Making alcohol 101

Making alcohol 101

       This post focuses on ideas, and not recipes and techniques.

            Corn whiskey was often used as a barter method, as well as for medicinal reasons, besides the obvious intoxication effects. Often people would drink any distilled liquid vice the local water when the local water was considered unfit to drink.

            Alcohol for drinking (ethanol) is the product of sugar and yeast. There are other forms of alcohol (isopropyl alcohol for example) that are yucky and sometimes poisonous to we people.

            Most people can mix any flavored drink, like punch, with a distilled spirit, to make a punch with a kick. For example, even pineapple juice has some natural sugar in it, and when mixed with yeast will make some alcohol.  Adding plain sugar to the mix will make the drink stronger, like contain more alcohol.

            One can make their own sugar, like from maple sap, for one example.

            Many people can mix the flavor and alcohol making efforts together, but that gets into the various techniques and recipe's for making distilled beverages, wine, and beer.

            There are many kinds of yeast, and some are better than others when it comes to making alcohol as quickly as you can. In the end, all yeasts when mixed with sugar will make some kind of alcohol.

            To gain confidence, consider finding a mentor or old timer who has done it before to guide you through the process the first time, including even using a kit. Most safety precautions can be learned that way, for example. So can all the regulating laws be learned.

            Alcohol is expensive mostly because of all the taxes imposed on it. The actual cost of alcohol, like bourbon whiskey, is relatively inexpensive.

            Chances are most homemade alcoholic beverages take most layman enough time and effort to make to where buying it or bartering for it is preferable.

            If you want to, try moonshine from established sources with a good safe reputation.

            Take advantage of good times to rehearse making alcoholic beverages, be it distilled spirits, wine, or beer.  For example I ended up calling my wine cabernet rock gutto because I obviously did something wrong along the way. Now the beer and micro distilled spirits came out much better. Like the old saying goes, if all else fails, read the directions.