The term moonshine came from its illegality, which forced people to make it at night or under the light (or shine) of the moon. This yield translates to approximately 2-3 gallons of moonshine at a more palatable 40-50% ABV (80-100 proof) when the collected distillate is diluted. Using sugar can potentially increase the fermentable material, thereby boosting the yield, although it may also impact the flavor profile. Some distillers add 2 tsp. of gypsum to the mash water at this step. Then they test the pH of the mash water. While you can always use some other alcohol like Everclear from your drinks, where’s the fun in that? History of Moonshine

You’ve done the most difficult step in making mash water for your moonshine. Now, you just need to distill your mash water and separate all the alcohol content into a purified form. Making moonshine involves a process called distillation, which is commonly done using a pot still. The distillation process starts with creating a mash, a mixture of corn, sugar, and yeast, which is heated in a large tank or pot. The heat causes the yeast to turn the sugar into alcohol, a process known as fermentation. This is critical, especially if you are using copper stills that are showing some salt buildup already. So, before transferring your mash water, make sure you wash and clean your still again. Remember that the temperature is critical to your success. If it gets too cold, boiling temperature, the fermentation can stop because the yeast will go dormant. Remember that yeast likes it warm and moist.

This process does not create alcohol, because the yeast already made that for you during fermentation. You can make moonshine from different mash made of different ingredients. There are also various recipes you can try, depending on the flavor you want to bring out. By now, your product should lose the harsh, solvent smell you found in the heads. The flavor of your moonshine or whatever flavor you want from your recipes should now come out. Just like the foreshots, the heads contain volatile alcohols that you should try to avoid consuming. While this will not blind you, it will give you one hell of a hangover which isn’t really pleasant.

Sugar shine is popular among beginners and those looking to experiment with flavors as it doesn’t require any mash. The hybrid mash replaces some corn with table sugar, allowing for a higher yield with the same amount of corn. Final Words Write the specific gravity reading at the start of fermentation and at the end of the process. If you had not guessed it, you can increase the ABV by adding more sugar, more on this below. Straining This is most popular for beginners and those looking to really experiment with the flavors of their shine because it doesn’t require any mash and you still get the same abv. With a good stilling kit, moonshiners can make anything, even apple pie and chocolate-flavored moonshine! It all depends on the recipe you decide to follow or create. Avoid letting your moonshine drip into a plastic container, because this can lace your drink with BPA and may cause other issues.Remember that you always want to reduce the amount of sediment in your corn mash water as much as possible. Running Your Still Once you reach this drip rate, decrease the heat to maintain it. You can usually reach this by dialing it down to the medium setting. A rough estimate, assuming a 10% alcohol by volume (ABV) in the mash and 85% distillation efficiency, suggests you might obtain around 0.425 gallons of pure ethanol.

The next 30% yielded by your distilling process contains mostly ethanol. This is the good stuff you want to collect and store. Some recipes call for a 1:1 ratio. For example, you will use 1 gallon of water to 1 pound of sugar and 1 pound of corn meal. Feel free to experiment and see what works for you! Equipment For Creating the Mash Similarly, the choice of bread yeast could result in variations in both yield and flavor, compared to specialized distillers’ yeast.

They have a distinct “solvent” smell that comes from its alcohols, such as the acetone present in the heads. Again, collect the heads in a separate container and throw it out. Collecting Hearts The first 5% of the liquid separated fuel alcohol made by your distilling process is the foreshots. The foreshots has the earliest-evaporating alcohols in your corn mash water.