How is Moonshine Made? – The traditional ingredients for moonshine are corn and sugar, and during fermentation, the sugar produces ethanol, which makes hooch or moonshine. During distillation, alcohol separates from the mash. Unlike other liquors such as whiskey or bourbon, moonshine is unaged, which produces a distilled spirit with high alcohol content.
The stereotype of moonshiners centers around how “country folk” distill and transport their potables in jugs marked “XXX” during the night to avoid being detected. But having access to commercially produced all-copper moonshine stills on the internet has made moonshine distillation less risky in the modern era.
But for a great drink, here is the recipe:
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What is the best grain to make moonshine with?
Why Do We Need the Best Grain for Making Moonshine? – Grain seeds are a vital part of making whiskey (scotch) or bourbon. These grains contain the starch that people convert to sugar with the help of special enzymes in fermentation. The entire process of distillation and germination to create the grain-based spirit e love today. Although every mash recipe is unique, people who don’t have experience brewing their drinks don’t know which grains are best for making moonshine. Most moonshine makers use barley as the primary grain for alcohol. This is why 2-row and 6-row malts, as well as other types of distiller’s malts, are barley.
Is moonshine just corn?
What Is Moonshine Made Of? – The recipe for classic moonshine is simple:
- Cracked corn
- Water
- Malted barley
- Yeast
While alcohol can actually be distilled from almost any kind of grain — the earliest American moonshiners used rye or barley – much of the moonshine made in the United States for the last 150 years has been made with corn. So, what makes moonshine different from the whiskey you find on the shelf at a liquor store? Aside from the obvious differences between something made in a sanitized production facility and something made at night in the woods, the primary difference is aging,
When whisky comes out of the still, it’s so clear it looks like water. Moonshiners bottle it and sell it just like that. Commercial alcohols have an amber or golden color to them because they are aged for several years in oak barrels that are sometimes charred. The aging process gives them color and mellows the harsh taste.
There’s no such mellowing with moonshine, which is why it has such a kick.
Why do you put barley in moonshine?
About this item. Whiskeys made from barley produce sweet flavors with caramel and brown sugar hints. Often described as having a roasted, nutty, toffee, flavored cereal quality. Check out our site for additional resources on fermentation & distillation, our FAQ page, recipes, and more.
Is moonshine made from field corn or sweet corn?
What Type of Corn Should I use in my Moonshine? – Our favorite type of corn to be used in moonshine is cracked, dry yellow corn. This type of corn is considered field corn and it needs to be clean and food-grade. It is recommended to use air dried corn rather than gas dried.
The reason for this is when corn is gas dried the corn can get stripped of its elements that are needed for good fermentation. You may want to take your cracked con one step further and have it ground to make a corn meal. This is fine as long as the corn is a coarse grind. Of course, corn meal can be purchased ready-made, again, just make sure it isn’t too fine.
It is also possible to make moonshine out of animal feed. Check out our You can use chicken feed where the corn is a lot finer or horse feed. Just don’t use hog feed as it contains more than just corn.
Why do you put barley in moonshine?
About this item. Whiskeys made from barley produce sweet flavors with caramel and brown sugar hints. Often described as having a roasted, nutty, toffee, flavored cereal quality. Check out our site for additional resources on fermentation & distillation, our FAQ page, recipes, and more.
Can you use regular barley for moonshine?
How Are Enzymes Created? – During the malting process, barley is dried to a moisture content below 14% and then stored for for 5 to 6 weeks to overcome seed dormancy. The grain is then steeped in water to allow it to absorb moisture. This causes the barley to sprout.
When the grain have a moisture content of around 46%, they are air dried over the course of a number of days. Once the malt has been air dried, it is kiln-dried to give the grain its color and flavor profile. Barley develops enzymes during malting that are needed to convert starches into sugar during the mash process.
A typical grain bill for a whiskey mash normally consists of malted barley with other added grains such as corn, rye or wheat. Hot water (hot liquor) is added with the grain which allows the enzymes in the malt to break down the starch in the grain into sugars.
- During the mash process, enzymes in the malted barley will convert starches into sugar.
- Without enzymes the starch would not be converted into sugar and the yeast would not have any sugar to ferment into alcohol.
- It is critically important to use CRUSHED malted barley and not regular or flaked barley.
Remember, distilling alcohol is illegal without a federal fuel alcohol or distilled spirit plant permit as well as relevant state and local permits. Our distillation equipment is designed for legal uses only and the information in this article is for educational purposes only. Emmet Leahy is the Chief Operating Officer and lead product developer at Clawhammer Supply, a small scale distillation and brewing equipment company. He loves the process of developing new equipment for making beer at home just as much as he does using it to brew his own beer.
