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How do you proof down your moonshine?
Conclusion – While making moonshine has been done successfully for years, getting it right can be an extremely daunting and difficult task. However, to yield the best results, being prepared with the right tools and the correct knowledge will greatly aid the process.
How do you proof moonshine without a hydrometer?
Bubbles in Moonshine – The shake test involves placing some moonshine in a mason jar and giving it a vigorous shake. If the spirit has large bubbles that disappear quickly, it would indicate that the batch is higher proof. If the spirit has small bubbles which disappear slowly, it would indicate a lower proof.
This test works because alcohol molecules are larger and less dense than water molecules. In other words, the atoms in an alcohol molecule are further apart than they are in water molecules. So, when you shake a bottle of water, the air bubble escape quickly, as there is no place for them to sit between the tightly packed water molecules.
They float to the top of the bottle very quickly. However, let’s say you are shaking a bottle of 100 proof moonshine (50% water 50% alcohol). When you shake it, the air bubbles will begin to compete with the water molecules to fill the empty space around the alcohol molecules.
- This makes the air bubbles disappear slowly.
- If you have a high proof alcohol of 150 proof, you would have about 25% water and 75% alcohol.
- When you shake the bottle, the air bubbles don’t have to compete with the water as much, because there are plenty of alcohol molecules to cluster around.
- This means the bubbles will disappear quickly.
Although the bubbles test sounds somewhat inaccurate, experienced moonshiners are incredibly accurate at determining proof using this technique. They often use mason jars full of moonshine from past batches to compare moonshine proof using the shake test.
What proof of alcohol is toxic?
Blood alcohol concentration
| Blood alcohol levels (BAC) | Physiological effects |
|---|---|
| 0.2–0.3% (200–300 mg/dL) | Nausea, vomiting, incontinence |
| 0.3–0.4% (300–400 mg/dL) | Needs assistance walking, loss of consciousness |
| 0.4–0.5% (400–500 mg/dL) | Possible coma or respiratory failure |
| Above 0.5% (500 mg/dL) | Possible death |
What is the highest proof alcohol a human can drink?
7 Things You Didn’t Know About the Alcohol ‘Proof’ System Most people know the basics of how the proof system works with alcohol: proof is, of course, a number that represents double alcohol by volume (ABV) inside the bottle listed. But what you might not know is the history of the proof system or some of its most noteworthy facts.
Here’s all the info you’ll need to talk about the proof system at your next cocktail party like a boozy historian: The history of the proof system is all about gunpowder You have to go all the way back to the old wooden ships of the 18 th century to find the origins of “proof” in alcohol. As the story goes, soldiers in the British Royal Navy would apply rum to their gunpowder to test its strength.
If the weapon still fired, they had “proof” that the rum was strong enough. Also, proof that it would burn the ship down if lit.100 proof is the fire What those old soldiers might have been testing for, had they known it at the time, was bottled alcohol served at 50 percent strength or more.
- Any alcohol listed above 100 proof – 50 percent ABV – is straight up flammable and would therefore not hinder the ability of gunpowder to fire.
- Even though it’s always been about fire, it’s also about taxes (of course) Today, proof is more about labeling alcohol content in liquors for consumer safety and for taxable purposes.
The proof system – that whole double alcohol content rule – was established in 1848, when the government declared (arbitrarily) that any bottle with 50 percent alcohol would be defined as “100 proof” for taxation. The taxes for other alcohols – those more or less than 100 proof – would be taxed accordingly based on their relationship to this proof baseline.
- Elsewhere in the world, no more proof The scale used to be different in the U.K., where “proof” was equal to about 1.821 times the ABV.
- Which made proof numbers different in the U.K than in the U.S., and surely lead to several confused and drunken individuals traveling abroad.
- Today though, proof in the EU, the UK, and Canada have all gone the way of ABV, and as per the usual, the U.S.
stands alone with a strange and arbitrary measurement system (see feet, pounds, et al). Proof isn’t actually required on the label anymore That last bit isn’t actually totally true; yes, the U.S. permits the listing of proof on the label of alcohol, but it doesn’t actually require it.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau actually only requires ABV, but proof is pretty much always listed, because of tradition. You’ll notice, beer and wine don’t use proof “Excuse me, waiter? What proof is this beer; eight or nine?” said no one, ever. While they wouldn’t actually be totally wrong to ask – any alcohol can be talked about in terms of proof – the fact is, beer, wine, and other low-alcohol beverages usually aren’t defined by their proof.
The use of proof in relation to ABV is an honor reserved mostly for liquors above 40 proof in strength.40 proof is the low end of ABV that can still fit the definition for brandy, gin, vodka, rum, and whiskey. Some of the lowest proof liquors? Flavored rum like Malibu (42 proof), flavored vodkas (~ 70 proof) and flavored whiskeys like Fireball (66 proof) are all much weaker than their full-bodied peers, which must be bottled no lower than 80 proof.
On the other hand, you could varnish a table with this Polish vodka Straight up liquor can go as low as 80 proof, before becoming “flavored”. But it can also go as high as 192 proof before becoming “rocket fuel.” The absolute strongest bottle of alcohol you can legally buy and then drink in the United States is Spirytus vodka, the Polish vodka weighs in at 96 percent alcohol (192 proof), stronger by just a bit than Everclear’s 190 proof labeling.
No matter what proof is on your label, always drink responsibly. And do so with the knowledge that while the proof system is totally voluntary at this point, and largely obscure outside of the United States, it’s still something we put on our bottles to remind us that we once tested our hooch with gunpowder like real patriots, taxed our alcohol based on its strength and that we still don’t use the metric system.