The Thing About DIY Liquor
Although
the general process for making moonshine doesn't differ too
much from the way they do it in commercial distilleries, there
are a few reasons why drinking illegal liquor can be a gamble.
The whole point of making moonshine is to escape laws,
taxes and regulations. That means that there aren't any FDA
inspectors stopping by the backwoods still to make sure all
the moonshiners wear hair nets and wash their hands, and no
one is there to ensure that all the ingredients are safe.
Moonshiners are not known for their careful maintenance of
sanitary conditions. It is not uncommon for insects or small
animals to fall into the mash while it's fermenting.
That's pretty gross, but it probably wouldn't kill anyone.
You might have heard stories about people drinking moonshine
and going blind -- or even dying. These stories aren't urban
legends -- they're true. During Prohibition (see the next
section to learn about Prohibition), when moonshine was made
and sold in "speakeasies" across the United States, thousands
of people died from drinking bad moonshine.
There isn't anything inherently dangerous about moonshine
-- at least no more dangerous than any other alcoholic drink.
When made properly, it is simply very strong alcohol with a
very hard taste, or "kick," because it hasn't been aged. It is
usually very potent, as high as 150 proof, which is
about 75 percent alcohol. That high alcohol content can be
pretty dangerous in itself; but again, the biggest problem is
that there aren't any regulations to make sure that it's made
properly.
Some distillers realized that part of the appeal of
moonshine was that "kick." They experimented with different
ingredients to add more kick to the drink, including
manure, embalming fluid, bleach, rubbing alcohol and even
paint thinner. Many of these ingredients are extremely
poisonous, and many people died from drinking it.
Besides poisonous ingredients, there are at least two
manufacturing mistakes that can lead to a poisonous batch of
moonshine.
- It usually takes two or three passes through the still
to remove all the impurities from the alcohol. One pass may
not be enough to create a safe batch.
- If the still is too hot, more than alcohol can boil off
and ultimately condense -- meaning more than alcohol makes
it into the finished product.
If the moonshiner is careless, either of these problems can
result in a poisonous drink.
In the next section, we'll explain why people started
making moonshine in the first place.
Here are some interesting links:
