Two methods that will make your moonshine first-class

I love good drinks, especially Jameson whiskey (Jemison), Havent Hill bourbon (Hevent Hill) and Leaders (Leders).

I have always been skeptical about moonshining, considering moonshiners to be low-income people who are forced to drive terrible quality products in the hope of at least something to drink and save money.

Now imagine my surprise when at a corporate party one big boss offered to try his moonshine. My first thought is – “Dear person, with a salary of several hundred thousand, what else moonshine?”.

But when I tried his drink, I was simply discouraged – my any Jamison, Leders and other noble whiskeys and bourbons simply did not stand next to me. Since then, I have also become interested in the process of moonshine brewing.

Moreover, in just a year I achieved a good result, and it seems to me that I have mastered two methods of driving to perfection. I want to tell about them.

This story was shared by my reader Nikita M.

The purchase of equipment is the basis of distillation and the tears of moonshiners’ wives

The first thing that caught my eye was the assortment of equipment, the number of all cones and jars of a purpose unknown to me at that time, nozzles, extension cords and other elements incomprehensible to the common man. I could not believe that so many things are needed to make moonshine.

The second is the cost of the whole thing. Thoughts that moonshine is the lot of poor people disappeared in an instant.

I managed to assemble a normal apparatus for 20 rubles, and this despite the fact that I cooked the cube myself, fortunately, I know how to use argon welding. But assembling the device is half the trouble, it is much more difficult to learn how to drive worthy drinks.

Naturally, my first attempts were either poured down the toilet or left standing in the locker in case I had to wipe someone’s ass before the injection.

It was unsuitable for ingestion. Therefore, I would rather talk about my successes and the two haul methods that gave me the first results.

Crushing the first shoulder strap or how to manipulate the tails

The first shoulder strap is the most merciless, as soon as the cube warms up to 50-60 ° C, a liquid begins to be released that contains EAF (a bunch of impurities that are objectively life-threatening: acetone, formic acid, methyl alcohol and much more). The initial stage of pasture is also called the heads, so the heads must be selected so that they do not get into the body of the product.

1. We turn on the heating of the cube and heat it to 75 °, select the heads. The main question here is how to understand that the heads are out. Alas, no way. But I was able to “hit” when I was just not in a hurry. Warming up at 1 ° C took me 2 minutes. I used a programmable thermostat for this.
2. As soon as the temperature of the steam in the cube reaches 78°, we begin to select the body. At the same time, the heating continues, but I correct the thermal relay (warming up by 1 ° in 4 minutes), thus, I select the body for almost an hour and a half. It is worth saying that on many forums, videos on YouTube, moonshine from amateurs just flows in a trickle, but for me it slowly and languidly drips drop by drop, but I don’t see anything wrong with that.
3. Everything that stands out after 92 ° – tails. This is where the essence of the technique lies, the tails do not spill out. They are distilled separately after the second cut, and the body of tails is added to the final body-to-body product.

Do not pour out the tails – they are the source of aroma from the base of the mash. The main thing is to properly clean the tails before adding to the body.

The second method is simpler, but inferior in flavor

The first method allows you to preserve the aroma of what the mash was made of. To do this, you can use apples, apricots, jam, whatever.

The second method – allows you to drive quickly. The essence is reduced to a triple pursuit and the selection of exclusively the body.

Moreover, the cube is cooled by cocurrent between the shoulder straps as quickly as possible, after which the body of the previous shoulder strap, diluted with distillate, is immediately poured, and the process is repeated two more times.

The output is a pure product, which, unfortunately, is not suitable for independent use, but for tincture on berries or in an oak barrel – that’s it.

Results achieved

Both in the first and in the second case, I received a pure rectifier of relatively high quality, but I never used it right away. Before that, I always insist the product on something in order to give a maximum of aroma and a pleasant aftertaste.

I sincerely recommend that whiskey lovers get an oak barrel, it’s not such an expensive pleasure, but it’s worth it. Whiskey turns out excellent, not the same, of course, as my guru-boss, but everything has its time.

Where did your path in moonshine brewing begin?