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.