I always found jars of crystal clear liquid sloshing in our refrigerator as a kid. I always wondered what it is and where does this comes from. As I got older, the concept of moonshine was getting clearer to me, and I was researching its contents and process every day. I can define moonshine by saying that it’s an unaged, homemade whiskey that is either made from cornstarch or fruits. I did try these 5 Best Pressure Cooker for Moonshine.
When we use fruits to make moonshine, it counts as a new rendition of the original moonshine recipe.
It is very tricky to make moonshine as there are many side effects of an improperly made shine.
You can get paralyzed, blind, or even worse, die from consuming bad moonshine.
In the folk towns of Kentucky, people still refer to moonshine as white lightning because of its white color.
Within a decade, moonshine went from being an illicitly made spirit to winning the hearts of mixologists and craft distillers.
Making moonshine is a very difficult process that lots of practice can be done by only a master, and this is a craft that experts only practice as the side effects of an ill-prepared moonshine are hazardous.
To make nonaged, homemade moonshine, you need a good quality stainless steel pressure and make sure that it is very clean as any contaminants can be hazardous to the consumer.
Moonshine is spawned as illegal in many states, and now we only practice making it at home and consuming it locally.
I can distill spirit legally in my private brewery as I have a distilling license, but without a license, you cannot make moonshine, as it is illegal.
Below, I made a very precise list of the 5 best pressure cookers for moonshine.
I suggest you be very careful and always follow a proper recipe so that you don’t end up with a bad hooch.
I always take the recommended safety precautions and follow the procedure religiously, so my friends,
when using these pots, don’t just go ahead with the recipe but make sure you have taken all the possible precautionary measures.
- Made of stainless steel, so it is very durable
- Reduces the distillation time by a massive 70%
- Over 10 safety features that will protect your moonshine
Recommended 5 Best Pressure Cooker for Moonshine:
Instant pot is like the best pressure cooker when it comes to all the brands available in the market.
The best quality, best price, and overall amazing performance.
I have been using instant pot for many years for different purposes, such as cooking, but when I discovered that I could also make moonshine in my instant pot duo, I was immediately stunned.
How can one imagine making a distilled spirit and alcohol product in an appliance which is religiously dedicated to cooking?
Certain changes should be made to a pressure cooker for the testing procedure to achieve proper distillation.
That means adding a copper distillation tube which will release the methanol from the spirit as it cannot be released from the pressure valve.
I did not want to ruin my everyday use of instant pot, so I had to go to market and buy another one, just for you precious people.
So at first glance, it has a very medium range capacity, which is enough for your homemade hooch but not suitable for a big batch.
The quality seems rigid and strong, which is a very good thing when it comes to distilling spirit as we need to heat the pot for a very long time.
To start the process, I made a moonshine mash in a 20 gallon pot where I heated 10 gallons of water mixed with slow addition of sugar and cornmeal.
After the starch had completely converted into sugar, I cooled down the mash and added yeast and malt extract to it, which is the most important step.
After that, I kept the mash for fermentation in a hot and dry place for 3 days. After that time, the yeast foam has risen and stopped bubbling.
So I put the mash in my instant pot with a bit of water to thicken it up. Only use 2/3rds of the quantity of mash of your pressure cooker and install a copper tube in the lid, which works as a distiller.
When the moonshine is distilled, vapors start coming out of the tube, which is my friend’s pure moonshine whiskey.
As for the performance of the pot, there was no gas or pressure leakage from the lid.
The process went on very smoothly and, in the end, produced good quality hooch.
I had to take some precautionary measures before the process, so in the end, the moonshine was edible after mixing up with some water.
As always, instant pot impressed me with its performance, and I could not find any noticeable bad thing about the moonshine producing abilities of Instant pot.
Vikings is a pressure cooker made of stainless steel, so we know no contaminants in that batch of hooch.
It is a stovetop-compatible pot, even more, easier for making moonshine as direct heat is applied, which makes the boiling more efficient, and you can get vapors much faster.
To test the Viking’s pressure pot, I followed the same procedure when trying the instant pot duo for making moonshine.
The stainless steel pot is very durable and makes an amazing distiller, as we talked about.
I added my cornmeal mash and the yeast and malt extract into the pot and kept it on a low flame, allowing it to heat up slowly and let the condensation begin.
Throw away the first 2 ounces of moonshine as it’s not safe to drink. After 1 hour, I started lowering the temperature, and my thermos was almost full with clear crystal moonshine.
Now, with Vikings pressure cooker’s help, I could condense 3 quarts of moonshine in 1 hour, which usually takes me 4-5 hours.
Sometimes, other methods are not as safe as they do not include the safety mechanisms that come included with the pressure cookers.
Moonshine productions need a lot of careful monitoring of pressure and temperature.
With the Vikings pressure cooker, not once my pressure dropped inside the cooker, and it kept constant throughout the condensation process.
The starting half cup of the moonshine, as always, was discarded as it is fatal for humans, but whatever moonshine was produced after was amazing and very whiskey-like to drink.
Presto pressure cookers have always been my best friend, whether I’m cooking, canning, or making moonshine.
I trust this product and have been using it for more than a decade, and believe me, zero complaints.
Been recommending it to everyone I know and never had a bad review.
I have years of experience with cooking in a presto stainless steel cooker but never have I tried distilling moonshine in a Presto pressure cooker.
For me, this was an amazing experience, and I would like to share my review of this product for making specifically moonshine.
Because of the stainless steel, the base gets proper and balanced heat. The steel is also very durable and lasts for your life.
For the trial of presto, I chose to go ahead with a fruit-flavored moonshine.
In my case, that fruit was peach, as peach is a very sweet yet tarty flavor.
Peach is actually a very much normal flavor for making moonshine and is used commercially as a natural flavor for homemade moonshine.
I started the process by mashing a gallon of fresh peaches and then letting them ferment in a dark and warm place for many days.
After that, I mixed the yeast and malt extract with peaches and made a substrate that will condense into a pure crystal clear moonshine liquid.
The copper tubing goes through the lid and helps in the condensation process.
The condensation, which usually takes me 6-7 hours, only took me 1 hour to distill the whole pot.
I had a thermos placed in cold water, which kept my moonshine cold after distillation.
So overall, in terms of safety mechanisms and performance, I give this pot a 10\10 as o was able to extract pure moonshine within the least amount of time.
The moonshine came out pretty hard with peachy notes and a bit of tarty flavor, which is all that you look for in a peach moonshine.
Another product I tried and tested for moonshine production is the crockpot easy release pressure cooker which comes in a 6-quart volume which is almost enough for a home-based distiller.
And you can produce a fair amount of hooch with the crockpot express easy release.
The crockpot has always been fantastic in the kitchen, never failing for once, and I trust this pot fully with whatever I cook.
Crockpot is basically designed for cooking one-pot dishes, which are done in the very least amount of time without any extra hassle.
Crockpot has been in my kitchen for decades, but I never tried using it as a moonshine distiller. This time, I thought about giving it a shot.
I tried many other pressure cookers, digital and manual, why not try this one as well.
Here and there were a few negative reviews about the distillation abilities of this pot, but many consumers were satisfied with the product and gave a 5-star rating to the crockpot.
Of course, we don’t trust others’ opinions until we try it ourselves.
For testing the crockpot, I decided to make an apple moonshine which is considered a favorite in the distillery industry, and people think that it is very tricky to make, but we will see how far the crockpot simplifies the process of distillation.
I mashed a whole barrel of soft apples and crushed them smoothly, and left them to ferment with yeast powder and malt extract.
After the fermentation was done, I placed the apple mash into my crockpot, which I modified to work as a condenser.
Cooking it on low heat slowly, the vapors arose after 30 minutes.
Throwing away the first cup, I took a chance to drink the apple moonshine, and it was good.
The clear liquid had a soft taste of apples and a strong sense of spirit.
The methanol, which is a byproduct of distillation, was constantly evaporated.
In this way, I was able to produce safe moonshine with the help of my crockpot express easy release.
Fissler is a family-owned brand, and they have never compromised on their quality promise and always deliver what they advertise.
I have always been curious to use Fissler Vitaquick but never had a chance as I never had any need to buy it.
But after my friend recommended it to me, I had to see it for myself if it was even worth the hype. And believe me, it is, with zero drawbacks.
I can now recommend this pressure cooker to everyone I know.
Fissler Cookware is always made up of high-quality stainless steel, which has a super thermic base.
This kind of base is known for its extreme heat conductivity and distribution, and I also tested it.
I tried making the old traditional moonshine with cornmeal for the trial process and did all the preparation steps very carefully before placing the mash into the cooker.
It is a bit difficult to handle the pressure and temperature of Fissler, but when you get the knack of it, you can master it easily.
The pot was very easy to close as there were markers on the lid and pot which guided you. The handles are heat resistant as well.
The cornmeal mash started cooking at low flame. The best part about this pot is that it is stovetop compatible, which makes the mash boil faster, and cooking time reduces further.
After a couple of minutes, the methanol fumes started evaporating, and spirit vapors came out from another end of the copper tube.
The moonshine produced is still not completely drinkable as it is highly concentrated. After the whole batch is distilled, dilute the moonlight with water, and then it will be drinkable.
After the test run, I will say that this product works as per expectations, and there are no big downfalls with this pot.
But the stainless steel pot and the super thermic base are a super plus point for the unique features of this pot which makes the derivation of moonshine easier.
Is A Pressure Cooker Good For Making Moonshine?
A pressure cooker is a very useful pot, not only when it comes to cooking, but you can also derive moonshine spirit with the help of a good pressure cooker.
With its easy pressure and temperature management, safety, tight lock lid, and pressure release valves, a pressure cooker can work amazingly as a moonshine distiller but only with a few modifications.
Like me, thousands of licensed distillers tried deriving moonshine with the help of a pressure cooker, and they were given amazing results.
The end product might be amazing, but only when prepared with extreme caution and care because even a single step out of the way can ruin your whole batch.
A pressure cooker, might be digital or manual, works fantastically for making moonshine on a domestic level, and you can harvest it only legally.
So please do not go trying to make hooch without a license as it possesses many fatal side effects which need to be discarded carefully within the procedure.
Can You Use Pressure Cooker For Moonshine?
Pressure cooker moonshine is certainly doable but is very tricky for people who are new to the whole thing, and it might take them years to craft a good liter of drinkable moonshine.
For producing moonshine in a pressure cooker, you will need to make some required changes to the pressure cooker, which is essential for production.
You will need a drill, copper tubing, and a large pot of cold water.
For creating a way for methanol to release, drill a hole in the lid, which is equal to the copper tubing.
Tubing should fit securely in the hole, and gas should escape from a loose area.
One end of the tube should be in the air while the other end directs the vapors to go towards the jar or glass.
The jar collecting moonshine is kept in a cold water bath to cool off the moonshine vapors instantly.
So, in conclusion, a pressure cooker can easily be used for producing moonshine but only under safe circumstances and under the supervision of experts.
Can You Make Moonshine Out Of Aluminum Pressure Cooker?
As per my experience and opinion, you should not make moonshine in an aluminum pressure cooker because aluminum is a metal that slowly mixes up with the spirit and ruins the quality of your batch, leaving a metallic taste.
Aluminum might be a very good conductor of heat, but it also reacts highly with acidic foods such as alcohol, vinegar, and citrus.
It is best if you make moonshine in a stainless steel pot, but if you don’t have any other choice, aluminum will not turn the moonshine poisonous, and it will be safe to use.
Aluminum is not my highest recommendation, but it’s not even the worst choice. But your first choice while making moonshine should always be a good stainless steel cooker.
Related Articles:
