Rum

[satx78247]

WELL SAID & GREAT information.

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

THANKS. - I'd never heard of "gunpowder proofing".
(As a scion of "an old family in the business" since the 18th century, I think I would have heard of the term IF it was used in AL, GA, LA, MS or TX.)

My guess is that it is a British and/or east coast term.

A piece of advice: Do NOT drink any liquor that will NOT burn with a pale blue flame, as it may be contaminated.

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

In WV & some other areas, "fortified apple wine" & other fruit wines were turned into "liquor" in areas of the USA which are VERY COLD in the Wintertime.

The technique there (if you call something that easy/simple as a "technique") is to prepare the fruit wine in the normal way & then set the container (usually a crock or barrel) outside & let it freeze overnight.
The ice that forms in the container is then discarded & the wine is allowed to freeze again & again, with the ice discarded each day, until no more ice forms in the mixture.

In the case of fermented apple juice (made into apple wine), what you end up with is "poor boy's applejack", though it is NOT as powerful as distilled applejack.

yours, satx

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Actually, you arrive at the true Applejack. :wink: The distilled stuff is an apple brandy.

LD

 

[Black Hand]

A piece of advice: Do NOT drink any liquor that will NOT burn with a pale blue flame, as it may be contaminated.

Are you certain...?
Methanol is the primary contaminant that may be present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxd_CH2NIWE

 

[satx78247]

Every knowledgeable distiller KNOWS that the first few ounces of alcohol that "cooks off" MUST be disposed of to not poison other people.
(There other dangerous contaminates possible in distillations in addition to methanol.)

Perhaps I should have stated that, though I think of it as pretty elementary to distilling liquor.

yours, satx

 

[Black Hand]

Every knowledgeable distiller KNOWS that the first few ounces of alcohol that "cooks off" MUST be disposed of to not poison other people.
(There other dangerous contaminates possible in distillations in addition to methanol.)

Perhaps I should have stated that, though I think of it as pretty elementary to distilling liquor.

yours, satx

Not everyone knows as much as you....

 

[satx78247]

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I always considered applejack as just one of the sorts of fruit brandy.

At least "down here", applejack is ALWAYS distilled, if only because we don't (THANK HEAVEN) have really cold Winters.
(I've had my fill of shoveling snow & trying to stay out of the ditch, while driving in ice.)

Note: The last Winter that I was resident at "the Mountain Lair", we were twice "iced-in" for over 2 weeks, with more than 2 inches of glare ice on the road to town.
(The WVSP closed our only road to town.) Thankfully, we ran out of nothing, as we had plenty of fuel for the generator & food in the larder.
(I got down to less than a pound of coffee. = YIKES!)

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

OK. You win. = :surrender:

I also didn't say that you have to gather the ingredients, mix/ferment the beer, fill the still or light the burners under the boiler either.
(CHUCKLE)

I presumed a little basic knowledge from members of a GREAT forum like ours.

Note: SOME of the European home-made brandies (that are fermented with the fruit pits) have enough other chemicals (after distillation) to make a person VERY ill.
(One night in 1971, I was offered a small glass of homemade & GREAT-tasting peach brandy in BRD by one of my motor-pool mechanics after dinner. - After less than 2 "shots" of that brandy, I was unable to stand/walk for over 3 hours.- Seems that there is a "powerful muscle relaxant" in peach pits, according to a doctor on post..)

yours, satx

 

[Black Hand]

Seems that there is a "powerful muscle relaxant" in peach pits, according to a doctor on post..)

It's called Cyanide (as Amygdalin)...

 

[satx78247]

Fwiw, I was more careful about accepting "homemade drink" after that experience.
(Many German farmers make that concoction & drink it W/O serious problems.)

yours, satx

 

[coloradoclyde]

Freeze distilling , or "Jacking ".....is where Apple Jack gets it's name from.....otherwise it is known as "hard cider"......The process also works great for Imperial stouts and barley wines.....
Fortifying a wine, beer or cider...increases both alcohol content and shelf life.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Every knowledgeable distiller KNOWS that the first few ounces of alcohol that "cooks off" MUST be disposed of to not poison other people.
(There other dangerous contaminates possible in distillations in addition to methanol.)

AH but there's the problem with the illegal distillers, from prohibition to now...,

When the good ol' boys build the really big stills these days, instead of an ounce or two of methanol that you get from say a five gallon batch of "beer", they are getting several quarts from a huge "run". IF they heat the beer too fast, there is no "break" between the methanol coming off, followed by the actual ethanol as the run picks back up. So they have to use a thermometer, OR they simply guess. (Guessing seems to be the prevalent method for those in a rush.) All of the real shiners that I know used both the break, and a cooking thermometer.

They either assume that they removed the methanol when they made the first run of "low wines", and so end up with a quart or two of poison among 398 quarts if they net 100 gallons, when they make the second run, OR they use the more sophisticated double-distillation for a single "run", and guess they got it all when they don't. (IF they use a reflux still they generally get the methanol out). :shocked2:

Haste makes Waste, and in beverage distillation, haste makes poison.., though it can be used as fuel or as a good solvent.

LD

 

[tenngun]

Interesting that in a time before chemesty or a place of little education that files learned that. The reson brandy was first called spirits is because they distilled out the ghost or soul of the wine.
The three xs on a hillbillies jug was not that it was strong but that it had been run three times.

 

[Billnpatti]

That's a truly "pitiful shame". - Fellow wouldn't want to lose his "snakebite cure", as he might SEE a snake sometime, even if he wasn't close enough to be bitten & not have a prevenative.
(CHUCKLE)

yours, satx

W.C Fields was quite fond of his booze and one time when he was playing golf, he took a flask out of his bag and took a sip. One of his friends asked him about his flask and he said it was his snake bite medicine. He said that he also carried a snake in one of the pockets of his golf bag just in case they had the misfortune not to run into one on the golf course.

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

I was always told the first quart and the last quart from a run was discarded due to the bad alcohol from the run, was stated as cutting off the head and tail of the snake. Perhaps this is where the statement of snake bite medicine originated.

 

[satx78247]

'Ole WC was a "card" for certain sure.

My favorite was, "A woman was the cause of me taking up strong drink & it's been the great shame of my life, that I never called her & said, 'Thank you Ma'am'."

yours, satx

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The amount depends on the size of the still plus how much one puts into it, as well as the base. In a really large still, a single first quart might not get all the methanol out...., while a small batch of a few gallons of beer you'd probably toss out a lot of product. Plus you get different amounts of methanol from brandy based on fruit vs shine based on grains. :wink: The ends of the run is where you get the flavor when using a pot still, but depending on the temp, you need to know when to stop or you start getting isopropyls instead of ethanol. :shocked2:

LD

 

[Billnpatti]

You have to go by the head temperature. The pot temperature can tell you a bit of information but the head temperature is what is important. Methanol boils at a lower temperature than ethanol. As a result, you will see one temperature when the first steam vapors reach the head of your still. Methanol boils at 148 deg. and that is about what you will see as your first head temperature. Watch that temperature and discard that first cut. When the methanol has boiled off, the pot temperature will rise just a bit but you will notice the biggest change in the head temperature. Ethanol boils at 173 deg. and that is the range that you will see as your head temperature when it (the ethanol) is coming off. When the first rise occurs, let a bit more alcohol distill off to be sure that you are not getting any more methanol and then throw that first cut away. The second cut is the ethanol. Watch the head temperature and carefully control the pot temperature so that your head temperature does not give a false rise from too much pot temperature. When you see the third temperature (second rise) in the head, stop taking off the distillate because you will have gotten off all of the ethanol that you can. Your second cut, the middle cut is the ethanol. Dump the pot and start another batch. Your temperatures are your best indicators.

Head temperature = the temperature of the distillate vapors at the top of your condensation column.

 

[satx78247]

EXACTLY SO. - That's WHY that making QUALITY 'shine is as much ART as SCIENCE.
(Most anybody of reasonably normal IQ can make "slop" of the sort that is commonly "sold into Oklahoma". - Craft-made moonshine is an ART.)

yours, satx