How to Brew Moonshine

Moonshine is so named because it's creators worked at night, when they couldn't be easily found and arrested. Making moonshine was not only illegal but dangerous, and drinking moonshine was dangerous as well. It may be legal to make moonshine, depending on the locality, but in most places it's illegal to sell it.

Things You'll Need

• Commercially-made still
• Corn meal
• Sugar
• Brewer's yeast
• Water

Instructions

1. Acquire a still. While it's possible to build a still, if you do it incorrectly the still could explode, injuring or killing you. A homemade still can also introduce contaminants into the moonshine, which could make you sick if you drink products from this homemade still.

2. Gather your ingredients. You need water, corn meal, sugar and brewer's yeast.

3. Place the ingredients, except for the yeast, into the still. The basic recipe is 25 pounds of corn meal, 100 gallons of water, 100 pounds of sugar and 6 ounces of brewer's yeast. You will have to adjust the recipe for the capacity of the still.

4. Heat the mixture, then let it cool to about 110 degrees before adding the yeast. If you add the yeast too soon, the heat will kill it.

5. Let the mixture ferment for a few days. It's done fermenting when it stops bubbling.

6. Heat the mixture to 173 degrees. At this temperature, the alcohol will boil off, but the water will remain.

7. Collect the alcohol in the still's coils, where it cools and condenses, then drips out into a container.

Tips & Warnings

• Moonshine has a variety of uses, including as fuel.

• Experiment with different proportions of grain and sugar and try different grains such as rye and barley. You can also try using brown sugar or corn syrup in your moonshine recipe.

• Don't drink other people's moonshine, because you can't be certain that they have made it correctly. It's probably not a good idea (and probably not legal) to drink your own moonshine.

Resources

• Find moonshine recipes at Copper Moonshine Stills.