Pressure cooker still

[Domeguy]

I have ordered a used 6 qt stainless steel pressure cooker from EBay. I am planning on converting it into a small still to distill some experimental spirits, not to keep, because that would be illegal. As a good citizen, I would be sure to “destroy” any product that would come from it. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this?

[bacpacker]

Domey, I think (but not 100% certain) that you can distill spirits for personal use. You just cant sell it. And limited to a certain amount.

[Domeguy]

Here is Tennessee’s current laws on moonshine.

Moonshine had been considered illegal in most part of Tennessee before 2010 when it was legal in only 3 counties. But, since 2010 it is legal in 44 counties provided that the manufacturer holds a license issued by the state (the Tennessee Code 2010 39-17-706).The first moonshine distillery license was granted in 2010 to Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery. Unlicensed production of moonshine is considered to be a Class A misdemeanour.
Possession of still or any other apparatus for distilling moonshine is considered to be a Class B misdemeanour (The Tennessee Code 2010 39-17-707).
Distillation of moonshine in homes is not allowed without a license which subjects you to tax, but manufacture of un-distilled liquor up to 5 gallons is allowed in Tennessee provided that it is used for domestic use only (The Tennessee Code 39-17-708).

What are the steps for acquiring Moonshine Production license in Tennessee?
In order to be eligible for producing moonshine, the manufacturer has to obtain a distillery license. This can be done by filling out Distillery Application Form (Form AB-0034), Questionnaire (Form AB-0009) and by getting the site of production approved by the state. A $300 application fee (non-redundable) fee and an annual $1000 fee will also be charged. A TTB Distilled Spirit plant and a TTB Basic Permit is also required to fulfil federal laws.

If I was to distill a product for home use only, I would have to have a license and pay $1300.

*** It is however legal to have a still to use for distilling essential oils and for the purification of water***

[eagle326]

Here is Tennessee’s current laws on moonshine.

Moonshine had been considered illegal in most part of Tennessee before 2010 when it was legal in only 3 counties. But, since 2010 it is legal in 44 counties provided that the manufacturer holds a license issued by the state (the Tennessee Code 2010 39-17-706).The first moonshine distillery license was granted in 2010 to Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery. Unlicensed production of moonshine is considered to be a Class A misdemeanour.
Possession of still or any other apparatus for distilling moonshine is considered to be a Class B misdemeanour (The Tennessee Code 2010 39-17-707).
Distillation of moonshine in homes is not allowed without a license which subjects you to tax, but manufacture of un-distilled liquor up to 5 gallons is allowed in Tennessee provided that it is used for domestic use only (The Tennessee Code 39-17-708).

What are the steps for acquiring Moonshine Production license in Tennessee?
In order to be eligible for producing moonshine, the manufacturer has to obtain a distillery license. This can be done by filling out Distillery Application Form (Form AB-0034), Questionnaire (Form AB-0009) and by getting the site of production approved by the state. A $300 application fee (non-redundable) fee and an annual $1000 fee will also be charged. A TTB Distilled Spirit plant and a TTB Basic Permit is also required to fulfil federal laws.

If I was to distill a product for home use only, I would have to have a license and pay $1300.

*** It is however legal to have a still to use for distilling essential oils and for the purification of water***



I like purified water with a kick. :p If you fine tune it Domey maybe we can run Rat's dozer with it and quench our thirst at the same time. Just saying.

[helomech]

Pretty sure it is illegal on the federal level no matter what state you live in.

However, be advised it is illegal to distill alcohol without having either a "distilled spirits permit" or a "federal fuel alcohol permit." It does not matter if the alcohol is for personal use only, not for sale, etc. A common misconception is that only stills 1 gallon and smaller are legal.Jan 11, 2013

[Domeguy]

Yes Helo, you are correct, it is illegal to have a still to make moonshine without a license. But not illegal to have the still for other non moonshine uses.

[helomech]

Yes Helo, you are correct, it is illegal to have a still to make moonshine without a license. But not illegal to have the still for other non moonshine uses.

Just making sure everyone knows what not to say.

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Great thread, thanks for the info guys! Between all the smokin wood I have now (apple, sugar maple, hickory) have to build a smoker. NOW, you can't have smoked meat without spirits, also, spirits are "required" when smoking meat. One has to stand watch over said smoker with a keen sense of awareness. That cannot be accomplished without spirits..........uh, and tunes, music helps tenderize the meat. Yes, must have tunes.


It's difficult process, not for the feeble minded. Whatever that means. :confused:


Another note of interest, LadyHK and I were out on the 4-wheeler the other day. We were up on the ridge of the new place, you could smell the mash from the distillery (Jack Daniels) it was pretty heavy in the air. Soooooo?

[gm2]

SO..... that begs the question of their definition of moonshine. I know people make their own beer and such. So is it just hard liquor?

[Domeguy]

I believe “most” people would define moonshine as a distilled corn liquor. Beer is a fermented beverage, like wine. You can then distill wine through a still and get brandy, which then makes it hard liquor. But that’s my opinion.

[helomech]

Beer can only reach a certain level of proof, to get it higher it has to be distilled. Now it is no longer a beer and is now a whiskey.

[eagle326]

Beer can only reach a certain level of proof, to get it higher it has to be distilled. Now it is no longer a beer and is now a whiskey.

I'm good with that either way . If we turn it into whiskey we could name it Rat's Poison Elixir. Good for all aliments. For cough cough ; medicinal purposes only.

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Well DG started this thread so I guess he needs to have his name on it too. Hmmm? "Dome grown Rat urine" Guaranteed to scare the shit out of any forest dweller. Keep your place free of pests! Just the smell sends them packin! It's the secret ingredient........

[Kesephist]

I'm good with that either way . If we turn it into whiskey we could name it Rat's Poison Elixir. Good for all aliments. For cough cough ; medicinal purposes only.

Mark Twain claimed he did not drink whisky recreationally, but medicinally, "for the alleviation of toothache. I have suffered from toothache for some thirty years..."

Kesephist

slightly chilled in TN

[Domeguy]

I ordered a SS 8 gallon still from Brewhaus about a month ago to have for distilling pure drinking water only. I just happen to have a five gallon bucket of peaches, water, sugar, and yeast just bubbling away, as happy as it could be turning into a peach wine, which is legal. Now if I just happened to put the liquids of the afore mentioned bucket into the still in a week or 10 days from now, if distilled properly, after a pass through the still and the thumper, it would come out after the proper cuts, somewhere around 3-3 1/2 gallons of 80 proof peach brandy. But that would be illegal, so I won’t do that. Plus the still is still held up in customs before Brewhaus can get it and weld on the extras I ordered.

[bacpacker]

Still following this closely. can't wait to hear how good those peaches taste. :)

[Domeguy]

STILL following...hahaha

[eagle326]

STILL following...hahaha

You can bet your sweet biffy that we're stalking your Tennessee arse!! Iffin' you do well things will be just peachy. Iffin' not ; Weeeeeeeellllll gonna be bear huggin' time.

Just funnin' Domey . You know I'd never harm a hair on that old silver dome. :p

[Domeguy]

[QUOTE=eagle326;94899]STILL following...hahaha

You can bet your sweet biffy that we're stalking your Tennessee arse!! Iffin' you do well things will be just peachy. Iffin' not ; Weeeeeeeellllll gonna be bear huggin' time.

Weeeelllllllll.......about that. Ya see, here is what happened. I mixed it all up real good like, and she was just a bubblin away after I totted that there bucket up the yunder steps and put it in the hallway where it’s a wee bit warmer. I put a shallow tray under it, just in case. But that there devil bucket had a speket...a leaky speket...and it leaked out 2 gallons of pure peachy goodness. The tray held most of it, but the floor is still sticky. But the dome sure smelt good. So I cleaned up, toted the bucket down yonder to the keetchen, added more water, sugar, and yeast...and toted it back up yunder steps. The bubbles are slowing down now, so I guess I’d run it through the pressure cooker, but that is illegal, so I won’t....oh, by the way...anyone know what I should do with this 50 lb bag of cracked corn, or this 50 lb bag of sugar?

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Oh yes I do! I was just out there the other day and you could smell the mash drifting over from JD's distillery. Or was that "DG's" distillery? Either way some one was cookin good!

[Domeguy]

I miss spoke. Got 1 1/2 pints, very strong stuff. Have to dilute later into maybe 3-4 pints and add a bit of flavoring.

[Domeguy]

The company I ordered the apparatus from claimed up to 3 weeks to ship. It took just short of two months...but “My Precious” finally arrived last week. I gave her a spit shine cleaning, and had a 6 gallon corn wash waiting for her. I used the 5/5/5 rule of 5 gallons water, 5 lbs corn, (15 cups) and 5 lbs sugar (10 cups) and the yeast. I waited 4 days for the bubbling to subside, as I didn’t have my test equipment when I started the mash, so I didn’t know it’s exact starch/sugar mix. I strained the mash and added it to “My Precious”. She got to cooking the mash pretty good, and soon she was kickinout the good stuff. I poured out the first 1/4 cup, and collected the rest in 8 oz jars. Now here is my dilemma, I’m not much of a drinker, I mean fuel maker...so I don’t know how it is supposed to taste. Others go by since of smell, which my Parkinson’s has cancelled out. I’m letting the jars air out for 48-72 hrs, then I guess I will have to go knocking door to door, and ask people to try a taste. I ran 4 liters of cheap wine through “My Precious” this afternoon, and got 8 oz of 75 proof “fuel for the Weed-eater”. I’ve got 15 gallons of something in the container mashing now. There is water, corn, sugar, powdered malt extract, and yeast bubbling away. I may have to run this in my tractor, as it should be somewhat higher proof than the first run. Oh, the life of a prepper...

[Domeguy]

I took my goodies from My Precious to a neighbor who’s father was known to be a ...well, let’s just say he had a side business. The product did not quite meet the standards of “the old ways.” I’m trying different recipes each time, looking for that one special taste. So when I start up My Precious next week, I will just add the old product back in and recycle it. I’ve ordered some amylase enzymes to help break down the starches and convert them into sugars. That will go into my next recipe I make next week. I added more sugar to this batch cooking right now, as well as some malt. It was bubbling like mad for the first 24 hrs, then has calmed down to about a bubble every 5-8 seconds. I’m getting into the science that happens inside My Precious. I think I love her.

[realist]

Tell me what do you do with the heads and tails? How do you tell what is good and what is not?

[Domeguy]

I’ll explain this the best way I know how, but as I understand it, some people have a set way of doing things, and others may do it another way. You MUST throw away the first certain percentage of every run. This is the methanol, ie. wood alcohol, that can lead to blindness if taken in a high enough doses. Most books and experts say about 2-4 ounces per 5 gallons of wash. The methanol starts to boil off at 148 degrees. The good stuff you want is the ethanol, which starts to boil off and turn into steam at 173 degrees. Some books say you can tell by a oily touch if you rub some between your finger and thumb, and may have acetone smell like finger nail polish. The heads come from somewhere between 173 to 200 degrees, real specific right. Some say the hearts, come between 180 -205 degrees. Then the tails come through somewhere between 190-211. They say the tails have a musty, wet cardboard smell, and will have an oily film on the top. Most every still will have its own sweet spot, which will be slightly different from every other still. A pot still will give off a lower proof product with a higher finished flavor. This you want of distilling a product like whiskey or a brandy. A reflux still will give off a higher alcohol level with not much flavor. You want this if you are distilling a product like gin or vodka. There are probably a hundred or more different types of stills, made mostly of copper or stainless steel. You need some copper if you are running a stainless steel still. This helped to cleans the sulfur out of the finished product. Everyone’s tastes are different in what they like in a alcohol drink..some like the different flavors, some like the higher alcohol flavors. So if you were hypothetically to run a still, especially if you are new to it, it’s best to collect the foreshots (the bad stuff) first in a small jar and throw it out. Then collect everything in small jars and number them as the come off. After the run is over, do some sampling with the nose, and the tongue. When you find the tastes you like, (usually in the middle numbers) you keep those, the hearts. Some like to add a bit of the heads and the tails to the hearts. It’s entirely up to your taste, but be warned, it’s the side chemicals in the heads and tails that give you the hangovers and other problems. So after you keep what you want, you can then pour what you don’t want to drink and put them into a container and add that back into the still when you are hypothetically running your next batch, since the heads and tails still have recyclable alcohol. So, to be exact, it’s up to your own taste as to what you want to keep, then you recycle what you don’t want. I hope this answers your question.

[Domeguy]

I learned a few interesting facts on my quest to learn about the magic that occurs inside a still. During prohibition, everyone and their brother ran their own still...usually safely. But some people were only interested in profits. Some ran their stills using very questionable, and sometimes deadly parts and additives. Some used car radiators as the cooling condenser. These radiators contained lead, which bleed into the finished product. To help age the moonshine faster, they added chemicals like embalming chemicals. Some kept the methanol, or the foreshots, which are poisonous, and could cause blindness if taken in a high enough dosage. And actually, it was the Feds, that started the rumors saying moonshine can lead to blindness, hoping to scare some people off of the licker, even though there never were any proven cases of regular moonshine causing any blindness. And Absinthe, a very popular distilled avlohol back in the day, was promoted as a dangerous hallucinaginic which caused people to do dangerous and murderous acts. This came about after a man killed his wife after drinking Absinthe. They neglected to tell the people he had been drinking moonshine nonstop for 48 hrs pryer to killing her, which I would guess had something to do with it.

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Guess I shoulda stopped by on the way home from workin on the new homestead? Would have made a "cherry" on top of a long day. Sounds like you're moving right along.

[realist]

I like the idea of adding the embalming fluid for flavor. I figure if I'm going to get pickled then I might as well get embalmed while I'm at it. I'm just getting started so when my time comes I'll be ahead in the game.

[Domeguy]

I haven’t been able to spend much time lately with my Precious. But I found a distillery in Winchester about 30 minutes away that just opened up. They will be giving a class on distilling which will help me to better make the cuts and keep all of the good stuff. I’m just waiting for them to get a few others to sign up.

[Kesephist]

Dome,

How large of a mirror, or mirrors, do you think you'd need for Precious to become a solar powered still?

K

[Domeguy]

Dome,

How large of a mirror, or mirrors, do you think you'd need for Precious to become a solar powered still?

K


Well K, I’m not sure if you are serious, but a solar cooker uses 4 reflective mirrors to boil water, so I’m guessing would do the same with an 8 gallon stainless steel milk container. Don’t know how long it would take to heat up to 200 deg. Maintaining the temp would hard to do.

[Kesephist]

Yeah was thinking that same thought... Fine control and duration of heat appears to be the key. But I do recall, before the big ethanol boom/bust years ago some Iowa farmers were getting fined all to be damn for using solar stills and their several plant materials to brew up methanol for running their small engines.

I'm not being a green weenie, but rather a cheapskate. If a big enough bank of solar charged batteries can run heating elements sufficient to cook your mash...

[Domeguy]

K, you are entirely correct. I currently use a 1500W internal heater to heat up the water when I purify the water in the water purifier. It makes no difference to the equipment as to where the electricity comes from. Last month when I went to Bonnaroo again, I took my 230W solar panel, 5 100Ah batteries, and my 5000W inverter to run my portable AC unit...it’s the same principle.
When I have the extra positive cash flow, I plan on installing along with the solar panels, I plan on installing
2 solar evacuated tube solar hot water heaters and a solar hot water tank. Again, same principal, just using Mother Nature to heat the water for me.

[Domeguy]

I ran a batch of cooked corn last week through “My Precious”. I took some of the “distilled water” to a neighbor whose father used to make his own water. She then took it next door to her 92 yr old mother. She said it was just perfect, just like she used to drink up here in the hollers in TN. So I guess “My Precious” is doing just fine like I hoped for.

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

LadyHK wants to know when she gets to try it out........we have a holler too!

[Domeguy]

Tried the past 2 days at the new homestead, but no one was home.

[eagle326]

Tried the past 2 days at the new homestead, but no one was home.

Psssst!! Domey use that thar thingy called a tellyphone and dial up the man. :p

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Be there today!

[eagle326]

Be there today!

All hands on deck!!! Master Chief River Rat is in the area. God have mercy on your soul!! :eek:

[Domeguy]

I was at the distilling class yesterday. I’ll try today

[Kesephist]

All hands on deck!!! Master Chief River Rat is in the area. God have mercy on your soul!! :eek:

He did. For regular folk He created angels. For Navy folks He created Chiefs.

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

We'll be there with bells on......er, uh Boots, I meant Boots. Finish sealing the concrete on the vault today.