Making Moonshine At Home Is On The Rise. But It's Still Illegal

NPR ^ | 27 Jan 2014 | Alastair Bland

[Theoria]

Within days after each season premiere and season finale of the Discovery Channel's reality show "Moonshiners," they come — a small but perceptible wave of people — to purchase suspiciously large amounts of corn, sugar and hardy strains of fermenting yeast at Austin Homebrew Supply.

"We know what they're up to," says Chris Ellison, the manager of the Texas store.

That is, it's obvious they're planning to ferment the sugars from grain or fruit juice into alcohol, then distill the resulting mid-strength beverage into high-alcohol hooch.

Making spirits at home with plans to drink it is against federal law. Only with the right permits may a person make ethanol, either for use strictly as fuel, or as part of a commercial endeavor — like launching a craft spirits company, of which hundreds have opened nationwide in recent years.

Yet more and more people seem to be making home moonshine, according to sources.

"The interest level is growing rapidly," says Gary Robinson, owner of Moonshine Still Pro, a supplier in Missouri. Robinson sells stills — which are perfectly legal to own — from roughly three gallons in capacity to about 13. He ships to all states, but the core regions of his business are the traditional southeastern moonshine districts and the West Coast.

Mike Haney, owner of Hillbilly Stills in Barlow, Ky., says his sales of ethanol stills have doubled every year for three years since he opened. "Just that someone buys a still doesn't mean they're out to break the law," Haney points out. "A lot of people are making fuel."

Haney also sells miniature oak barrels — the sort used for aging bourbon and brandy.

"But they might be aging wine in them, or just buying everclear from a supermarket and putting that in the barrel," he says.

[Celtic Conservative]

According to a recent new york daily news article he’s on the shelves in Georgia and South Carolina. Sorry I don’t have the link. I just googled “tim tickle corn whiskey” and it came right up.

CC

[IronJack]

Fractional distillation relies on different liquids in the alcohol having different boiling points. The people who apply the denaturants selected them very carefully to keep the boiling points as close as possible. It is much more difficult than you imply.

[BipolarBob]

Ignore BtC. It’s people like him that got moonshining illegal to start with. Wood alcohol will cause death and blindness. What he describes has been tried in other countries because someone with a little bit of knowledge (think BtC) tried to cut corners. It always ends badly.

[nascarnation]

Thanks.
Sounds scary, the risk/reward ratio seems very skewed to me.

[Born to Conserve]

“It is much more difficult than you imply.”

You’re wrong, but I guess you’re accustomed to that. By your comment, I see you are more interested in contradicting than learning. Good luck with that.

[IronJack]

And you’re an ass, but I guess YOU’RE used to THAT.

[Born to Conserve]

You started it, and you seem to enjoy it.

[IronJack]

Started what??? A simple Wikipedia search for “denatured alcohol” bears out what I said, which was based on 3+ years of college organic chemistry. Your rebuttal was a childish personal attack that was not only incorrect but rude as well. So grow up, do your homework, or shut your blowhole — preferably all three.

[Born to Conserve]

In your many years of college, I guess you skipped the course on formal logic where they explained quantification.

I could, easily and safely, fractionally distill some formulations of denatured alcohol, producing good drinking neutral spirits. That includes some formulations available in local paint stores in five gallon quantities.

Prove that I cannot.

You are wrong, and I don’t expect you to ever understand how or why. I think it is beyond your capacity. If you care to look up “Dunning-Kruger”, perhaps you might get a glimpse beyond your domain. Good luck!

[IronJack]

I get it now. You are undoubtedly testing the results of your distillations, and the consequences are obvious.

[BipolarBob]

I’ve read in the latter stages of dementia that the cognitive senses are diminished and the delusions of grandeur increased. I don’t know why that came to me while reading BtC comments and your well reasoned replies.