Email to Bones      

Recipe Categories: billk54's HOME PAGEAPPETIZERS Appetizers_2 BBQ BEVERAGES Beverages_2 Biscuits BREAD Bread_2 Bread_3 BREAKFAST Breakfast_2 Breakfast_Fruit CAKESandPIES Cakes_Pies_4 Cakes_Pies_6 Cakes__Pies_2 Cakes__Pies_3 Cake_Pies_5 CANDY CASSEROLES Casseroles_2 Chicken Chicken_2 Chicken_Wings Chinese Christmas Christmas_2 COOKIES Cookies_2 Cookies_3 CookingTerms Cooking_Tips Cookout CROCKPOT Crockpot_2 DESSERTS Desserts_2 Desserts_3 DIABETIC Dips Doughnuts EasterBread EGGS ETHNIC FISHandSEAFOOD FoodSubstitutes FROSTINGS Gelato Gifts_in_a_Jar Italian Italian_2 JAMSandJELLIES LOWFAT Magic_Bullet_Recipes MARINADES Measurements MEATS Meats_2 Misc Pampered_Chef_Recipes PASTA PASTASALAD PASTRIES Pastry_Crusts Pickles PIZZA Potatoes POULTRY RICE SALADandDRESSING Salads_Dressings_2 SANDWICHES SAUCES Seasining SNACKS SOUPSandSTEWS Spreads Stuffing Trifle VEGETABLES

Moonshine (Corn Whiskey)




Source of Recipe


Internet


Recipe Introduction


Moonshine, or untaxed liquor, is made from fermented corn mash distilled in a cooker. It derives its name from the term "moonlighter" used in England to describe the night time runners that smuggled brandy from France. After World War I, agricultural prices dropped, so during Prohibition, many American farmers turned to whiskey making to support their families.

The Appalachian Traveller's home, Cosby, TN, is known as the "Moonshine Capitol of the World." In the 1960's, it's claimed that there were over 200 stills operating in Cocke County, each averaging 20 gallons a day. Liquor was run into Atlanta, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Asheville, as well as some northern cities.

A typical mountain still uses a stone furnace for heat, a metal still for fermenting and heating the mash, and barrels for collecting steam and condensing the alcohol. It was located near a mountain stream where cold water could be piped in to condense the steam from the liquor.



List of Ingredients




50 lbs. cornmeal
10 lbs. bran (optional)
200 lbs. sugar
12 oz. yeast


Recipe



Makes 36 gallons.

To boiled corn meal add the yeast and sugar (lots of sugar! -- that's how the sneaky "revenuers" would identify moonshiners for prosecution) to ferment the mash. When the mash quits bubbling, it is cooked in the still and the steam is captured in a barrel filled with water (the "thump"). From the thump, the steam is allowed to cool and condense by running it through a long copper coil (the "worm") submerged in another barrel (the "flakestand") that is constantly cooled with water troughed in from a nearby stream. Condensed, the clear liquor drips from the bottom of the flakestand into a catch can or 1/2 gallon glass jars. The liquor is tested for alcohol content, or "proof," by adding gunpowder to it and igniting the mixture. If it burns, its "proof" is established at somewhere between 100 and 200 proof or 50% to 100% pure alcohol.