Bourbon Recipe Help

[magnetic_tarantula]

I'm looking to make a basic Bourbon recipe. My favorites are Basil Hayden's and Eagle Rare 10yr(my pockets aren't deep enough for the 17yr).

I read on a different forum that someone got a similar taste profile with 63% Corn, 27% Rye, 10%(unlabeled). I have also read that BH has a higher Rye content('almost double').

I was hoping for some help with what grains to buy(and where generally to buy them). Also what the unmentioned grain would be. I am assuming it is wheat or barley.

So some help would be appreciated........

Corn:
At my local homebrew/Microbrew shop they have flaked corn/maize, but I live in a somewhat rural area that has a lot of farm/feed stores. I have heard that using feedstocks of corn is acceptable(is that true?). I know food for animals is generally of lower quality than human consumption and the FDA requires that it be labeled as such, but does it matter in this situation since I'm making alcohol? Am I just looking for protein/starch content?

Suggestions? Comments?
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Rye:
Should I use Malted? Unmalted? Is there a specific type of Rye that is usually used? I go to the homebrew shop and it seems like they have 5 types of grain but they've got 50 different buckets.

Suggestions? Comments?
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Unknown grain:
Should I use Wheat(type? Malted/Un?)? Or Barley(type? Malted/un?)? Ultimately I'll probably just try the 2 combo's(i.e. Corn/Rye/Wheat and Corn/Rye/Barley).

Comments/Suggestions?
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What kind of yeast should I use for a Bourbon recipe. Specifics would be nice. Again the local brew shop has about 50 different types of yeast.
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Should I mash all of these grains together? or each separately? Do you get better efficiency doing it one way or the other? What temperature do I mash these at? How much time?
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I recently made my first batch of 100% malted barley whiskey. I thought it tasted pretty good straight out of the still but I had a few issues with it.

There seemed to be a lot of particulate matter that transferred over from the pot any ideas why that is and how I stop that? A few things of note......I did not strain my fermented wash(this is my belief why there is particulate), before I put it into the still. Should I do this in the future? I don't recall the type of yeast we used(the notes are not at my house at the moment).

Any thoughts on temperature readings for when to cut Foreshots, Heads, Hearts, Tails and temp to stop?(for both the Barley and the Bourbon)? We collected what we thought smelled/tasted right and divided it up(haven't been able to measure ABV as my Hydrometer hasn't shown up). My thoughts on that are it tasted F-in good, which isn't very scientific.

My setup is the following:
5 gal Stainless Steel Boil kettle
8 gal Aluminum Kettle( i found for cheap at K-Mart, is Aluminum acceptable to boil/mash your water in?)
8 gal Stainless Steel Mashing Vessel with False bottom
3 Gallon Glass Carboy Fermentor(but could upgrade pretty easily to 5)
10L Copper Alembic Pot Still

My thought is to make 1 or 2 bottle runs of different recipe so maybe a little help with how many pounds of grain total(or individual) to use.


I know there are a lot of questions and don't feel obligated to answer all of them. If one of them is your specialty by all means.......I want to soak up your knowledge! All help is greatly appreciated. I am new to this, and am generally a slow starter but a quick learner. Once I get the basics down I have a lot of ideas of things I'd like to try/share!