Very helpful because when leaving for Saudi Arabia, I had to park all my alcohol with a friend for future use. Some time later I recovered liquors, cognac, vodka and so on and stored them for getting rid of them later. Later has yet to arrive and now I see a use for some of them. So thanks!
Funny, I was just talking with a coworker about this today. I am saving up to buy land to build a farmstead and I definitely want to include a space for brewing and distilling. The average yield per acre of corn is about 177 bushels at 56 pounds per bushel. It takes about 26 pounds of corn to get a gallon of moonshine. That’s about 381 gallons per acre. From a prepping perspective that would make a lot of sense if you were going to use it mostly for fuel. After the mash is boiled it makes an excellent animal feed. I have researched how whiskey is made and found that it’s less about time than it is about surface area of the wood. Making your own whiskey is a popular hobby now and you can turn vodka into whiskey in less than a year by using various wood chips. Some chips are toasted but you can replicate your favorite whiskey or scotch by making different batches with the different chips and then mixing the finished product to create your own blend. This is actually how the pros do it.
Another process is to freeze wine or beer, ale, etc. Alcohol has a very low freezing point which is why you can keep vodka in the freezer. Pure ethanol has a freezing point of -173F. When you freeze the wine the water freezes but the alcohol and the sugars stay liquid and can be poured off to produce a concentrated syrup with a much higher alcohol concentration sort of like a liqueur. This is called brandywine. The closest thing to it would be a very strong ruby port but it would depend on what kind of wine you start with. If you distill it you can produce brandy. You can do the same with beer or ale and get barleywine. I used to work at a microbrewery and we would have buckets of foam blow off from the bottling process. When the 5 gallon bucket was full of a mix of beer we would freeze it and get a growler or two of the barleywine. It was amazing. The higher alcohol content would extend the shelf life if you wanted to keep it long term but it got drank up so fast I don’t know for certain.
Excellent article and helpful information. Thanks.
I keep a case of JD in my closet
Really good advice, the medicinal and bartering capabilities of alcohol in a shtf scenario can be priceless. Along with other necessities of course.
Good to keep some in reserve
Very helpful because when leaving for Saudi Arabia, I had to park all my alcohol with a friend for future use. Some time later I recovered liquors, cognac, vodka and so on and stored them for getting rid of them later. Later has yet to arrive and now I see a use for some of them. So thanks!
You are welcome. People sometimes overlook the importance of alcohol, especially if they don’t drink.
Thirty 2 oz amber glass bottles about $20 on Amazon.
I didn’t realize they had such a dazzling array of bottles
They claim the cheaper plastic ones are reusable, but I'm skeptical. And the glass ones enhance barter/sale.
In blue(!) for a buck more.
✅️
Funny, I was just talking with a coworker about this today. I am saving up to buy land to build a farmstead and I definitely want to include a space for brewing and distilling. The average yield per acre of corn is about 177 bushels at 56 pounds per bushel. It takes about 26 pounds of corn to get a gallon of moonshine. That’s about 381 gallons per acre. From a prepping perspective that would make a lot of sense if you were going to use it mostly for fuel. After the mash is boiled it makes an excellent animal feed. I have researched how whiskey is made and found that it’s less about time than it is about surface area of the wood. Making your own whiskey is a popular hobby now and you can turn vodka into whiskey in less than a year by using various wood chips. Some chips are toasted but you can replicate your favorite whiskey or scotch by making different batches with the different chips and then mixing the finished product to create your own blend. This is actually how the pros do it.
Another process is to freeze wine or beer, ale, etc. Alcohol has a very low freezing point which is why you can keep vodka in the freezer. Pure ethanol has a freezing point of -173F. When you freeze the wine the water freezes but the alcohol and the sugars stay liquid and can be poured off to produce a concentrated syrup with a much higher alcohol concentration sort of like a liqueur. This is called brandywine. The closest thing to it would be a very strong ruby port but it would depend on what kind of wine you start with. If you distill it you can produce brandy. You can do the same with beer or ale and get barleywine. I used to work at a microbrewery and we would have buckets of foam blow off from the bottling process. When the 5 gallon bucket was full of a mix of beer we would freeze it and get a growler or two of the barleywine. It was amazing. The higher alcohol content would extend the shelf life if you wanted to keep it long term but it got drank up so fast I don’t know for certain.
Wow, I didn't know any of that. Amazing info. Thanks! Good luck with your farm.