get jail time. You'll most likely lose your right to ever legally own a firearm again. 

On the other hand, Mr Daniels, Mr Beam, and yes, even George Washington, started out small, refined their product, survived Prohibition, and have gone on to become some of the world's most recognized and highly sought after distillers.  Its a risk, but you could very well become the next great distiller in history.  

Just be careful if you decide to try it.  As Tickle says, "It's not illegal till you get caught!"


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## David Parker

I moved into a place and there was a big mason jar on the windowsill with water and an ear of corn in it.  I figured it was the start of something along the lines of booze.  Then I thought about who lived there prior and didn't really believe they were the type to coordinate distilling it.  So i'm concluding they were desperate enough to create hooch from a mason jar, corn, and water.

That said, would the results of this reaction be vinegar or could you enhance it to drinkability?


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## rubicon_in_ga

A mason jar with an ear of corn and water really won't do anything by itself.  First thing you need is yeast to break down the sugars in the corn, however, the corn must be cooked, cracked, or ground into meal to break it down into pieces small enough for yeast to start working the natural sugars in the corn into alcohol.  Yeast also need anerobic conditions to produce any significant amount of alcohol worth distilling, and to prevent simple rotting of the corn. Anerobic basically means "without oxygen", which is why most hobby distillers use an air lock on a carbouy, allowing carbon dioxide to 'burp' from the vessel, but preventing oxygen in. If you completely seal a mason jar with corn, water, and yeast without using some form of airlock, you could potentially shatter the jar from the pressure of the unreleased carbon dioxide.  The guys on tv typically use a large barrel with a towel draped over the top to keep bugs out, and a lid placed loosely on top of that to help prevent too much oxygen from getting in.  They get away with not using an airlock because they're fermenting so much at once, and an airlock would simply blow off from the massive amounts of carbon dioxide released.

Most guys these days only use corn for flavoring, not for the actual alcohol production. That's why you see the guys on TV dumping 50lb bags of whole kernel deer corn into submarine pots. Back in the old days, corn was much more abundant, and sugar not so much, so they would grind the corn at the local mill, usually paying for it on a promise to the mill owner of some of the shine after it's made.  Moonshine today is sometimes referred to as 'sugar shine' because all the yeast need to produce alcohol is sugar, water, and some basic nutrients.  It's cheaper these days to buy lots of sugar (like you see them doing on tv) then using the corn, rye, etc, to give the correct flavor to the shine.  

Once you have the mash made (corn, water, sugar, nutrients if needed, and yeast) you have to let it ferment for anywhere from 3-14 days, and what you're left with, is a nasty looking liquid that only contains about 8-12% alcohol.  If you were to drink this 'beer' before distilling it (which some old timers did, believe it or not, just to get drunk) it tastes very bitter, and is not very pleasant at all.  This is when you put the fermented mash (known as 'distiller's beer') into the pot and distill it.  The downside to moonshine is that it takes ALOT of mash to make a very little moonshine.  Typically you only get about 10% of your starting volume of mash back as finished moonshine.  That's why the big time guys run the huge pots. You can figure 100 gallons of mash might make around 10 gallons of moonshine.  So a mason jar worth of mash might make enough to fill a shot glass.

I know more about this stuff than I should.  I got really interested when the Moonshiners series started, so I did alot of research, cause I'm a geek like that.   Almost all of this information can be found online, and there's alot more to it than this ultra simplified explanation. 

**DISCLAIMER** I do not offer this information in any way to encourage or suggest anyone should engage in illegal distilling of spirits.  Know the laws and the penalties before risking your freedoms.


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## Killdee

Up untill about 3 years ago, there was a 3rd generation "moonshiner" allowed to operate on a lease we had. Him his Daddy and granddaddy had operated there. There were old still sites all over that place, 19 that I found, mostly groundhog stills. I have a pic or 2 I'll post if I can find em.When the current landowners Daddy passed she told them they had to move out,as far as I know they are still operating somewhere in Troup county. Heres 1 I could find quick.


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## bnew17

Very interesting thread...keep it going


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## The Longhunter

irishredneck said:


> Jack Daniels are bringing out a new un-aged Rye Whiskey this month, can't wait to try it.



I'm a big fan of rye whiskey.  Straight up for the good stuff,  Just found the JD un-aged, $55.00 for 750 ml.  May wait a while to try it.


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