THANK YOU FOR TAKING AN INTEREST IN WANTING TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MAKING YOUR OWN MOONSHINE IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM


It has come a long way in the last 25 years. I would like to take you through the process and just how simple it is to make your own high quality liquor.  There are 4 basic steps to making moonshine. They are 1. fermenting, 2. distilling, 3. filtering and 4. the adding of essences. There are two types of stills, a reflux still and a pot still. The steps are the same whether the still is 5 gallons or 5,000 gallons. They all are the same. Your water source is very important to making excellent Moonshine. You can use chlorinated water but allow it to be in sunlight for at least 24 hours. The sunlight will kill the chlorine.

FERMENTING: Is step no. 1. It is a process which consists of taking a 5 gallon white plastic food pail and place an air lock into the lid to allow the CO 2 to escape and the oxygen in the air to not enter the chamber. In the pail you have about 5 gallons of clean water, 13 lbs. of plain white sugar plus 1 package of 24 Hr. Turbo Pure or 48 Hr Turbo Pure  Distillers yeast. Mix this up and leave it to ferment for either 24 or 48 hr. whichever you used. 

POT STILL: All stills consist of three different parts, a Boiler, a Cracking Tower and a Condenser. The boiler is a container made of  stainless steel in my stills.  Aluminum is definitely a no no. A chemical reaction takes place between aluminum and alcohol giving off a poison. The Cracking Tower is simply a hollow piece of 2" copper tubing filled with stainless steel packing to break the flow upwards. What takes place  is that when you heat the water and alcohol the alcohol in the mix turns to a vapor at 64C or 148F as against water at 100C or 212F. The goal is to keep this vapor at that temperature until all the alcohol is removed from the water and the alcohol is rising up to the top of the Cracking  Tower. At the top of the Tower there is a small hole connected to the Condenser which contains a coil of copper tubing inside which is surrounded by cold water which is slowly flowing frrom a water source such as a tap. The cold water will cool the alcohol and turn it back into a liquid, thus producing raw alcohol. It will be about 70 percent  alcohol or 140 proof in the case of a Pot Still. The heat source for your still can be from a kitchen stove or if you are going to do it outside a small propane burner will do the job.

 

REFLUX STILL: The difference between the two is in the making of the Cracking Tower. The Reflux Still is longer and contains two pieces of smaller tubing running through it. They are connected to a cold water supply and water is running when the still is in operation. The purpose of this is that a mixture of water and alcohol vapors are rising and when the vapor  hits the cold tubing some of that mixture returns to a liquid  and drops back into the boiler to be recycled allowing only the lighter and more powerful alcohol to be driven upward.  The result is instead of a 70% alcohol the alcoholic percentage will be close to 100% alcohol.

 

I also make a small still. The reason for this was that a person who had bought my large unit wanted a working model to put on his bar. I have only sold one other unit to a nice little old lady who had a tiny apartment an enjoyed a drink but there was something in her diet that she couldn't drink store bought alcohol. It is not very practical but it is there for those of you who want it.

 

DISTILLING: is step no. 2. After the fermenting has taken place you put the fermented solution into the still. An easy way to transfer this is to siphon the liquid from one pot to the other. Always leave at least a 2" to 3" space at the top of the boiler to allow the vapor to float above the mash and it will find the hole leading to the Cracking Tower. Heat your mix to just above  78C or 173F. You really don't need to start your water supply until some vapor starts coming out the tube. At that time only allow your water supply to turn it into a hot liquid. This is really important in my reflux still, because if the water cooling in the Cracking Tower is too cool the still wont operate properly. You should obtain about 8 to 10 liters or quarts of 40% alcohol and the time period is about 3 hours. After that the solution is too weak. Dump that solution and clean your unit out. If you build or purchase my medium unit then you can only put in 1/2 that amount but the same time frame is the same. It only takes half as long but you do it twice. At the end you will have a solution that will be stronger than 40% alcohol or 80 Proof. What I strongly recommend is that you dilute your mix to that 40% level for two reasons. In your making of alcohol you have different bottles with different strengths it become a nightmare trying to keep track of your inventory and the second reason it is import when you come to filtering your raw alcohol or what I like to call a "Raw Vodka" solution. This solution has a very strong smell to it and a weird taste. That is the reason for the filter process.

 

FILTERING: This is step no. 3. You need to make or purchase from me a Carbon Tower. This is a separate piece of equipment made from ABS pipe. This tower is filled with food grade Activated Carbon. In the old days they used charcoal. When the Vodka is passed through this carbon the following action takes place. The Ethanol Alcohol contains about 2,300 hundred different oils what are called Fuzel Oils. These fuzel oils give off the bad smell and taste. What happens when they are passed through the Activated Carbon is that these Fuzel Oils are adsorbed, not absorbed, and what you end up with is a nice smelling, nice tasting Vodka. Activated Carbon does not work effectively if you have over 60% alcohol passed through it. This is the second reason I suggest you dilute your Bob's Moonshine to the 40% level. You notice that it has reached the quality level that I put my name to it. 

 

What you have now is a product that is drinkable. It can be used in punches or almost any drink where you would be using store bought vodka. 

 

ESSENCES: This step no. 4 My supplier from Sweden though has taken it a step further. He has gone to some of the best labs in the world and said to them here is my ethanol alcohol name make me an essence that by adding maybe a little more sugar I want it to taste taste like Rye Whiskey, Rum, or any liqueur like Grand Marnier. He has come up with about 150 different essences so that you have the opportunity with this new found hobby at 20% of what you would pay in the liquor store to make the same thing. I know I have proven it many times. A great party is to invite your friends to a party and have some of the real product there and get them to do a taste sampling. Even if they guess correctly they will admit that it is very difficult to tell the difference.

 

I would like to make you aware of one very important thing. That is as long as you use clean water, white sugar and my Turbo Pure Distillers Yeast you will get 100% percent Ethanol Alcohol. I have seen the lab reports from my supplier. Also he has a worldwide business and he certainly isn't trying to poison the world. If you decide to try some old fashion methods of making moonshine remember this. If you use a vegetable, grain or fruit what is developed for the first cupful in 5 gallons of mash will give off methanol alcohol and that is when you hear the stories of people going blind.

 

I can absolutely guarantee you that if you follow through and either buy or build a unit you will have some great memories and isn't that what life is all about. We are only on this earth a very short time and life is about having fun. I know I have since I started this business. The nice part of this business is that it is a gift that you can give away. Everyone wants to try it. Give it away, because the biggest winner, when you give a gift from the heart, you really end up being the biggest winner.

 

ENJOY  ENJOY  ENJOY

Charlie the Hedgehog       

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