Chapter 41 Making Moonshine

Frank held a red solo cup in his hands. In this cup was an amber liquid that had been made in his garage. He and his friends took a sip from the hard liquor that they had personally distilled and coughed. It was strong, really strong.

One of the boys looked at Frank with an intoxicated expression on his face. He had to be no older than fifteen, which, for the record, so was Frank. The boy lifted his cup in cheers before taking another swig.

“We finally did it! We made some booze!”

After clanking his cup with the other boy’s Frank took another sip. He could feel the sense of intoxication wrap around his mind like a warm blanket. He had a wide smile on his face as he playfully shook the kid sitting next to him.

“It’s all thanks to Ed here! If not for your wicked smart brain, we’d probably be blind right now!’

The boy named Ed smiled back and pushed Frank’s arm aside. He was slightly embarrassed to hear such compliments.

“It’s a simple matter of fermentation and distillation. If you guys actually paid attention in chemistry class, you could make it too.”

After saying this, the group of friends broke out into laughter, while calling Ed names.

“Dork!”

“Nerd!”

“Loser!”

Ed responded by drinking the rest of his cup in silence. Despite the name-calling, he went on a long-winded lecture about the process of distilling alcohol.

“You see boys, my home made recipe is really simple. My ingredients are as follows:

2.5kg of 2-month-old wheat, 25 liters of water, 6kg of sugar, 100 grams of alcoholic yeast, 0.5 liters of fermented milk

After obtaining these things, the first thing I do is prepare the malt by making a layer of wheat no larger than 2cm in depth and soaking it in warm water. Then I place it in a warm place somewhere that has a temperature of around 18-25 degrees Celsius.

After doing this, I wait a few of days until the grain sprouts to a length of about 2cm. After that, I mix it up and remove it from the water without dividing. From there, it is all about cooking the mash. You do this by adding warm water between 50-60 degrees Celsius, and sugar to a 40 liter container and mix it well.

Then you let it sit until the water cools down to about 28-30 degrees Celsius. Once the mash is cooled, you add the malt, and the yeast, and seal the container, allowing it to stay in a warm environment of between 18-28 degrees Celsius so that it can ferment.

You let the malt ferment for a time span of 48-96 hours. After that, you strain the mash so that the wheat is separated, this grain can be used a couple more times, so make sure to hold on to it. From here, you add the 0.5 liters of fermented milk and then proceed to distil it.

Distillation is a bit different, as you can see with my home made still here. I used stainless steel to make the pot, the doubler, and the condenser. However, they can also be made of copper. The first thing we do for distillation is fill the pot with the mash and then heat it. Once it reaches 78.3 degrees Celsius, the alcoholic vapor rises through the cap and into a copper pipe called the arm, where it transfers into the doubler.

After transferring to the doubler, extra water condenses out of the alcohol vapor onto the sides of the barrel, doubling the vapor’s proof. The purified vapor then travels through another arm into a copper coil set into a barrel filled with cooled running water called the condenser. This is where the alcohol vapor condenses into liquid moonshine. After distilling the mash, you clean up your gear, and then distill the moonshine again for extra strength!”

Frank laughed when he heard this before insulting his friend in a joking manner.

“You really are a nerd!”

—

Marcellus woke with a fright. He had just had another one of these strange dreams. The past two visions he had aided him in the agricultural and military fields. Yet now he had such a strange dream about distilling alcohol. Still, he could feel the intoxication he had suffered through during the dream. The alcohol in that dream was several times stronger than the wine he normally drank. If he could manufacture such a thing, then surely he could sell it for a high price.

He did not know why he was having these dreams, but so far, they all appeared to be helpful to him. After all, the price he had paid to equip his army had severely depleted his treasury. If he could find a way to make a fortune of his own, then he would no longer have to worry about his expenses. Perhaps this dream was exactly what he needed! When Marcellus thought about such things, he could feel a tinge of excitement in his heart.

Sigefrida woke up shortly afterward and noticed Marcellus was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head held firmly in his hands. This was not the first time she had seen the man like this and immediately became concerned.

“Marcellus, did you have another one of those strange dreams?”

Marcellus did not dare to hide such a thing from the woman, and instead he nodded his head in silence while sighing heavily. Though she could only see his bare back, Sigefrida knew that he was exhausted. She could only sit up and latch onto his back with her large, naked chest in an attempt to comfort him. Her hug was met with a smile as Marcellus’s mind calmed itself. The young general kissed his slave’s hand before tackling her onto the bed. Sigefrida had a wry smile on her face as she taunted the man.

“So soon? Did we not do this just before we went to bed?’

In response to this, Marcellus merely laughed before kissing the woman passionately on the lips. In between his actions, he whispered into her ear.

“It’s fine, it is already morning!”

After saying this, the couple stared out the window towards the rising sun before engaging in their intimate behavior. After their activities were concluded, Marcellus and Sigefrida took a bath together. The two of them sat in silence, as they both had many things on their minds.

Having concluded their bath, Marcellus ate breakfast with Sigefrida, while looking over reports of his soldier’s progress in their training. The men who had stayed behind were beginning to show real comaraderie, and the new conscripts who replaced the deserters had showed off their potential.

If they were a full-time army, they might be combat capable by now. However, they only trained part time, and worked other jobs for the rest of the day. Thus, it was taking longer than Marcellus had desired for his soldiers to be ready for the upcoming war. He dwelled on this fact for several moments while eating the meal that Sigefrida had prepared for him. After finishing the food on his plate, Marcellus kissed Sigefrida before departing from the Villa.

“Work calls. I will be back by nightfall.”

Sigefrida merely nodded her head in response with a smile on her lips.

“Be safe!”

Upon hearing this, Marcellus left the villa where he entered the village below the stronghold. He visited the blacksmith once again. Deciding to gamble on his visions, Marcellus wanted to commission a proper still so that he could make the same alcohol from his dream the night before.

The man named Catus had the same stoic expression he always had on his face as he pounded away at the metal on his anvil. He looked up and gazed upon Marcellus’ arrival for a brief second, acknowledging the man’s presence before getting back to work. Marcellus smiled awkwardly when he saw this before making his request. He pulled out a piece of paper that had the components he needed drawn onto them and handed it over to the man in question.

“I need you to make these for me, out of copper. I’m willing to pay whatever price you desire.”

Catus nodded his head before raising three fingers and saying the words,

“three miliarense.”

Marcellus did not hesitate, and took out his coin pouch before handing three large silver coins to the man. He quickly got back to his work, where he responded with the given time frame to complete the order.

“You can expect delivery in two to three weeks.”

Marcellus merely nodded his head in agreement before departing from the blacksmith’s shop. After doing so, he continued about his business managing the affairs of Raetia. He was quite excited to see if his dream was actually reality.

If so, he knew he would make a fortune of his own soon. He did not know what price this “moonshine” could fetch, but he knew it would be a luxury item with a high demand. The patricians in Rome would claw at each other’s throats to get a taste of his new alcoholic beverage.