BOOZE as currency

[Ivantherussian03]

Dad worked with people from Europe ( Hungary and Poland) who immigrated right after WW2. They all said the same thing gold and silver were not worth hauling until after the war ended. The most valuable useful items were food stocks, shelters, clean safe water, and a means to protect it. understandably most claimed farmers didn't seem hit as hard as people in the city were. These people lived in the country kept big gardens and canned a lot they kept a few animals also. They hunted and fished had the gear for that also. Most also had a cellar separate from the house and a small smoke house. Some used an old refrigerator or metal cabinet for smoking and preserving meats. Every one of these people told Dad the same thing.

Interesting and useful

[trapper9260]

You can make wine that will be high in alcohol with the amount of sugar you put in it and use bakers yest to break down the sugar to alcohol. I make my own wine and I let someone try some of it and they think I distill the wine and told them I do not. When use brewer yeast it dose not break down the sugar like bakers yeast. I made a test of it on my own to see what one will do and the other is for how the wine came out. That is what I found out. If one want a dry wine , You can use juice that is frozen in the store that you add water to it to drink and use that to make a dry wine with water and sugar and bakers yeast. Like stated about the uses of booze for alot of things then just drinking. Booze and lead and tin will be the top things if things go down hill fast.a reloader can do good but not trade the ammo.For reason was said but booze you trade that and most of the time they will drink it and will always want more .

[762 shooter]

Liquor and guns/ammunition would be good barter items during the apocalypse............if you want drunks with guns as your neighbors.

762

[trapper9260]

You do not barter the guns or ammo. You will wish you did not if you did . Liquor is another thing.for so many uses.

[JimB..]

Precious metals are great, but I think only if you’re in the ruling class and somewhat protected. Without stability you can’t use them for much.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Freeze distilling is not, IIRC, illegal, no permit needed etc.; Just if you use heat. (I checked on that some years ago, should check it again in case they've "fixed" that law. So many laws...)

[bowfin]

Having a still or a big supply of liquor might lead to unwanted company. I just finished reading a book about the Coast Guard during Prohibition and there were problems with piracy. Some would steal the liquor and some would wait until the liquor was sold and then rob the rum runners of their cash. I guess if one had a big supply of anything it could be a tempting target for theft or robbery, but I don't think that Sudoku books would cause quite the same temptation as liquor.

[Winger Ed.]

Nothing new.

One of the latest theories about ancient Egypt is that the workers who built the pyramids were paid in, and with beer.

[bangerjim]

Just because you cannot or will not drink booze, does not mean it does not make an excellent trading medium!

Most healthy people DO drink in various degrees.

I don't drink anymore. But I don't drink any less either!!!!!!!!

In SHTF times, many things we have could become fair trading goods. Supply and demand rule the day.

Let's just hope and pray those days never come.

[marlin39a]

I saw 100 primers go for $80.00 plus shipping. Gee, I’d trade 100 primers for a bottle of Vanilla Crown Royal. No, make that 2 bottles.

[barnetmill]

Freeze distilling is not, IIRC, illegal, no permit needed etc.; Just if you use heat. (I checked on that some years ago, should check it again in case they've "fixed" that law. So many laws...)

You have to be very careful with it and when I look at it depends on wording. Say freeze fractionation: The word distilling was setting them off, even if there was not a still. As long as you do not sell it how can they nail for forgetting a jug of cider in the shed and then pouring off the unfrozen alcohol and drink. There can be health risks in that freeze fractionation may have some noxious things remaining in the alcohol. Not sure if it is true.

[barnetmill]

Got curious and looked into the laws associated with distilling your own. Basically illegal to distill alcohol without permits. In WV if you are caught with a still that distilled alcohol and you have a firearm in house or on you it is a felony in addition to the distilling felony charges. I don't drink anymore but was always curious about making some shine to sip before bed. For what little I would use guess it is not worth it to me. It sounds interesting and fun to do though.

I have not checked recently, a few years ago stills for small quantities agricultural fuel alcohol were legal. But this keeps changing.

The smart thing might be to have to vessels and tubing in separate locations and do not assemble until the real hard times come and you need it.
But as already mentioned fermentation was how farmers made their crops more store-able and transportable. In old days if you had an apple orchard, you did not eat the fruit, you drank it and that is what Johnny Appleseed was raising trees for. If you plant apple trees from seeds the fruit is more often only good for cider unless you get an exceptional tree that makes good fruit.
In post disaster world, we might just have to go back to making our own beer and cider for getting through the winter and early spring months.
Perhaps think of growing tobacco as a medium for exchange.

[barnetmill]

You can make wine that will be high in alcohol with the amount of sugar you put in it and use bakers yest to break down the sugar to alcohol. I make my own wine and I let someone try some of it and they think I distill the wine and told them I do not. When use brewer yeast it dose not break down the sugar like bakers yeast. I made a test of it on my own to see what one will do and the other is for how the wine came out. That is what I found out. If one want a dry wine , You can use juice that is frozen in the store that you add water to it to drink and use that to make a dry wine with water and sugar and bakers yeast. Like stated about the uses of booze for alot of things then just drinking. Booze and lead and tin will be the top things if things go down hill fast.a reloader can do good but not trade the ammo.For reason was said but booze you trade that and most of the time they will drink it and will always want more .

In a disaster scenario will you have a lot of sugar? One can grow sugar cane where I live, but you need a press to extract it and then need to boil it down to molasses. Below is a mill or press. I live in Florida near the Alabama border and a couple of us were Driving and one of us did spot an old press just sitting out there. We did stop and talk to a fellow near by about that press.

[GhostHawk]

Actually I suspect if you had raw cane juice, a vessel, an airlock and some yeast you could ferment it. At that point does it take less fuel to evaporate off the alcohol? Or less to boil it down to molasses?

I suspect running it through a still 3 times to get the alcohol would come out ahead.

Up here is sugar beet country. And I think you could grind/shave it add water and get molasses out of it. But the sugar beet has a distinctive odor/flavor.
The big plants know how to remove it but I think it might be harder to do in a backyard. Might end up with some nasty moonshine.

[dverna]

I do not believe sugar is necessary to make moonshine.

Making a still is simple and having the materials should be legal.

Once the SHTF, laws are not a concern.

I believe it is a useful prep for a number of reasons. YMMV

BTW, I will trade for silver and gold because I am old. If the SHTF event lasts more than a year I will be dead. If it lasts a few months, I will cash in.

[barnetmill]

Actually I suspect if you had raw cane juice, a vessel, an airlock and some yeast you could ferment it. At that point does it take less fuel to evaporate off the alcohol? Or less to boil it down to molasses?

I suspect running it through a still 3 times to get the alcohol would come out ahead.

Up here is sugar beet country. And I think you could grind/shave it add water and get molasses out of it. But the sugar beet has a distinctive odor/flavor.
The big plants know how to remove it but I think it might be harder to do in a backyard. Might end up with some nasty moonshine.

I have never heard of sugar beet being used to make beverage. So I googled it and found:
Sugar beet alcohol is very commonly used in Europe as a neutral spirit and has many uses in alcohol distillation. Sugar beet alcohol is used for a wide range of products including distilled spirits such as white spirits, bitters, liqueurs, and of course beet vodka.

The point to using sugar was to increase the alcohol yield via fermentation. The boiling of the molasis was done to thicken to a syrup as is done with maple sap. apparently the sap of more than one maple can be used for syrup.
I want to get a patch sugar cane just to be able to chew on stalk of it from time to time. I really do not know a lot about growing it.
Below kids chewing sugar cane

[BadgerShooter]

Advertising that you have a lot of anything during a time of want is a quick way to have it taken from you and probably your life in the process. Its ok to have a lot, just not great for that knowledge to get out. Stay on the down low and say you might know where you can get a little of something.

I make hard cider from my apples and pears. It runs about 8%. The pressings are great for chickens, etc. I also grow sorghum, mostly for the seed which I use for gluten free flour but I picked up a relatively inexpensive sugar cane press that works just fine for pressing sorghum for sweetener/fermentation. The pressings are also good for livestock.

As an aside, I found that a vibratory case cleaner works excellently for removing sorghum hulls. Pour in the hulls with a couple dozen lag bolts and let it go overnight. Winnow it out in the wind and you are good to go.

[barnetmill]

.............

I make hard cider from my apples and pears. It runs about 8%. .........

Does it make any difference what kind of pears you use. i am speaking asian pears vs hard kieffer vs sweet soft eating pears. Or may be I should be asking please what pears do you use to make pear (perry) cider?

[BadgerShooter]

I use just a standard eating pear like a bartlett from one tree. The other tree produces a small round hard pear that isn't good for much else but cider. Works well for that though. Generally more tannic apples make a better cider. My best tree died on me so I am trying to get some more apples into production. My wife makes pear bread which is awesome and we started making pear pies. We like them better than apple! We also can a lot of them and dehydrate a huge amount. My one bartlett produces 500-700 lbs of pears in a good year. This year looks good.

[BadgerShooter]

Maybe a good way to look at your pears would be to juice some through a juicer and drop a tool in to measure the amount of sugar. It is a glass tube with a weight and scale that floats at different levels depending on specific gravity. If you have 7-9% sugar available, it should work good. When the fermentation is done, there gravity will show all the sugar consumed. I like champagne yeast for the ciders.