Distilling spirits

Into each cask or hogshead, throw nine gallons of water heated to ninety degrees of Farenheit’s thermometer, to which add forty pounds of Indian corn meal; agitate the mass briskly, and let it stand two hours, that it may open and prepare the grain for dissolution; now twelve gallons of boiling water are added, and briskly worked with the oar, then suffered to stand fifteen minutes – on the top of this, four gallons of luke-warm water are gently poured, and ten pounds of malt gently worked on the top, so as not to intermix with the corn meal, which is in that state suffered to stand thirty minutes, then fourteen gallons more of boiling water are added to the mass, and worked as before: this in that state is suffered to stand sixty minutes, then forty pounds of rye meal are now added, and worked well, and just as before the whole mass is suffered to stand from two to four hours, in proportion to the state of the weather: the calculation is, when cold water filled to within six inches of the top of the cask, will bring down the whole mass to seventy-five degrees. It is now yeasted … covered … and left until fit for the still

-Theory and Practice of Distilling by Michael Krafft, 1804

You should do a thread on the food board. But I would enjoy getting into this.

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Distilling spirits
For novelty purposes of course

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is still illegal.

Fun fact: the only time a US president has ridden at the head of the army in his role as CIC was when George Washington led the army into PN to suppress the whiskey rebellion, a group of farmers distilling whiskey without paying the federal tax. He soon decided it was for the birds, though, handed command to Henry Lee (Robert E.'s dad), and went home.

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my understanding is that distilling is just one step further

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It's a big, and possibly dangerous step forward. It's also illegal.

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My understanding is that it is not illegal for personal consumption, it doesn't become illegal until you try to distribute it or sell it or move it across state lines.

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Nope. Illegal no matter what.