How to Make Moonshine 101: Whiskey-Making Basics
This provides a plain spoken, easy to understand tutorial on the fundamentals of making whiskey and other distilled spirits. The course is tailored for beginner to intermediate hobby distillers and / or individuals who are in the beginning stages of opening their own distillery.
The course begins with an overview of spirit types and typical generic recipes for these spirits, including Bourbon, Tennessee Whiskey, Rye Whiskey, Wheat Whiskey, Single Malt, Corn Whiskey (traditional Moonshine Whiskey), Sugar Shine, Rum, Vodka, and Gin. Additionally the course provides information on the basics of mashing, fermentation, and distillation equipment, water preparation, making mashes, an overview of yeast, the fermentation process, stripping distillation runs, spirit distillation runs, finishing and aging, and cleaning and sanitation.
Lessons
Lesson 1 – Distilled Spirit Types and Basic Recipes
Lesson 2 – Mash And Distillation Equipment Overview
Mash Equipment Needed Sanitizer and brewing cleaner to clean and sanitize the brewing equipment. A heat source to heat the mash. A brewing thermometer to monitor the mash temperature. Brew-in-the-bag, bag or cheesecloth to filter the grains if doing a mash-in-a-bag method. An airlock immersion chiller to chill the mash to yeast-pitching temperature. An auto-siphon to transfer […]
Lesson 3 – Distillation Equipment: Types Of Stills
There are only a few main designs and types of stills. Pot Still A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapors that come off the boiling mash. The end result is a spirit 40 to 60% pure that retains quite a bit of flavor. If it were to be double distilled, or run it […]
Lesson 4 – Cleaning and Sanitization
Cleaning vs. Sanitization There is a big difference between cleaning and sanitizing. Cleaning removes soil from the surface, while sanitizing reduces the number of microorganisms on a clean surface to safe levels. It is a two-step process: first you clean, then you sanitize. The first step is to clean the mashing equipment with a non-caustic cleaner […]
Lesson 5 – Enzymes And Mashing
Enzymes Enzymes are needed to convert starches from grain into fermentable sugars. Starches are made up of long chains of glucose molecules and have to be broken down into smaller molecules in order for the yeast to be able to turn them into alcohol. If these starches are not broken down by enzymes, then the […]
Lesson 6 – Yeast and Fermentation
Yeast Yeast have the most important job in making spirits, though it is a job that is often overlooked. Yeast are responsible for breaking down the sugar in the mash. They leave behind alcohol and carbon dioxide. To put it simply, they are responsible for making alcohol. Pitching Rate The amount of yeast needed is dependent […]
Lesson 7 – Stripping & Spirit Runs
Stripping Run A stripping run is the best way to remove water from within the wash. Simply fill the still with wash and run the still hot and fast. Collect everything into one large collection container. Once there are multiple stripping runs saved, they can be added to a still and run as a spirit […]
Lesson 8 – Overview of Common Defects
Overview of Common Defects Lactic acid bacteria: Lactic acid bacteria are potentially the most troublesome spoilage organisms due to their ability to grow in low-oxygen conditions and their tolerance of low pH and high alcohol percentage. Lactic acid bacteria produce diacetyl. Diacetyl: During the normal course of fermentation, a pre-cursor to diacetyl is formed and excreted […]
Lesson 9 – Finishing and Aging
Finishing and Aging There are a few main variables that will affect the final character of an aged spirit: Strength of the spirit put into the barrel, the charring/toasting of the barrel, the location of the barrel house and climate in the barrel house, and the type of barrel used for aging. The strength of […]
Lesson 10 – Mash Day Using The Mash-In-a-Bag Method
Normal steps taken during a mash-in-a-bag method mash day First, sanitize everything that is going to come in contact with the mash. Cleaning and sanitizing all equipment is the best defense against getting an infection that will contaminate the mash. Use a cleaner such as PBW and a sanitizer such as star-san, and you will […]
Lesson 11 – Short Summary Of A Normal Distilling Day
Distilling Distillation does not produce alcohol — it only concentrates alcohol that is already present in the wash. Distillation takes advantage of the different boiling temperatures between alcohol and water. Ethanol boils at a lower temperature than water. Pure ethanol boils at 172 degrees, while water does not boil until 212 degrees, when boiled at […]
