On Our Move To Tennessee and Beyond

The Stillhouse Rambler

• How to Age Your Own Whiskey Barrel Aged Whiskey White Whiskey There are a lot of different names for moonshine. White dog, white lightning, and mountain dew are among the more popular terms used to describe homemade spirits. What do these names have in common? Well, they hint at the fact that moonshine is typically crystal clear and typically doesn't have the dark caramel color that store bought whiskey does. Ag...
• The Best Yeasts for Distilling Distillers Yeast Review We get a lot of questions about yeast. Folks want to know "which yeasts are the best" for making high quality whiskey and other spirits. Admittedly, our experience with distillers yeasts is somewhat limited. We found a yeast we liked using a while back and stuck with it. We hadn't really done much side by side experimentation with other yeasts...until recently. We d...
• Distillation Equipment Guide Essential Distillation Equipment Gear Guide We aspire to provide the highest quality all-copper moonshine still kits at the best price possible. We’re 100% focused on that goal so we don’t carry additional distilling equipment in-house. Basically, we don’t want to be distracted trying to manage a big inventory of odds and ends.  However, we’ve definitely m...
• Distillation Column Packing - For Higher Proof Increase Final Proof by Packing Still Column   Copper Mesh, Raschig Rings, and Glass Beads Packing a distillation column with copper mesh, copper scrubbers, raschig rings, or glass distilling beads is the easiest way to increase the final proof of moonshine whiskey while making it taste better. The packing material increases final proof by causing a slight natural reflux action ...
• Thermometer - Custom Moonshine Still Mod How to install a Thermometer in a Moonshine Still The number one question we get asked VIA email and over the phone is this: "How do you add a thermometer to the still and where is the best place to install it?" When making moonshine it isn't critical, or even absolutely necessary to measure temperature, but there are a few benefits. A thermometer can be used to help detect the presense of meth...
• How to Make Moonshine : Part 1 - The Mash How to Make Moonshine Mash Here are three easy ways to make moonshine mash. The first two methods are based on traditional corn whiskey recipes. The third method is a cheap and easy (and a good starting point for folks new to distilling), but isn’t recommended for someone serious about making a high quality product. Speaking of making good whiskey - make sure you're using a high qual...
• How to Distill - 101 How to Distill We've had a ton of requests for a simple video on how to distill with our moonshine still kits.  It may seem counter intuitive, but we've resisted for a few reasons.  First, there is already a lot of information out there on distilling using just about any kind of still imaginable (column stills, pot stills, fractioning stills, reflux stills, etc, pressure cooke...
• Honey Moonshine - AKA: "Honeyshine" How to Make Honey Moonshine Here is one of our favorite recipes of all time: Honeyshine. It's basically a no frills distilled mead, but it packs a powerful punch and tastes great. We've grown accustomed to using wildflower honey because it has more complexity than clover honey. However, clover honey will lend its own unique taste to the final product and may taste even better than wildfow...
• Rum Recipe - How to Make Rum B.F.'s Rebel Rum Recipe If you want to know how to make rum, you're in the right place.  Here is a recipe from our friend BF.  It's his favorite rum recipe and here's a word straight from him: "I will say as a bit of a warning to pass on to others, rum made from a pot still has some wildly different characteristics than Bacardi or something like that. Pot distilled rum is much closer ...
• How to Make the Best Peach Moonshine This year we spent memorial day weekend at the Fiddlers Grove old time music festival in Union Grove, North Carolina.  Not only was it a weekend filled with great music, there was also some pretty darn good moonshine floating around!  We were fortunate enough to find ourselves in the middle of a jam fueled by a couple jars of peach shine.  We also got a chance to talk with the ...
• Apple Pie Moonshine Apple Pie Moonshine is probably the most popular and sought after type of bootleg whiskey ever made, and for good reason - it's delicious. We've already posted procedures for making a basic mash and even instructions on making peach moonshine. Here is our favorite (high octane) apple pie moonshine recipe: Ingredients: 1 quart of 120 proof, pure corn whiskey moonshine (everclear could ...
• 10 Most Important Safety Tips for Moonshiners How to Make Moonshine Safely Folks often ask us how to make moonshine.  It isn't rocket science, but there is definitely a lot to consider.  In fact, one of the first things to consider when making moonshine is safety. Here is a list of 10 of the most important safety issues that moonshiners should know and understand: Only use a pure copper moonshine still assembled with lead...
• Alcohol Yields How Much Moonshine Will a Still Produce? We often get questions like these: "How much moonshine will 5 gallons of mash make?" and "How much moonshine will be produced by a 10 gallon still?" The answer is simple: it all depends on starting alcohol and final proof. In this article we'll explain how to determine how much alcohol to expect from a run. For the instant gratification seekers in the ...
• How to Clean a Copper Moonshine Still While some folks take their stills apart and hide the pieces in random bushes and gullies on the back 40, others not only keep them together, but keep them out in the open for display.  Quite a few folks have asked us how to keep the copper bright and shiny, so we decided to write this "how to" guide.   First things first, copper is not naturally shiny.  Over time t...
• Is it legal to make moonshine in Colorado? Colorado Distilling Laws Here is summary of Colorado's laws regarding home distillation of moonshine whiskey, fuel alcohol, essential oils, and water. Owning a still The State of Colorado does not prohibit ownership of a still. Distilling Water and Essential Oils Yes, it is legal to distill water. It is also legal to distill essential oils without the use of alcohol as a solvent. Distilling Al...
• State Distilling Laws: Is it Legal to Make Moonshine in Your State? State Distilling Laws Is it legal to make moonshine in your state? If you are considering making your own moonshine whiskey, it would be a very good idea to make sure your state allows it. The thing to keep in mind is that there are federal and state laws regarding home distilling. Click here for a good summary of federal distillation laws. For state laws, see the list below. It's currently not...
• Methanol - Will Moonshine Make You Blind? Moonshine and Blindness We get a lot of questions about how to distill safely. One of the most frequent questions we get is "can moonshine make you blind?" The short answer is this: when made in small batches while following a few simple safety precautions, moonshine will NOT cause blindness, death, or even a bad hangover.  In the article below we'll explain what could cause moonshine to...
• Moonshine Pickleback Good moonshine doesn't need help from mixers, but we recently heard about a crazy drink made with pickle juice and hot sauce. Well, it's not normally made with hot sauce, but we couldn't resist adding some. It's called a pickleback, and it's pretty darn good. Ingredients: 1 part moonshine 1 part pickle juice A couple drops of "O" face hot sauce.  Last summer we went a little crazy wit...
• Is Making Moonshine Legal? Know Your Rights - Moonshine Laws Unless the thought of digging ditches with chains around your ankles is appealing, you better read this article on the legalities of making moonshine very closely. There are federal and state laws regulating home distilling. To avoid trouble with the revenooers and your local sheriff, it is best to follow both sets of laws. We'll summarize federal laws in this...
• Blue Corn Whiskey Veterans of the distillation world will tell you that a growing trend among commercial mega-distillers is the flavoring of cheaply manufactured neutral grain spirits. Some products are comprised entirely of flavored neutral grain while other products blend neutral grain products with products distilled using traditional methods. Again, coloring agents, sweeteners, and other additives are i...
• Downslope Distilling - Double Diamond Whiskey Home distillers everywhere should aspire to the level of quality achieved by the folks at DownSlope Distillers.  These guys really know their stuff and pride themselves on making a great tasting product using traditional, old-world technology and methodologies. They turn their noses up at techniques used by large scale commercial distillers (and even some craft distiller start-ups) includi...
• Ginger Alcohol Tincture Organic Alcohol Tincture - Ginger Moonshine Moonshine ginger tincture - it's not generally what comes to mind when we think of medicine these days.  More common images would be a bottle of pills or a container of commercial cough syrup. Likewise, when we think about moonshine, we're more likely to conjure up images of friends and campfires. However, in the early 1900's moonshine was ...
• Copper High Country Moonshine Stills North Carolina High Country Copper Moonshine Stills A recent episode of the TV show Moonshiners (on Discovery) featured a "North Carolina High Country Still," which is nothing more than a traditional pot still with a thump keg (or thumper) and a coil condenser (or worm). A lot of folks ask us how our copper moonshine still kits are different from traditional pot stills. The answer ...