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A recipe for hootch? Bimber taste in Poland.


childwithin 8 | 136
16 Feb 2010 #1
does anyone knows how to do it properly? my stepfather used to make it and kept getting me drunk with it (not always knowing that), it was made from potatoes. any recipes and tools you might need? does it create a smell, will they call a police if i make it in my basement?
tomaszmojsiejuk - | 8
16 Feb 2010 #2
i think you make it from sugar and you need to boil it or somthing then use one of the distillers
polkamaniac 1 | 482
16 Feb 2010 #3
Distillation is not that difficult. You can do it very safely using refrigeration, relying on the fact that alcohol freezes at a much lower temperature than water. Freeze distillation also retains much more of the fermentation characteristics of the original drink than fractional distillation. It's just illegal, so don't talk indiscriminately about it. It's difficult to produce anything stronger than 25 or 30% alcohol using freeze distillation, but it's a favorite method because it requires less aging and retains many of the flavor components that are lost in fractional distilling

Distillation can be done fairly easily with a pressure cooker and some copper tubing (running off the cooker and through an ice bath). the product that comes out is raw and needs to be aged a few months or a few years, to develop some complexity. Age it in good wood to add that complexity. You can buy seasoned casks from wineries and distilleries without too much problem.



OP childwithin 8 | 136
16 Feb 2010 #4
Distillation can be done fairly easily with a pressure cooker and some copper tubing (running off the cooker and through an ice bath

i have difficulties understanding what those terms mean...i'm sorry

needs to be aged a few months or a few years

i was thinking something simple, that can be done easily within one month or so
polkamaniac 1 | 482
16 Feb 2010 #5
It's easy-you need sugar-or potatoes or whatever--yeast--water---then let it ferment-distill ---and VOILA!!!!!!!!!!you made hooch

Make These Types of Hooch And Moore!
•VODKA
•FLAVORED VODKA
•RUM
•FLAVORED RUM
•SPICED RUM
•GIN
•BRANDIES
•COGNACS
•WHISKEYS
•APPLE WHISKEY
•FLAVORED WHISKEY
•BOURBONS
•TEQUILAS
•FLAVORED TEQUILAS
•LIQUORS
•FLAVORED LIQUORS





OP childwithin 8 | 136
16 Feb 2010 #6
It's easy-you need sugar-or potatoes or whatever--yeast--water---then let it ferment-distill

do i need two pounds or pieces of yeast?
you could explain or translate what a pressure cooker and ice bath is as well
the whole distillation process could you explain it to me?
thanks in advance
polkamaniac 1 | 482
16 Feb 2010 #7
I am not going into details.Here it is illegal to make the stuff and the recepies are usually made by word of mouth.Usually it's the europeans that make the stuff and have brought their recepies from their country of origin.
OP childwithin 8 | 136
16 Feb 2010 #8
it is illegal to make the stuff

why do bother answering then? i cold google it too, but was hoping someone friendly will explain it to me, still thanks for your help anyway, i guess that should do

btw is it illegal to be racist for example? so much racism and insult going on here...what i'm asking is advice, not asking you to make it for me
Trevek 26 | 1,700
16 Feb 2010 #9
a pressure cooker is a kind of pressurised pan which allows boiling at a quicker rate (used for cooking potatoes) and gives off steam.
polkamaniac 1 | 482
16 Feb 2010 #11
If you blow up the picture on the right,it gives you the ingredients--the amounts and the still and how much it will make.I also said any fruit or vegetable can be used to ferment that's how you can get the variety of alcoholic drinks.The first item you will need is a still.Good luck-----Most people that make this, make their own "still".
OP childwithin 8 | 136
16 Feb 2010 #12
Most people that make this, make their own "still

hmm, that makes things bit more difficult, my technical sense is not that good

Good luck

ufff...thanks
bimber94 7 | 254
9 Mar 2010 #13
Famously, there's "bimber" proportions known as 'Bitwa Grunwaldska', after the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. It's 1L of water, 400gr of sugar and 10gr of yeast, totalling the year of 1410.
greg50
4 Oct 2015 #14
Merged: bimber's taste...

Yesterday i tried bimber for the first time, and for my surprise , it tasted like whiskey, i was surprised because i've always been told that bimber is a "homemade vodka" , and the people who served me this bimber told me that it's vodka, so is there a variation of bimber or does it always taste like that ?
Roger5 1 | 1,448
5 Feb 2016 #15
[moved from]

only one place that legally distills that stuff.

If it's Moonshine, it's illegal by definition. Here's a decomissioned still (Leśna bimbrownia) I saw in a museum in Podlasie.


  • Polish forest still in a museum.
johnny reb 47 | 6,795
5 Feb 2016 #16
Moonshine is generally between 80 - 90% alcohol.
When you start getting up to 160 to 180 proof it is possible to fill your cigarette lighter with it.
Where I live I think you are allowed to make two gallons in home.
Last batch I made was peach flavored and as smooth as a school moms leg.
You don't get much of a hangover with it either as it is so pure.
With a poor country like Poland I can't believe village people don't make their own vodka......or do they ?
TheOther 6 | 3,674
5 Feb 2016 #17
If it's Moonshine, it's illegal by definition.

I was more referring to the end product than the illegal, tax evading activity. Here's the distillery in Houston that sells the Moonshine:

whitmeyers.com/splash.php
youtube.com/watch?v=J4IoJ7QllkY
johnny reb 47 | 6,795
5 Feb 2016 #18
Exactly Roger as what I was referring to.
Which brings us to the main question: If it's legal, is it really moonshine ?
TheOther 6 | 3,674
5 Feb 2016 #19
If it's legal, is it really moonshine ?

As long as the distillery uses the same recipe, why not? Unless you go by the "official" definiton of moonshine, of course. Then Roger is right: if it's moonshine, then it's automatically illegal.
johnny reb 47 | 6,795
6 Feb 2016 #20
Unless you go by the "official" definiton of moonshine, of course.

I must talk to softly so I will repeat myself.

Exactly Roger

Sorry if I mumbled that.
Nice that you agree with us however.
peterweg 37 | 2,311
6 Feb 2016 #21
With a poor country like Poland I can't believe village people don't make their own vodka......or do they

Of course they make bimber, its legal unless you sell it.
jon357 74 | 21,770
6 Feb 2016 #22
Biedronka are now selling something labelled as Bimber. I think 55%.
Lyzko 45 | 9,346
9 Feb 2016 #23
When last in Poland, I asked someone where could I find "real" bimber. The person asked me which kind. Apparently, there are many different bimbers in Poland. Or maybe the dude had already imbibed so much he was talking rot:-)
johnny reb 47 | 6,795
9 Feb 2016 #24
Of course there are many different kinds of moonshine you can easily make.
Vodka, rum, whiskey and even flavor them of to your liking.....cherry, peach, pear.....

Or maybe the dude had already imbibed so much he was talking rot

Or maybe he saw an under aged drinker and wondered what you would want real moonshine for.
I thought 18-21 year olds were only allowed to drink 3:2 beer in Poland.
Lyzko 45 | 9,346
9 Feb 2016 #25
Thanks for the compliment, Johnny Boy! I was all of thirty-something at the time, but maybe I did look far younger than my years betrayed:-)

Anyway, he assumed I was either Polish or possibly German, figuring who but another European would care a hoot about local hootch.
johnny reb 47 | 6,795
9 Feb 2016 #26
You have to be VERY CAREFUL of where you get it.
If someone uses a tainted still or doesn't know exactly what they are doing the stuff can be poison and kill you.
Many people have died from the rot gut.
Atch 22 | 4,096
9 Feb 2016 #27
The Irish equivalent is Poitín (pronounced putcheen). It was often made from potatoes and was produced illegally for years. It was said to cause blindness if you got a bad batch. I remember there was even a song about it. My mother used to sing it sometimes when she was in a playful mood. She was tee-total before you draw any conclusions........ 'Gather up the pots and the old tin can the mash, the corn, the barley, and the bran, run like the Divil from the excise man, keep the smoke from rising, Barney' (the smoke being the giveaway that there was a still located nearby). When they found a still, the Guards (Irish police) used to simply smash the barrels with axes and empty them into the sea.

Ah, here you go I found the song on You Tube:
youtube.com/watch?v=_G06xa-jJMA
Roger5 1 | 1,448
9 Feb 2016 #28
Poitín

My mother always kept a bottle in the house for medicinal purposes. Many's the time I was given a spoonful when I had a cold.
delphiandomine 88 | 18,163
9 Feb 2016 #29
The Irish equivalent is Poitín (pronounced putcheen).

A friend somehow acquired a bottle from Ireland once, and... well, I was sick. No idea how strong it was, but it was clearly stronger than absinthe.
Atch 22 | 4,096
9 Feb 2016 #30
Well it can be anywhere up to 90%.


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