Thanks Ironhead. I really wonder if people realize what valuable information you are giving them. This is good information. Even if you don't drink alcohol, this is good to know! Old fashioned ways need to be practiced. Thank you so much for what you do. Noreen.
For all you people posting that he's wasting the corn because he didn't convert the starches.. Please. Just. Stop. Obviously, your entire knowledge on the subject is watching youtube videos. Corn is used for flavor. That's it. For the amount of corn you use in a batch, which isn't a lot, the amount of sugar you would gain if converting is negligible unless you were doing a total grain mash with no sugar, lots of cooking, malts, amylase, lots and lots of grains, etc.. The way this guy in the video is making mash is the way they've done it in the hills since before your great grandpa was a gleam in his daddy's eye. Most old timers made a run, then add what was left in the still after the run back onto the corn into the mash barrel. The next run consisted of @ 1/4 to 1/3 of the volume of this spent mash. This is what you got the sour mash from and what was the best tasting. Most wouldn't sell anything from the 1st batch until they got the sour mash. This spent mash is full of acids, vitamins and dead yeast, which is the main ingredient in your yeast energizers. After adding the spent mash back in the barrel, they'd top back up with more sugar and clean water, add yeast, and in a few days, be running again. They'd re-use the corn several times. So here's a question for you...If all the corn starch was converted in the first batch, why is it you think they'd still reuse it? Because corn was for flavor. That's it. That's what it's for in the beginning and that's what it's for in the end. According to all you armchair moonshiners, they must have been wasting their time and didn't know what they were doing. This is the reason your arguments are ridiculous and ignorant. Good day everyone.
You are kinda wrong. Back in those days they didn't have sugar to add to a mash. They only had corn. So they had to use what they had. They had to convert the starches of the corn to fermentable sugars.
@@jcg1836 Absolutely right to me what flavor is there on the second batch it gets weaker its kinda suspended y'all don't tell me that what's there becomes more flavorful what if i add sugar and take it away from the corn ull get an idea. Corn is to be used once make it good and malted
Absolutely right. Boiling corn will do nothing but cooking the corn. However, the corn (in this recipe) isn't being added for fermentability. In fact Ironhead even said "you don't have to add corn, but I add it because I like the FLAVOR". So yeah... in this case corn is a flavoring not a sugar source. If you want to get technical, yeast also needs more than just sugar to function 100%. Different strains like different things. But you know what. I betcha this recipe will get you good times ;)
To all the people arguing, let me just clear everything up. Originally, Tennessee water or moonshine, was made from water, yellow corn and corn malt or any kind of malt. Its called mash because when you go to cook the corn before the ferment process, you would mash down on the corn to help bring out the natural sugar in the corn. You see, for most of history, moonshiners could not afford sugar so therefore just used the old malt and corn recipe. I believe it wasn't till around the early to mid 1900's when they could start to afford it. Take a a pound or two of your corn and sprout it to malt and just add that to your corn and water and let if ferment. People use yeast because either they don't know how to make corn into malt or they just want quick alcohol. Yeast mash takes 3-10 days in good conditions. But the old way, like I have described generally takes a few weeks. Its slower but I enjoy the taste much better. I know all of this because I have done it before and ran a still.
LOL!!!! A lbd or two of malted corn will not convert one ear of corn.. Corn malt unless is malted real real real slow only have the ability of converting its own left over starches to sugar. and you dont ferment the malt you grind it up and cook at with the man corn or whatever grain to release enzymes that convert the starches over to maltos dextrose etc.. I dont cook anymore but I did for 35 year never used a spoon full of sugar and malted my own barley wheat, corn etc. Why do people pretend on the internet. THE ONLY THING THAT WILL FERMENT THE SUGARS IS YEAST.!! Whether its store bought yeast or local yeast that drifts in its still yeast that does the conversion of sugars to ethanol.
the headaches aren't from the sugar or corn. it is from getting greedy. If you start keeping liquor too early (Not throwing away enough foreshots) you are going to end up drinking some real nasties, that can also poison you. The raw corn may add some flavor but the starches need to be converted to sugar to have any effect on the abv (alcohol by volume). Another comment mentioned sugar by itself not being enough to make the alcohol. This is also false. If you cannot make liquor just using sugar and turbo yeast, which had nutrients already in it, there is something else going on but it has nothing to do with the sugar. Yeast is a living organism, the idea is keeping the yeast alive so it can work. If it's too cold it goes dormant, if too hot, it dies. It can also stress out when you try to get too high of an abv from your wash. Greed makes bad liquor, every time.
Works best if you doing it around 150 or slightly below it. You add it then stir the hell out of it. and cover it back up. Then every 10 minutes or so stir the hell out of it some more to redistribute the enzymes. keep the stirring it every 10/15mins for at least an hour or so. the longer the better. Cover it wrap it in a blanket and keep it warm.. the longer the better. Keep in mind that you need to keep everything very clean. Warm sweet liquid with lots of minerals can get infected.
For all grain mash for a sizable run is huge. I run 22 lbs of corn plus barley and rye just for myself. It's a long process but dang if your taste buds dont have an organism. So, I will never go back to adding sugar. This guy does so for the batch size or high alcohol or combination of both. But traditional is heaven and hands down better than anything you can buy. Natural at 80 to 100 proof is beyond words when you get the perfect amount of rye and barley...I'm drooling...
Just an FYI most say to cool the water to 90 deg or less before adding the yeast, the higher temp will kill the yeast. This guy knows what he is doing by memory and not using a thermometer, that’s great for him and it works but you will need a thermometer to keep it below 90 deg. Also for moonshine the corn does not create alcohol but just flavors it you do not need to sprout it, he uses the right corn and technique for shine. Some sprout corn for enzymes but then you are making something else
@scottnsuzs you're right, but as you can see here the corn whole unmalted, you would have to add enzymes to get the starch to convert to a useable"fermentable" product for the yeast. what he is showing in the video would cause someone to make a nasty sugar wash with hints of rotten corn and after distilling it it would not be very good.
That's regular baking yeast? Other grains can be used instead of corn? I have some roasted barley I would love to get some use out of. Smaller quantities, of course. I used to own a grinder just like that and I learned quick to not try to grind corn in it. WOW, serious impressed with getting that corn ground with it. I have a much smaller manual grinder that's not good for corn grinding either. Could I use cracked corn like the kind for chicken feed?
@bubbajeasy1 i did call it sugar wine...if you don't malt some of the corn, then it will just be a carbohydrate that the yeast cannot eat, so by malting some of it, you will get an enzyme out of it that will convert the rest of the carbohydrates into sugars that the yeast can eat and produce alcohol. i hope this doesn't make me seem mean, i was just trying to figure out what this guy was doing, i think it's brave that he is making mash for the world to see
This is a nice, simple, sugar shine with a hint of corn flavor. Not enuff corn worth mashing but not the intent either. I would have used 25lbs ground corn, and 5 lbs of Malted 6 row barley, and struck it at !50F. I would hold it for 1.5 hrs, then add 25 lbs sugar to the previously added 25 gallons of heated water. I would cool with a wort chiller to about 100 F then pitched my re-hydrated yeast. This makes a cross between the real deal and the sugar shine and everyone goes nuts for it.
Sanitation? Turbo yeast will get you up to 23-23% if you have an adequate starting gravity. Cracked corn needs to be boiled to dissolve the cellulose to expose the starch. A few pounds of six row Briess at 152 deg will give you enough amylase to convert it's self and the corn starch. I like the corn flavor myself in spirits but I want to utilize all the sugars it has also.
@gigi172 he should expect 30 gallons of 15% alc which is 5 gallond of 90% alc. you can dilute it to taste at around 10 gallons of 40%, that will prolly cost you a grand at the liquor store. idk i never bought 10 gallos of alcohol at once but you can make it cheap!
As for adding more to it. It just makes the process work faster. The corn sprouts method is about the corns natural yeast being used. There again more yeast!!! The natural yeast does break down the corn sugars faster(corn starch) Nature put it there for natural deca of the corn so its basically engineered by nature to work better on corn starch. However the sugar(sucrose) converts better with other types of yeast. There are several things that help this process.... See next post...
Been using this resipe for 4 years now 10 gallons wAter5 pound crack 🌽 30 pounds sugar = 11-12 %Limited amount turbo yeast to avoid the nastiesFreeze settle in glass carboys till clearThen still er up for some awesome Holy water. Taste awesome never had anything but complements.
I made just a cup full of this..I didnt bust open the corn but its starting to smell right..it hadnt been sittin long enough yet but its goona be a good one (: thanks for the video
Good job Ironhead, like your get it done style,I use a 55 gal drum with 80 lbs of brown sugar,2 bottles of molassess and pitch 1.25lbs of dry yeast,the (medicine)is usally top shelf.keep up the good work my friend.
"is that sweet cornkernals dryed?" Ears of corn are dried, then the kernels shelled off and bagged. You buy it at feed stores to feed hogs, cattle, or to feed deer blinds. Most often it's for hunters, because anyone with a hog farm gets a better deal on bulk quantities of the same stuff. You could buy ears of corn, shuck them, then dry them, and shell it yourself, if you have nothing else to occupy your time. Feed Corn is a bargain, by comparison, but maybe that helps you see what it is.
Also I seen one post asking if you can use whole kernel corn.. No you cant. Corn is made of several parts. The fiber husk, The yellow gluten, The whits starch, and the small center seed known as the germ. The husk must be broken to allow access the the starch. Also when running the distillation process fuzzel oils can carry over. This is where the flavors come from differents mash recipes. You can remove 99.9% of these with a carbon filter for an maker or say britta water filter.. see next post
Boiling the corn does indeed release starch. You have to let the temp to settle out to below 150 to add malted grains otherwise the enzymes will become denatured.
Does using feed corn affect the flavor versus silver queen or something else from a grain mill? What about water? I suspect that has a lot to do with flavor....purified or spring water? Have you added any other flavors before and how did that go?
Around here Firehouse Subs sells a food grade bucket that is empty from where they get pickles. They are $2 and the money goes to charity. They smell of pickles strong, but if you wash them good then they don't transfer any flavor over.
Hi Ironhead! New to your site! I'm glad we found you! We are making corn whiskey , and I have a couple questions, you mentioned you let ingredients sit for a couple days in the 30 gallon can, but will it be ready then, to run thru still? If not, would you kindly send me your instructions after the initial 2 day sit period? Please!?? I've tried finding a part 2 of your video, but couldn't find it :( Thanks!! Donna S
I find it funny that there are such bs on here about this stuff. And you try to come across like you know what your doing. Really it makes me mad what was the SG and FG on that weak ass sugar head.You have no clue what the ABV of your wash is.What was your yield tell me please now now I will know if you are joshing.
ironhead41 No it is not... Only illegal for retail sale without a license. As a matter of fact, Missouri allows distillation for personal consumption, but it is against the law to sell..
Cast iron1969 No it is not LEGAL in any state to distill without a license. Do your research. If you are talking about your state law chapter 311 liquor control law. That's says that if an alcoholic beverage contains less than 1/2% of 1% by volume shall be exempt from these provisions but subject to inspections as provided by 196.365 to 196.445 So If you distill alcohol you will be getting more than 1/2% per volume.
JOHN welsh our absolutely wrong. In the state of MO, you can distill your own alcohol for personal consumption, and you can even sell it, but then you have to follow rules and procedure. I do this for fun, and experimentation, and use it to clean parts, and have no concerns for the STATE statutes.. They are not law..Yes, limited right for home use only. Missouri Statute 311.055 provides that, “No person at least twenty-one years of age shall be required to obtain a license to manufacture intoxicating liquor, as defined in section 311.020, for personal or family use. The aggregate amount of intoxicating liquor manufactured per household shall not exceed two hundred gallons per calendar year if there are two or more persons over the age of twenty-one years in such household, or one hundred gallons per calendar year if there is only one person over the age of twenty-one years in such household. Any intoxicating liquor manufactured under this section may not be offered for sale”. This section is in conflict with Section 311.050, which says, “It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, partnership or corporation to manufacture, sell or expose for sale in this state intoxicating liquor, as defined in Section 311.020, in any quantity, without taking out a license”. Because Section 311.055 is directed toward a specific circumstance, it should be controlling and should be considered an exception to Section 311.050.
is that sweet cornkernals dryed?????? if not what corn is it thanks think in usa and uk things are called differnt things and its the same thing buy its confuseing me witch corn it is thanks
@VivianRinSC its comming good......checked it yesturday...its ready.......i wont have time til tomorrow night or monday to finish.......ill vid parts of it......
Hey IronHead41, Those Home depot orange buckets are not made to store food but they due now sell the food safe all white ones for the same price. Love your videos so keep them coming
@ironhead41 where I live in Tennessee it is legal to make and distribute as long as you have a tax sticker on each jar, these are sold at the court house with a pamphlet on staying legal
If I use a 5 gal. glass, or plastic water container, like the one you used for your apple cider, how much yeast shoud I use for one of them? How is the corn mash doing with those 6 packs of yeast you used? Thanks for the video!
@@troyyarbrough it's best but not 💯% mandatory.I personally (even though not mandatory)use Amylase,dady and yeast nutrients,but that's just my preference.But then again,it's personal use
I'd also like to add that there are MUCH better liquors to be made than sugar shine, or sugar shitty as I like to call it. As Clown Whisperer has tried to tell everyone, take the time, learn the craft. It is a craft. If you watch a mash making video that's only 5-10 minutes in length from beginning to end and there isn't obvious editing and an explanation of something taking some time, A they are making crap liquor, B they don't know what they're doing at all and aren't making liquor at all, C they are going to get you to poison yourself. Aluminum stills will poison you. Do not build them. There are plenty of good forums out there to read on this stuff. You aren't going to learn this stuff in 10 minutes from a video, and don't be afraid to throw liquor away if something doesn't seem right.
What happens if you use fruit instead of corn do you cut back on the sugar or use the same amount.I was thinking of using peaches. Thanks for posting..
@Ncharlestun the lid is not even needed...i just use the lid to keep flies and moths out.......the lid doesnt seal 100% anyway......i know a guy that that doesnt use a lid and pours flies, moths and beetles right in the "seperator".........true....lol
I would like to know how much corn, corn malt, sugar, and water to make a mash to produce 100 gallons of high quality shine. At ( 150 to 190 ) proof. Thanks
@svrichard81 I remember reading somewhere that if you add some malted barley, it will help the corn convert the carbs into sugars. I think that's why they use Rye in some of the whiskeys.
Corn, like any grain, needs to be heated so the enzymes in it will convert the starches into sugar. This is why moonshiners of days past chose corn, because it was cheaper than sugar. Also because corn back in the day purchased in large quantities didn't rise suspicion by the authorities. What this video is showing is a watered down sugar wash, not a corn mash. If anything the corn here is adding some nutrients a sugar only wash won't provide the yeast enough of to maximize results. Corn is the fundamental ingredient in traditional moonshine because it was the most cost effective and profitable source of sugar in a moonshiner's mash to earn a living off of. In reality just about any fruit or vegetable containing sugar can yield alcohol. Even pumpkins. The yeast couldn't care less where the sugar comes from. And those commenting how unsanitary these conditions are need to realize that the final stage in the process is distilling, a form of purifying. Old moonshiners used to ferment their mashes in wooden barrels in the woods, or worse. How concerned do you think they were about sterile conditions? I myself have 23 gallons of corn wash fermenting, about 4 days in. Booyaa. :)
wingmanalive Corn doesn't contain the enzymes in order to convert the starches to sugar. Enzymes would have to be added, or the best way, which is to add a15-20% malted barley, which contains the necessary enzymes. If you just head the corn by itself, the starches won't be converted, and there will be no alcohol made by the yeast, unless you added in sugar. It seems to me like using sugar and corn is a huge waste. Just use the corn, add the malted barley (which is fermentable as well) and you save yourself money not spent on sugar. I mean, the sugar is right there in the corn, just locked up in the starches.
You are correct. For the longest time I was one of the many who blindly thought simply heating up the grain converted the starches to sugar. Just more bad advice I followed from the net. I have now converted to distilling sugar only washes now to omit these steps. I use a yeast nutrient and turbo yeast and and my washes sing, more like scream. What I was doing was simply adding a corn flavor to my sugar and not benefiting at all from the starches by not adding a malt. After 2 passes in my pot still I get a very clean 160 proof neutral spirit that I add extracts and essence to to make one of 1000 different possibilities. Going to try aging whiskey soon. Fun stuff!
Man, you should do a mini batch with some malt to convert that corn into sugar because all that corn just remains starch. Yeast dont have the enzymes needed to use it.
Probably, but I'm not sure that "Deer corn" comes pre-cracked in 50lb bags for $6. Plus, crushing it yourself means you can "tune" how fine the crush is :)
The corn needs to be converted from starch to sugar. Need to heat it to 190 degrees and add barley or amaylaze at 140 degrees to convert the starch to a fermentable sugar otherwise the corn is useless
Filtering will give you just straight alcohol flavor!!! You can add all kinds of things to this to give it flaveo. From fruit to charred oad or maple to make some nice whiskeys. I actually aged some for over a year with the charred oak and taste tested it with friend and it was picked OVER Jack Danial, Jim Beam, and was said to taste as good as Knob creek... Btw way this is a passionate hobby I'm an engineer not JUST a hillbilly.... lmao.. Any questions???????
@ironhead41 If it is all sealed up then what happens to the CO2 after the yeast reaction? Don't you have to let out the CO2 and keep air locked out? I am trying to gather all this in for when I begin gathering materials. Everyone on here has air locks during fermentation except your system. It seems like the lid would blow off without an air lock to evacuate CO2. Your explanation of it being "done usually in 10 days" does not explain why an air lock is not needed on your sealed container.Thanks
In SHTF situations, this is an important thing to know. I've been debating buying some strong liquors for medical emergencies but would rather making my own. Thanks for the instructions. Do you leave the barrel out in the sun? Does the temperature matter during the 10 days? Wondering if this can be done in the colder months.
every run of shine since the beginning of time has used yeast. Maybe not store bought yeast but yeast found in nature. The creek water that your grand daddy hauled water from was teaming with yeast. Yeast convert sugars into ethanol, NOTHING else in this equation does. You grand dad used yeast he just did not know it. Although adding some sugars during certain times of the year was practiced even 200 years ago, the less you use the better. All malted corn is the best
if you make 5 gallons, only 10-15 percent is pure ethanol... so if my math is right from 5 gal you got 0.5 gal of ethanol, which is 10$/gal or 5$/l... not very efficient or cheap i d say... dunno if this is for drinking or driving though :D
The corn mash is; corn whiskey, or you can use milled whole rye: rye whiskey, or a mixture of sugar and corn or rye or just straight sugar which all of these are know as "sugar head" I was taught these ways by several generations of moonshiners in my family. One even gave Junior Johnson his start. This side of my family was from Trap Hill North Carolina... trap Hill was named by The "T" and "G" AKA.. revenuers and cops...lol.. Thats because of the traps set for them by the shiners..see next post
Hey idiot,I presume you mean Moron.The only Moran I have ever heard of was an actress.Before you attempt to insult someone because of their accent,make damn sure you can spell said insult.
How much corn did you add? I couldnt understand you. It almost sounded like you said 50 pounds. But it didnt look like 50 pounds going into the sugar water. My father-in-law makes homemade tequila down in mexico, and we already got the still and all, but Ive been wanting to make some whisky or moonshine down there. I think there is a market for it.
The problem is that the maltose that is created by DOING IT CORRECTLY does not make squirrel piss tasting loose like sugar does. You can dump in all of the chicken feed that you want and its not going to make up for the fact that malting and mashing all grains is the only way to get REAL whisky.
Sir u never let your yeast get over 75° if this happens your yeast becomes unstable and invalid .. Take it for what u will . I'm only trying to share what few I know ...keep brewing brotha
ummm, as a homebrewer, i was wondering how you were able to get the starch out of the corn to convert to something the yeast can eat? did you add an enzyme, or did you end up with a bunch of rotten corn in your sugar wine?
The corn is useless you use amylase enzyme, barley or some kind of malt to break down the corn to sugar. Its easier to make a sugar wash made out of sugar, yeast, tomato paste, lemon juice and Epsom salt. Ferment for 5 to 14 days at 70-95 deg until it stops bubbling and distill. You get about a 10% yield. (10gal of wash = 1gal moonshine). If you want a higher % you can use turbo yeast and get 20% in your wash. If you have a good still to get 135 proof and up you wont taste any flavors anyway. You can always add flavoring later if you want. If I wanted the corn flavor I wouldn't mix it in a garbage can. Off flavors are usually caused by bacteria and contaminants. I made my own double column still and have gotten up to 90% ABV. I tried corn with a coil pot still and I could taste the corn a little but the % ABV was a lot less.
For what purpose? The insignificant amount of sucrose gained from the little bit of corn added can be overcame by adding maybe an extra cup of sugar? If you feel the need to get the starch conversion as well to try to eek out every gram of sugar, you can add a bit of some type of malt, such as a barley malt at @ 1/5 of your corn ratio. No heating involved. It slowly works and will convert all the starches by the time the mash is done. But again... for what reason? You add corn for flavor. Corn, sugar, and yeast. It's how it's been done since they've been making it. Unless you're doing a full grain mash with no sugar, which does require the heating stages and amylase A and B to convert. And a hint on that... add both at the same time and VERY SLOWLY heat up the grains over several hours if possible, and by the time you hit 150-ish, the low temp amylase will have converted and the high temp one will have done it's job as well. That way you don't have to babysit it and try to hold certain temps.Now, from this video, after running the mash, the corn will still be in the barrel. As you run the batches, save some of what's left in the pot after the run is done and add this back to your next batch at 1/4 to 1/3 of the volume. This is considered sour mash. it has lots of acids and dead little yeasties that is like a yeast energizer for the next batch. Simply add more sugar, top up with fresh water and yeast. The corn in the barrel can be reused 7 or 8 times, but some won't go more than 5 or so. The corn is simply there for flavor. That's all it is meant to be from the very start.
Corn does not inherently contain the enzymes that (make alcohol as you put it) Only MALTED corn contains the enzymes to CONVERT starch to sugar(S). and only YEAST will EVER in a MILLION years convert those SUGARS to ethanol. We add packaged yeasts because they are move efficient and converting specific sugars to ethanol. While yeasts are everywhere that is true but they suck at converting unless you get real lucky.
No... no that will not work. you sprout the corn and mash it with the ground up corn at about 147 degrees to release the enzymes and covert the starches to sugar. if you roast malted corn or any other grain it will destroy the enzyme content leaving it useless.
noone has deleted any of your comments.......i am a firm believer in free speech and expression.......like me or hate me, i dont care.....but noone has deleted any of your comments..
