first still and first run had a great time

[shotshell12]

well started with 14 inch stainless pipe about 30 inches tall went got the plasma cutter and cut 2 end caps and tiged it all togeather and used a bell reducer for a steam dome and a place to connect my copper worm. then went got 1/2 inch new copper tubing about 35 foot long and bent a worm then put it in a plactic trash can and sealed it up at the bottom with silcone put drain at bottom to drain ina 5 gallon bucket got pump to pump back to top of trash can if water gets to hot add bag of ice to 5 gallon bucket it works well for the garage still .It sets on my fish cooker perfect and it takes about 45 minutes to boil with a slow heat it will run 1/2 gallon jar about 45 minutes (just learning)ithe stream is about a match stick size. with a lazer heat gun i try to keep it under 300 degrees.it does work

my first wash ?????? well i have a friend that has a grits mill he grind grits and saves me the corn meal well take corn meal and warm it in distilled water and pour it in my new plastic barrel from the coke factory in the next little town i used 15 lbs
then used 15 lbs of sugar melted it and added to barrell with 18 gallon of water i dipped out 1 gallon put it in diffrent pot
the next day i put bakers yeast in the 1 gallon pot and added that night. the wash began to work (it looked like it was a live)
it seemed to work for about 14 days on the 15 day i loaded the pot for the first run about 7 gallons?????? and it ran till the proof got below 100 and i quit got abot 2 gallons may bee 3 the next day ran the rest wound up with about 5 or six gallons
the 3rd day it put it all back in the pot all 6 gallons and started i wound up with a gallon and a half of some but kicking houch
it clocked out about 130 proof (bought hydrometer) well it tasted like bear piss i think so i took some white oak wood and chared it and put it in quart jar in a about 4 weeks it was golden brown and the taste was great the makers ma**k people could not done that good the first time . but just a little bit will make your head foggy...... well i am fixing to put some more down to work ran out if anyone reads this and has any ideas PLEASE send them my way this forum has been great any way to make my wash better or still better i will send pic soon as i set it up again the old lady made me tear it down so she could put car in shop (hail storms)

ps my mom is 77 years old and she tell me about when she was a kid and helped her dad make shine in the back woods of ky thats was the only way they got to eat back during hard times now she is sitting in my shop makin houch again this has been some thing i will never forget and i hurt no one GREAT BIG THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[plonker]

Good work SS12, keeping the traditions alive!!

[HookLine]

Your mum got any stories about that era she would like to share with us?

[shotshell12]

mom says that grand daddy made likker to feed the family he farmed cut cross ties and made likker she says they would sit by the still at night with nothing but the fire under the still for light and listen for any thing that moved they was always was scared of the feds they had a dog that went every time to to be a early warning mom said the dog would wander off and come back they would hear him comming and scare them mom said grand daddy would tell the dog he was going to shoot
him the fed were bad because the bigest still in ky was found about 35 miles from where she was raised in golden pond ky
she tells about how grand daddy use to regulate heat by raking the fire from under the still or push it back under it when it got cold he must have made good likker a man from paris tn use to come and buy all he could make and bring sugar for the next batch and he got paid good for doing it. grand daddy had the best team of mules in the county wonder where the money came from...
on my dads side of the family grand daddy went to jail 3 times for making likker he would get sentance to 30 day in co jail after thr feds left grand daddy left jail right behind them it was all family back then the last time they got him they took him to glassco ky he spent 6 month that time daddy said he like to starve to death for 6 months but family took care of family trouble with dad side they probley drank more than they sold

[HookLine]

Thanks for that.