The name moonshine was taken from the term “moonlighter”, used by the English to describe the nighttime runners that smuggled brandy from France. Read more about the history of moonshine, and learn about how it’s made.
Moonshine is a common term for home distilled alcohol; especially in places were the production is illegal.
The illegal production of moonshine is usually associated with the Southern United States and Appalachia.
Since my grandparents had a farm in the Appalachian Mountain Range, I am familiar with the making of moonshine. Not that I ever made any, I was just a child in the 1960’s, but I had kinfolks (as we call them in the south) who did make it.
Now, I am not telling anyone to make moonshine. It is illegal and dangerous. Sloppily produced moonshine can be contaminated with toxins, mainly from the materials used in the construction of the still. Some folks use old car radiators for a condenser in their stills. The lead used to solder radiators and in some cases the glycol products from antifreeze are poisonous and potentially deadly. My family had a friend that was in a coma and suffered kidney damage after drinking contaminated moonshine. Thankfully, he lived but it could have easily gone the other direction.
Moonshine is made from fermented corn mash distilled in a cooker. The name moonshine was taken from the term “moonlighter” used by the English to describe the nighttime runners that smuggled brandy from France. After World War I, the agricultural prices dropped so during Prohibition, many American farmers turned to making moonshine as a way to support their families.
Cosby, Tennessee was known as the “Moonshine Capital of the World”. In the 1960’s it was claimed there were over 200 stills operating on any given day, each averaging 20 gallons a day. It was also locally claimed that they ran moonshine to Atlanta, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Asheville, as well as some unnamed northern cities.
The first thing you need before you can make moonshine is a still. A typical mountain still uses a stone furnace for heat and a metal still for fermenting and heating the mash. Large barrels are used to collect the steam and for condensing the alcohol. It is always a smart moonshiner who locates his still next to a mountain stream where good cold water can be easily piped in to condense the steam from the liquor.
- 50 lb of cornmeal
- 200lb of sugar
- 200 gallons of water
- 12 oz of yeast.
A hint: Don’t buy your sugar all in one place because it is a sure sign to the “revenuers” that you are going to make moonshine.
- First carry all your supplies up to your mountain hideout. Have someone else there to keep the still nice and hot.
- Bring the cornmeal to a boil add yeast and all your sugar to ferment the mash.
- When the mash stops bubbling it is cooked in the still and the stream is captured in a barrel filled with cold mountain stream water.
- The steam is allowed to cool and condensed by running it though a long copper coil submerged in another barrel with water in a trough from the near by cold mountain stream.
- Once condensed. the clear liquor drips from the bottom of the still into a catch can – these are usually ½ gallon glass jars.
Test your moonshine for alcohol content or proof by adding a small amount of gunpowder to it and igniting it. If it burns, and you are still alive, its proof is measured somewhere between 100 and 200 proof or 50% to 100% pure alcohol.
Pour into jugs, old coffee cups or mason jars and enjoy. Will get the entire gang drunk or I am not a good old southern girl.
Just remember this was only written for fun. Don’t let me see any of you out there making moonshine, and if you do don’t forget to invite me over.