why the anti hooch thread

[Orfy]

Nope,

Removing water from a "wash" by any method is distilling including the ice method.

 

[BugleBrew]

Regardless of the OP's age, I think this is an interesting debate. I've been brewing for less than a year and LOVE it. I almost never get drunk off beer. Very rarely do I drink more than 2 in a sitting, I just enjoy the taste of it. This forum is such a great knowledge base though, that everytime I get curious about whether bread yeast will work to ferment beer (With my limited knowledge I know that it will probably taste gross, but I want a more specific answer and chances are good someone perusing here has tried it) or what will happen if you mix water and corn sugar? Don't be misled by my post count, I've been on here ever since I started brewing. I just changed my username because I was asking so many silly questions that I was getting embarassed. One of the silliest was when I asked the question about fermenting corn sugar/waterm mix. After all, part of the appeal of home brewing is making something I enjoy drinking anyway for much cheaper, I wondered if the same could be done for hard liquor. I was not surprised to find that someone had tried it and it tasted terrible. I was surprised when I found out that brewing (if you can call it that) like that is dangerous and illegal. That sealed the deal for me.

I still have some questions that I'm sure would raise red flags, though. However, experimenting like that has led to such delicious products as apfelwein, and many of us are happier for it.

I hope all this makes sense. I agree, I don't want minors making hooch to get trashed based on info they find here. However, I think some of the more "out there" questions are just curiosity of someone wondering "what would happen if..." Besides, if we weren't able to learn from each-other's mistakes I'm sure there would be a lot more people who ended up as a grease spot on the side of a mountain after attaching a rocket to the top of a car (It works for Batman!!)

 

[njnear76]

The anti-hooch bias on homebrewtalk is based on the fact that it tastes like crap, can make someone severely sick, it's illegal, and it will cause this site to be shutdown.

Most of us have jobs, family, and responsibilities. I don't want any part in anything deemed as illegal or seedy. I got the crazy out of me in my early 20s.

 

[BugleBrew]

The anti-hooch bias on homebrewtalk is based on the fact that it tastes like crap, can make someone severely sick, it's illegal, and it will cause this site to be shutdown.

I agree, though that didn't come through in my last post (written communication is not my strong point). My point was that posts like this one, explaining why "brewing" hooch is a bad idea are good for this forum, as some people, like me, had no idea in their beginning days why it is such a bad idea.

Excited for my second AG tomorrow. I'm brewing my winter brew to give it plenty of time to age and mellow.

 

[CBBaron]

I'm not positive about this so call me out on it if I'm wrong.. I think ice beers and ice wines are considered distilled or illegal if the freezing is done post fermentation. I think its considered legal to freeze your wort, remove the ice, and then ferment. I'm not an expert on distillation and its laws but this is just some stuff I've picked up in my beer readings.

You are correct. It is technically illegal to make a traditional eisbock. However icewine is named because the grapes are harvested after freezing and do not involve any distillation.

It is legal to freeze wort to concentrate it however there are much easier ways to produce a stronger beer.

And I don't believe it is illegal to discuss or distribute information about distilling. However I agree with the decisions by the moderators here to try to keep the conversations away from anything that may be suspicious. I would hate to see an interruption of HBT due to any legal action even if the action was not justified.

Craig


Craig

 

[anderj]

I just wanted to add that I have a good friend who made some pretty serious hooch just to get drunk on back in our more punk rock teenage years. 15 years later he is a pretty bad ass brewer, he got his start on the hooch. That has to be worth something.
-ander

 

[njnear76]

I agree, though that didn't come through in my last post (written communication is not my strong point). My point was that posts like this one, explaining why "brewing" hooch is a bad idea are good for this forum, as some people, like me, had no idea in their beginning days why it is such a bad idea.

Excited for my second AG tomorrow. I'm brewing my winter brew to give it plenty of time to age and mellow.

I hear you.

I think some of the strong reaction is due to the fact that some people look down on our hobby and don't appreciate the work and time that goes into it.

Then there are the people who think that if you average a beer a day, you have a drinking problem.

Sure. I might cut loose every once in a while like the past week fishing in the Great White North with my dad and Uncles. But those times are few and far between.

I enjoy having a stable life and try to keep on the straight and narrow.

 

[fishops]

I love this board but man, you guys are easy to troll

 

[DutchK9]

Interesting thread.
So, can anyone tell me how to make hooch?
J/K

 

[Yooper]

Interesting thread.
So, can anyone tell me how to make hooch?
J/K

Well, if you have a friend heading off to prison, google pruno for him so he can make prison hooch. It's very easy, and it won't kill him.

 

[DutchK9]

Well, if you have a friend heading off to prison, google pruno for him so he can make prison hooch. It's very easy, and it won't kill him.

LOL you are very correct. I used to work as a correctional officer in the county jail. We used to find homemade hooch all the time during our shake downs. Funny, they always hid it up inside a toilet!

 

[Loweface]

Well, if you have a friend heading off to prison, google pruno for him so he can make prison hooch. It's very easy, and it won't kill him.

Well it won't kill him, just his tastebuds...

 

[Docapi]

The anti-hooch bias on homebrewtalk is based on the fact that it tastes like crap, can make someone severely sick, it's illegal, and it will cause this site to be shutdown.

Other than the "tastes like crap" statement, this is all copmpletely false.

It isn't any more likely to make anybody sick than any of the stuff we make.

It is NOT illegal.

It will NOT get the site shut down.

Hey, I'm all for keeping the underage and other assorted riff-raff out as much as possible, but facts are facts.

 

[BigKahuna]

It is NOT illegal.

Point of clarification...and a need to agree on terminology.

My vote is as follows.
Swill = Badly designed FERMENTED beverages (Not Illegal)
Hooch= Anything distilled or intended to be distilled (Illegal)

Swill = I'm Guilty.
Hooch....Not Here.

 

[Bytor1100]

I read this thread when it was in it's infancy, but chose not to get involve. I think i'm to late in the game t get involved, so I won't get involved.

 

[BigKahuna]

I think i'm to late in the game t get involved,

Jump on in...the Water's fine.

 

[Docapi]

Point of clarification...and a need to agree on terminology.

My vote is as follows.
Swill = Badly designed FERMENTED beverages (Not Illegal)
Hooch= Anything distilled or intended to be distilled (Illegal)

Swill = I'm Guilty.
Hooch....Not Here.

I guess it is a byproduct of my job as a correctional officer. "hootch" in a prison setting is never distilled. It is simply homeade crappy fruit wine made with whatever ingredients you can find.

 

[Bytor1100]

Jump on in...the Water's fine.

I would, but I'm too hooched up on apfelwein to read all those pages of comments. I'd rather read something simpler that might help me brew better. Or I'm just lazy.

 

[noisy123]

I got the crazy out of me in my early 20s.

I love that quote. I feel the same way. But when I was in my 20's there was no way I'd consider looking up information on how to make something I could (or I could get someone to) buy. There are much weirder things out there than hooch -- how boring.

A friend of mine made gin using a still and I gotta say, we both tried it, it wasn't that great, and we agreed that it was not worth the trouble when one could go buy a bottle of Bombay.

I have brewed around 4 batches of homebrew and I can say I would pay top dollar for one of the batches and comparably speaking it wasn't that much trouble. Homebrew is worth it.

 

[Choguy03]

Quite a popular topic. I don't know if the OP was in fact a youngin tryin to make hooch, but all you have to do is stand by the convienent store and wait for some shady looking guy and give him a few bucks and tell him to buy you some beer and buy himself a nice forty. It worked many time for me and my friends. Gotta love making friends with some bums.

 

[noisy123]

Quite a popular topic. I don't know if the OP was in fact a youngin tryin to make hooch, but all you have to do is stand by the convienent store and wait for some shady looking guy and give him a few bucks and tell him to buy you some beer and buy himself a nice forty. It worked many time for me and my friends. Gotta love making friends with some bums.

I know. The following rant is not necessarily directed at the OP but toward the underagers posting hooch threads.
Given all the crazy ways to get into "trouble" posted on the internets I decry the profound lack of creativity in looking for ways to make hooch. For shame. What is happening to this generation? I think there is a real problem with today's youth.

 

[McKBrew]

Uptight because we don't like the generalized comments about how we ALL have brewed hooch at least once, or how we ALL only brew to get drunk. OK, then I'm uptight I can live with that.

 

[rockout]

I'd rather see a few random ******* continue to post here than to start have forum police decide who is and isn't worthy of being a part of the forum. If you ignore them they'll go away. If you start too heavy on the censorship it's bad in the long run forever.

 

[BigKahuna]

The Mod Squad Scores another point in my book! Thanks.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Closed. For the following reasons:

1. Name calling on several occasions.
2. The "no hooch threads" policy has been explained multiple times. If you don't like it, you're entitled to your opinion, but the mods are in agreement - the leash is very short with those threads.
3. A lot of people are wasting a lot of time on a thread created by a troll. There's no need for trolling to garner this much attention and cause this much friction.
4. No hooch threads.
5. RDWHAHB.