BeerBorg

Not at all sure where this one ought to be posted so. Had a couple of "alternative brewers" asking about a fining agent. Now my first thought was "It's just wort/ale 'till it hits the still, so Irish moss/Whirlfloc". Then I started wondering "Shouldn't the distillation process clear it?" I hate giving bum advice so...What do y'all think?

Yea, I wouldn't think they need a fining agent. Once it condenses back to a liquid, it should be clear.


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Are they actually distilling or are the concentrating by freezing and removing the ice, which is mostly water?

If the former, no fining should be needed, but it's not legal.

If the latter, everything gets concentrated, so fining might be a good idea.

'Tis the former,( I live in Georgia, moonshine capital of the south) & I have pointed that out. I'm not a cop, and they're customers asking how to make a better product. Up to a point some of them are good brewers. Got a solid handle on mashing. So we got common ground. I even got 1 guy who malts his own grain. (I think that's just cool as hell)

jimjohson wrote:'.....I even got 1 guy who malts his own grain.....

Corn, barley, or...

The_Professor wrote:

jimjohson wrote:'.....I even got 1 guy who malts his own grain.....

Corn, barley, or...

Said another guy who malts his own grain.

I tried it once and didn't have very good results. I'll probably try again at some point.

Professor, both but I found out when he was malting corn. I didn't even know you had to malt corn.

Bp, he's got a lot of equipment for it. Apparently it's a family tradition (with apologies to bocephus)

Jim, just an observation.

If you are discussing with these people (person) how to do something that is illegal, and then you sell this person items/ingredients to make this illegal product, as an employee of the store I would question whether the authorities would connect the dots. Even if you're an independent contractor, you might want to think about it.

Nothing illegal about the ingredients. Nothing illegal about discussing something that is illegal to make as to friends sitting around. However, if the store or its employees provides advice to a person that then creates an illegal product with ingredients sold by that store or employee, and then something happens (product is bad and people have a reaction), is the store or its employees liable in any way?

I don't know, I just would want to know if I was you or if I was the store. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. Just wondering.

I would have to ask them why ask a beer brewer about making 'moonshine'? All I know about the subject I've learned from watching cable TV.

RickBeer wrote:Jim, just an observation.

If you are discussing with these people (person) how to do something that is illegal, and then you sell this person items/ingredients to make this illegal product, as an employee of the store I would question whether the authorities would connect the dots. Even if you're an independent contractor, you might want to think about it.

Nothing illegal about the ingredients. Nothing illegal about discussing something that is illegal to make as to friends sitting around. However, if the store or its employees provides advice to a person that then creates an illegal product with ingredients sold by that store or employee, and then something happens (product is bad and people have a reaction), is the store or its employees liable in any way?
.

I don't know the exact answers, but I do know that my 3 nearby LHBS all have distilling equipment, ingredients, etc. The distilling equipment is for making 'fuel' alcohol...

I have given the wrong impression. I'm discussing mashing, I only know high school science class distillation. I've only had 2 fess up, but I see their purchases and I'm not an idiot. Now we got a couple guys that are probably makin' money at it considering the amount of distillers yeast and nutrient they get from me. The guys doing for themselves and a few friends get 48hour turbo yeast(costs way more and only for 5 gallons, you'll get about a gallon of product). They're the ones who'll ask questions, usually about some phase of mashing/sparging.