Anyone else use a pressure cooker? (vanity)

05.31.2010 | Me

[2aberro]

My room mate and I made a still from a pressure cooker 25 years ago.

OK now,, you are going to have to go into detail on how my pressure cooker can cook up some hooch!

[Manic_Episode]

It was a while back, but I do remember it was really easy.

I brought the cooker, I believe it was a 5 gallon canning one, right into the hardware store with me and told them exactly what I was doing. They were both amused and very helpful.

Bought about 10 feet of copper tubing, don't remember how we coiled it.

The HW guy flared the ends and added the connectors to the tubing and we replaced the pressure valve with a threaded connector that just happened to be the exact same thread size making the whole thing a piece of cake.

Added a grommet and a thermometer to the other hole and voila, a still in about 10 minutes time.

Bought a large plastic garbage can and made our mash 25 gallons at a time.

Was a simple but horrible recipe leftover from the prohibition days called Minnesota 13

I believe it was 25 lbs of sugar in 25 gallons of water and a pound and a half of yeast.

Let it sit a week or 2 and start distilling.

Water boils at 212 degrees so keep the temp at about 190.

We had our copper coils in a cylinder filled with snow and water.

We shoveled the front yard right down to the grass and had to go on midnight snow raids and steal our neighbors snow.

It came out 110 proof and cost about $1.50 a quart to produce 1980s prices.

Had a sorta tequila twang to it.

I baked oak chips in the oven until brown and poured the shine thru it to color and flavor it.

We called it Ferocious Cirrhosis Total Amnesia Frontal Lobotomy Whiskey and made and drank about 100 gallons between 2 of us in about 6 months time.

If we ran the 110 proof thru a 2nd time it came out 160 proof and cost $3.00 to produce.

Seems to me it went up 10% each additional distillation after that and we had to run it thru 4 times to get everclear and was expensive, about $12.00 a quart, so we only made a little for novelty purposes.

Good times, good times.

[timeflies]

Thanks for the info.

[gopheraj]

You’re welcome. I didnt’ know either. Makes sense to do that.

[outofsalt]

If you ever get up the nerve, Buy a whole FRESH ham and stuff it full of garlic cloves and Rosemary and Oregano in slits about 1” deep and 1-2 inches apart. Boil it in lard at a realy low simmer for 2-3 hours. Remove it from the lard (at this point it is fully cooked) but, you want to brown it in a roasting pan for 15-30 minutes at 450-500F. Preheat first and yes, you will get some smoke, but you will eat the juciest most tender pork of your life. Marinade with a little OJ and lemon mix and you’ll be saying, “Gracias, Amigo!”

[outofsalt]

Mrs OOS is a Howitzer! (and, no, I didn’t marry her for her cooking.) Eat, love, be happy! Great post!

[2aberro]

THANKS!!!! Great post! Copied and saved to several hard drives. This receipe will live in infamy :-) Regards..........and, Cheers to garbage can Hooch!