Want to make a scotch

[Canuckwoods]

I've been making HBB UJSSM and vodka/gin for a couple of years and want to try Scotch. I have researched but haven't found a good recipe so thought I would try my own.

for a 5 gallon batch
5.5 gallons of water
5 lbs Canadain Maltings 2 row
5 lbs Fawcett & sons peated malt
mash around 145*f
strip and spirit runs
toasted and charred oak (new, I wish I had known I would have saved the sticks out of my other) and maybe a tsp/qt of sherry

am I on the right track?

[MichiganCornhusker]

Well, my feelings are that a scotch style whiskey is one of the easiest to make, and one of the trickiest to get right.
Fermenting a beer wort and distilling it is pretty straight forward, but it's what happens then that makes the big differences.

I think freshly toasted and/or charred oak is the wrong tool for aging. It just makes the spirit taste way too much like a bourbon.
Also, just adding some sherry to the blend isn't the same as using oak that has been soaking in sherry.

And then there's the cuts.
Personally, I think a good scotch, especially if it's not a big smokey peat-monster, should have a good pour of fruity heads added to the final blend, hold back on the tails.

For your aging oak, maybe try doing a toast/char, and then age the wood in the heads from your run. Maybe even add some sherry to that jar.
Then pull the wood and use it for your scotch.

Or even before you put it in with the heads, try boiling some of it in water too leech some of those delicious oak flavors out of the wood.
I love a great strong oak character in my corn whiskeys, but I think it's overwhelming in a nice barley hooch.
Just thinking out loud here, I don't do a whole lot of scotch.
The idea is to make the oak less of a player in the overall character of the final whiskey.

Hopefully that would remove a lot of the bourbony oakiness and make it better for the scotch.
It would slow down your aging time, but I think it would be worth it in the long run.

[corene1]

Plus one to MichiganCornhuskers post.

The grain bill of Scotch is malted barley. No complication there. Then it comes down to what type of barley, I use golden promise malted barley but there are many different types with subtle flavor variations. Now are you shooting for an Islay style Scotch or a Highland or Speyside. They also sparge their grain and ferment off the grain. It is said that the grain husks can add some bitterness to the final spirit. For aging I save all my oak sticks that have been used for bourbon style whiskeys and store them in gallon jars full of sherry and use them for aging. I also age at a little lower ABV, typically about 57%, it seems to pull out less of the strong oak flavor and more of the subtle flavors and is more controllable over time. I also think time in the barrel is the key and there is no way to hurry it. As far as yeast used in the ferment there is a big player right there as well, and Scotch distilleries are very tight lipped about style and fermentation temperatures . From what I understand you should look to make a mash that finishes at about 8% ABV and double distill in a pot still.I try for a slower ferment as well using safale US-05. A hard stripping run down to about 10% then a spirit run. How you run your still will make a difference in the subtle characteristics of your finished spirits as well. Where you make your cuts and how much of the late heads and early tails you use in your finished spirit will make differences also.
You must remember all these Scotch distilleries have been using the same process for many many years and it is set in stone so they can get the flavor profiles that are distinctive to their whisky. It will take us, at the hobby level a long time to get our recipe figured out. I have been working on mine for about 5 years and am just starting to get close to what I want. Also, Keep good notes on each mash and ferment and how you run it, as well as amount and type of aging wood. It is a long slow process but an adventure as well.

[Canuckwoods]

I've pulled most of my sticks out of my corn whiskeys (they were done anyhow) and will soak them in some Sherry. I'm a bit worried about the grain bill and whether it will be too smokey. I might make a batch of just barley if I have to bring it down a bit.

[Single Malt Yinzer]

Just putting this here: https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/index.ph ... ingle_Malt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow -Scroll down for the different scotch styles. At lot of the different Scotch styles is more splitting hairs than real substance - unless you're Scottish.

Corene and Michigan Cornhusker already have you covered for help. Good luck!

[distiller_dresden]

This is up my alley, I'm doing a double wash with golden promise malt and fermentis scotch yeast, which is used by several distilleries in Scotland. I'm also going to get several 1x8's, untreated, from the lumber yard and cut them to 2' long, place them against the walls of my fermenting vessel. Glenlivet ferments their washes in giant tubs made from fresh northwestern American pine. I think this helps/adds the fruity, piney character that I like in Glenlivet. I'm also soaking my badmo, face down, in a mix of sherry and cognac undiluted, so that it's in the wood like a 'sherry barrel'. The badmo is also once-used, for a maple rum, so it's been broken in and won't add too much oak to my scotch.

I love the idea of soaking dominoes in heads, as well as adding heads for fruitiness, both great tips!

[kiwi Bruce]

There is some very good advise from the others, for you to follow here.
I'll add some of my observations. Whisky washes want to foam like a rabid dog...here's what I've found works, boil your wash to "hot break" let it cool and go to "cold break" then siphon the wash off the trub, this will get rid of the proteins that make the wash foam in the still AND I feel that it helps the spirit age faster and better. Use butter or food grade mineral oil in the still for the beer run. The "big boys" don't have to do any of this as they have an observation port hole in their beer stills that let them see when the foam is half way up the still head and they can cut the heat.( I posted a photo of this a while back, I'll find it and post it here again for shits and giggles)
I have always maintained the the vinius compounds in wine aid and speed the aging processes of ANY spirit but particularly with single malts and bourbons. Sherry is a good one for Scotch style singe malts and I use a fluid ounce per gallon in mine, however any good red wine will work wonders.
If you can get your paws on a 1/2 bourbon barrel when the spring comes, hardware stores and garden centers have them...they run about $40 unless the hoops have failed then you can get them for $5 or $10. The 1/2 barrel will have between 30 to 35 staves that are about 24 inches high, this is enough oak to let you age your whisky for many moons to come and I feel it's well worth the coin...Kiwi

[bilgriss]

Rather than a boil, I usually just heat the pot to boil very slowly. Easy to scorch, easy to puke. Patience. Once it's been boiling about 20 minutes, the threat of puking is gone. It adds about an hour to my stripping run over a sugar wash or corn mash.

I totally agree that the ferment and distillation isn't difficult. Blending and aging is way harder. I haven't produced any yet that closely resemble a good Scotch, but I've made some good all malt whiskeys along the way. Agree that previously used wood soaked in sherry or a merlot ahead of time makes a difference.

[kiwi Bruce]

Agree that previously used wood soaked in sherry or a merlot ahead of time makes a difference.

I posted an article middle of last year about whisky barrels (pre-used bourbon) being force impregnated with heavy, sweet Spanish sherry syrup. I speculated that, if the syrup was rendered down with Black Cardamom, this could be how the Islay single malts get their characteristic flavor. I tried it, but so far I've had little success.

[OtisT]

I've pulled most of my sticks out of my corn whiskeys (they were done anyhow) and will soak them in some Sherry. I'm a bit worried about the grain bill and whether it will be too smokey. I might make a batch of just barley if I have to bring it down a bit.

+1. I did the same thing. I first made two small toasted/charred barrels of peated/smoked whiskey then I put down one small toasted barrel of straight single malt for blending. I’d be pissed if after two years of aging I had an overly peated/smoked whiskey and nothing to blend it with. You have to think ahead with this hobby.

Otis

[kiwi Bruce]

You have to think ahead with this hobby.Otis

My problem is I DRINK ahead with this hobby

[Canuckwoods]

I meant to brew yesterday, I ground my grain and was about to mash when I had to go do a plumbing repair at my sister in laws place.
Thank for all the good advice I am really looking forward to this project. I am sticking to my original 50 50 but will also do a 100 unpeated for future blending until I can get the recipe down.

[Canuckwoods]

I was able to mash last evening. Mashed at 150 for 60 mins with 3.5 gals 164* water sparged with 3 gals 168* water ended up with just over 5 gals 14 brix SP 1.056 or 7.6%, I pitched the US05 ale yeast this morning. We shall see how it goes.

So far a very smokey scent but I would assume this will mellow with distillation and ageing.

[Pesty]

A peated scotch was the first AG i attempted all those years ago and it came out really good. With this new round of information and ideas, think ill swing by the brew shop and grab some barley and get the old mash-sparge tun dusted off for a couple 6 gallon ferments. This should be a nice break from ujssm and corn.

[Canuckwoods]

Went to put the mash tun away last night smelled heavily of smoke a soak with oxy cleaner cleared that up.

[Mendel]

I am new, but if you like lots of peat, I'd mash only peated barley. I have done a few runs this way and while it is strong, it isn't as peaty as Ardbeg or Laphroaig is, and I am sure I will lose peat as it ages. You can always make a batch of each and blend the two, although this might not be practical if you are doing casks.

Not all scotch has peat, not all scotch has sherry. Know what you like before making it.

[Canuckwoods]

Rather than a boil, I usually just heat the pot to boil very slowly. Easy to scorch, easy to puke. Patience. Once it's been boiling about 20 minutes, the threat of puking is gone. It adds about an hour to my stripping run over a sugar wash or corn mash.

Wish I had remembered this advice, the floor needed washing anyway

The batch turned out ok I think at least the white was good, I do about 5 more batches then do a sprit run.

[bilgriss]

I learned the hard way too. More than once.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Know what you like before making it.

+1

[kiwi Bruce]

I just watched a video about Bruichladdich Distillery, Islay...They use EIGHT different malts! Their beer is 7 %
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqayC2Ykluw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
about 4 minutes in.

[Terrenum]

Hey Canuckwoods,

Any update on your recipe?
I have been home brewing for a long time and own a micro brewery but just starting in the world of distilling. Planning to do a Canadian whisky and a scotch type whiskey. Any advice? How is the peat with 50-50?

thanks
S

[Canuckwoods]

Been away from the hobby over the summer I hope to get back at it shortly as it cools down and I can't work outside. I have about 3 gallons in my storage carboy as soon as it gets full I'll do my sprit run.