Hoach's Hooch

Most of us who grew up in families whose parents experienced the 1915 
massacres are no doubt familiar with "Raki," the traditional anise-
flavored beverage that garnished many of the festive tables of 
our early Armenian families.  Since Armenians are always in some 
sort of festive season and since Raki is prominently known among 
our people, I thought that this might be as good a time as any to do 
a documentary on the subject.

In the early days, before and after prohibition, most Armenians could 
not afford 'bathtub' gin or the famous brands that became legitimate 
later on.  So, they did what my late grandfather used to do; they 
made their own.  During that period, and especially during prohibition, 
there was a flourishing underground market on home size stills.  They 
were fabricated and sold by sheet metal workers for supplemental 
income, or for the unemployed, they provided a livelihood.

Because of the circumstances, it wasn't too difficult for anyone to 
find and buy a new or used still.  They generally ranged in price 
from two to twenty dollars and in sizes from five to thirty gallons.  
A complete home size outfit consisted of a "main pot," a "connection 
cap," a one half cooper "transport line" (approximately 2 to 4 feet 
in length), and a water-cooled "condenser" for condensing the 
vaporized alcohol coming fom the main pot into liquid alcohol.

The main pots varied in shape and size from the smaller round types 
for a single burner to a larger egg-shaped or oblong pot for two 
burners.  The tops of these main pots were tapered from their 
original size to a threaded 4 inch diameter opening at the top.  The main 
pot was constructed with copper and the threaded  opening was brass.  
The entire tank and threaded opening were joined together with 
solder.

Next came the connection cap.  It was also made of copper.  It had a 
soldered 4 inch diameter femal threaded adapter for connecting the 
main pot at the bottom and a half inch thread male adapter on 
top for connecting to the transport line.  The threaded opening at 
the bottom was made of brass and had two cast handles on either 
side to facilitate connecting and disconnecting from the main pot. 

The half inch transport line had a half inch female threaded 
coupling on either end to complete the connection from the main pot 
to the water-cooled condenser.  It was made of soft copper so as 
to allow the user to properly bend it from the higher end of the 
main pot and connection cap to the counter-top level of the 
condenser.  

The water-cooled condenser came in varying shapes from a horizontally 
positioned unit the size of an extra large loaf of bread to a vertical 
unit approximately 6 inches to 8 inches in diameter and approximately 
twelve to eighteen inches high.  The smaller diameter ones were 
usually taller and the wider diameter, shorter ones.  These units 
were made of tinned metal; they were toally encased.  They had a 
half inch diameter condensing coil inside with a half inch threaded 
male inlet connecting to the transport line and the other end of the 
outlet to retrieve the condensed alcohol.  It also had an inlet and an 
outlet for cold tap water.  The cold water would circulate around the 
encased inside coil to condense the vaporized alcohol back to liquid.  
Aside from a home-sized distilling unit, the amateur still master had 
to have a crock in which to prepare his mash, an ordinary hand 
operated meat grinder, a wooden paddle with which to stir mash, a top 
to cover the crock while the mash was fermenting, some blankets, if 
necessary, to prevent the mash from falling below 70 degrees (fahrenheit) 
during the winter months, and a quantity of clean empty jars.

He alsohad to have an area with little or no exposure to prying eyes 
or prying noses.  This ara also had to have a one or two burner gas,
coal, or woodstove, depending on the size of the still, with access 
to a cold water tap and a drain.

The process would start out by preparing the mash.  It required one 
pound of hand ground black seedless raisins for every pound of sugar
to every gallon of lukewarm (90 to 95 degrees fahrenheit) water.  
The rainsince would be ground, placed in the crock, and depending 
on the quantity, the required amont of lukewarm water and sugar would 
be added, and everything would be thoroughly mixed.  A square of baker's 
yeast dissolved in a cup of lukewarm water would be added and mixed 
into the mash.  And from that point on, the crock would be properly 
insulated and closed.  Thereafter, our still master would mix the 
mash on a daily basis until it was ready for stilling.


It should be noted that the specific gravity of the sugared mixture 
in the mash will start out being higher than the ground raisins.  And 
because of it, the still master would find most of the raisins at the 
top during the first few days.  This would continue until the enzymes 
digested the carbohydrates in the mixture while excreting alcohol.  
The enzymes usually reach their total capacity of ingestion in seven 
days.  As the alcohol content increases the specific gravity will drop 
and the ground raisins will fall on the bottom. This happens when the 
alcohol level reaches 14 percent or 27 drinking proof by volume, at 
which time the enzymes die because they have drowned in their own 
excrement, signaling to the still master that it's time to start 
stilling.  If for any reason the still master delays the stilling 
process for an exteneded period, the mash may turn rancid and turn 
to vinegar.  And in this regard, if a still were perfect and could 
retrieve 14 percent of absolute 200 drinking proof alcohol from each 
gallon of mash, it would yield a little over a quart of 100 proof 
drinking alcohol per gallon.  But since there are no perfect stills 
and since the home style stills were even less efficient, they tended 
to yield much less.

As for the process itself, the old still masters used to time their 
mash to be ready on weekends because it took so long to still and to 
restill if they wanted a higher grade.  After the mixed ready mash 
was poured into the main pot, (usually two thirds), and the rest 
of the unit assembled, the heating process would start.  When the 
pot started boiling, the first vapors would be from the alcohol in 
the mash.  And as the vapor volume rose, it would force its way 
through the transport tube and into the cooling condenser.  Thereafter,
the condensed alcohol would start coming out drop by drop into 
a collecting jar.  At this point, the still master would have to 
see how effectively his unit was operating.  If the distillate was 
more than the condenser could handle, some vapor would escape without 
condensing and the still master would get a good high just by 
smelling the stuff.  Moreover, if the smell of the vapors got out 
of the house, an experienced passerby could determine what was going 
on inside.

Aside from all this, the still master had to also determine when to 
separate the initial higher proof alcohol from the lessening proof 
for restilling in the future.  This was usually determined by 
taste and by occasionally burning a few droplets as the process 
continued.  If the alcohol were strong, it would readily burn with 
a clean pale blue flame.  From what I recall, my grandfather never 
left his still unattended, nor do I remember hm being sober while
he was working his still.  

Of course, this is a very scant but basic review as to what went 
into making home brew.  It is, however, sufficient enough to describe 
the labor and patience that went into it.  As for flavoring the 
end product, there were two basic ways.  The old time purist would 
place a cotton pouch full of anise seeds in the funnel of the 
collection jar.  As the alcohol drained through the anise seeds, 
it would pick up its flavor.  After stilling and bringing down 
to drinking proof by adding distilled or spring water, the raki 
would be ready for human consumption.

Another way which was more consistent and controllable was to flavor 
the properly proofed diluted alcohol to taste with anise oil.  Well, 
whatever way they did it, it came out the same.  Some better, some 
worse.  They drank what they made, but more important, there were 
no alcoholics among them because they never drank alone.  

Joseph Vosbikian