re: anyone on here ever have any experience in the manufacturing of moonshine?

Seems as though I am late to the dance on this thread but willing to answer any and all questions.

Main rule of thumb I got to add as I havent read the whole thread yet is Nothing but copper and stainless in the vapor path. Period.

I have built a few still, both pot as well as a very nice reflux still. Easy to do and can be pretty cheap depending on how big or fancy you wanna go.

as for making a mash - well again depending on what you wanna go for there are tons of ways to do it but to get the most bang for your buck you wanna follow a tried and true recipe. something simple as a couple of boxes of total bran ceral can turn out to be a very nice smooth white whiskey. Let me know if there is any interest and I can add to this thread.

Well, the still part is simple - copper and stainless only in the vapor path as anything else can leach toxins over into the final product - Nothing - I mean nothing but copper and stainless. I build all of my stills out of a 15.5 stainless keg which you can get from just about any store that sells them. The most I have ever paid for one is like 75.00 from there you need to build you head - out of copper of course. a 2 inch copper pipe fits up nice with the keg and you can get a adapter from hillbilly stills to save some time and effort. ask any questions you would like - I will do my best to answer them.

A keg will be the best way to go - you can run anything up to 12 gallons in it and trust me you will want to run more than five gallons in the future. In terms of how much you make the first time - remember a 5 gallon wash will only produce about 500 mils of product depending on your startin specific gravity of the wash. a couple of basic supplies you will need ....

1. ferment bucket, you can pick this up at any homebrew supply with a lid and airlock. 7.5 gallon bucket so you have room for it to breathe

2. a Hydrometer and Specific gravity meter - this allows you to see the proof (hydrometer) of your final product as well as aid in making your cuts of the final product. Specific gravity meter allows you to adjust the SG of your wash as well as being able to see when your wash is fully done, in this you can also calc your yeild of the wash - or how much alcohol you should get.

3. a good recipe, a no boil corn mash will give you a quick ferment as well as a slight hint of corn, the ferment usually takes about 5-7 days on Uncle jesses simple sour mash. again your SG meter will tell you all you need to know about when the mash/wash is done. you are shooting for a 0.99 SG or when it stops bubbling in the airlock.

4. as it has been said you ALWAYS discard the first 100-200 mils of product to ensure no mathanol is in you final product.

5. a propane burner is optimal for heating the mash up, hold a steady temp for you to bring it up and maintain it.

Out of a 12 gallon wash I can get about a gallon or so of product at around 130-140 proof. once I add spring water to get the desired proof -60-70 proof I have about 2 gallons of white liqour. again this is where the hydrometer comes into play. Dont be greedy and read read and then read some more before you start this. Your still has to be cleaned and check for leaks before you ever start this process, dont be fooled by that show - you can cause some VERY serious harm either by methanol intake or a serious fire hazard.

READ ALL YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON.

shoot me a email if you would like - medic_30852 at yahoo

Ha! I have done this a time or two :) and I am sure you can add to the discussion - hell I am always up for learning a new trick or two.

If you have ever bought shine in the north Ga area - chances are it was some of mine, if it was quality that is!

We just make our own. Started making 10-15 gals at a time (mash) recently so its small. I love it though. Making it is almost as fun as drinking it.

Yes it is. I almost hate the show, but it serves its purpose I guess. Its so fake it isnt even funny.

did you get the email?

I emailed you back with the response - let me know if you got it, might want to check you spam folder could have got caught up there.

I was halfway joking. There are yeast spores in almost all beer, not active yeast, but enough to seed fermentation. It's an old hillbilly engineering trick. Didn't say that was the best way to go about it.