Makers Mark Clone

[DUDA]

So toured makers mark one time with my dad, it was pretty neat to see such larger scale set up,
(even though my 15 gal boiler is plenty for me haha) they let you try makers, makers 46 and some of their white dog. at the time i was just getting into distilling and i asked what their grain bill was, even though i know now i can look it up online. well any ways i tried making a clone of it myself.
Heres what I did:
with a grain bill of 70% corn, 16% red wheat, and 14% barley
i used 7lbs of cracked corn
1 lb 10 oz of malted red wheat
1 lb 6 oz of malted barley
i cooked the corn on low i simmered it for about an hour and half
(for those of you who saw another post about my first attempt at an all grain, i got a better thermometer)
i let it sit and cook to 160F it took me about 45 min but now looking back at my notes i didn't write how many gal of water i used, i will next time and update my post
i then added my wheat and lightly stirred it in mostly sat on top i let it sit like 15 min, i don't know if this was necessary then i added my barley and mixed it all up, this time i had enough water that i didn't have a pot of cement, its a large canning pot, probably 4 or 5 gal, takes up two burners on the stove. i cooked it between 140F and 155F for about 5 hours. i let it sit in my 15 gal fermenter i picked up that day for 10 bucks woo! and covered it and it sat over night, it was about 1/4 of the way full, id say 4 gals i added water and took a SG it forget what exactly it was but for a 5 or 6 gal batch it was pretty good, i topped with water and simple syrup to 14 gal and had a SG of 1.070 i pitched my yeast on the 27th of april, i went home to school and the next morning my VERY pissed off father sent me the following picture, i ended up with about 13.5 gals still in there after it calmed down. ill run it and post how it turns out when its ready to run and I'm going to save some back set to make another batch, as I'm pretty sure thats how they make theirs.

my only question is should i have gotten better conversion that i didn't need to top with simple syrup and did i do an okay job of mashing? when i opened it up in the morning i smelled like creamed corn that grandma makes and tasted very sweet before the addition of water and simple syrup.
Thanks,
DUDA

[stillcolo]

NICE! I did the same with HBB! Management was P.O.

[Still Life]

Sounds like you did well without the syrup, but it won't hurt.

Read the Honey Bear Bourbon procedure (in my signature line) as far as mashing technique.
Aside from cooking the corn like you did, which is fine, it explains how you can get away from so much stove-top time by adding grain and covering with blankets.
Also keeps you from maybe over-heating the grains by accident, and eases your work load.

I bet this turns out fine. And keep Pops happy by cleaning that up! LOL

[der wo]

To make a clone is very difficult. You tried to have the same grain bill, that's all. But are you able to copy all the other details? I am sure you don't. And btw you failed even with the grain bill: The wheat from Makers is unmalted. But don't worry. There is nothing wrong with using more malted grains than the commecial brands.
And of course Makers doesn't use simple syrup. All the sugar has to come from the grains by law for any Whiskey. 9lbs grain for 14gal is not much grain. 25-30lbs would be normal. Only this way you will get enough grain flavors in the spirit. And only if you write us how much simple syrup you took and how much sugar is in it, we can judge the SG 1.070. But 1.070 with this little amount of grain, I think most sugar is from thre syrup. If the grain coverted well, is not important in this case probably.

[Swedish Pride]

I mad a similar bill a while back, sans the syrup, don't think it will taste anywhere near makers, I'll Try some tonight, but I've no refference point as its years since i tried makers and was not mad about it. think it was just ok.

[bitter]

Makers mark is typically about 5-6 years old. Age has a lot to do with things not to mention yeast, procedure, still setup etc etc. Even the coarser grind with the roller mill they use contributes to the profile.

Keep in mind they age it at about 55% instead of the typical 62.5% This adds to the profile making the tannin extraction softer.

I bet this will be pretty nice with the right cuts and time in a barrel be nice.

The Maker mark 46 spends an additional several weeks in a barrel with added toasted and chard french oak staves added inside the barrel (They are air dried outside for some time prior to being use so many the tannins are leached out from the weather and air drying).

B

[TDick]

To make a clone is very difficult. You tried to have the same grain bill, that's all. But are you able to copy all the other details? I am sure you don't.
And btw you failed even with the grain bill: The wheat from Makers is unmalted. But don't worry. There is nothing wrong with using more malted grains than the commecial brands.

And of course Makers doesn't use simple syrup. All the sugar has to come from the grains by law for any Whiskey. 9lbs grain for 14gal is not much grain. 25-30lbs would be normal. Only this way you will get enough grain flavors in the spirit. And only if you write us how much simple syrup you took and how much sugar is in it, we can judge the SG 1.070. But 1.070 with this little amount of grain, I think most sugar is from thre syrup. If the grain coverted well, is not important in this case probably.

Thanks der wo!
@Dukethebeagle120 just created a thread:
Makers mash bill. Malt or whole wheat

I was looking back at recipes and found your comment above.
I wondered about using plain flour and cornmeal, along with enzymes. I know the flour here is bleached unless I go organic. Then it gets considerably more expensive than buying sacks of deer corn and wheat.
What do you think?