Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Little or nothing to do with distillation.

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goinbroke2
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by goinbroke2 »

Why do I make it?
well..

I do a couple appendectomies in the garage and everybody gets bent out of shape yelling I'm not a doctor.
I get some plutonium and start building a home reactor to power my place and all of a sudden I'm on a watch list and a potential bad guy.
I use my property to make a replica of hill 262 in Viet Nam to paint ball with bunkers/punji pits/razor wire/guard towers and all of a sudden I'm a wacko that needs to be raided.
MAKING LIKKER AT HOME??? THAT'S FUCK ALL THE COPS SAY!

I think they're relieved I've taken on a more mundane hobby.......

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching the cops trying to get into my bunker that they chased me into as I watch them from the spider hole that's behind them. Great fun...but sometimes you have to take it down a notch and do stuff a little more safer like distilling...or knitting...or something.
Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3" reflux with deflag for vodka. Coming up, a 4" perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race!
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by sltm1 »

:clap: :thumbup:
A Paraphrase of a Joe Walsh Album Title, "The Drinkier I get, The Smokier I Play!!"
Every new member should read this before doing anything else:
ibfestus
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by ibfestus »

Just for the record... I recently turned 73 (or is it 74?). My wife died 2 years ago... we were married 49 years 10 months and 28 days. I see youngsters complaining about back problems when they are 30. I fell out of a tree in 2002 and burst L-5 vertebrae, broke 6 ribs and a collar bone. I was in rehab for 6 months and still have no feeling in my feet. Most people would never walk again. Fook that!

Not only do I produce some alcohol, I just killed and field dressed a whitetail deer, took him to a meat processor and will have deer chili for several months.

Yeah, you could say I'm bragging and you are right!

BTW, I'm trying to sweat copper and build a parrot. I may be an old fart but I can learn new things!
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by MDH »

For me it is all in the framing of what a spirit exactly is. I realized that "terroir" is a very real thing some time after starting this hobby; beforehand it was sort of an ambiguous word which people used to describe wine.

The idea you can trap a cohesive "image" of taste, of all of the varying factors that go into a spirit, into a single bottle, and preserve it virtually forever, is just too much for me to resist. There are so many factors that go into a spirit.

Take any fruit brandy. Where was the fruit grown? Not only what kind of variety of fruit, but what kind of sub-variety? What kind of year did they have - a bad spring but a long summer, or maybe a long season with just the right amount of intermittent storms? Does the soil mineral content promote that fruit giving its best aromatic qualities? What are the temperature swings between night and day? What yeast strains are common in that area due to bugs and pollen which float around? Did the grower thin fruit yields or just let the tree go crazy? The fermentation, how did it go? Wild or domestic? How acidic was the mash? At what temperature did it ferment? The attitude of the people who make it, their taste, translates into the product.

Your entire attitude to making spirits changes once you understand how to control all of these variables carefully and meticulously.

Because it can't go bad with exposure to oxygen, but instead simply evolve, spirits are really liquid time capsules and a testament to what and whose ideas went into them. You're not just tasting some grapes, you're tasting everything which was done with them by a set of attitudes and ideals, by someone else's palate.

So, I think it is an art form; not a conventional art form but one none the less. That's why I do it.
The still is not a liar. Mash and ferment quality is 99.9% of your performance.
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by Twisted Brick »

MDH wrote:
The idea you can trap a cohesive "image" of taste, of all of the varying factors that go into a spirit, into a single bottle, and preserve it virtually forever, is just too much for me to resist. There are so many factors that go into a spirit.

Your entire attitude to making spirits changes once you understand how to control all of these variables carefully and meticulously.

Because it can't go bad with exposure to oxygen, but instead simply evolve, spirits are really liquid time capsules and a testament to what and whose ideas went into them. You're not just tasting some grapes, you're tasting everything which was done with them by a set of attitudes and ideals, by someone else's palate.

So, I think it is an art form; not a conventional art form but one none the less. That's why I do it.
That was very well said. :clap: :clap:
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by Pikey »

I'm with Kareltje - here why needs to stand up ?

Sit down, read a book, m :) multi-tasking at its best !
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Kareltje
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by Kareltje »

Pikey wrote:I'm with Kareltje - here why needs to stand up ?

Sit down, read a book, m :) multi-tasking at its best !
I suppose that was about the peeing, not about making alcohol. :mrgreen:
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by shadylane »

"Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?"

Don't know about everyone else
But I "make alcohol" for the learning experience.
Obviously, there's no other logical reason :lol:
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by goinbroke2 »

I'll add a second comment, I make it to keep the wife happy. Couldn't afford to supply the wife with the amount of likker she drinks..or, well...what WE do, or our friends do, when they come over to play cards or party or whatever. I've got about 4 gal of whisky aging right now but made 5 gal of neutral and it was quickly used up in the last couple months so I have 4 more 30L pails just about done in the basement again.
Been drinking Ceaser's lately..damn, that sugar wash is actually useful! I added baking soda before the spirit run and have added glycerine to the heart. DANG!..it's truly the best neutral I've ever made. Stored at about 71% after double distilling in a pot.

Oh, and I found out the same glycerine bottle for $7.99 at the beer and wine store is $2.19 at the bulk barn. EXACT SAME size bottle only one is for conditioning beer/spirits and the other is for cake icing...SAME STUFF....bastards...


And no I'm still not allowed to do appendectomy’s in the garage......or advanced neutrino suppression experiments.........bastards.....
Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3" reflux with deflag for vodka. Coming up, a 4" perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race!
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by HDNB »

My married friend with 3 teen age daughters says it is the only known cure for estrogen poisoning
I finally quit drinking for good.

now i drink for evil.
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Re: Just curious... Why do we make alcohol?

Post by fizzix »

HDNB wrote:My married friend with 3 teen age daughters says it is the only known cure for estrogen poisoning
Reminds me of an office setting cartoon I saw: "Marge, your drug test came back positive for estrogen and we don't tolerate that here at WidgetCo."

Making alcohol is relaxing. And homemade hooch just has better quality control.
There's a level of accomplishment and pride filling a barrel, and I can hardly wait for it to mature.

And you know what else? I just received an Amazon delivery of turbinado and Epsom salt to make Crow's Rum and am excited as hell. THAT feeling!
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