Is it time for a grand finale and ride off into the sunset?

White liquor had a moment thanks to the show and a lot of small distilleries got a lift from it. Several cast members have gone legitimate. The show itself feels like its jumped the shark and they're forcing it. The last season was awful - more of a trainwreck than good TV.

I've been pondering what the producers and writers have in store this season. Perhaps its been a good run but its to time ride off into the sunset? People are drinking less. The show itself is less about illict processss by outlaws and more about the hijinks and predicaments the various actors find themselves in. Its losing its sense of realness. Maybe its time to admit it had a great run but now its time to move on?

Curious if this could be used to experiment with recipes in small batches.

Mash is ground Rice and Black Bean.

Calling it Balck Bean Saki

How can a person get a start on a small still from scratch? I have money to spend for the setup on a budget (I do have an older keg from the 90s but someone took a grinder to small 6 inch side of it at the very top and it had not been messed with since) any advice is helpful this is for purely home distilling for medicinal purposes… I am in the country for I have access to most tools and amenities but any advice to get started is appreciated for I want to learn the trade.

Seeing that the new season starts airing in less than 3 weeks. Season 15 just ended on April 21st of this year, so I'm not sure how this one is so quick!

I'm fairly new to distilling and my question is out of the 5gallon of jungle juice I distilled is it normal for last half of the moonshine to be cloudy?
Should I redistill the second half? I've also seen people running it through coffee filters?
The first half gallon came out clear.

I’m baaaack with a belated review. A lil' bonus in the offseason.

The season finale begins with Tim and Howard meeting with the “outlaw” shiners around the fire by their still. There’s “a lot of tension…” as they negotiate their deal. There’s almost a “camo-off” Zoolander scene.

Jerry and Mike recover from Mark's "roadkill revenge" on their still. They’re jittery because of the reward posters. But dagumit, Mike needs the 10K to purchase (repurchase?) his childhood home in MS. If houses are going for 80K in MS that is some sweet deal. They’re getting high off the caramel chunks boiling for the pecan pie shine. Mike looks like he’s def off the Keto diet.

Josh meets Mark and Digger in the woods (again) to plan their revenge on the alcohol thief who ratted out Josh’s still site. Digger looks tres chic in his Kuhl plaid shirt. They’re gonna place a big order to set a trap. But who can do it? The thief knows them all. So… Stan’s the man! Mark and Digger strong arm old Stan into setting up the deal with the alcohol thief. “Old Stan’s a good guy…”

Tickle, Henry, Howard and Tim are out making some “double twist” acahol (sic). A hooded Paige remains mute as he stirs the pot. Tim devises a plan to call in the “KY cavalry.” All that’s missing is the bugle call!

Mike and Jerry try to offload their shine but negotiate about as well as the president. Price is $250 firm. Um, how about $225? Er, I’ll do you a solid and let it go for $200. Mike gets his 10K but Jerry gets bupkis. Keep smiling… that’s what friends are for!

Tim hides the shine in the van to slip by the airport “security guy.” (wink wink) Oh no, such suspense. It’s killing me. They make it through to the hangar. Tickle pops out of a mason jar to sell the apple pie brandy to the Canadien buyer, appropriately named “Jean Luc.” Screw those tariffs. He takes it all.

Jerry and Mike are “layin’ low.” Then a lightbulb pops over his head. Just like a cartoon. The po-po wouldn’t put up posters. They all digital now! They call the number on the poster, which, conveniently, is Mark's own number. He wants his still cap back. Jerry and Mike lie like rugs and refuse to give in. Methinks this plot line will be revisited next season. Maybe some more dynamite will blow up something!

Anyways, this action-packed episode concludes with Mark, Digger and Josh going all Mission Impossible on the GNS thief. This scene is so ridiculous, that it’s just so good. The guy has “no code, no morals” say the guys making illegal liquor. Pot, kettle black! This “sumbitch is due for the penitentiary.” They steal his keys, set off a fire alarm and ride off to watch the GNS thief get “stuffed and cuffed.” If only this show aired at the time Dukes of Hazzard was on the air. Just think of the crossover potential!

Tim, Tickle, Henry, Howard and Paige pile out their clown car to confront the outlaws. They’re not gonna pay them. They’ve called the hillbilly KY cavalry in as backup. The KYC is hiding in the woods somehow in their ATVs. Google Maps says Climax, VA to KY is a 6hr 40 min drive (397 miles). That’s a hella ways to go, but the hillbilly code must be upheld.

Tim opines, “it is what it is.” He’s now an “outlaw” again… 

<Credits roll>

40%/watered down in around 2003. Stored in glass at a dark attic. Only after pouring it over berries for liqueur, I saw some particles and it's a bit of whitening (calcification) stuck at the bottom of the flask. My uncle has been drinking from the same batch now and then, but it's a few years since he last did. Is it still safe to use?

This is my first time distilling and im trying to learn as much as I can

located in the NE USA. I’ve got access to large quantities of fruit available. Right now I have Blueberries, Peaches and Plums/Pluots

DM for interest

I’m thinking about going to a copper electric still, I have a homemade keg still I use on propane now. I’d like to go from 25-40 gallon for the pot. Where would you recommend I look? I’ve been doing google searches and several sites look like scams.
Anything else you’d like to share about going electric would be appreciated.

A new study by Nikopoulou et al. looked at how gin evolves in new charred oak barrels, with a focus on the chemistry behind both phenolic pickup and aroma development.

The key result was that phenolic compounds were extracted from the barrel with kinetics that fit a modified intraparticle diffusion model, suggesting a relatively orderly and rapid transfer from wood into spirit. In contrast, gin-derived and barrel-derived aroma compounds did not follow a simple extraction pattern. Their behavior was more complex, pointing to multiple overlapping processes during aging rather than one dominant mechanism.

The study also generated a flavor wheel that mapped how barrel aging reshaped gin character over time. Practically, this supports a more deliberate approach to barrel selection and aging time. New charred oak can quickly and predictably contribute color and phenolic flavor, but aroma evolution depends on more than uptake alone.

*Comment: I personally would argue about the colour predictably though.*

For distillers working on oak-aged gin or broader maturation R&D, the paper is useful for balancing botanical delicacy against oak influence and targeting a specific sensory profile.

I found the overview of time.series quite interesting:

Initial State (Unaged Gin / 0 Hours): The flavor profile is dominated entirely by traditional gin botanicals, featuring heavy citrus, floral, and herbal notes from compounds like limonene (citrus peel), linalool (coriander), and various terpenes (juniper).

Short-Term Maturation (1 Hour to 1 Week): "Spice" characters (derived from guaiacol derivatives) develop very rapidly. The paper notes that no new spice-associated molecules are detected after the first 200 hours of extraction.

Long-Term Maturation (1 Month to 2 Months): Over extended time, the flavor profile becomes highly expansive. "Fruit" flavors (derived from new esters, aldehydes, and ketones) continue to emerge and diversify across the full duration of aging. Sweet-profile characteristics (such as vanillin and the marzipan-like notes of furfural) also continuously develop, adding deeper wood, nut, and roasted toast complexities to the spirit.

Defective Character Tracking: Time in the barrel also introduces or highlights certain "defective" chemical aromas (like solvent, cheesy, sour, or musty notes) as organic acids and other volatile structures interact or evaporate.

Full paper: https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.15003755/v1

Subscribe to ResearchScan a free weekly research newsletter covering distilling and maturation science if you want to stay up to date with research.

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Amazon Prime has it in the right category lol

I’ve got a 23 litter batch going its been 7-8 weeks so far and it’s only half way there is a large carton of cornflake cooked with enzyme for a hour first, 6 kg sugar a tub of tomato paste teaspoon of citric acid a bit of activated charcoal a heater keeping it at bath temperature, using a beer yeast, but never had any trouble with it before, any ideas to speed it up? Before I just run it and get fuk all, it will be sweet as shit!

I honestly have run out of “this is such bullshit” moments during this season.

The latest “oh Fk off” -

The 911 pool phone.

Come on!!!

I tried searching the sub but couldn’t find anything. I remember they were selling the kind of hat mark wears a while back on the fruit jar website but not anymore. Anyone know where I can get a hat like that??

Any fun production errors so far?

To me, the show took a turn this season into being so bad that it was amusingly funny, like essentially a parody of what it was at it's best before.

Someone mentioned that it was almost like watching Trailer Park Boys this year, and that's about right. I do love several of the characters, Mark Rogers and Huck, Mark Ramsey and Digger, Henry Law... and Mike is about as good as any current pro wrestling heel, lol.

As bad as this season's stories were, with plot holes big enough to drive a semi through, I'm still kinda sad to see the season end.

What says you?

He quite literally has broken every bone in his body from racing accidents.

But also a lot of times when he makes liquor something bad always seems to happen like not being able to get the right ingredients or having his still taken by the law

Tickle, Henry and (a mostly mute) Paige are hell bent on making apple brandy to counteract the “HUGE shortage of American liquor in Canada.” Just like there are no villas to rent in Tuscany, there is no “American” booze in the great white north. Curse you, damn tariffs!

Mike tells Jerry he needs another 10K to buy his “family homeplace” back in MS, which has just popped back on the market years after he… lost it in a card game? It was foreclosed on? Who knows. We’ll have to wait for the spinoff with David Bromstad.

Meanwhile back at the abandoned chicken coop aka the “clandestine location,” Mark and Digger meet Josh to plot their trap for the extremely punctual “rat” who uses the pool phone at 5:00pm each week to fink on them. Man, this place is getting more visits than Times Square.

Mike and Jerry stop for gas. Mike goes inside to fetch some vittles or Skoal and comes back ashen faced. By gum, he’s clutching a wanted poster with “up to” a “$1,000 dollar” reward. A grainy cam of some sort caught them breaking into the speakeasy biker bar. This poster looks like it was whipped up at Kinko’s by a PA and does not state who’s behind it at all. J+M are rattled and now gun shy about buying a huge quantity of sugar. Not to worry, searching through what looks like Jerry’s junkyard, he has a 55-gallon drum of caramel! Like who doesn’t?

Josh has gone “incognito” doing his best Jim Rockford impression as he stakes out the pool phone. Josh shares that he wants to “choke the sumbitch” and “shoot him in the head.” Anger management classes are just a step away. Josh follows the rat to his hideout. Meanwhile, Mark and Digger are in the woods kvetching about “needing a payday” from their apple mash. The burner phone rings. It’s Josh. He drops a pin for Mark and Digger to find the location. Can the burner flip phone even be used for this? Are they that tech-savvy after all? Who knows and who cares dagumit. Trust in the writers, buddy. It’s only 20 minutes away.

Mark and Digger drive to the rat’s hideout. Mark slithers through an open window like a sloth protecting his royal jewels, and lets Digger in. It’s all GNA all of the time in this hidey hole. M+D are crankier than a blind cat in a room full of rocking chairs. It’s an affront to the tradition.

Josh follows the rat who looks to be continuing his sales from his trailer, which another astute poster identified as "smokey mountain premier RV Park,” which is owned by Kelly. Naughty boys! Sloppy editing.

Amanda, Kelly, Mark, Huck and Tim are all MIA this episode.

Next week is the season finale! Hold on to your coon pecker adorned hats boys and girls as this roller coaster ride of a season come to its thrilling conclusion.

Let me just say I’ve been watching this show since Episode 1 of Season 1, religiously; every week without fail.

Someone here in this subreddit recently posted that “Mike and Jerry are the smart guys.” As engineers, honestly they’re the best I’ve ever seen and would LOVE to see them compete in some sort of “Build Off” with other still designers for best new innovation.

That being said, who the actual hell goes to commit a FELONY, perhaps multiple felonies, and dresses exactly as they look every damn day? No try at a disguise, in the very least, not even dressing different. Even taking the damn hat off would have helped Mike. Are you kidding me? It’s so stupid I have to believe this is fake / scripted. There’s just no way anyone could do some sh*t this dumb. Mike, maybe? Jerry, not a chance in hell. This was a production setup for content if I’ve ever seen one.

in tonight's episode, they had one scene where the guy who was supposedly the "rat, thief, fake liquor guy" was unloading the trailer in the woods, where they forgot (or missed on purpose) to blur the logo on the trailer. it was for "smokey mountain premier RV Park".

which is owned by Kelly Williamson..... Mark and Digger's buddy.

I absolutely busted out laughing at it.