Cleaning Your Moonshine Still

Your copper moonshine still looks great. No matter whether it’s aged with a striking brown or blue-green patina, or if you have kept the exterior as shiny as a new penny, a copper moonshine still can be an excellent conversation piece. Additionally, if you make use of your moonshine stills, you will want to keep the interior spic and span, so that you always produce the finest, purest alcohol. Regular upkeep on your still is worth it, and keeping your 5 gallon, or even your 10 gallon moonshine still ready for use and admiring onlookers doesn't have to be expensive.

Old-Time Recipes

Several insiders’ tips have been passed down through generations of moonshiners. You can keep your copper clean with common household items and a little elbow grease.

For the outside:

Use a combination of flour, vinegar, and salt for the best results. This tried and true recipe will work for those of you with about a 5 gallon moonshine still, but you can calculate the proportions for larger copper stills.

Combine about 5 tablespoons of salt with about 5 cups of vinegar, and mix in flour until it makes a paste. Apply this paste to the outside of the still, allow it to dry for approximately 30 minutes, remove, and repeat if needed.

There’s also the fact that you can polish tarnished copper with ketchup, but it will take a lot of ketchup if you have a more than a 5 gallon moonshine still.

For the inside:

Vinegar comes to your aid before your first run with the still. Completing a vinegar run keeps toxins from building on the copper and forming copper salts. It will also clear out debris and solder.

After every run, let your still cool completely before disassembling and cleaning it. Not only will this help you prevent injuries, but it will be much easier to pull the metal pieces apart once the copper has contracted. After rinsing the column with clean water and scrubbing it with a carboy cleaning brush, fill the boiler with at least ½ gallon clean water (it may take more like 2 gallons for a 10 gallon moonshine still) and scrub the interior with a new toilet scrub brush that you will only use on your still.

Always dry all your copper still components thoroughly, and leave them in a safe, dry place for storage.

Commercial Products

If you want the quickest and easiest way (no scrubbing required!) to keep your copper still looking new on the outside, there are commercial products available. Be warned: they have strong odors, so you want to keep the still in a well-ventilated area, and make sure you remove all traces of the cleaner from the still.

For the outside:

Tarn-X is an industrial strength copper cleaner that is much stronger than using vinegar. Make sure to read all safety warnings and wear eye protection as well as gloves when using this product. Always make sure to rinse the chemical thoroughly to avoid the copper discoloring from residue.

If you decide to let your copper develop a natural patina on the outside, but you still want to keep it functional, you need to keep the interior safe by cleaning it after every use. Copper that shows its age is considered highly desirable, and you can always polish it up later if you choose. Enjoy your copper whiskey still responsibly and it will continue to produce high quality alcohol and interesting conversations for generations.

Read More

Top 7 Distilling Safety Tips

Distilling can be very dangerous. Although it produces terrific results - essential oils, distilled water, moonshine, and other spirits - distilling involves several steps during which someone could get hurt. If you are thinking about distilling at home, you should consider the top ways to keep yourself safe.

1) Know the Law

If you are shopping through fine copper moonshine stills for sale, considering one to use to decorate your home, or to distill water or essential oils, there is no need for you to get a permit or register your moonshine still.

If you are considering purchasing a moonshine or whiskey still to produce your own fuel or to distill your own alcohol at home, read the federal laws and permits you will need to become a registered distiller. 

2) Temperature Control

Two essential factors affect the temperature control of your moonshine run: heat source and material of your moonshine still. Always use a heat supply you can easily control, and always choose a copper moonshine still with a lead-free solder. To assist you with temperature control, you can also get a handheld temperature scanner. 

It is important to monitor the temperature of the condenser as well as the onion head of the copper moonshine still - if the condenser overheats, flammable vapor can catch fire without you seeing it. Keep the condenser cool with frozen water bottles, ice packs, or a stream of cold water. If the condenser ever becomes warm to the touch, stop distilling immediately. 

3) Ventilation

Always distill moonshine outdoors. That’s the nicest way we can say it. If you’re distilling essential oils or water, you might consider distilling indoors, but you will want to make sure the room is well ventilated. However, distilling alcohol produces flammable gases, and ventilation is absolutely necessary. That’s why we recommend distilling alcohol outdoors, every time.

4) Fire Safety

Distilling uses a lot of heat, and things can go from “hot” to “on fire” very quickly, as many a moonshiner can tell you. And fires caused by alcohol vapor are not put out by water. Keep a fire extinguisher handy as well as other heat-protective gear like gloves and eye protection.

5) Don’t Drink and Distill

We know you enjoy a nice glass of whiskey or moonshine, but wait until after the fire is put out and all the hard work of collecting the best moonshine you can make yourself is completed, okay?

 

6)  Collect Your Moonshine in Glass or Copper, Small-Mouthed, Away from Heat

Tried and true, glass and copper can handle moonshine and won’t melt if something goes wrong. Don’t run your copper moonshine stills plans condenser into a plastic container, ever. 

If your collection jar has a small mouth, less alcohol vapor will escape. And the farther away you keep the collection cup from the heat, the better. In case something spills, or in case alcohol vapor escapes, decrease the chance of having a fire. 

7) Throw Out the Fore shots

Anything collected from your copper moonshine still before the onion bulb reaches 174 degrees Fahrenheit is dangerous to drink. Methanol is poisonous as well as one of the first alcohols to vaporize and condense in your collection cup during every moonshine run. The first 5% or so of your run is called the “fore shots” - it’s always garbage, and you should always throw it out.

Now that you know more about how to safely distill alcohol at home, consider whether you want to purchase one of the best copper moonshine stills for sale for decoration in your home, or a more practical use. If done safely, making moonshine at home can have benefits that will last you a lifetime.

Read More

Choosing Whiskey Stills With Their Different Sizes

What size do whiskey stills come in?  

Alcohol yield is a tricky thing, influenced by many factors. To distill alcohol or moonshine, you begin by making a mash out of a grain, sugar or yeast (or both), and water. There’s no standard size containers for making mash - moonshiners use all types of equipment - but most distillers prefer to standardize their measurements somewhat.

Most recipes for whiskey mash measure the ingredients in gallons, and once the alcohol wash has been extracted from the mash, it will probably be measured in gallons too. The best one-piece copper whiskey stills are available in standard 1 gallon, 2.5 gallon, 5 gallon, and 10 gallon sizes. There are, of course, larger whiskey stills for sale, but something that big is really only necessary for commercial distillers. 

Influences on alcohol yield

Alcohol by volume

The biggest factors that influence the alcohol yield after distillation come from the wash’s starting alcohol by volume. The alcohol by volume of the wash is determined by the ingredients and process you use for your mash. Using distiller’s yeast instead of regular bread yeast often produces an alcohol wash with a higher alcohol by volume; so does having the right proportion of ferment able sugar in the mash. Generally, more sugar is better, but too much is just waste.

Choosing a copper whiskey still

Copper is the best material for a moonshine or whiskey still, and will help you produce the best alcohol yield. Because alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, temperature control is key to distilling the best moonshine and whiskey. Copper is known to heat evenly and has been used in kitchenware and stills for centuries. Distillers like copper for the precise control it gives them over their distilling temperature.

    

End of a run

Most moonshiners also don’t get every last drop out of a run. It’s common to get about 85 - 90% out of every run - meaning that getting the last 10 - 15% or so of alcohol out of your whiskey still is difficult, and often not worth it. That “bottom of the barrel” stuff isn't the best from the run. So, you can expect that each run will have some wash left at the end.

Final Answer: how much alcohol will I get out of my whiskey still?

Considering variations, a standard run will yield about:

3 - 6 cups of alcohol from a 1 gallon copper still
.5 - 1 gallon of alcohol from a 2.5 gallon copper still
1 - 2 gallons of alcohol from a 5 gallon copper still
2 - 5 gallons of alcohol from a 10 gallon copper still

Whether you’re looking at producing small quantities or large, making alcohol at home is about convenience and availability. Purchasing multiple sizes of a copper whiskey still design that you like makes it easy to always have access to the size still you need, when you need it.
 

Read More

Still For Sale with Whiskey & Moonshine

While moonshine is often distilled and served in its classic recipe - flavorless and sharp - private distillers and companies are now creating a variety of moonshine flavors based on seasonal harvests and exotic blends. Owning your own moonshine stills allows you put your personal twist on classic moonshine recipes, and enjoy a customized drink with friends and family. Some of the most popular recipes for moonshine in the US include apple pie moonshine and peach moonshine. In other countries, some distillers make moonshines as wild as “weed-infused scorpion moonshine” in Bolivia, and as harsh as “Changaa” in the Congo, which translates to “kill me quick.”

Moonshine for Cooking

There are as many recipes for dishes that use moonshine or whiskey as the day is long. Cooking with whiskey has been popular for ages, and dishes range from whiskey-infused vanilla frosting for desserts, to bourbon glazes for chicken or seafood. From whiskey burgers to chili using moonshine and bacon, people love to cook with distilled spirits. But, finding the right whiskey, bourbon, or moonshine, and keeping enough of it around, can be difficult and expensive.

Once you have obtained your Distiller’s Permit, you can use your own whiskey or moonshine for baking and cooking, without any additional permissions. Consider how distilling your own spirits lets you control the flavors of the foods you cook. The right still for sale today can be the right tool that helps you cook a priceless dinner tomorrow.

Read More

Uses For Legal Moonshine

Moonshine as Fuel

Home distillers have been making ethanol alcohol at home for decades, to be used as fuel in cars and other vehicles. With the correct permit - the Federal Fuel Alcohol Permit - from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, home distillers can produce up to 10,000 gallons of fuel ethanol per year. Generally, distillers who produce alcohol for fuel are most interested in 10 gallon copper still for sale (or larger) that provide a quality batch of alcohol free of impurities; they want a still made from the highest-quality copper, so it lasts a long time.
 

Moonshine for Drinking

In the US, if you are interested in distilling alcohol at home to use for human consumption, you need to obtain a Distilled Spirits Permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Once you have this permit, you can produce moonshine, whiskey, and other distilled spirits tailored to recipes you would like to try. 

While moonshine is often distilled and served in its classic recipe - flavorless and sharp - private distillers and companies are now creating a variety of moonshine flavors based on seasonal harvests and exotic blends. Owning your own moonshine stills allows you put your personal twist on classic moonshine recipes, and enjoy a customized drink with friends and family. Some of the most popular recipes for moonshine in the US include apple pie moonshine and peach moonshine. In other countries, some distillers make moonshines as wild as “weed-infused scorpion moonshine” in Bolivia, and as harsh as “Changaa” in the Congo, which translates to “kill me quick.”

Read More