"Old man" mash questions

[Athos11]

An old man where I live is showing me how to make moonshine,
These are the steps to make mash as he did today.
Juice a lot of watermelon, 10" worth in a 5 gallon bucket
Add 10 lbs of sugar, stir
Add 2 packets of yeast
Dill to almost the top with water
Cover with plastic bag/ seal with tape
Let sit for 14-21 days or until bag inflates and deflates
Run through still,
Boiler, thumper keg, worm, that you can buy on eBay or on amazon
Is this a mix that will kill me? Or will this turn into moonshine once ran through??

[NZChris]

What is most likely to harm you is contaminants from the still's manufacturer if you don't clean it properly before running your shine through it.

[Saltbush Bill]

I dont see any mention of making cuts, maybe the old man hasn't heard of them.
It might be worth looking into if you want something drinkable that wont give you a splitting headache the next day.

[Athos11]

Yes, I do need/ plan to sterilize any and all equipment before use
But


What do you mean by cuts?
But, again this mash shouldn't harm us?

[NZChris]

There is no need to sterilize a still. You are going to boil the contents and kill anything harmful.

[zapata]

Won't kill ya anymore than any other booze. Sounds like headache rotgut commercial contraband shine to me though. Does he sell it in the trailer park for $10 a quart? $20 for a refilled 1/2 gallon plastic jug?

Or maybe he just didnt mention the cuts? Maybe he really meant no more than 8# sugar? If ya just want something to get wrecked, that'll makenya pucker up and yell wooooohjjjaaaeww with every sip, yup, you got it. But really, you can buy crap booze for less than the watermellon cost ya, why bother?

Read around, you got nowhere to go but up.

[Pikey]

What is it exactly in the sugar, watermelon and yeast which you think is going to kill You ?

[Still Life]

What do you mean by cuts?

Here is a great guide to making cuts.

And this is how to clean your still before drinking anything.

Like Pikey said, if nothing bad is going in, you're not going to magically create a poison. But clean that still (once) first! That's where the bad stuff is.

[Athos11]

I was more worry
Iced about it sitting for 3 weeks?

[Opdog]

It takes the time it takes. 3 weeks seems long, but there is a lot of sugar in that wash for the yeast to chew through, so it isn't out of the question.


I've stopped fighting my inner demons. We're on the same side now.

[Shine0n]

several people have had bad luck with watermelon recently so that alone has stopped me from trying although seeing so many in the fields it was tempting to try my luck but reading failures stopped me in my tracks.

if you find a good way please keep us posted,
Shine0n

[papapro]

Leave alone the old man and his receipe go to tested and true there are so many good receipes and some work 3 to 4 days not weeks do a looooooot of reading and you will be fine.This HD is a gold mine of knowledge try to navigate and read and learn.

PapaPro

[Pikey]

Athos - seeems to me you are ready to take the knowledge from an "old-timer" but want to undermine what you are getting

Learn, develope and come her to refine - but at the end of the shift - geezer is doing what he can.

I'm out !