Since no sports, are you drinking more...or less?

tbassler

Registered User
Jul 22, 2009
287
206
Can anybody recommend a recipe for moonshine? I have the time

I think you have to lose a couple of teeth first.

I only know what I have seen on Discovery channel.

Lots of corn mash is number one. That includes yeast and sugar.

The rest is up to Betty Crocker.
 

nyr2k2

Can't Beat Him
Jul 30, 2005
45,659
32,728
Maryland
I used to work with a good country boy from West Virginia (which, now, is like 5 minutes from me), and he used to roll up to work on Fridays and have gallon milk cartons filled with the stuff. It was incredibly potent, but it also had like specks of black shit floating in it and everything. It wasn't "professional" stuff, just authentic good old boy hooch. The could make it flavored, too, but I honestly thought that was nasty.

First time I tried it, we were driving up to Wisconsin for some political stuff, and this old-ass guy, Blackwell, offered me some. This motherf***er always drank sherry--even the kind marketed as straight cooking wine, so he was always suspect. I poured a whole large red solo cup, to which Nelvin, the driver, and the procurement guy, laughed and said, "Aww shit." I was in my late 20s so I was pretty certain as long as we could stop for me to have a cig halfway through, I'd be good. I drank the whole cup while still in Maryland and then woke up as we were just getting out of Ohio. That stuff knocked me the f*** out. I had "moonshine" in college in jungle juice concoctions plenty of times, but this stuff was something else. In moderation it's great. Otherwise, it could kill you.
 

nyr2k2

Can't Beat Him
Jul 30, 2005
45,659
32,728
Maryland
I had a substance abuse problem previously but managed to slide back into drinking after some years without it ruining my life. Now, if I go out, I'll drink whatever the hosts are doing. If they're making shots and all that, I'll do that just fine. So I'm easy to please in that respect.

When it comes to just me, at my home, or just out with the family at a restaurant, I drink exclusively Miller Lite (or something else cheap, light and domestic, or one of a few Mexican beers, or maybe like a Stella) or a Jack and Diet. I have lots of beer snob friends that shit talk me for drinking Miller Lite, but I honestly, I can't drink the microbrews and stuff that has a paragraph-long description of what it tastes like. To me, 90% of that stuff is nasty. I remember going out once to a place that is local to here but has since expanded, Dogfish Head, and my buddy bought me a beer. I took a big swig and was like, f*** me, this shit tastes like grass. And my buddy is like, yeah no shit that's the Lawnmower IPA! Honestly, why the actual f*** would someone want to drink that? I don't get it.

I recognize all microbrews are not gross. I've had plenty that were just fine. Usually things that are a little citrusy, I'm good with. Or whatever is the lightest thing--not because of ABV, but because the light beers have a better flavor to me. If they could make a light beer that also had a high ABV that wasn't Beast Ice, I'd love it I'm sure.
 

Irishguy42

Mr. Preachy
Sep 11, 2015
26,789
19,036
NJ
Definitely more, but the current stash will be the last purchase until after my fiancee and I move.
giphy.gif
 

Harbour Dog

Registered User
Jul 16, 2015
10,234
12,813
St. John's
I used to work with a good country boy from West Virginia (which, now, is like 5 minutes from me), and he used to roll up to work on Fridays and have gallon milk cartons filled with the stuff. It was incredibly potent, but it also had like specks of black shit floating in it and everything. It wasn't "professional" stuff, just authentic good old boy hooch. The could make it flavored, too, but I honestly thought that was nasty.

First time I tried it, we were driving up to Wisconsin for some political stuff, and this old-ass guy, Blackwell, offered me some. This motherf***er always drank sherry--even the kind marketed as straight cooking wine, so he was always suspect. I poured a whole large red solo cup, to which Nelvin, the driver, and the procurement guy, laughed and said, "Aww shit." I was in my late 20s so I was pretty certain as long as we could stop for me to have a cig halfway through, I'd be good. I drank the whole cup while still in Maryland and then woke up as we were just getting out of Ohio. That stuff knocked me the f*** out. I had "moonshine" in college in jungle juice concoctions plenty of times, but this stuff was something else. In moderation it's great. Otherwise, it could kill you.

There are two small islands off the south coast of Newfoundland called St. Pierre and Michelon, that are owned by France.

It is common practice for people to smuggle "alchy" from there and then to cut it down with water and a little gravy browning to make it look like rum.

We call it moonshine. On St. Pierre and Michelon, they use it to clean motors. Nothing kicks half as hard!
 
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CasusBelli

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Jul 6, 2017
12,765
11,642
There are two small islands off the south coast of Newfoundland called St. Pierre and Michelon, that are owned by France.

It is common practice for people to smuggle "alchy" from there and then to cut it down with water and a little gravy browning to make it look like rum.

We call it moonshine. On St. Pierre and Michelon, they use it to clean motors. Nothing kicks half as hard!
Reminds me of the stuff they used in The Matrix to degrease the engines of the Nebuchadnezzar.
 
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eco's bones

Registered User
Jul 21, 2005
25,988
12,223
Elmira NY
The passing of my father is really what made me want to quit. All I wanted was for my daughter to have really fond memories of him, to know him as a semi-adult at least. She's 4, so, probably won't happen. We have pictures and videos, but that's it. The actual memories will fade. And to see how devastating it has been for my Mom. Just awful. So, I couldn't in good conscience smoke and maybe die at 50 or something and leave my wife for that long and never meet my grand kids and all that.

f***ing sucks though. I don't have many cravings, but when I do they're intense. And I could absolutely drive down to the bodega, grab a pack, and be back to it like I never quit.

My dad died a few months before I retired. It was something really difficult for me to deal with and my mom was just devastated as well. She was 90 and was practically blind but her condition was fixable and that was one of the things we did with her. She never really got over my dad but the gift of eyesight at least made her last years better. Once people are gone there's a hole and pretty much I think the majority of people are going to go through a period of depression. It seems to me though you're taking your own steps to turn a negative into something positive by giving up smoking so hang in there.

By the way I'm a big IPA guy.
 
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Chimpradamus

Registered User
Feb 16, 2006
16,634
5,249
Northern Sweden
Can anybody recommend a recipe for moonshine? I have the time
If you want to make some A+ quality alcohol, you should make mead, the ancient drink of the vikings. 3 parts water and 1 part honey (in a converter, it's about 6,6 gallons of water and 17½ pounds of honey). It's like wine made from honey. It hides the alcohol taste really well (it's devious in that way) and you can spice it with pretty much anything (cinnamon/ chocolate/ ginger/ whatever). It's not necessary to use any spices at all, but can be fun to experiment with. The quality of the honey is very important. If possible, don't buy the sugar added honey from the store. If you buy directly from a beekeeper, you get insanely good mead. It can be quite expensive though.

You can make it all from 10 to close to 20% of alcohol strength. For the stronger beverage, use more honey to keep some sweetness.

If you cannot get honey from a beekeeper and use the lower quality honey from the stores, you can also experiment with mixing it with syrup. I personally prefer the taste from darker syrups. It should be possible to make a good drink from maple syrup.

One of the weirdest moonshines I ever made was store bought honey and dark syrup, spiced with coconut. I didn't like it that much, but most girls that tried it loved it. It was about 18,5% alcohol, but didn't taste like it was that strong, so people got really wasted.

Another of my extremely weird recipes was mixing ordinary, active coal distilled moonshine alcohol with tea. I dilluted it to about a strength of 7%. It tasted like weak tea and had no alcohol taste at all. That was another of my vicious recipes.

Here's an example of a recipe, but I personally think he makes way too little. ;) When I make alcohol, I make it in plastic barrels.
 
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Blue Blooded

Most people rejected his message
Oct 25, 2010
4,524
2,435
Stockholm
Less, restocking has become an issue and social events are way down. My group of friends did have an AW over Google Hangouts though!

Speaking of other bad habits though, I managed to start AND quit smoking during the pandemic. I used to smoke a dart every now and then, but the boredom managed to increase the amount and frequency rather dramatically. Snus wasn't a substitute because it didn't give that intense hit that a cig does, more of a slow burn. But then I tried this newfangled tobacco free snus that is available in quite strong doses, with which I easily replaced my smoking habit.
 

Made Dan

Registered User
Jul 15, 2007
14,520
50
The Bronx, NY
So, I've only drank with my wife in the period of time since I've quit. Since we've been quarantined, I haven't been able to go out and drink socially. That's what scares me, drinking when I'm out socially.

However, I mentioned I had cut back on drinking for other reasons, and that was a falling out with a couple friends that cut me off from my hard drinking/hard smoking group. So now the people I socialize with, only a small amount of them smoke. Before, it was like all of them.

I'm off them about 2 years. The beginning was hard - didn't drink much. When I started again, I only did at home first. Or a restaurant at dinner.

I avoided the bars. If I was going to a BBQ where I knew friends would be smoking outside, I didn't drink.

Eventually the cravings wane. It's just about doing your best to avoid smokers when you're drinking until you adjust.

I feel ya guys. Big concern of mine is definitely the friend group, we all smoke like chimneys for the most part. Not ready to sincerely try and kick the habit yet, think when I do I'll need to start with the patches/gum/etc. Another concern is I enjoy smoking other substances as well, don't know that I could do so without being triggered for a cigarette. The one method I won't dabble with is vaping. All my friends who've tried just wind up taking in way more nicotine than they had previously, and usually reverted to being both vapers + smokers
 
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RangersFan1994

Registered User
Aug 20, 2019
15,806
12,402
I'm also using a bit more weed and drinking only on the weekends. I am gambling more though on horses, which I didn't do before this so..
I never gamble unless it's the playoffs and less than 50 bucks and those playoff tree
 

HockeyBasedNYC

Feeling it
Aug 2, 2005
19,662
11,045
Here
More, up until this week when I decided to only drink on weekends. But with the unique stresses that this whole experience has brought us there are a lot of "f*** it" moments leading to substance and food intake
 

eco's bones

Registered User
Jul 21, 2005
25,988
12,223
Elmira NY
If you want to make some A+ quality alcohol, you should make mead, the ancient drink of the vikings. 3 parts water and 1 part honey (in a converter, it's about 6,6 gallons of water and 17½ pounds of honey). It's like wine made from honey. It hides the alcohol taste really well (it's devious in that way) and you can spice it with pretty much anything (cinnamon/ chocolate/ ginger/ whatever). It's not necessary to use any spices at all, but can be fun to experiment with. The quality of the honey is very important. If possible, don't buy the sugar added honey from the store. If you buy directly from a beekeeper, you get insanely good mead. It can be quite expensive though.

You can make it all from 10 to close to 20% of alcohol strength. For the stronger beverage, use more honey to keep some sweetness.

If you cannot get honey from a beekeeper and use the lower quality honey from the stores, you can also experiment with mixing it with syrup. I personally prefer the taste from darker syrups. It should be possible to make a good drink from maple syrup.

One of the weirdest moonshines I ever made was store bought honey and dark syrup, spiced with coconut. I didn't like it that much, but most girls that tried it loved it. It was about 18,5% alcohol, but didn't taste like it was that strong, so people got really wasted.

Another of my extremely weird recipes was mixing ordinary, active coal distilled moonshine alcohol with tea. I dilluted it to about a strength of 7%. It tasted like weak tea and had no alcohol taste at all. That was another of my vicious recipes.

Here's an example of a recipe, but I personally think he makes way too little. ;) When I make alcohol, I make it in plastic barrels.


I have made apple pie or a variation of peach pie in the past using everclear and it's pretty good.

For apple pie you need a liter of everclear--a gallon of apple cider, a gallon of apple juice, cinnamon (the more cinnamon you use the more cinnamon you get back--I tend to be sparing), two cups of white sugar, a cup of brown sugar, and I find a tablespoon of vanilla smoothes it off a bit but that's a matter of taste. Pretty much you mix everything but the everclear into a big pot and wait for it to come to a boil. Take it off the stove and let it cool down. I'll put the pot in ice water if I'm in a hurry. After it cools down you mix in the everclear---pour into quart mason jars (should make about 9) and let sit in the refrigerator for a couple weeks or not. If you're in a hurry it's still pretty good.

For the peach version I'll go online and order peach cider (it's kind of expensive) I'll use jarred (not canned) peaches in peach juice or syrup (not fruit or apple juice or syrup) that's equivalent to about a gallon of apple juice. You don't really need to add sugar because the jarred peaches or going to do more than enough of that and I don't use cinnamon either. I do put in some vanilla. So there's really just the cider, the jarred peaches and the vanilla that you bring to a boil--cool off and then add the everclear. That tends to be a bit sweeter than the apple pie--the other thing is the alcohol really tends to permeate into the peach slices.

This is very drinkable by the way---you can just pour it down your throat no problem and has quite bit of kick. Drink it on its own or a with a few beers (IPA's) you'll have a nice buzz going afterwards.
 

ElLeetch

Registered User
Mar 28, 2018
3,077
3,696
If you want to make some A+ quality alcohol, you should make mead,...


If you don't want to go through the expense of buying 17 pounds of honey, you can make a drinkable wine for cheaper. You just need a few cans of Welch's grape juice concentrate, or any any of their 100% juice bottles (note: the kind without any preservatives), some sugar, and a $1 packet of wine yeast you can get on amazon.

How to Make Homemade Wine Using Welch's Grape Juice
 

Chimpradamus

Registered User
Feb 16, 2006
16,634
5,249
Northern Sweden
If you don't want to go through the expense of buying 17 pounds of honey, you can make a drinkable wine for cheaper. You just need a few cans of Welch's grape juice concentrate, or any any of their 100% juice bottles (note: the kind without any preservatives), some sugar, and a $1 packet of wine yeast you can get on amazon.

How to Make Homemade Wine Using Welch's Grape Juice
Drinkable? That's not good enough for an approval. Most alcohol is drinkable after two glasses. I'm aiming a little bit higher than that. As I said, you don't need 17 pounds of quality honey, you can experiment a bit and still make very cheap, very good tasting alcohol. I'm talking about tasty stuff here. Making alcohol from honey - if you get it right - is INSANELY good. I cannot describe it. It's 19% alcohol and tastes like heaven. I'm not kidding. Well made mead is the best alcoholic beverage I've ever had, bar none. And I got drunk.

Now, I have no idea what Welch is, but I think I get the concept of what you mean. But I can assume juices can do good stuff as well, no question about it. I'll keep that in mind for the next time I go crazy and start producing my own alcohol.

Everything that tastes good from the start and has alot of sugar in it should be a good starter kit for interesting alcohol.
I have made apple pie or a variation of peach pie in the past using everclear and it's pretty good.

For apple pie you need a liter of everclear--a gallon of apple cider, a gallon of apple juice, cinnamon (the more cinnamon you use the more cinnamon you get back--I tend to be sparing), two cups of white sugar, a cup of brown sugar, and I find a tablespoon of vanilla smoothes it off a bit but that's a matter of taste. Pretty much you mix everything but the everclear into a big pot and wait for it to come to a boil. Take it off the stove and let it cool down. I'll put the pot in ice water if I'm in a hurry. After it cools down you mix in the everclear---pour into quart mason jars (should make about 9) and let sit in the refrigerator for a couple weeks or not. If you're in a hurry it's still pretty good.

For the peach version I'll go online and order peach cider (it's kind of expensive) I'll use jarred (not canned) peaches in peach juice or syrup (not fruit or apple juice or syrup) that's equivalent to about a gallon of apple juice. You don't really need to add sugar because the jarred peaches or going to do more than enough of that and I don't use cinnamon either. I do put in some vanilla. So there's really just the cider, the jarred peaches and the vanilla that you bring to a boil--cool off and then add the everclear. That tends to be a bit sweeter than the apple pie--the other thing is the alcohol really tends to permeate into the peach slices.

This is very drinkable by the way---you can just pour it down your throat no problem and has quite bit of kick. Drink it on its own or a with a few beers (IPA's) you'll have a nice buzz going afterwards.
Sounds interesting. I'm thinking about peaches. Peaches are my favourite fruits. I don't know if I will ruin it or love it by drinking it. And yes, we have another believer in cinnamon, hehe. Yeah, that's a really good spice with alcohol.

Have I told you about making moonshine with a plastic barrel and an aquarium heater btw? It makes such pure alcohol. It's less efficient in terms of time (takes about 3-4 days to drain a 3 gallon inner bucket. You never drain it all, you drain the strength of alcohol you want from it), but you essentially get no oils right from the start. It's also less efficient on the mash, but that costs no money anyway and that takes like 4 days to make with turbo yeast.

You put an open inner bucket on a platform in a bigger bucket with a lid. Then you heat the mash with an aquarium heater in the smaller bucket. Alcohol evaporates faster than water and runs down along the edges of the bigger bucket. You just leave a small gap on the inner platform. There you go. Because of the low temperature, you avoid many problems distilled alcohol usually has (the oils).

It's kind of like this:
iu

45-50 degrees Celsius = 113-122 degrees Fahrenheit. The higher temperature, a slightly higher amount of oils. At these temperatures, still very, very low compared to the traditional pressure boiling.

At the bottom of the barrel you get the alcohol. You get very, very cheap basic alcohol like this, at around 35-38%. You can repeat the process for stronger alcohol, if you need it for medical purposes or you're insane. You don't even need to purify it with active coal, it's that clean. But if you do, you get very, very pure alcohol. In Sweden we call it "the plastic burner." It's very neat.

When I was a student, I could make crazy amounts of high quality alcohol with this thing and it cost nothing, with no danger of things blowing up. I was a good lad and didn't sell though, I gave it away.

As for the active coal, I just filled a long, plastic pipe with coal and let it rinse through. It lost some small percentages in strengths (around 3%), but man was it pure.

When you have that cheap, cheap alcohol, you can do whatever you want with it. One of my favourites was to get milk and coffee syrup from the store and make insanely cheap white russian drinks, which tasted much better than the original recipe. Those were the days.

According to my calculations, I created 35-38% high quality alcohol for $1,90 per gallon (electricity included). The initial cost of all setup equipment was about $155. But I think all of it is cheaper in the States, especially the equipment.

This little plastic bastard setup made me experiment with so many recipes and ideas. Like my devious tea water at 7% strength. No one could taste any alcohol.
 
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GoAwayGiannone

Registered User
Feb 2, 2012
1,296
969
Queens, New York
I honestly wish I could enjoy alcohol more than I do, I just can't get over the taste. No matter if its beer or liquor it all tastes too bad for my taste buds. If I'm out somewhere and every bodies drinking I'll usually pick shots cause theres so little of it and it gets results faster. Beer makes me bloated as well. I get super FOMO sometimes about this lmao
 
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eco's bones

Registered User
Jul 21, 2005
25,988
12,223
Elmira NY
Drinkable? That's not good enough for an approval. Most alcohol is drinkable after two glasses. I'm aiming a little bit higher than that. As I said, you don't need 17 pounds of quality honey, you can experiment a bit and still make very cheap, very good tasting alcohol. I'm talking about tasty stuff here. Making alcohol from honey - if you get it right - is INSANELY good. I cannot describe it. It's 19% alcohol and tastes like heaven. I'm not kidding. Well made mead is the best alcoholic beverage I've ever had, bar none. And I got drunk.

Now, I have no idea what Welch is, but I think I get the concept of what you mean. But I can assume juices can do good stuff as well, no question about it. I'll keep that in mind for the next time I go crazy and start producing my own alcohol.

Everything that tastes good from the start and has alot of sugar in it should be a good starter kit for interesting alcohol.

Sounds interesting. I'm thinking about peaches. Peaches are my favourite fruits. I don't know if I will ruin it or love it by drinking it. And yes, we have another believer in cinnamon, hehe. Yeah, that's a really good spice with alcohol.

Have I told you about making moonshine with a plastic barrel and an aquarium heater btw? It makes such pure alcohol. It's less efficient in terms of time (takes about 3-4 days to drain a 3 gallon inner bucket. You never drain it all, you drain the strength of alcohol you want from it), but you essentially get no oils right from the start. It's also less efficient on the mash, but that costs no money anyway and that takes like 4 days to make with turbo yeast.

You put an open inner bucket on a platform in a bigger bucket with a lid. Then you heat the mash with an aquarium heater in the smaller bucket. Alcohol evaporates faster than water and runs down along the edges of the bigger bucket. You just leave a small gap on the inner platform. There you go. Because of the low temperature, you avoid many problems distilled alcohol usually has (the oils).

It's kind of like this:
iu

45-50 degrees Celsius = 113-122 degrees Fahrenheit. The higher temperature, a slightly higher amount of oils. At these temperatures, still very, very low compared to the traditional pressure boiling.

At the bottom of the barrel you get the alcohol. You get very, very cheap basic alcohol like this, at around 35-38%. You can repeat the process for stronger alcohol, if you need it for medical purposes or you're insane. You don't even need to purify it with active coal, it's that clean. But if you do, you get very, very pure alcohol. In Sweden we call it "the plastic burner." It's very neat.

When I was a student, I could make crazy amounts of high quality alcohol with this thing and it cost nothing, with no danger of things blowing up. I was a good lad and didn't sell though, I gave it away.

As for the active coal, I just filled a long, plastic pipe with coal and let it rinse through. It lost some small percentages in strengths (around 3%), but man was it pure.

When you have that cheap, cheap alcohol, you can do whatever you want with it. One of my favourites was to get milk and coffee syrup from the store and make insanely cheap white russian drinks, which tasted much better than the original recipe. Those were the days.

According to my calculations, I created 35-38% high quality alcohol for $1,90 per gallon (electricity included). The initial cost of all setup equipment was about $155. But I think all of it is cheaper in the States, especially the equipment.

This little plastic bastard setup made me experiment with so many recipes and ideas. Like my devious tea water at 7% strength. No one could taste any alcohol.

Sorry to get back to you so late on this. What I do is pretty basic. You just need the ingredients and a big pot. My brother in law got me started on the Apple pie. He does Lemoncillo too but I took it into the peach thing because I really like peaches too. I'll order online from somewhere like Peach World for the cider--that's a place in Georgia. We've been there a couple times on trips but I've also picked up cider in North Carolina. But I was thinking about his after coming in sweating like a pig out in the 80+ degrees for a while today and grabbing my last jar and a few IPA's. For nice hot summer days it's a great drink.

Anyway by drinkable I find this peach concoction extremely tasty--it gulps down easily but it's pretty potent nonetheless. It's a thing that can sneak up on you at least if you drink a lot of it. You can't really drink everclear straight or very much of it. That is insane. I'll usually do about a half a jar of the pie and a few beers and that makes for a nice buzz and that's what I'm doing right now.

I did get a LOL out of your diagram. I translated a novel by Roberto Arlt some years ago and it reminded me of that. Arlt had his own diagram and it was of an apparatus that manufactured a chemical war gas--phosphene. But I also have a pal who brings me applejack some of the rural rednecks around him make out of their still. All of this DIY human inventiveness and enthusiasm is like the real history of the world and when things go to shit people drink have to drink more. People's instincts are generally better than they are. Forget the conflicts--get toasted inste
 
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