National Moonshine Day!

History 3 Minutes

In honor of this momentous occasion, I present a recipe I found in a recipe book called Old Timey Recipes.

Moonshine

“In making “mountain dew” or “white lightning” the first step is to convert the starch of the grain into sugar.  (Commercial distillers use malt.) This is done by “sprouting” the corn.  Shelled, whole corn is covered with warm water in a container with a hole in the bottom.  Place a hot cloth over it.  Add warm water from time to time as it drains.  Keep in a warm place for about 3 days or until the corn has 2-inch sprouts. Dry it and grind it into a meal. Make mush (or mash) with boiling water.  Add rye mash that has been made the same way, if you have it.

Yeast (1/2 pound per 50 gallons of mash) may be added to speed up the fermentation if you have it.  Without it, 10 or more days will be required instead of about 4. In either case, it must be kept warm.

When the mash gets through “working” or bubbling up and settles down, it is ready to run.  At this stage, the mash has been converted into carbonic acid and alcohol.  It is called “wash” or beer and it is sour.

The “cooker” consists of two main parts, mainly the top and the bottom.  After the mash is put inside, the top is pasted on with “red dog chop” or some other paste.  This is so that if the fire is too hot, the pressure builds up, the top will blow off preventing an explosion which might wreck the still.In the top of the cooker a copper pipe, or “arm” projects over to one side and tapers down from a 4 or 5 inch diameter to the same diameter as the “worm” (one or one and a quarter inch).To make the “worm”, a 20-foot copper pipe is filled with sand, the ends are stopped up, and it is wrapped around a fence post. The sand prevents “kinking” of the pipe.  The spiral or coil, called the worm, is then cleaned and attached firmly to the end of the arm in such a way that it is down inside a barrel.  The barrel will be kept full of cold, running water.  If the water runs in the top and out an opening in the bottom, it can circulate better.

A fire under the cooker causes the spirit to rise in the vapor along with the steam.  It goes into the arm and then the worm where the cold water causes condensation.  This is collected at the end in a container.

The first run off, or “singlings” is weak and impure and be redistilled to rid it of water and rank oils.

For the second run off, or the “doublings,” the cooker is cleaned out and the singlings, along with some water, is heated and run through again.

The first quart will be far too strong (about 200 proof) and towards the last it will be too weak (about 10 proof).  The skill is in the mixing to make it 100 proof.

If a tablespoon of the liquid does not “flash” or burn when thrown on the fire, there is not enough alcohol left to bother running any more.

To test for the right proof, a small glass vial is used.  When the small bubbles rise properly after the vial is tilted and when they set half above and half below the top of the liquid, then it is the right proof.  The liquor is then filtered through charcoal and is ready for consumption.

There are many ways of making moonshine.  This is just one way.  For other ways, check with your nearest revenuer.”

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Published by pat frederick

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78 thoughts on “National Moonshine Day!”

      1. Good morning, Miss Pat. What’s your interest in ‘Shine’?

        A close family member was in the finance end of a shine partnership with a black guy who made the stuff around 60 years ago.

        Liked by 2 people

  2. Morning All!
    leaving around 8 this morning…trying to decide if i should leave a hummer feeder out or not. the jelly feeder won’t go out because leaving that out overnight will attract all sorts of trouble…LOL

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Morning, Pat! Have a safe trip! On the hummer feeder: as for me, that would depend on the price of the feeder in case it disappears while you’re gone! I’m hoping it doesn’t get so windy today & tomorrow that I have to bring in my Trump flag – I want it out in case they bring one of those “Plainview tours” this direction during the Klown Festival! LOL

      I’m re-thinking the red Clematis…thinking about putting both the white & the red by/on the glider. The Moss Roses in the pink tub are done for….repaint it white and paint a red “H” on both sides, plant red/white petunias in it every year, put my Husker brick next to it/nearby….wire the red “H” to the seat-back on the glider….

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Morning!
        the hummer feeders are just plastic–no big expense. we learned we can’t leave the ones out front. the raccoons (and bears) can get at those. the raccoons climbed the beam and then walked atop the horizontal beam to get to the feeders from above. on the side they have not been able to access those feeders because there’s nothing there for them to climb on.
        the bears can get to anything any time they want, so trying to outsmart them won’t happen if we want to let something out for the weekend.

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    1. Like

  8. Liked by 1 person

  11. TheseTruths(@thesetruths)Offline
    Wolf
    June 2, 2023 01:32

    SCOTUS to unions, 8-1: You break it, you bought it
    https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/06/01/scotus-to-unions-8-1-you-break-it-you-bought-it-n554988

    In an 8-1 decision in which only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson fully dissented, the Supreme Court ruled today that unions have to reimburse employers for damages caused by striking workers…

    The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that federal labor law did not protect a union from potential liability for damage that arose during a strike, and that a state court should resolve questions of liability.

    The back story:

    At issue was a job action by Teamsters at a large cement production and delivery company, which went on strike over their expired bargaining agreement. The union called for a strike in the middle of the day, even though the company had prepared a large amount of concrete for delivery that day, and that refusing to deliver it would not just ruin the product but also damage the vehicles. Sure enough, 16 drivers walked off the job. Glacier Northwest managed to get the concrete out of the trucks before they got seriously damaged, but their production that day was a total loss.

    Glacier Northwest wants the Teamsters to reimburse them for the loss. The Teamsters argued that the NLRA immunizes them from such claims in state court and in federal court as well. Nope, writes Amy Coney Barrett for the 8-justice majority. The NRLA gives workers the right to strike but not immunity from damage they cause, especially when it’s clearly deliberate…

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Good Morning ☀️
      That’s some good news. Union scoundrels can’t continue to get away with organized extortion…

      Liked by 2 people

          1. I can’t believe he thinks he can dethrone Trump…and and Ramasay (or whatever his name is) says America First does not belong to Trump…
            the hell you say!!

            Like

    1. Hope you check your replies when you get back…IDK what meds you take for diabetes but….FYI:

      EXCERPT: “WEDNESDAY, May 31, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Patients taking semaglutide for type 2 diabetes or weight loss should be careful about where they’re getting the medication, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Tuesday.

      Shortages of the drug, commonly sold as Wegovy and Ozempic, has led to the making of compounded versions of the drugs, which is combining or mixing ingredients to meet patient needs.

      Compounders can make a version of a drug if the medication is in shortage and they meet requirements of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act.”

      https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-05-31/fda-issues-warning-about-compounded-versions-of-wegovy-ozempic

      Liked by 1 person

              2. No – my TV satellite – we had one heck of a rain storm move thru 5/6 hours ago – it should be back to normal and it was, but only on some channels.

                I know it’s mean but I was chuckling as I watched the downpour – and I DO mean a downpour – during the car show in the downtown area….and right about the time to start the parade. We even had a brief period of thankfully-tiny hail. I watched my neighbor head out on his John Deer tractor with some sign rigged up on front, followed by his wife in their 4X4, with another sign on the back, for the parade right after the rain stopped….hee-hee!

                Liked by 1 person

  39. of course

    Alec Baldwin reaches settlement with son of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after she was shot dead on set: Judge rules it is in ‘the best interests’ of the child but will remain confidential
    Halyna Hutchins’ widow filed a wrongful death lawsuit in February 2022 which included the couple’s son Andros Hutchins against Baldwin and other producers
    This was settled last October and the settlement has now been approved in court which means the family will be compensated for her death
    A judge has ruled that the settlement was in the best interests of Andros who was nine years old when his mother died

    Liked by 1 person

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