59 Comments

• J

  Comment Author: Jared

  Published on: Jan 01, 2016

  Hello y’all
  I’ve been making moonshine for abot three years straight. My biggest feat was not making enough out of one batch. I bought a 3 gal batch still out of eBay. I have a 55 gal plastic drum that I filled with 20 gal of mash. For the 5 gal mashes I had in the past I used I pachet of fleshmans yeast and weilded great results I’m now making 20 gallons of the same mash but will use 4 packets in stead of one. It does great and I’ve the tried turbo yeast. The secret is raisons and I added corn starch as well. It gives the yeast something to eat off of instead of just the sugar. Which keeps it alive longer which gives u more alcohol. It’s so cheap and easy after a few days I just add more yeast just to make sure. I’ve gotten great results and do not see a need for turbo yeast. Yeah the avb is a little higher but for the price and waiting it, to me, isn’t worth it. I got 5 percent with bread and 8 for turbo but turbo was way expensive and I had to order it. Yeast gets 4 and a half in my book and I suggest it to anyone making shine or whisky.

• C

  Comment Author: Carl

  Published on: Dec 11, 2015

  If you use turbo yeast and keep a bit of tails to grow you own, would this be the best of all worlds?

• OC

  Comment Author: OLd COpper

  Published on: Nov 24, 2015

  I am an old shiner, I have been doing this since I was 8, when my pap paid me a dollar a day to clean the mash barrels and haul the wood for his fire. I started my own still when I was 14, with paps help of course. He always used the natural yeast from the grain when he malted it, except when the weather got colder then he would use grams bread yeast to help it out. We didn’t have a lot of money so that’s what we had to use. His whiskey was famous in the hills of WV and he never had a problem getting rid of it. I retired his still 30 years ago but still run an 85 gallon still with a 5 gallon thump. My son started shining when he was in his 20s after college, he said to keep the tradition alive, but he started getting information off the internets to improve the quality. After much trying and tasting, he is now running his still with bread yeast. The taste is cleaner and fresher and the proof is as good as ever. Does bread yeast work? Yep you can bet your socks on it, works every time.
  I am very happy that there are so many of yall learning to make your own whiskey. Just remember the cleaner the ingredients the better the taste. Happy shining

• ND

  Comment Author: need to know what i should do

  Published on: Jul 12, 2015

  I started o about a mounth ago i started with ec 1118 and have about 5 grams for every 5 gls i wasnt getting alc. That i should so added red star one to two oz. Per gl i am useing air locks and they are finaly really moving so i have use alittle extra yeast what should i do please help

• 1I

  Comment Author: 100% Irishguy

  Published on: May 30, 2015

  Mountain Mike:
  No….they/I/We are not kidding. Bread yeast is the best, simplest, cheapest answer there is. Bread yeast is more or less a blank slate in a technical level, it hasn’t “learned” or “inherited” any of the traits of its predecessors.
  These “inherited” traits are what the massive breweries/ distilleries rely upon to maintain a constant production quality and/or flavor in the final product. As a matter of fact, the Guinness brewery has used the same strain of yeast for hundreds upon hundreds of years, and are a VERY highly guarded secret. They literally keep their yeast in a temperature controlled vault.
  You can reproduce the flavor of your own product by keeping the “tails” of one batch to add to the next. The yeast will “learn” and become a clone of the last batch. After a few progressive turns like this (approximately 7 or so), your final product will be as reliable as a professional distillery.