Can moonshine make you blind?

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JakeWareham
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Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by JakeWareham »

I had my first run last night, i distilled 5 gallons of wash and collected quite abit of shine, i dont have a themometer on my still so i was just going on judging it, i threw out 200 mls of the first stuff that came out of my still every run(i was only running 16 qaurts at a time, anyways i have my shine but im kind of afraid to enjoy my product because i am worried of all the stories i have heard about moonshine making people really sick... Will it or will it not? Any help will be appriciated thanks!
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by bellybuster »

solid research will ease your mind. Just asking the question will undoubtedly get many replies, all of which are opinion. research will get you facts.
sorry, kind of a useless post but.....
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by IrishEnigma »

Your reading and research will greatly be rewarded. :D
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Prairiepiss »

You would need to drink a lot of the stuff you threw away. To get that sick. At most since you didn't make cuts. You will have a hangover. Making proper cuts would remove the heads and tails. And even hangovers.

But you could collect all that comes off the still. And you could drink it. With only a bad hangover. It wouldn't taste good.

And sounds like you have a pot still. Do a thermometer would have done you no good.

Learn about making proper cuts. The novice grid to making cuts. Can be found in the must read new distiller reading lounge.
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by sambedded »

Bad moonshine can give you nasty hangover but it virtually impossible to get blind unless you are doing your wash from a wood :D
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by woodshed »

Methanol metabolizes as formic acid, which can screw up the central nervous system.
Proper cuts eliminate this possibility.
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by just sayin »

Would you go blind if you drink beer or wine? No!

When you distill beer (grain) or wine (fruit) you concentrate the good stuff: ethanol, and dispose of much of it's hangover causing cousins.
Drink only the good smelling and tasting stuff in the middle of your run and throw everything else back in your next run, sans the foreshots that you pitch or kill weeds with.
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by JakeWareham »

Thanks everyone
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by sambedded »

woodshed wrote:Methanol metabolizes as formic acid, which can screw up the central nervous system.
Proper cuts eliminate this possibility.
Yes, but
Sugar washes have almost no methanol at all. Grain mashes have very little. Fruit washes have some noticeable amount of methanol but still not enough to do any serious harm.
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Prairiepiss »

sambedded wrote:
woodshed wrote:Methanol metabolizes as formic acid, which can screw up the central nervous system.
Proper cuts eliminate this possibility.
Yes, but
Sugar washes have almost no methanol at all. Grain mashes have very little. Fruit washes have some noticeable amount of methanol but still not enough to do any serious harm.
Yes but the cure for methanol poisoning is ethanol. So if there is some present you are getting the poison and the cure.

Blindness and other ailments associated with moonshine from the past. Was from things that should not have been used to make it. Like lead solder, old radiators, or any other cheap crap they could build a still from. Also they would add things to the moonshine. To up the volume and make it seam like it was a higher ABV then it was. So they could make more money. Solvents and cleaners and whatever else they had on hand. Not to mention the propaganda handed out by the wonderful government. To scare people away from it.
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by NZChris »

If you didn't properly clean any flux out of the still and condenser you might get pretty queasy.
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Condensifier »

Plus ethanol is the antidote for methanol so ...
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Prairiepiss »

Hobby wrote:Plus ethanol is the antidote for methanol so ...
I thought I just said that. :think:
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Condensifier »

Yup you did, I guess I read too fast sometimes and you used "cure" not "antidote" so I missed it. Oh well. :D
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by jarheadshiner »

I got pretty blinded on it last night but I'm fine today... :lol:
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by sambedded »

Prairiepiss wrote:
Hobby wrote:Plus ethanol is the antidote for methanol so ...
I thought I just said that. :think:

Ethanol is an antidote, yes.
But to cure methanol poisoning you have to keep some level of ethanol in your body for a few days.
so if you constantly drunk - you are safe :)
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Prairiepiss »

Well usually the ones that don't make cuts. And like to drink it. Are only doing it for one reason. But then again they probably need to worry more about their liver. LOL
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by heartcut »

Under the right circumstances, methanol can make you blind, but so can a pencil.
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by LWTCS »

I bring a bottle to a feller that throws a wonderful party about three times a year.
When I met him he explained that his pap was a driver for an outfit when he was a young lad.
He used to help his pap load the trunk of the car.
He said them fellers used to add battery acid to distort the bead....He even kinda whispered as he explained.
His pap knew it was shameful but he explains that times were hard for black folks back in 1950s Alabama and work was work.

He is now a driver,,,,,,for a trucking company.
I bet his pap could tell lots of stories
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Da Yooper »

WELL Jake, how did it taste? You got blinded yes it happens sometimes.but how did it taste?
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by drinkingdog »

Going blind from methanol from your properly made moonshine has about the same chance of going blind from doing what your mother told you not to do. Being young and never thinking mom would steer me wrong I figured I would quit doing it when I had to get glasses. :esurprised: if you follow the directions given here in making proper cuts you will avoid hangovers and produce something pleasant to drink. Like I said earlier the chances of going blind from drinking properly made moonshine is about the same as spanking your monkey. :ebiggrin:
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by woodshed »

I was merely pointing out what methanol does. Never said it will make you go blind but the possibility is there. My brother could be stung by a thousand bees and suffer for a while. One can kill me.
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by OlympicMtDoo »

Jake, all you need to do is throw a carrot in your wash every time.....problem solved. :ebiggrin:
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by IrishEnigma »

OlympicMtDoo wrote:Jake, all you need to do is throw a carrot in your wash every time.....problem solved. :ebiggrin:
Carrot cake shine
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by JakeWareham »

Well guys i drank it and went blind for a couple hours :lolno: it was actually really good! I have another question, i have a bottle that smells like nail polish remover, should i chuck that stuff or is it okay? Thanks
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by apdb »

I have one as well... Its called nail polish remover. Wife loves it. Works like a charm.
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by T-Pee »

JakeWareham wrote:...i have a bottle that smells like nail polish remover, should i chuck that stuff or is it okay? Thanks
Chuck it. That's foreshots (poison/acetone). Or let your wife use it on her nails.

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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Tater »

only if you play with yourself while drinking it. :silent: :silent: :silent:
I use a pot still.Sometimes with a thumper
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Truckinbutch »

Tater wrote:only if you play with yourself while drinking it. :silent: :silent: :silent:
:wtf: Shame on you ,Tater . Individuals who have some self control can stop when they need glasses :moresarcasm:
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Re: Can moonshine make you blind?

Post by Truckinbutch »

I've never witnessed anyone going visionwise blind . I have seen many people judjementally impaired to the point of being blind in judgement . Take home what looks like a 10 and wake up next morning with a 2 :sick:
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