Page 208 - The Lost Ways

❖ Place a lid on the fermenter, and leave it in a warmish (nice room temperature)
place for about two weeks. (Don’t be tempted like I was to try it before this time;
it gives you a stomachache and worse….)
❖ Use the syphon or muslin to drain off the beer into bottles. If you use a syphon,

don’t suck to get the drain going, use gravity instead.
❖ Serve and enjoy (but not too much!).

A Bit of the Stronger Stuff: Distilling Your Own
“Moonshine”

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The prohibition era of the early 20 century in the U.S., which tried to ban the use of
alcohol, had quite the opposite effect. The middle classes stockpiled alcohol before the
law became enacted, while others made their own using homemade stills.

The word “still” is derived from the process of separating out a liquid mixture into its
constituent parts. This process, known as distillation, consists of evaporation and
condensation, which allows you to take a weaker alcoholic drink, like a wine, and create
a much stronger alcoholic drink, like a brandy.

Many countries have their own version of distilled alcohol. The U.S. has distilled whiskey,
which is called “moonshine,” while Ireland has a potato-based distilled alcohol called
“poitín.” These distilled alcoholic drinks can be very strong and are often illegal.

My brother lost two days of his life when he drank a little too much of the ol’ poitín on a
trip to the Emerald isle.

Making a Still

A still is a useful thing to have as you can also use it to make essential oils for medicinal
purposes as well as making stronger alcoholic drinks than beer.

I bought my own small still from an online source. It’s called an “alembic.” You can see
from the images that it’s made from copper. This sort of still can be used to distill out the
results of a fermented drink, for example, a wine (you could use beer, although the result
may not be to your taste). The fermented drink is distilled to a much stronger spirit
alcohol.

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