How to make a still ?

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How do you make a still?

-- C.A. Cagney (Puttingood@carolina.rr.com), November 15, 2001

Answers

Find a new friend that is anti-drinking. Every time you drink he/she will berate you so bad you will start drinking in secret and be afraid to whine about your liquor supply anymore.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), November 15, 2001.

I can't find my blueprints for the still right now. Email me and I'll see about getting them to you.

Here is a long time family recipe for first rate moonshine.

A Quick Recipe for Making Moonshine The basic ingredients:

corn meal sugar water yeast malt

The basic process:

Mix all ingredients together in a large container. After mixing, move the mixture, called "mash," into a still and leave it to ferment. How quickly this process occurs depends on the warmth of the mash.

Heat the mash to the point of vaporization at 173 degrees. The mash will produce a clear liquid, often the color of dark beer. You must watch this process with careful attention.

Trap vapor using a tube or coil. The vapor will be transferred into a second, empty container. The resulting condensation is the moonshine. It is then ready to drink or sell.

Keep mash in container. It is now called "slop." Add more sugar, water, malt, and corn meal and repeat the process.

Repeat the process up to eight times before replacing the mash.

-- Sativa Ashe (sativaashe@hotmail.com), November 15, 2001.


Joe---I asked a serious question in order to get a serious answer. Apparently, the posters on this board are not real serious in helping others. I will not give up drinking because its the only thing that makes people like you tolerable.

And Sativa--Thank you for your nice reply. I will try that recipe.

-- C.A Cagney (Puttingood@carolina.rr.com), November 15, 2001.


You're asking in the wrong place. The folks you want to ask are at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. They're very knowledgeable about do-it-yourself homebuilt whisky stills and I'm sure they'd be fascinated with your project.

Live Oak

-- Live Oak (live-oak@floridawoods.com), November 15, 2001.


You are kinda sharp there, are'nt you ? If I called the ATF then they would know about my still. Don't you think that they have caller ID and would know something. Your idea is not very good. I appreciate it though. Thank You

-- C.A. Cagney (Puttingood@carolina.rr.com), November 15, 2001.


Hey Live Oak, That was a good one, I laughed myself stoopit!!

-- Glenn (gj_usa1@yahoo.com), November 15, 2001.

You probably didn't have far to go to get to "stoopit"

-- C.A. Cagney (Puttingood@carolina.rr.com), November 15, 2001.

Use your search engine for home brew, those sites are linked to others, aim and click, it will come up.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), November 15, 2001.

I haven't developed sufficient "stoopitness" to seek still plans over an open forum Einstein. BTW the apostrophe comes after the "n" in "aren't".

-- Glenn (gj_usa1@yahoo.com), November 15, 2001.

We are just kidding around with ya Pal !!

-- Glenn (gj_usa1@yahoo.com), November 15, 2001.


Geesh, no sense of humor! Obviously, C.A. needs a better quality of booze! Actually I thought his post was kind of humorous.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), November 15, 2001.

While I doubt this is a legimate thread, I'll give it the benefit of that doubt. Get a copy of The Foxfire Book #1. Your local library may have it. Heck, when I was in high school, a couple of buddies and I made a mini-still. Tasted horrible, but then we didn't know any better either.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 15, 2001.

www.about.com has some good plans.

But try this it's simple yeast, water sugar starch (corn [cracked or meal], rice, potatoes, etc.) mix them up into a thin slurry let sit about 5 days in a ceramic tub or stainless pot. The mash will form a skin and When it is done the skin will roll and seem to boil from the gas escaping during the fermentation process.

Percolator type coffee pot that can be set at about 180 deg.f Plastic or Copper tubing, run from the spout to a bowl of cooling water and lay several loops in the water and run out to a small glass.

You will need to run all the mash once (called singles) and clean your equipment. Then take the liquid accumulated and run again.

Sip slowly! This stuff may be 200 proof and you might want to cut it with 60% water. Not because you’re a pussy or anything but it will kill you if you drink too much to fast.

-- mw (308wood@excite.com), November 15, 2001.


why is it that stills are illegal? i think i heard when my father was making (i think) legal beer in the kitchen when i was 11-yrs-old that they were illegal because they were known to poison people. is this the reason why? I don't drink so i don't have any stills planned, but they are neat looking.

-- george (bngcrview@aol.com), November 15, 2001.

beer, wine good. spirits BAD. why? the govt. says so.

-- ww (308wood@excite.com), November 15, 2001.


Stills are legal . Moon shining is illegal. You can get poisoned by not cleaning equipment, using lead solder on your copper parts and they can blow up!

-- ww (308wood@excite.com), November 15, 2001.

The gooberment wouldn't get the windfall revenue they now enyoy if every Tom, Dick & Harry were to make there own whiskey. It's loke pot, they can't possibly tax it cause its so easy to grow, so its big time illegal... ain't this "free" country simply amazing sometimes? Thank goodness they are saving us from us.

-- Willy Allen (willyallen2@yahoo.com), November 15, 2001.

Stills are legal in this country, so take a look at http://www.voyager.co.nz/~dsmith/home-brewing-wine-making.htm

which has leads to a number of pages on that and related subjects.

Planes fly Auckland to LA a few times a day and our postal service is A1. You can probably buy what you need with just your PC and Visa card.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), November 15, 2001.


Stills are also great for manufacturing your own ethanol to use as fuel, they have good uses other than for making drinking alcohol.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), November 15, 2001.

Ann, what you say is very true, but I believe the poster wanted to drink his brew to continue the deterioration process in his brain.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), November 15, 2001.

As far as I know making yer own shine is legal in limited quantities (100 gallons/yr??) and AS LONG AS YOU DON'T SELL IT.

-- john (natlivent@pcpros.net), November 15, 2001.

Be careful C.A., you may want to try your first few batches on a few unwanted freinds. If you make a bad batch of that stuff it will actually kill you. Then you will really be thirsty!

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), November 15, 2001.

Seems like I've answered this question about stills several times in the last few weeks.

In the U.S. you may not *legally* distill so much as a drop of alcohol whether it's for personal use, motor fuel or whatever.

You needn't take my word for it you can get the word straight from the horses (jack asses?) mouth:

AFT Frequently Asked Questions htt p://www.atf.treas.gov/alcohol/info/faq/genalcohol.htm#g1

Now, as an adult citizen of the United States if you choose to distill your own alcohol anyway well that's your business. I just wouldn't want any Countrysiders to unwittingly run afoul of the law.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (live-oak@atlantic.net), November 16, 2001.


Two easy ways I've read about but have never tried (honestly!) are to 1) freeze the fermented beverage, skim off the ice (water), leaving the alcohol, or 2)use a crock-pot with a plastic lid, drill a hole in it, attach tubing, and run to another container. Don't know the details on these but evidently, it's done in many dark closets throughout the nation.

BTW, I've actually studied the regulations on this pretty closely and thought about applying for a permit. At one time, I had this wild idea of making Alaskan vodka. See, we have 1) an incredible potato crop here with lots of sugar content (yes... they are slightly sweet), and 2) we have a large Russian population. The problem was that I couldn't/wouldn't want to start a business without experimenting and I couldn't experiment without a permit for distillation from ATF. I can't afford to get a permit without a viable business... hence the catch 22. The regulations provide no realistic way to get started in this business legally. It irks me that ATF does nothing but protect big business and prevent anyone from entering the marketplace! I agree the ATF is needed, but their regulations need to be overhauled. Well... enough of my soapbox for the day...!

Hope this info is useful.

-- Michael Nuckols (nuckolsm@wildak.net), November 16, 2001.


WELL THE STILL IDEA IS MOST LIKELY ILLEGAL[BUT THEN AGAIN ILL EAGLE IS JUST A SICK BIRD]. THERE ARE TOO THINGS TO WATCH WHEN DISTILLING.YOU DON`T NEED A THERMOMETER AS MENTIONED BY OTHERS.JUST GO TO A LIGHT BOIL SO THE STUFF DOESN`T BOIL OVER TO FAST.SECONDLY,DISCARD THE FIRST PART OF WHAT DISTILLES OFF.METHOL ALCOHOL CAUSES BLINDNESS AND FUSEL OIL IMPARTS A BITTER TASTE.THE FAVORITE UNIT FOR DISTILLING IN MY AREA IS A COKE OR PEPSI STAINLESS STEEL FOUNTAIN POP CYLINDER.YOU TAKE OFF THE RUBBER BOTTOM AND SET IT ON THE BURNER OF YOUR STOVE. JUST R3EMEMBER THAT THE ATF PROBABLY CAN TRACE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IF YOU HAVEN`T ALREADY POSTED YOUR PERSONAL INFO ON THIS BOARD. TWO OPTION THAT MIGHT BE LEGAL [1]BUY SWISH BARRELS[USED HARD LIQUOR BARRELS]FROM A LOCAL DISTILLARY. YOU ADD ABOUT A GALLON OF BOILING WATER AND SWISH IT AROUND...THUS THE NAME SWISH.YOU ROTATE IT A QUARTER TURN FOR ABOUT 7-10 DAYS.THEN YOU DRAIN IT OFF THE WATER DRAWS THE ALCOHOL OUT OF THE WOOD.I`VE EVEN EMPTIED ABOUT A GALLON OF PURE STUFF OUT OF MY BEST BARREL.THEN ADDED WATER TO THE EMPTY BARREL AND GOT MORE.EVEN THE STUFF THAT COMES FROM THE NORMAL BARREL WILL BURN QUITE READILY.AS LONG AS NO ONE HAS USED THE BARREL ALREADY. [2]JAPANESE JIN...ITS A MIX OF POTATO PEELINGS,ORANGE SLICES,RAISINS, SUGAR,YEAST AND WATER....YOU GET 5 GALLONS IN 6 DAYS FOR BASICLY THE COST OF THE SUGAR.YOU STRAIN IT OUT AND PUT IT INTO AN OTHER BUCKET.THE SOLUTION BUBBLES/FIZZES LIKE A POP.THE BAD NEWS IS YOU HAVE TO DRINK IT WHEN ITS READY IN 6 DAYS.THE 7TH DAY IS OK.BUT IT LOOSES ITS TASTE AFTER A WHILE.[KIND OF LIKE JAIL HOUSE BREW].BUT WHEN EVER I THROW A PARTY EVERYONE WANTS THE RECIPE.FOR SPECIAL OCCASSIONS I`LL THROW IN A QT OF VODKA OR TECILLA[SP].ITS LESS BOTHER THAN BEER MAKING AND DOESN`T TASTE ALL THAT BAD.MOST PEOPLE OVER DO IT AS THEY DON`T THINK ITS VERY STRONG.BUT TWO LARGE GUYS AT MY LAST PARTY HAVE NO RECALL OF THE PARTY AT ALL.ONE GUYS WIFE FORBIDS HIM TO EVER DRINK THE STUFF AGAIN.

CHEERS CORDWOODGUY

-- CORDWOODGUY (cordwoodguy@n2teaching.com), November 17, 2001.


You yanks just hang out in the wrong country. Its perfectly legal to distill here in New Zealand.

For a fully comprehensive site on how to design and make a still, make the mash & ferment it, distill it, then age & flavour the spirits, see http://homedistiller.org Its all free, heaps of photos, and covers all the safety details too (forget this bullshit that its real easy to kill yourself - thats urban myth stuff. If you understand what you're doing its a perfectly safe hobby).

Tony : http://homedistiller.org

-- Tony Ackland (ackland@thenet.net.nz), December 29, 2001.


Don't believe any info you might get from the Anarchist Cookbook or it's website. I know enough about chemistry to know that a lot of the stuff they tell you to do in there is actually intended to trick people into killing or seriously injuring themselves.

-- Brian (address@company.com), January 20, 2002.

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