2005-07-08
7:34 p.m.
So, I've been thinking about trying my hand at making wash moonshine. Inspired by a thread over at SA, by a gentleman who walked us step-by-step through his process, I feel that I am now ready to throw my hat into the ring of premium illegal alcohol manufacturing.
Why wash moonshine? Well, mash is not an easy tiger to wrangle. While the taste of mash would be preferable to its white sugar counterpart, the level of mess is virtually unpredictable, and successfully finding good quality malt is not something that I have experience in. For my first batch, I�ll stick with sugar, yeast, and water.
The supplies I�ll need are surprisingly cheap and easy to find, the most expensive being the large glass decanters needed for the fermentation process. In the original tutorial, the writer used plastic milk jugs for this purpose, but I want to aim for something much more sanitary and permanent. I figure, from my experience watching my grandparents can preserves, that my materials should be composed of glass, copper, and plastic - all sterilized properly before use.
My biggest obstacle will be possible contamination during fermentation. Because of this area�s extreme humidity in the summer, bacteria will have plenty of breeding ground. Thankfully, the tutorial mapped out an airlock method that would be a great alternative to using a balloon, and would solve potential contamination difficulties. I�m going to take this airlock a step further with a glass ventilator container, also sterilized and capped, and allow exhaust to escape through a separate orifice protected by clean water.
That chemistry class really came in handy.
Not discounting the wonders of yeast, distillation is where all the magic happens. I envision a lavish M*A*S*H style setup, but my finished product will likely be a cheaper and more rugged model. Of course, if I had the money, I�d be hitting the medical supply warehouse for my equipment, but I think I�ll be settling for the pet store and Home Depot. The tutorial uses a tea kettle for boiling, but I�d like to find a safer and more attractive alternative, simply because I can�t imagine that these throw-away tea kettles I see now could withstand the heat of boiling off a couple gallons of liquid. Maybe a trip to the flea market is in order.
After distilling comes the filtering process. This is something that I already knew a bit about after talking to a moonshiner at a party. He supplied a good amount of his strong spirits for the bash, some of which had black debris floating about in it. He explained that they were chunks of activated carbon (AC) that was used take unwanted yeast byproducts out of the concoction, making the taste more palatable. Several sources I have consulted use the same process, usually by adding the activated carbon directly do the alcohol after a first fermentation, waiting several days, then distilling a second time.
Because of the sheer amount of time I would need to wait in addition to the already lengthy fermentation process this method does not appeal to me, so I concocted another plan. I did some research on how AC filtration works and how it is used in water filtration. First, I considered building a simple filter that would contain the AC, and a pump that would force the alcohol through the filter � simply a miniature version of a water treatment plant. Then it dawned on me; I don�t have to build anything, I have all the resources needed to quickly filter any amount of water that I want - the aquarium, or more specifically, the aquarium pump. I estimate that I can limit filtering down to one day as opposed to a week for other methods. Again, chemistry shows its usefulness.
Now it�s all together in my mind: a minimalist setup for making tons of inexpensive (and illegal) booze for all my family and friends. Something tells me that I my fianc� will never let me use the kitchen again�
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