Making your own

[eDJ]

I see some of us on the board aren't in the USA. That may mean you can make your own booze at home without any legal hassles.

Way back in school days I saw this pamphlet, which I "still" own, in a gift
catalog and decided to order it. I had always wanted to learn about the distillation of ethanol alcohol. (aka "Ever Clear", Grain, Moonshine) I had also purchased a kit for making my own beer & wine and leaned how while listening to the fermentation lock bubbling away on my first batch as I studied to learn more. I realized how inexpensive "booze" was when I was making my own. I already knew how expensive the stuff was when buying
it at the "State Store".

So I'll address this to those outside the USA but anyone can join in if they like. If you are in the USA just think of this as using 100 proof Vodka purchased legally. (Vodka would be a low yield batch from your own still)

So, has anyone ever wanted to learn to make their own alcohol and then
flavor it to produce their own liquor? If you have the alcohol you can literally do this.

Here is the pamphlet I have online. Directions for making any of several stills are included. Remember, this should be done outside but away from prying eyes. The vapors of alcohol in a confined area can explode.

There is an ingenious little electric heated still in this pamphlet made of a 1 1/8 diameter copper tube about 18 inches tall. You could make 3 of these and use them all together at the same time to distill a batch of fermented mash. Just imagine mounting these in an old brief case so you can set it up on it's end opened up with the three stills mounted on a hinged frame inside. =) Electric percolator coffee pots heating units work well for this and can be found for cheap in yard sales.



Give this site a moment to fully load and display the whole pamphlet.

http://www.expats.org.uk/features/al...tning.html#Top

Once you have a source of ethanol alcohol (remember 100 proof Vodka in the USA) you can obtain flavorings to make it taste like what ever liquor or whiskey that you want to. You can even age it and color it with the directions in the pamphlet above.

T. Noirot and P. Fioretti & Company are two well known flavoring producers.

Cordials and Liqueurs can be made as well as what is detailed in the pamphlet. There are many sources of info for this online.

"Chicagoland Winemakers" site can get you started with that

http://ep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/yhst-54334...ialRecipes.pdf

Quality Stills made of copper can be purchased online but you can make
these yourself much cheaper. I strongly suggest using silver solder and avoid anything with lead in it. And if you build one in the USA absolutely keep it your secret.

It's also worthwhile to mention something called "Turbo Yeast". It can ferment a much higher % of alcohol in your mash. And that mash can be
little more than sugar, water, and yeast.



Anyone outside the USA ever distilled their own ? Anyone think it would be fun, like smoking meat, to make their own booze or just learn about it ?

[notbobvilla]

Very interesting read, I think distilling and smoking meats goes together well. Since I live in the US I will just keep watching "Moonshiners" and buying the "after" tax liquor, but I'm always looking for more knowledge

[Richtee]

I BELIEVE one can distill a certain amount here in the US for farm fuel usage? Or some type of fuel usage anyway.

Had one I built in 8th grade. It ain't rocket science

[eDJ]

Re:

For those of us who have our own Man Cave where we can entertain friends while the meat smokes away, there are some things we can do to outfit a liquor bar. One of the nice thing about owning decanting glassware with pumps is that there is no store bought bottle. You can have some classy stuff like this. Of course an ice chest full of ice cold beer could work too.



Let everyone assume these were filled from a bottle from the
Liquor store.

In making these flavored and colored liquors and cordials
the flavorings like T. Noirot produces come in tiny bottles
and a few drops will do the flavoring. Then various other
agents can be used to color your liquor.



A source of these:

http://uwf.edu/netmarketing1/shady/catalog/misc.html


I own a copy of this simple booklet which explains making
cordials & liqueurs. These are handy flavorings for baking,
dessert, and candy making as well as a sipping drink. But
there are some main dishes that can benefit from them as well.

Kitchen Cordials by Nancy Crosby and Sue Kenny (Google Books)

http://books.google.com/books/about/...d=SJTxGwAACAAJ

Having spirituous beverages on hand can complement a wide
range of cooking processes.


As I'm flipping through the pages of my booklet I'm seeing
a few interesting recipes:

Since we've been talking about Amaretto lately:

Blue Cheese Spread

1/4 Lb Blue Cheese Softened

1/2 Lb unsalted Butter Softened

1/4 Cup chopped Walnuts

2 Tb Almond Cordial/Amaretto

Beat Cheese and Butter until Creamy and beat in other ingredients. Chill.

Then serve with thin sliced rye or pumernickle bread slices or Toasted
rounds or crackers.


Rumtopf

A great way to preserve Summer fruits to be enjoyed later in winter

Fill a large lidded crock or glass jar with: Pears cored and cut up, Oranges
peeled and cut up, Strawberries, Gooseberries, Cherries, Plumbs Raspberries, Apricots, Peaches, any dried fruit you may have. (NOTE: Apples and Blackberries are Not recommended in this) Add one Cup sugar
to every 3 Cups of fruit. Cover with Rum and allow to stand for at least 3 weeks. When any of it is used replace with new fruit, sugar, and Rum in the same ratios. Serve this on Ice Cream, Custard, or Cake.

[HawgHeaven]

eDJ, great post!! I am a big fan of DIY, just don't have the room these daze to do it. I love that blue cheese spread recipe... gonna try that!

[nickelmore]

I BELIEVE one can distill a certain amount here in the US for farm fuel usage? Or some type of fuel usage anyway.

Had one I built in 8th grade. It ain't rocket science

Yep been many years that I played with alcohol burning go carts......

For grins I may do a lttle research, I think it use to be 5 gallons before you have to send a letter to the ATF, to let them know your intentions and how much you want to produce for your "go cart".

I wonder if they would buy into the idea of me using it to make my own lump charcoal like they do at the Jack Daniels distillery?

[Richtee]

I think it use to be 5 gallons before you have to send a letter to the ATF

Hey..I got contacts there!

[RowdyRay]

Hey..I got contacts there!

No....They have your number.

[Richtee]

No....They have your number.

Umm.. yeah, that's more accurate.

[Blue Dog BBQ]

Go to PBS.com and type in popcorn Sutton and watch the show about him. He made some of the best ever. I think you would enjoy watching and can learn a lot from it. You will see the build and the making of North Carolina corn squezzing.

[eDJ]

Re:

Since I posted a Coffee liqueur (Kahlua) recipe in the Amaretto thread I thought I'd offer this Cake recipe.

Kahlua Cake

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate morsels

2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup butter

4 egg yolks

4 large eggs

1/3 Cup Kahlua

1 Tb butter

1/8 tsp salt

(some powdered sugar to dust cake with)

All temps are listed in fahrenheit


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Season a souffle dish with the 1 Tb butter

Melt 1 cup butter and chocolate morsels until chocolate & butter can be creamed together until smooth. A Whisk will benefit in getting it well mixed.

Whisk the egg yolks and eggs together for a minute or two. Gradually add chocolate mixture, and Whisk until well blended.

Sift together sugar, flour, and salt. Gradually whisk sugar mixture into chocolate & egg mixture until well blended. Then whisk in the Kahlua liqueur. Turn batter into the buttered Souffle dish.

Bake at 425 for 14 to 16 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into cakes registers 165. Remove from oven, and let stand 10 minutes. Run a knife around outer edge of each cake to loosen. Carefully invert cakes onto
a cake plate. You can dust powdered sugar over this using a wire sieve.

[mulepackin]

eDJ, great post!! I am a big fan of DIY, just don't have the room these daze to do it. I love that blue cheese spread recipe... gonna try that!

What is this blue cheese spread of which you speak?! How did I miss that. Redirect me, reroute me, berate me, just get me there! Everything you're doing here is going to get me in trouble, but keep it coming? We just made a lemoncello cake that is pretty awesome too

[eDJ]

Re:

Mule, go back up to post #4 and it's right at the bottom.

Lots of good things can be made with booze besides drinks.

Here's one I'd bet you'd like in the morning that I make all the time.

Get ya a can of fried apples like so:



some Bourbon Whiskey. I only use this one for this recipe



Now, open the can and pour the juice into a sauce pan and add a tablespoon of butter and 1/2 of brown sugar and cook this up into a syrup.

Empty the apples into a bowl and cut em up to about 1 inch cubes.

In a small cup put a couple teaspoons of corn starch and add enough water to stir it up so it's thick enough to flow easily. Stir it again right before you add it cause it will settle.

Have some Cinnamon and a little Nutmeg ready to shake into the syrup.

Now with the syrup bubbling add a dash of Cinnamon & Nutmeg and stir well and then add about an ounce of the Bourbon. Next some corn starch mixture so it will thicken but not be "solid" You don't want the
syrup to be TOO thick.

Now add the apples and stir them around to coat them and get them hot.
Pull off the fire to rest covered.

You'll probably develop your own amounts of each of these ingredients in time. I keep mine to where you can taste the Bourbon but you don't quite know that it is Bourbon. It will work nicely with the Cinnamon and Nutmeg
and give a nutty flavor to the apples.

Believe me this is good. If you've ever seen the hound dog push his bowl around with his nose when it's empty, You'll feel like that ol' hound dog when these apples are ate up.

I'd suggest ya have plenty of hot biscuits coming out of the oven when you do this one.

There's been times I've served this and my guest thought it was so good that they wanted to do it again a second time. So have plenty of cans of apples, rolls of biscuits, and Bourbon. Some Bourbons are better for this than others. That Beam 8 Star is a rather smooth blended 80 proof whiskey. But you could get by with some Calvert or Hiram Walker Imperial in a pinch.

But just play around with the amounts of butter, sugar, spices and Bourbon till you get it where you like it.

It comes out looking like this:



I've found that chopping up the apples makes it easier to spoon them onto the biscuit. That way the goodies don't fall on the floor so easy and the dog get it.

Now if you want to peel & core some Golden Delicious Apples and boil em in
apple juice and butter they will cook down like the canned ones as the juice reduces.

[eDJ]

Re:

For those who love Coconut and Rum together here's a macaroon cookie/candy you can make easily enough.

This recipe can make at least 8 confections the size of a golf ball.

Pre heat oven to 350 F

2 Cup of Baker's Angle Flake Coconut

2 egg white from a large egg.

2 TB granulated white sugar

2 tsp + Dark Rum

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all the ingredients well together in a bowl

Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper
and using a small scoop, scoop a ball of the coconut
mixture on the paper. This should yield 8 or so balls.

Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes till golden brown.

They'll come out like this:



Keep them in a airtight plastic container.
They should be potent with Rum flavor.

[curious aardvark]

I see some of us on the board aren't in the USA. That may mean you can make your own booze at home without any legal hassles.

yes - looked into this recently.
And it's perfectly legal in the uk to distill your own booze. The provizo is that you cannot sell it.
There's nothing stopping you giving it to your mates and them, at another point in time giving you money for somethig else entirely
Just don't get caught

But distilling at home is 100% legal.

The level of duty on alcohol is the uk is absolutely ridiculous.
Also we can't buy straight ethanol (it'd be subject to duty and would cost more than branded lower alcohol content liquor). Obviously there is duty exempt medical alcohol - but you need to be a hospital or doctors surgery to get your hands on that.

As an example. 0.7 litre of the cheapest gin I could find before christmas was just under £10 - $16 (I use it to make sloe gin)
The average cost of the big brands over christmas - with seasonal discounts - was around £15 a litre around $24
Which is pretty good as normally it's be aroud the £24 - $38 a litre mark.

There is a dinky little gadget you can buy for 'water purification' that also doubles as a cheap and cheerful alcohol still

My main issue with home distillation would be accurate temperature control.
get the temp wrong and you end up with methanol in the distillate - and that shit's pure poison.

But I'm thinking about it more and more.