Making Moonshine Whiskey
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Moonshine still in operation, courtesy of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, Springdale |
"If you are going to make good whisky, you have got to have a good still to cook the mash off in," recalled a South Arkansas moonshiner. Throughout the state, certain coppersmiths were noted for forging state-of-the-art metal stills. From the top of the still jutted an elbow-shaped pipe that tapered from four inches to about one-inch in diameter. Attached to the end of this outlet was a twenty-foot coiled copper pipe known as the "worm." The worm was looped inside an adjacent barrel kept full of cold water during distillation of the sour mash.
Moonshiners set up near creeks and rivers to assure a ready supply of water. All whiskey came from sour mash, but recipes varied. Commonly, the moonshiner mixed corn meal and hot water in separate "mash barrels," later adding large scoops of sugar as well as yeast. After two days, the fermenting mixture began to bubble furiously and continued to do so for several days. When the mash quit "working," it had the "kick of a mule colt" and was ready to be transferred to the still.
As the moonshiner stoked the wood fire under the still, the alcohol vapor rose to the top and then condensed into liquid as it passed through the coiled worm submerged in the cooling barrel. A potent rivulet trickled from the end of the worm into waiting half-gallon fruit jars. "You could only run a stream a little larger than a pencil." Lowering the fire reduced the stream.
The first jars were high-proof while the adulterated end of the batch was known as "singlings" or "low wine." The low wine was set aside, poured back into the still, and cooked again. Once more, the strong first drops were followed by a flow of decreasing proof.
"We always ran the low wine down to where you could pour some of it in the fire and if it flashed up we would keep on running. If it put the fire out like water, we would quit." The hot liquid remaining in the still (the "backings") was recovered and poured over new grain in the mash barrels to repeat the process.
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