How to distill moonshine

Distill moonshine at home and before you know it you will find yourself wanting to repeat the process. Moonshine is alcohol that is made at home. However you should know that to make a quality whiskey you have to be patient and make sure that you follow the instructions carefully. One of the easiest ways to make moonshine is to use a pressure cooker still.

Before you start production of moonshine it is important to check with the authorities as to whether it is legal or not to distill it. This is for your own safety and obviously you don’t want to break any laws! Furthermore, it is important that you are careful while making the moonshine because if temperatures are not carefully monitored, there could be poisoning. Another word of caution – metal containers that are contaminated and not made from copper could lead to lead poisoning.

The basic ingredients needed to distill moonshine are sugar, water, corn meal, yeast and malt extract. The equipment needed are a Tub for the mash, a fermenter , a still and a condenser. You can use a pressure cooker and a drum or a brand new garbage metal bin.

Fill the container (20 gallon) with water (10 gallons) and make sure it is at a temperature of 120F. Add the meal to the water little by little along with the sugar and stir this well. Set the garbage bin/drum on a slow fire and keep the temperature below 145F or the starch will not convert into sugar. Leave this for ½ an hour. When the mash has a thin gruel-like consistency remove it from the heat and cool the container sides with cold water. You could also place the container in your kitchen sink that is filled with water. This will bring down the temperature.

When the mash is cool you could do the iodine test to check if the starch has been converted into sugar. This test entails taking a little mash and putting a drop of iodine on it. If it changes color (dark purple) it means that not all the starch has been changed to sugar. This means that the mash has to be reheated for another thirty minutes. Keep testing until the color is light purple.

Take the yeast that has been well crumbled and the malt extract and dissolve in a little warm water. Add this to the mash. You can add a little bit of warm water if the mash is too thick. If you add hot water it will kill the yeast. Keep the drum/bin in a dark warm place for three days. Make sure it is well covered. The mash will rise in the bin with a lot of froth/foam. When this stops it means that the mash is ready.

Distill moonshine at home with the right equipment. The still is important in the process. Take the pressure cooker and make a 1/4” hole in the lid. Take copper tubing and put it in the hole so that it is just an inch in the pot. There should be no gaps and the tube should fit tightly in the hole so that no gasses can escape through it. Leave around three feet of the tube in the sink. Take a thermos jug and remove the tap from it. Coil copper wire around an object so that it can fit in the jug and let the end of the wire come out of the opening where the tap used to be. The thermos jug should be filled with cold water continuously.

Distill moonshine carefully. Take the light brown liquid and place in the pressure cooker heating it over a low heat. The vapors will escape through the copper tubing and place a receptacle below the copper tubing end to catch these vapors. Don’t drink the first cup of moonshine that accumulates because it is toxic.

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