How to Make Moonshine at Home Without a Still

Here is what you need to know about how to make moonshine at home without a still. You’ll be surprised by how easy it is to make your own moonshine with the right ingredients and equipment. We’ll walk you through the entire process, step-by-step, so you can get started right away!

Making moonshine can be as simple as picking fruits and fermenting them, or more complex depending on what type you want to make. If you’re trying to learn how to make moonshine at home without a still, you’ll need to get creative.

Moonshine is an alcoholic beverage made from natural ingredients such as corn, rye, or barley. It’s also called hooch, mulligan, mountain wine, spike juice, ginseng orchard juice, or gnat wine.

There are many variations of this drink that are produced locally such as in Appalachia and other areas with access to wild fruit. Here’s how to make moonshine at home without a still.

What is moonshine made from?

Moonshine is an alcoholic drink made from fermenting and distilling flaked corn maize and crushed malted barley while using yeast for fermentation. Now that you know how to make moonshine in your kitchen, you might be wondering what’s actually in it. Well, traditionally, it was whiskey made from distilled apples.

These days, of course, you can use any kind of fruit juice for moonshine; blackberries and peaches are especially good. Be aware that although fermenting fruit or even vegetables is relatively safe (all alcohol needs to go through fermentation at some point), distilling them is another story.

In addition to vodka and fermented fruit juices, you’ll need malt vinegar and bread yeast. Malt vinegar is available at most grocery stores either near the other vinegars or where beer-making supplies are kept (in smaller bottles). The bread yeast you’ll need most likely won’t be found near other baking ingredients; instead, look for it by brewing supplies.

If you’re making homemade hard liquor at home without a still (or otherwise going against local laws) please don’t kill yourself or anyone else while doing so!

Pay close attention while crafting any sort of alcoholic beverage and do your research on potential dangers before starting anything—especially if it involves flames!

Moonshine Basics

Moonshine can be made in a number of ways, but the most basic type is called white lightning. This is a clear, colorless spirit that’s typically made from corn and sugar. Some variations use different grains like rye or barley.

The key ingredients are sugar and water. Sugar provides the yeast with food to ferment the mixture while water creates a solution that’s too diluted to spoil.

The next ingredient is what makes moonshine unique: flavoring agents. There are many different flavoring agents you can use to make your moonshine more flavorful as well as mask any imperfections in flavor or smell.

For example, some moonshiners will infuse vodka with tea leaves and other herbs before they add it to their mash. You could also use fruit juices such as cranberry, grapefruit, raspberry or apple juice for flavoring agents.

Other varieties of moonshine include but are not limited to peach fuzz, blackberry brandy, applejack, cherry bounce and strawberry wine.

How do you make moonshine at home without a still? You can make this drink by picking a fruit and fermenting it then straining out the fermented liquid through cheesecloth or coffee filters. It would taste similar to an alcoholic cider drink from apples!

The Ingredients needed for homemade moonshine

Making moonshine is quite easy. However, you will need some very specific ingredients before you can make your home-brewed moonshine. These include

• sugar,
• fruit or vegetables (depending on what type of moonshine you are making),
• yeast,
• water.

Depending on what type of alcohol you want to produce, these ingredients can be substituted for other ones that produce similar results. For example, if you want to make whiskey instead of vodka, then substitute barley for sugar and use apples instead of fruit or vegetables. This will create an apple jack liquor instead of vodka or whiskey.

The same goes for rum; replace sugar with molasses and replace fruit or vegetables with citrus fruits. The possibilities are endless!

How to make moonshine at home without a still

Some people want to make moonshine at home because it’s more cost-effective, while others prefer making it at home because they find distilling spirits from scratch much more fulfilling than buying cheap stuff from stores.

The process of making moonshine at home without a still isn’t really that hard, but you should pay attention to some of these important things if you don’t want your moonshine recipe (or your entire house) to blow up in your face.

Here are some tips on how to make moonshine at home without getting arrested or ending up with food poisoning! If you have questions about making homemade alcohol, consult an expert before trying anything risky.

In many ways, there is no need for a pot still for making moonshine at home; in fact, many homebrewers opt to use large pots instead.

While using a pot is not as efficient as using a copper coil inside of another pot, it does help ensure safety and makes sure that you won’t burn down your house while boiling fruit juice and sugar together.

Most recipes will tell you to use only 10% fruit juice and 90% sugar—and never any additives like orange peel or cinnamon sticks unless otherwise stated by your favorite online resource—but you can also just wing it depending on what kind of flavor profile you’re going for.

How to Make Moonshine at Home Without a Still

1. Blackberry moonshine: You’ll need a 1/2 gallon jar, sugar, water, and grain alcohol. To make the moonshine, start by filling the jar with grain alcohol then add all of the blackberries. Crush the blackberries with a wooden spoon then seal the jar and let it sit for 3 weeks. After three weeks, strain out the blackberry mash then bring water to a boil and add sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves then let it cool to room temperature. Return the alcohol mixture into its jar then pour in the simple sugar mixture then seal the jar and let it sit for 2 weeks or longer.
2. Fruit wine: This is a popular variety of moonshine and can be made with any type of fruit, but the most popular choices are apple cider (hard apple cider), grape wine, peach wine, or cherry wine. The process is simple. All you need to do is crush your fruit and add it to fermenting water. Next, cover it in cheesecloth and let it sit for at least 24 hours before straining the liquid through a cheesecloth or coffee filter into a secondary container. Allow it to ferment for about two weeks before bottling.
3. Maple syrup: For this type of moonshine, you’ll need maple syrup and water as well as yeast and something like raisins or brown sugar for flavor. The first step is to boil one gallon of water with a quart of maple syrup. Once boiling, let simmer for an hour until the liquid has reduced by half – stirring occasionally so that it does not scorch on the bottom of the pan. Add raisins or brown sugar for flavor if desired then remove from heat once the liquid has cooled enough to pitch yeast without being killed by heat exposure.
4. Applejack: This type of moonshine takes advantage of apples’ natural sugars which make them perfect candidates as alcoholic ingredients in moonshines as they ferment quickly when mixed with other ingredients such as cornmeal or rye flour in some cases (though rye flour is more common). You will need 1 gallon apple cider vinegar. The process is similar to the process followed for Blackberry moonshine above.

Bottle your homemade spirits in Mason jars

Mason jars are perfect for bottling homemade spirits. But before you fill them, use food-grade paraffin wax to seal up any chips or cracks in your Mason jar lids and rims, or replace any that aren’t airtight (to test, place lid on upside down; if lid seals properly, there should be no gap between rim and lid).

Finally, label your Mason jars before filling them—putting tags with dates on them on each bottle is an easy way to track aging process.

For example, you can write something like 2/25/17: filled Mason jar with clear moonshine. Then note when it was emptied (if ever) and refilled.

If you want to add flavorings to your moonshine after distilling it, add them now while they’re still fresh. Most fruit will keep well in a Mason jar at room temperature for several months, but citrus peel will only last about two weeks because of its acidity level.

The shelf life of spices depends on how long they’ve been around—basil from 2007 might not taste as good as basil from 2017!

How to Serve Homemade Moonshine

Homemade moonshine is a great way to save money if you love whiskey. Serve as a Chilled Shot, as Sipping Liquor, Make moonshine Jello shots or used as mixed drinks.

Its not just for drinking, either – You can make all kinds of treats with your homemade moonshine, including Jello shots, popsicles, and even cupcakes. So whether you want to drink or bake with it, homemade moonshine is an easy way to have fun and get drunk fast.

Serve as a Chilled Shot: These are my favorite way of enjoying moonshine because they taste good and go down fast! Fill up small shot glasses (you can find these at any liquor store) and garnish with fruit if desired. Therefore, to serve chilled, fill up small shot glasses (you can find these at any liquor store) and garnish with fruit if desired.

As Sipping Liquor : Mixing your homemade moonshine with iced tea or lemonade makes for an interesting twist on an old classic! Add in sugar or honey to make these drinks sweeter if desired. If you’re making them for yourself to sip on throughout the day, try mixing them into ice tea or lemonade.

If you’re serving them to guests, mix them into club soda instead. In addition to sipping alcohol straight from a glass, chilled moonshine can also be used in various cocktails like rum & coke or whiskey & ginger ale!

The best part about making cocktails at home is that there are no set rules when it comes to recipes; just pour in some booze and add something sweet! Since homemade moonshine has more flavor than store-bought varieties, it’s easy to get creative with how you serve it.

Keep it simple, keep it safe

While moonshine might sound like an alluring DIY project, it’s far from easy to make. Making moonshine involves brewing a strong alcohol, which can easily catch fire and blow up if you do not take proper precautions.

To help keep things simple (and safe), make sure you check out our guide below for step-by-step instructions on how to make moonshine at home with or without a still.

We cover how long moonshine takes to ferment and what kind of ingredients you’ll need, as well as provide more in-depth instructions that help simplify each individual process.

Can I make moonshine at home?

In some states, it is possible, but in others, it isn’t. A great way for first-timers or for those who aren’t quite so mechanically inclined. The guide shows you how easy it can be.

Remember, when making moonshine always use caution! And remember that even if you have all your ingredients ready to go, there are still legal issues involved with making moonshine. Check with your local laws before trying any of these methods.

Conclusion

Moonshine is a drink that many people are familiar with. To make moonshine, you can use a still to make it. But if you don’t want to purchase a still, you can make it in your kitchen with a few simple ingredients. You’ll need a 1/2 gallon jar, sugar, water, and grain alcohol.

To make the moonshine, start by filling the jar with grain alcohol then add all of the blackberries. Crush the blackberries with a wooden spoon then seal the jar and let it sit for 3 weeks. After three weeks, strain out the blackberry mash then bring water to a boil and add sugar.

Stir until the sugar dissolves then let it cool to room temperature. Return the alcohol mixture into its jar then pour in the simple sugar mixture then seal the jar and let it sit for 2 weeks or longer.

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