Daddy's Mash Recipes for Alcohol Production

I've been doing a little research on making my own Fuel Alcohol still...
Romantic notions of the mountain moonshiner stoking up his still deep in the woods soon
fade away when one seriously attempts to produce his or her own "liquid sunshine". For
example, though distillation is the fun part of the process, preparing the mash, fermenting
it, and using the by-products are the real work... finding the right recipe is not one I want to make a best guess at...


the following was posted in a 1982 Mother Earth article ... I have not tried it myself as I have yet to build a still of my own... but here are the recipes they claim give the best results

STARCHES
Wheat, Corn, Rye, Barley, Milo, Rice, Cattails
Preparation: Grind to a fine meal using a 3/16" screen on a hammermill; add 30 gal. water
per bushel.
Additives (Enzymes): Add 3 spoons mash cooking powder* per bushel.
Preboil: Raise temp. to 170 deg F for 15 min.; agitate vigorously.
Cook: Hold at rapid rolling boil for 30 min.
Cool Down: Cool with coil to 170 deg F; add 3 spoons mash cooking powder*; agitate for
30-60 min.
Culture: Reduce temp. to 90 deg F; add 6 spoons mash fermenting powder*; agitate for 10
min.; cover.
Comments: Results: 9% alcohol. Wheat, rye, and barley may cause foaming: Use Low-
FoaM** or mix with cornmeal.

Pastry Waste
Preparation: Break apart, do not grind; add 30 gal. water per 55 lb.
Additives (Enzymes): Add 3 spoons mash cooking powder* per bushel.
Preboil: Raise temp. to 170 deg F for 15 min.; agitate vigorously.
Cook: Hold at rapid rolling boil for 30 min.
Cool Down: Cool with coil to 170 deg F; add 3 spoons mash cooking powder*; agitate for
30-60 min.
Culture: Reduce temp. to 90 deg F; add 6 spoons mash fermenting powder*; agitate for 10
min.; cover.
Comments: Results: 9% alcohol. Remove oil (if content is high) before fermentation.

Potatoes, Cassava (Manioc), Taro
Preparation: Slice, crush, or break apart; add 10 gal. water per 100 lb., or as little water as
possible.
Additives (Enzymes): Add 5 spoons mash cooking powder* per 100 lb.
Preboil: None.
Cook: Raise temp. to 180 deg F for 30 min., agitate vigorously.
Cool Down: None.
Culture: Reduce temp. to 90 deg F; add 10 spoons mash fermenting powder*; agitate 10
min.; cover.
Comments: Results: 9% alcohol.

SUGARS
Sugar Beets, Mangel-wurzels (Fodder Beets), Artichoke Tubers
Preparation: Slice or crush; add 10 gal. water per 100 lb., or as little as possible.
Additives (Enzymes): Acid may be added to beets to reach pH 5.0.
Preboil: None
Cook: Raise temp. to 190 deg F for 20 min.; agitate.
Cool Down: None
Culture: Reduce temp. to 90 deg F; add yeast; agitate 10 min.; cover.
Comments: Results: 7% alcohol. Beets may require some molasses yeast food**.

Sweet Sorghum, Cane, Artichoke Stalks
Preparation: Squeeze out juice.
Additives (Enzymes): None.
Preboil: Raise temp to 180 deg F for 10 min. to sterilize.
Cook: None.
Cool Down: None.
Culture: Reduce temp. to 90 deg F; add water to make 18% sugar; add yeast; agitate 10
min.; cover.
Comments: Results: 9% alcohol. Molasses yeast food** may be added to increase yield.

Molasses, Sugar Products
Preparation: None.
Additives (Enzymes): Molasses from beets may need neutralization with acid.
Preboil: If necessary, raise temp to 180 deg F for 10 min. to sterilize.
Cook: None.
Cool Down: None.
Culture: Reduce temp. to 90 deg F; add water to make 18% sugar; add yeast; agitate 10
min.; cover.
Comments: Results: 9% alcohol. Use molasses yeast food** to insure proper yield. High
NaCl content may interfere with fermentation.

Cheese Whey
Preparation: None.
Additives (Enzymes): None.
Preboil: None.
Cook: Raise temp. to 210 deg F for 10 min. to sterilize.
Cool Down: Separate protein with NH40H; adjust pH to 5.0.
Culture: Reduce temp. to 90 deg F; Add Kluyveromyces fragilis or Torula cremoris yeast.
Fermentation takes only 12 hrs.
Comments: Results: 3% alcohol. Aeration may increase yield. Whey may be used as liquid
with corn, but lactase must be added for conversion.

CELLULOSE
Preparation: Chop straw or soft material. Wood must be fine sawdust or treated with 400
deg F steam for 2 hrs.
Additives (Enzymes): Add a 1% caustic solution; hold at 140 deg F for 3 hrs. to separate
lignin.
Preboil: Draw off lignin, neutralize.
Cook: Cook at 140 deg F for 4 hrs. in 1% solution of Biocellulase**.
Cool Down: Remove sugar liquid.
Culture: Reduce temp. to 90 deg F; add brewer's yeast; agitate for 10 min.; cover.
Comments: Results: 2.5% alcohol. Acid hydrolysis is an alternative but expensive method.

* Available from THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS, P.O. Box 70, Hendersonville, N.C. 28791.
** Available from Biocon, Inc., Dept, TMEN, 261 Midland Ave., Lexington, Ky. 40507.

Important! Read section below Before Making Mash

PART 2

New, Improved Three-step Mashing Recipe

MILLING
Shell, clean, and grind a bushel of corn (56 pounds) into a fine meal of about the size
needed for livestock feed. Use a 3/16" screen on a hammermill (or a similar grinder) to
eliminate any large starch grains. However, do not grind the corn into a flour. If the grains
are too small, it'll be very difficult to separate the solids from the mash, with a resulting loss
of feed grain and a miserable mess inside your still.

STEP ONE: COOKING
Start with 30 gallons of water in your cooker, and then add the cornmeal slowly, to prevent
lumping. Once the meal is stirred in, stir in 3 level measuring spoons of MOTHER's
Alcohol Fuel Mash Cooking Enzyme (mixed in water) and bring the mixture up to 170 deg
F (77 deg C). Hold the mash at this temperature for 15 minutes, stirring vigorously
throughout the process. Then bring the liquid to a rapid rolling boil and hold it there for 30
minutes more. Be particularly careful that the mash doesn't stick to the bottom of the
cooker. (For batches larger than a bushel, we recommend using an automatic agitator,
which should spin at 30 to 45 RPM.)

STEP TWO: CONVERTING
Using the cooling coil, bring the temperature of the mash down to 170 deg F (77 deg C),
and add 3 more measuring spoons of MOTHER's Cooking Enzyme (mixed in water). Keep
the mixture at this temperature for 30 minutes, while you agitate it constantly.

STEP THREE: FERMENTATION
Start cold water flowing through the cooling coil again, to reduce the temperature to 90 deg
F (32 deg C) as rapidly as possible. Once the mash has cooled, add 6 measuring spoons of
MOTHER's Alcohol Fuel Fermentation Powder (a complex glucoamylase, yeast, and
denaturant combination), stir the mash for 10 minutes, and then cover the tank.
While it's fermenting, the mash must be kept between 85 and 90 deg F (29-32 deg C).
Consequently, you may need to cover the tank with wet burlap in hot weather, or insulate it
during colder months. At this temperature, the mash will reach maturity in 2-1/2 to 3 days.

TESTING PROCEDURES
Using a saccharometer: At the beginning of fermentation, the specific gravity of the mash
should be about 1.080 (8 to 12% alcohol potential), while by the end of the process it will
have dropped to 1.007 or less (0 to 1% alcohol potential). Once the specific gravity has
remained constant for 6 hours, you can be sure that the mash is ready for distillation. But to
double check that complete conversion has been attained, both a standard starch test (using
iodine) and a glucose test (using glucose test strips available at drug stores) must read
negative.

YOU MUST HAVE A COOLING COIL
To make a cooling coil, just wind a 30-foot length of soft copper tubing around a large pipe
(6 inches, or more, in diameter), and add garden hose adapters at each end. Attach the hoses
to the tube, and drop the assembly into your cooking vat....

reply to post by DaddyBare


The only way I would make alcohol is to keep my "competition" drunk while making my bid for US soil domination, hehehe
Sorry but in a SHTF scenario I see alcohol as a luxury, and not a necessity.
Hell I see soap and deoderant as a luxury is a true SHTF scenario, who the heck cares if they smell when they're just trying to survive another day? I'm sure I won't give a flying rat!

reply to post by ldyserenity


Alcohol has plenty of purposes besides intoxication.

Fuel, sterilization, barter, weapon, antifreeze, etc...

reply to post by ldyserenity


It's not a necessity, it is valuable however in a bartering system.

If I have an apple tree but am tired of apple and have an excess, I would be more than willing to trade a bag of apples for a jar of drink.

reply to post by emaildogs


Mash those apples into cider.

Think I'll stick to my hard cider production! I've thought about moonshinin', but its a lot more work than I deem worth it in my quest for alcohol

Keep in mind I can find a dozen ways to get inebriated...
but this is for the production of Fuel Alcohol ... to run small motors ...not to get your own motor revving

i do not trust any recipe that has less than 45% alcohol, some are just put up to see if your willing to try it and make you go blind or die!!!
Be extremely careful for they will blow !!! like a bomb, a good still will make fine sipping brew, hooch sipp'in tea ect.

Here is the place to get the fine recipe mountainmoonshine.com... here is the place to get the still coppermoonshinestills.com... i know some of the art of making , do not ask me "how too" for i will not tell , the one time home made brew put me on my @$$!!!! made a quart, drank a table spoon, say it was about 200 proof. yes 95%!! "Everclear" is close, more refined than home brew.
The simple fix'ins are, a fermented mixture of corn, yeast, sugar, and water,and fire. Naming your "still will do no harm" should be of copper, hold at least 10gal, this will make about 13and 1/2 gal of sipp'in brew an other little trick, ok pass the time while your waiting and stokin the fire, adding removing the logs, is this

It is all in the thud thud thud, moonshine stomp, dance , or shuffle, yes it is a dance the old timers know, and here is a song to go with that dance "thud thud thud like'm that sound , it's moon shine now thud thud thud ol' betsy going to let you smile, thud thud thud , one little drip , here it comes , want to take a sip, thud thud thud , don't let knock you on your but, just take a sip, thud thud thud, keep the fire going... not to hot, not to cold , , fresh mountain water is the key , home grown corn... fresh from the filed... thud thud thud, any time now ol betsy going to put a smile on me". need fiddle, jug, mouth harp, spoons, well you get the idea.

reply to post by DaddyBare
parts cleaner, disinfectant, fuel for Colman lanterns, stoves, gen fuel antifreeze, the list and use is long and wide, just do not be smoking when making or using it!!! could be used a propellant, insecticide.

reply to post by DaddyBare


I disagree.

Preparing the Mash is the FUN part! I've made wine for years. 6 gallons at a time. If I get a bad batch (like the time I decided to use a blender for the watermelon, and didn't remove the seeds), if I get a bad batch, I would distill my 6 gallons down to about a gallon or so. Since I didn't have a decent still, the distillation was finicky and uncooperative.

I'll make your mash all day long, if you'll send back the good stuff!!

By the way, we made a couple of real neat "cooking wines." Made a jalapeno wine that was great for grilling. Made some flavored vinegars. Made some mixed fruit wines (strawberry merlot was my favorite). Made some rice wine (didn't like it much though). Tried orange and grapefruit, but acid is too high. I make a mean Pear Wine every July. I like to use the "sherry yeast" and honey as a sweetener. The sherry yeast allows the alcohol content to go above the typical 12-15% (you have to add sugar/honey to up the potential, and use the heartier yeast), and the honey doesn't ferment quite as readily so it retains some of the sweetness naturally, and it also flavors the wine. We use Tupelo Honey down here, but I like clover honey, and orange blossom honey also.

Anyhow. I'd be interested in your plans for a good and simple homemade still. I'm surrounded by wild berries, fruits, but I hate trying to still it over a stove.

I have been a homebrewer for years now. I brew both Ales and Lager types of Beer and in looking at this distilling recipe, though interesting, it is considerably more complex than brewing beer/wine.

In a SHTF scenario I would consider selling my Brew for not only is it tasty and contains nutritional value in the form of carbohydrates and Vitamin B6, it also is boiled and subsequently also provides a source of safe drinking water. And not to mention fresh tasting brew....which is like fresh bread, full of flavor due to it not being pasteurized.

Unfortunately under SHTF scenarios It does require some specific ingredients that mightn't be avbl...such as Malted Barley and Hops which I don't happen to grow either but should consider....

Fortunately I happen to have a rather large apple tree that is currently teeming with bright red apples and instead of donating them to my own local natural bird habitat as normal.

I might take a few and try brewing a batch of hard cider instead...for it's even simpler than beer in that I wouldn't need the malted barley or the hops. But simply apples,sugar and champagne yeast.
The yeast can be recycled and stored for future use...which we homebrewers do as well.....
I might start growing sugar beets for their sugar.

But Anything to put a smile on our faces during these hard times...with a nice fresh organic apple brew !

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

Alcohol has plenty of purposes besides intoxication.

Fuel, sterilization, barter, weapon, antifreeze, etc...

edit on 15-9-2011 by thisguyrighthere because: (no reason given)

True but as fuel....err how are you gonna get around the streets with all the empty, stranded cars clogging them up? which I'd assume would happen in a SHTF scenario, also For sterlization it's good but so is plain fire and some distilled water or even salt water (saline) .... unless the fuel is used for generators...then yeah that makes sense. There is a good reason for use of alcohol but I would guess the best would be for the fuel mostly.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Simply awesome. This is THE most important thing for survival strategies You can make friends with alcohol, sell it for money and ofcourse forget about the sorrows for a while

Thanks for the recipes.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
reply to post by emaildogs

 

Mash those apples into cider.

Yeah hard cider...then you've made your own drink.
I don't think I'd or anybody with common sense though would really want a drink of alcohol when they're thirsty beyond all thirst they'll want water, just my opinion...I am not much of a drinker can you tell? LOL...course the old man would probably want some beer once in awhile but I'd probably shoot him if he traded our food for a jug of beer!!!!
Sorry couldnt resist...

reply to post by ldyserenity


One can use it in the current time to supplement regular gasoline and lower your gas bill. In survival situation, it could go into a generator, or a chainsaw, or a motorcycle, or it could be used for first aid.

Plus, alcohol is easy to store, starches are not so easy because they draw rats and bugs, and they rot. Beer/Mead was originally invented as a means of keeping grains longer, the goofiness it creates was just an added benefit, LOL!

One thing to ALWAYS keep in mind. Methanol is extremely poisonous and as little as 1 ounce can cause sickness and blindness and other ailments. Methanol is formed before Ethanol in a still, so ALWAYS discard the first ounce or two that come out of your still, and NEVER add something stupid to your mix after the fact (like gasoline) if there is any chance you will want to drink it later.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Now see vinegar is useful....I would gladly trade some food for vinegar as I use it so many ways as a cook and those cooking wines too, they could be very useful. (I am a cooking kind of gal) To me cooking wines, vinegars and spices are staples for sure.

reply to post by ldyserenity


Well, it's not hard instantly.

First it's just cider, then it becomes hard then it become vinegar.

You can pasteurize the cider to prevent it from becoming hard if you'd like.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Oh I know that. I had chemistry in High school, but I was agreeing with you why trade the apples when he can make the cider and let it turn into (or still) it to become hard cider.

As Far as the OP I did see he meant to use as fuel for generators... I don't have the luxury to afford a generator our electricity if the SHTF would probably be bringing out the old camping lanterns we brought lol... I think I could live fine without any electric or a vehicle, besides wouldn't it be better if I just barter my vehicle for something like a horse? It would get me from point A to point B plus I could also get around any stranded vehicles, plus I could hitch a plough to it to till the ground and grow food, I guess I have this big dream of a world without fake lights and technology, simpler times...I don't know it seems more liberating to me.

reply to post by getreadyalready


No plans for a still just yet...
but I do have an Idea...
Here is a exploded view of a 2" column