Fwiw, I not only make cider & applejack (when I can get sufficient/suitable apples) but I also COLLECT vintage recipes for both beverages..
IF any member, who is reading this thread, is willing to share their “old family recipe” for CIDER or ANY of the various fruit-base JACKs and/or GRAPPA, i.e.: APRICOT, ORANGE, PEAR, PEACH, MUSCADINE or other fruit-based homebrewed beverages, PLEASE PM me.
(FYI, individual householders may lawfully produce up to 200 GALLONS of BEER, ALE, WINE, CIDER or FRUIT-JACK for family use, ONLY. - NO homebrewer can SELL any of their product, W/O a federal permit & pre-paying the required EXCISE TAX. - MAKING “untaxed” DISTILLED spirits IS a FEDERAL FELONY & can get you tried/imprisoned, if you are caught.)
Note: My Uncle Josh, from the Post-WWI period until his untimely passing shortly after WWII, was a “BIG PLAYER” in the WHITE LIKKER BUSINESS.
By the end of Prohibition, “our family outlaw” was “running” at least eight 800-GALLON SUBMARINE STILLS 24/365. = An operation of that size should produce at least 3,000 gallons of “GOOD QUALITY” 130 proof LIKKER & EMPLOYED OVER 100 fulltime “STILL HANDS”.
(My maternal grandfather, “Will”, otoh, had an ALL COPPER 18 GALLON “rig for his private/family use”. To my knowledge, he NEVER SOLD a SINGLE DROP of his “very high quality” OR what is called: “white craft likker”, which was made of ONLY pure spring water, white corn & yeast. - NO FLAVORINGS, SUGAR, HONEY or any other ingredients are used to make traditional “craft likker”. - a single “run” out of that 18 GALLON still will yield about 2.2 GALLONS of 100 PROOF “pure corn”.)
BTW, it was NOT “revenuers” and/or FEAR of PROSECUTION/PRISON that essentially KILLED “the commercial moonshine business”. Instead it was the COST of SUGAR & TRANSPORTATION to “market” that mostly killed-off the “outlaw distiller’s business”. - I would also “be less than honest”, IF I did not tell everyone that GROWING MARIJUANA is EASIER & MORE PROFITABLE, per man-hour invested, than the “LIKKER BIZ” ever was AND (if you are caught) has A LESS SEVERE PENALTY AT LAW than making “untaxed likker” has.
yours, satx
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