How to tell if your shine tastes good?

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tommyboyhomebrew
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How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by tommyboyhomebrew »

Not sure how to ask this question correctly. I have only had a sip of real shine about 30 years ago and have been drinking store bought stuff for the last few years. I know store shine isn't really considered real shine, so I have no idea on what real shine should taste like. The only non-flavored store bought that I have had is made by a certain "moonshiner gone legal" and I am not too partial on the taste. I am working on building my still and after my vinegar and sacrificial runs I was planning on doing something like Gerber or Birdwatchers which hopefully will be the most simple for a first run. What flavors should I be looking for as I test it throughout the run.

I want to get it right before I start trying to make watermelon shine, which my wife has been begging for.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by still_stirrin »

By “real shine” are you talking about the sugar wash stuff made in the hills of the Appalachians? And TPW (birdwatcher’s) is not the best tasting sugar wash I’ve tasted. If it was my benchmark for traditional moonshine, then I don’t make “real shine”. My spirits are much better. In fact, they rival spirit sold in the package stores for much more.

If your target is from the bottom shelf, then go for it. My target is the top shelf. And yes, it TASTES DELICIOUS.
ss

p.s. - if you’re looking for a good (subjective term) sugar wash recipe, try Shady’s Sugar Shine, or (my favorite) Rad’s All Bran. The Gerber (baby food) recipe is OK, by there are better, more neutral tasting washes to start with.
Last edited by still_stirrin on Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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subbrew
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by subbrew »

Moonshine is a broad category. A sugar wash like birdwatchers should have as little flavor as possible. Just a slight sweetness of the ethanol. A corn based moonshine like UJSSM will have a corn flavor.

As for expected flavors on birdwatchers you will get solvent and burn at first in the heads. Smoother and the sweetness of ethanol in the hearts. It will finish up the old sock and wet cardboard in the tails.

I don't know the official definition of moonshine, but to me it is the entire spectrum of distilled spirits that are not made by a licensed and taxed entity.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Thats a pretty hard question to answer. The word "Moonshine" covers a lot of ground and seems to be interpreted by different folk in different ways.
There are a lot of different recipes that range from poor to excellent quality sugar washes, the same in Sugar heads where the grain gives flavour but the sugar supplies the alcohol , In days of old Moonshine was also made from malted corn and other grains. Each and every one of them is going to taste different ........Cuts alone are going to then change the taste of the product made from disitiller to distiller.
As for Gerber or Birdwatchers being easiest, Rum,UJSSM are no harder.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by shadylane »

"How to tell if your shine tastes good"

Experience gained by drinking and making. :lol:
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by n_plains_drifter »

Experience is the best teacher, and we all started out with about zero. The advice so far has been on spirits that are 'just' distillate, with no added flavorings - not something like apple or cherry pie. Not that there is anything wrong with flavored spirits, many of us have our favorites and stocks in hand.

That said, lots of distillers are focused on making spirits that capture the essence of the grains they were made from, and benefit from time spent on oak to further refine and add to the flavors.

Enjoy the journey! Best, Drifter
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Deplorable »

How do I tell if my "shine" tastes good? I ask others to taste it and tell me if they like it. I don't like the word applied to what I make, or what I do, even though technically it is correct by American definition:
noun
illicitly distilled or smuggled liquor.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Jstroke »

I think what (most) of us have found through trial, error and learning is that what we thought what we were aiming at to make was in fact almost immediately surpassed if you paid any attention and a did little homework. So suddenly “moonshine” becomes what you think it is. That rotgut you don’t care for anyway, and what you discover is that you have become an artisan distiller. It doesn’t take long and what is considered mid shelf spirits by most, you wouldn’t walk across the street for. But to answer your question directly in relation to the flavor profile at its best, it should taste like sweet corn with a sweet background and a little heat from the Alc. no prickles or tongue bite or peppery bite and no funky paper/cardboard.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Saltbush Bill »

It's also worth remembering that what you make in the beginning and think tastes good...... won't be what you think tastes good several years into the hobby.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Dancing4dan »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:24 pm It's also worth remembering that what you make in the beginning and think tastes good...... won't be what you think tastes good several years into the hobby.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by tommyboyhomebrew »

Thank you everyone for the replies. Definitely gives me something to think about.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Bushman »

shadylane wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:40 pm "How to tell if your shine tastes good"

Experience gained by drinking and making. :lol:
When I first saw the topic thread before reading my first thought was if it tastes good to you then that’s all that matters.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Stonecutter »

Refine your Hooch and redefine your tastes??


Someone could start an ad campaign. Maybe for Shady’s horse apple shine
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Deplorable »

Stonecutter wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 4:02 pm Refine your Hooch and redefine your tastes??


Someone could start an ad campaign. Maybe for Shady’s horse apple shine
Iffin I had a dedicated still, there's a few folks I'd make that one for.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Stonecutter »

By the gallons full Brother

I just gotta find somebody willing to make the shit errr notTHE shit but you know what I mean 8)
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by bcook608 »

shadylane wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:40 pm "How to tell if your shine tastes good"

Experience gained by drinking and making. :lol:
This.
If you put it in your mouth and don't want to spit it out, it tastes good ;P
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Yummyrum »

bcook608 wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 5:18 pm
This.
If you put it in your mouth and don't want to spit it out, it tastes good ;P
Pretty much nails it bcook :thumbup:
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Yonder »

Sorry, never much cared. If you think it tastes good, by God, it does. Later on your tastes may change with experience but the truth still holds and that old libation has long since been flushed.
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by EricTheRed »

If you share some and they ask for more ..... job done
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by Wildcats »

The only wash I've made is a corn and sugar wash. If I'm very careful with the heat and run my spirit run very slow and collect in 100 ml in each jar. Then I can usually get good results. At first I tried collecting in 500 ml jars and just kept the middle maybe 2or 3 jars. That was ok. But with the smaller jars of 100 ml I was able to get 4 jars at 500 each. I thought I could make cuts by volume. But that was smearing. Anyway . Cuts are the biggest thing out side of the ferment that effect taste. So for me the most important. But that just my take. And I'm very new to distilling. Hope this helps
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Re: How to tell if your shine tastes good?

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Shady’s sugar shine is a great place to start as it has a protocol that helps avoid all the newb threads about a stalled ferment or bad taste. Healthy fermentation is very important and will have a big impact on what you’re gonna get from distilling. It’s also cheap, so if you screw up, it’s not the end of the world. The perfect novice recipe! It’s also my standard recipe if I intend to make any flavored products like apple pie, or panty droppers. I run mine through a VM reflux column to turn it into neutral spirit.

Another question that gets asked all the time is how quickly you should collect your product off the still. You’ll read a lot about a “pencil lead sized stream.” If you’re pot stilling with a small boiler, this is not the best advice. I know this from experience. When I first started the hobby, I was getting a product that was too smeared with tails. It made it difficult to do cuts and get something I liked. Nothing wrong with a fast drip, it might take longer to run , but you’ll get better, more refined flavor.
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