MOONSHINE STILL- State, Federal and County officers arrested two Titus County men today and charged them with ownership of this still. Shown looking at the still before it was destroyed, is from left Harold Rester, Roger Durant and Jim Burns all with the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission.
Durant and Burns are stationed at Paris and Rester is stationed in Mt. Pleasant.
The Mt. Pleasant Daily Tribune
Date and Page Unknown
Liquor Agents Arrest Two, Destroy Whiskey Still
Two Titus County men have been arrested by state and federal liquor agents for operation of a whiskey still near White Oak Creek.
Tommy Joe Franks and John Morris Johnson were arrested by officers Tuesday morning and charges will be filed against them in federal court today, the officers said.
Harold Rester, local agent with the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission, said he and other state and federal agents caught the men on the still shortly after daylight today. Rester said both men ran, but Johnson ran into one agent at the scene and Franks mounted a horse and failed to stop as ordered. Franks was arrested later by officers.
The two-cooker, ten barrel rig was "fired" and in operation Tuesday morning.
Rester, along with Roger Durant with the TABC, in Paris, Gene Burns, TABC, Paris, and federal agents with the Alcohol Tobacco Tax Firearms Division destroyed the stills along with jars, sugar and other equipment before leaving the scene.
Yeast is mixed with sugar, water, and grain (many times corn). The mixture, called mash, is allowed to ferment for several days until the natural chemical reaction stops bubbling. Several barrels may be used to hold mash in various stages of fermentation until it is ready to be distilled so batches can be cooked over several days.
Mash, waiting to be distilled, is visible in the barrel at the front of this view.
Mash is boiled in the still (the right barrel), runs into a settling barrel which catches some impurities as they fall out of the steam, then into the condensing coils in the barrel on the left side of the photo.
The condensing coils, contained in the barrel on the right side of this photo, are submerged in water. The cold water causes the alcoholic steam to condense. The condensate is the moonshine liquor. An empty jar is set in the hole beside the barrel below the end of the condensing pipe to be filled with moonshine.
This view shows bags of sugar needed to create the mash and cases of Mason canning jars used to bottle the finished product.
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent Burns turns out the fire under the still and begins destruction of the equipment and supplies until nothing is left that could be used again.
This view shows cases of Kerr Mason canning jars used to package the finished product. Each case holds 12 one-quart jars.
1970's Raid on a Titus County Moonshine Still
