Step by Step – How to make Moonshine – DIY instructions

Corn whiskey, corn liquor, hooch, rotgut, stump or white whiskey! No matter what you call it, you’ll agree that moonshine is loved and consumed all around the world. But the question is how is this popular liquor produced? If you love moonshine and want to learn how to make Moonshine read on.

This complete guide will help you through all the simple steps and the precautions you need to take while trying your hand at making your own mash moonshine recipe at home. It’s an undeniable fact that making corn moonshine is a delicate process and you need to know how to choose your still, prepare your mash recipes, manage your distillation equipment, and collect your distillate, so you can end up with the best product possible. Remember to review your local regulations on producing alcohol.

 

All you need to know about How to make Moonshine

Ready to get started and follow the easy steps? Great! Let’s delve into the homemade moonshine whiskey making process.

 

Step 1: Choosing Your Preferred Type of Mash

There are different types of moonshine mash you can choose from when trying to make a batch of this liquor at home.

Basically there are three key ingredients: distillers yeast, granulated sugar and water. Brewers yeast is a microorganism that lives in water, consumes sugar and its waste (byproduct) is alcohol and carbon dioxide.

For our guide, you’ll learn how to prepare the famous corn mash whiskey moonshine ingredients.

 

Step 2: Making Moonshine Mash

What You Need

• Water (5 gallons)
• Flaked corn maize (8.5 pounds)
• Crushed malt barley (1.5 pounds)
• Yeast
• Fermentation bucket
• Mash pot
• Heat source
• Long spoon
• Thermometer

Procedure

1. Place the mash pot on the heat and add 5 gallons of water.
2. Let the temperature reach around 165 degrees fahrenheit.
3. Once the temperature has reached 165 degrees, turn off the heat and start stirring in the flaked corn maize immediately.
4. Continue stirring consistently for around 7 minutes at this lower temperature.
5. Stir the mixture for around 30 seconds after every five minutes to ensure the temperature drops to around 152 degrees.
6. Once the temperature has dropped to 152 degrees, add the crushed malted barley while stirring continuously.
7. Stir the mixture for around 30 seconds after every 20 minutes to ensure the temperature drops to around 70 degrees. It is important to note here that this process can take several hours to complete.
8. Once the temperature has reached 70 degrees, add the yeast.
9. Pour the mixture from one container to another for around five minutes to aerate it.

Put the mixture in the fermentation bucket.

 

Step 3: Fermentation and Straining Process of making Moonshine

What You Need

• Citric acid
• Cheese cloth
• Siphon
• pH meter
• Hydrometer

Fermentation

Let the mash ferment for around 7 to 15 days at room temperature.

Use your hydrometer to check the gravity at the beginning and at the end of the fermentation process.

Straining

Use your siphon to extract mash water from the mixture, making sure you leave behind all sediments.  Filter the mash water using a cheese cloth.

Check the pH of your mash water (it should be 5.8 to 6.0). Add calcium carbonate to raise it and citric acid to lower it, if need be.

 

Step 4: Distillation process

What You Need

• Fermented mash water
• Moonshine still
• Copper Piping or Tube
• Column packing
• Cleaning products

Prep the Still for Moonshine

Clean your moonshine still properly to ensure no dirt or dust particles do not end up in your hooch.

Different stills function differently and come with different parts. There are also different ways of operating copper stills as well.

If your moonshine still has a cooling unit, set it up in such a way that there’s is cold water input and output.  You also need to ensure your column packing is set up properly.

Once you’ve set up your still, strained and added your mash, you can now proceed to the next step.

Begin the Distillation Process

1. Turn on the heat source. The appropriate temperature should be 150 degrees. Also, turn on the water at the same time.
2. Increase the temperature until you start seeing drips coming out.
3. When the distillate is dripping 3 to 5 drips per second, reduce the heat.

Once you see pure alcohol coming out, you need to pay special attention to the following step. It is actually what separates the different distillates in this process.

 

Step 5: Collecting Your Moonshine

As the drips come out of the still, make sure you are collecting them in a glass container.

The first 5 percent of your distillate is called the foreshots. This product contains methanol. It causes blindness, and therefore, should not be ingested.

The next 30 percent is called heads. This product also contains methanol and other lethal substances albeit in small quantities. Therefore, this product shouldn’t not be ingested either. While this part does not cause blindness, it can cause very bad hangovers.

The next 30 percent is called the hearts. That’s the quality product that you have been eagerly waiting for.

The final part of the distillate is called tails. This product does not have a sweet aroma and contains proteins and carbohydrates. It is oily and has a slick feel on your fingers. You’ll realize you have reached this part when you see a greasy or oily film forming on top of the run.

 

You now know How to Make Moonshine

That’s it the final product! Hopefully you have learned to distill alcohol and how to make moonshine and made an amazing batch for your of alcoholic drinks or alcoholic beverages. Enjoy responsibly with your distillation spirit!