sweetfeed whisky

[S-Cackalacky]

+1 Rad!!!! Anybody made any good SF whiskey lately?

[Konrad Arflane]

My apologies gents, as I initiated that off topic question. I shall endeavor to remain on topic in this thread moving forward...

That said, no recent runs of SF or any other on my part, as I have a problem with my boiler that I need to correct first.

Though I did just finish up the last dram of my last batch, oaked on hungarian, this evening. Which means I'll very much need to correct that boiler problem soon.

[Antler24]

Can anyone give me a commercial spirit that would be remotely close to what a sweet feed would be like? I do just right now and thinking of makin the jump. Local brewing supply wants $5/lb for grains and only feed store within driving distance wants $25/sack for oats and barley so just like to get an idea before spending the $50 on a couple sacks.

[Bigbob]

Sweet feed to me tastes pretty much like whisky with a little molasses flavor thrown in. That's why people call it a "rumsky". I LIKE SWEETFEED!!!
Oh almost forgot.... When you go to the feed store, ask for COB, that's another name for sweet feed. Corn Oats Barley.

[Antler24]

Sweet feed to me tastes pretty much like whisky with a little molasses flavor thrown in. That's why people call it a "rumsky". I LIKE SWEETFEED!!!
Oh almost forgot.... When you go to the feed store, ask for COB, that's another name for sweet feed. Corn Oats Barley.

The feed store only sells one type of sweet feed, and it has pellets, which is why I'd need to buy a sack of each grain.

I know sweet feed will taste like whiskey, lol that's like saying coke tastes like soda, there's 100's of types of sodas and they don't taste the same. Is there a commercial whiskey that has a similar taste to a sweet feed?

[Jimbo]

Hey Bigbob, do YOU LIKE SWEETFEED? I like your sweetfeed, cant say I like every one Ive tried tho. You make some fine likker friend.

[Bigbob]

Thanks Jimbo, I appreciate the props. Antler24, I know at my feed store you can buy some grains by the pound, and you could get Quaker oats and barley at the grocery store.

[Antler24]

Thanks Jimbo, I appreciate the props. Antler24, I know at my feed store you can buy some grains by the pound, and you could get Quaker oats and barley at the grocery store.

Not around here. Only options are homebrew supply @ $5/lb or the feed store which only sells in 50lb sacks.

[HDNB]

go 50 lbs, cant be over 15 dollars for any given grain. but if the feed store is charging .50 a lb like you say, you can throw out 45 lbs and still be ahead of the game...and sell some to the brew shop for 2.50 a lb, he should not be able to turn down a 50 point margin!

won't take long to go through 100lbs of grain, especially if you skip the sugar and head right into mashing.

[Hound Dog]

Can anyone give me a commercial spirit that would be remotely close to what a sweet feed would be like? I do just right now and thinking of makin the jump. Local brewing supply wants $5/lb for grains and only feed store within driving distance wants $25/sack for oats and barley so just like to get an idea before spending the $50 on a couple sacks.

Evan Williams.

[1131morg]

I understand that to much alcohol left in your backset can kill out your yeast bed. What is a good percentage to run feints down to before quitting a run after keepable tails to use your backset?

[S-Cackalacky]

I usually don't check proof during a run, but when I see the signs that I'm getting into tails, I collect a bit of the output in a spoon and attempt to light it. If I can't get it to burn, I usually run another 1/2 pint and shut down. Others seem to run down to somewhere around 30% ABV, or so, and don't seem to have any problems with the backset having a negative effect on the yeast in the next gen.

I would guess that if you get down to even early tails, there shouldn't be much concern about too much alcohol remaining in the backset. And, keep in mind that it will be further diluted by the water and other ingredients in the new wash.

[Konrad Arflane]

I usually don't check proof during a run, but when I see the signs that I'm getting into tails, I collect a bit of the output in a spoon and attempt to light it. If I can't get it to burn, I usually run another 1/2 pint and shut down. Others seem to run down to somewhere around 30% ABV, or so, and don't seem to have any problems with the backset having a negative effect on the yeast in the next gen.

I would guess that if you get down to even early tails, there shouldn't be much concern about too much alcohol remaining in the backset. And, keep in mind that it will be further diluted by the water and other ingredients in the new wash.

S-Cack...perhaps I'm mistaken here, but I believe you're processing the problem incorrectly...

Let's say your wash is 10% alc. As you distill it, that % of alc. declines in the wash/backset. Whether you're at 190% distillation at the beginning of a run (extraordinary equipment), and 30% at tails cutoff...all of that alc, has come from your wash...meaning there's no way you can have a high alc. % left in your backset...correct?

So as long as you don't add distillation into your backset...there's no way for it to have a higher alc. % than when you began distilling...and certainly far below your initial ferment percentage.

Seems to me the question is a non sequitur...

[S-Cackalacky]

Well, I thought that was exactly what I was implying - if you remove the alcohol from the wash as indicated by the ABV of the output, you won't have much left in the backset. I think we all understand the concept of distillation removing alcohol from the wash.

[Konrad Arflane]

Apologies...I misunderstood...

[jmashspirits14]

I just wanted to throw in there that I shut my runs down just before boiling point(water that is) and my last pint is still well above 100 proof. Also there is a commerical clear sweetfeed whiskey on the market though I cant remember the name. I believe its made by Las Vegas Distillery and they claim they invented the recipe and concept. I tried to set them straight but they wouldnt respond to my email. Correction: its Rumsky and they claim to have invented it. They may be the first to market it commercially but they did not invent it!

[rad14701]

I just wanted to throw in there that I shut my runs down just before boiling point(water that is) and my last pint is still well above 100 proof. Also there is a commerical clear sweetfeed whiskey on the market though I cant remember the name. I believe its made by Las Vegas Distillery and they claim they invented the recipe and concept. I tried to set them straight but they wouldnt respond to my email. Correction: its Rumsky and they claim to have invented it. They may be the first to market it commercially but they did not invent it!

Not unless they've been making it for well over 30 - 35 years because that was about the first recipe I ever ran after running crappy homemade wine... They didn't invent the recipe nor the name Rumsky... Maybe their specific recipe, but not the concept... I won't say what I made was overly palatable but my experimentation back then was more for proof of concept than fine spirits, thanks to Mother Earth News...

[jmashspirits14]

If I remember correctly the only difference in their recipe is that they use 4 grains but I cannot rember the 4th grain. If you search long enough you'll find it. Pissed me off when I seen it and their claims. Nope, I found it again. Google rumskey spelled just that way and youll find it. They use 7 grains and molasses. Said the idea came to him while making rum.

[pfshine]

They make two different ferments. Whiskey then a rum and combines them in the still. He use to run them separately then mix.

[NattyBoh]

Just took a sip or three of my sweetfeed that has been on oak for 3 months. It's excellent. So... Bottle it up or let it go longer?

[S-Cackalacky]

Just a suggestion - just pull it from the aging vessel a bottle at a time and dilute to drinking strength and leave what remains to continue aging. If you're aging in glass, you could also pull some out at aging strength into a smaller container and stash it away for the long term. Could give you some idea of what age is actually doing to it - comparatively speaking.

[rad14701]

Just a suggestion - just pull it from the aging vessel a bottle at a time and dilute to drinking strength and leave what remains to continue aging. If you're aging in glass, you could also pull some out at aging strength into a smaller container and stash it away for the long term. Could give you some idea of what age is actually doing to it - comparatively speaking.

+1... That was my thought as well...

[frodo]

I exercised horse's all thru high school, every night, 3 cups sweet feed, 3 cups corn, hay, water

carrots in my pocket during the day. for a "good Boy"

[Ridgerunnr]

No stores carrying it now..anyone buying individual grains and making their own? Its my understanding its corn,barley,oats and molasses. Just wondering what % of each ?????I looked here but after 20 pages I gave up lol

[MashMaker]

No stores carrying it now..anyone buying individual grains and making their own? Its my understanding its corn,barley,oats and molasses. Just wondering what % of each ?????I looked here but after 20 pages I gave up lol

I mix equal parts corn oats and barley by weight. I add molasses in with dissolved sugar at a rate of 1 cup per pound of grain for the first generation and I add 1/2 cup per pound on following generations on the same grain.
Hope this helps I'm sure others do it different.

[FreeMountainHermit]

No stores carrying it now..anyone buying individual grains and making their own? Its my understanding its corn,barley,oats and molasses. Just wondering what % of each ?????I looked here but after 20 pages I gave up lol

Equal parts of COB.

20 pages ?! You must be blind.

[BaxtersDad]

Here is a video on making sweetfeed hooch. There are a lot of nits to pick with how he does it, but the one thing he does right, I can tell you as a professional brewer, is the mashing process. I can only assume that this succeeds because the sweetfeed has enough malted barley in it to provide the diastatic power to convert all the starch in all the other ingredients into fermentable sugar. He is using Onata sweetfeed. I would probably include a significant amount of additional crushed malted barley in addition to the sweetfeed, but this worked for him without it.

The key point is that you do NOT boil the sweetfeed. You mash it, exactly as brewers mash malted barley. When we mash malted barley and adjuncts, we mix it with hot water to bring the temperature of the mash to between 135 degrees F and 160 degrees F. So I cannot argue with his use of 150 degrees as the mashing temperature nor the approximate one hour as the mashing time, nor with how he separated the sweet wort from the grain. It certainly appears that he got conversion of the starches to the sugars, based on the results. I would not mash in a pot on a stovetop. I would mash in in a cooler with a false bottom or an EasyMasher to drain off the sweet wort and sparge as brewers typically do. But his stovetop method is equally valid, the key thing being the 150 degree mashing temperture for one hour.

The nits? OK, what is the weight of the sweetfeed that results from "about 4" in a five gallon bucket"? How does he know he got conversion without an iodine test? What is the starting SG of his sweet wort? Without that, and then the final SG after fermentation, he dose not know that the ABV of the wash is. He did not force cool nor cover the sweet wort after straining, presenting a huge risk of infection. He did not rehydrate the yeast properly to pitch. He did no apparent cleaning or sanitation of any equipment. But hey, it apparently all worked for him.

All in all, I think there is a lot here in the idea of sweetfeed whiskey...

[Bigbob]

With a real sweet feed recipe you use sugar, there's no conversion just grain adding flavor.

[BaxtersDad]

With a real sweet feed recipe you use sugar, there's no conversion just grain adding flavor.

The five pounds of sugar in five gallons woud not have resulted in the necessary original SG to get the alcohol after distillation. He got conversion of starch in the grains into fermentable sugar, I doun't think here can be any doubt about that.

[bentstick]

But that is not the original recipe!
This the original!


If you like a really smooth whisky you need to try this recipe I have run it several times. It is easy and so far I have never had a ferment stall. If you try it let me know what you think. I have some that has aged on oak for about 2 months and it is really smoothing out. I oak at 55% ABV.


this is for 6 gallon wash

4" of sweet feed in the bottom of the bucket
7 pounds of white sugar
5 packets of bakers yeast or 8 tablespoons

heat 2 gallon of water to good hard boil then pour the water in the sweet feed add your sugar and stir for about 15min. the let stand for 90min. fill to 6 gallons with cool water after waiting 90min., your temp should be around 90F sprinkle your yeast in and stir gently. cover with lid and add your airlock. Mine is normally bubling away in about 4-6 hours. will run pretty good for about 2 days then will slow to a very slow rate. leave it for 5 days or untill you see it trying to clear sometimes it is 6 days. after that set it a cool place for about 24hours then rack it off and distill it. I normally get about 4 qaurts of low wines. sometimes my quart in the middle taste good enough I keep it aside and drink it just as it is.

after I run this through a pot still I use about half of my backset while it is still hot I put 7 pounds of sugar in the hot backset and convert my sugar. Let that cool to about 90F pour this back into your fermentor on your grain and yeast that was left in your bucket. add enough water to make 6 gallons normally my yeast wake up and are bubling away in about 4-5hours.

It seems very easy to me. I have really had good success with it. you can normally get your sweet feed at any farm supply store 50lbs for 7 bucks. It will last a long time

Mod edit to help with different size vessels:
Thanks Prairiepiss for the extra time on the calculations
So NIN posted that 4" in a 5 gal bucket is 7.69 lbs. It doesn't need to be exact. So let's break it down here.
You could go 1.5 to 1.75 lbs of sweetfeed and 1.5 to 1.75 lbs of sugar to a gallon of water. With no problems.
Or for the metric guys. .180 to .210 kg of sweetfeed and .180 to .210 kg sugar to 1 lt of water.
Or easier terms. Equal parts sweetfeed and sugar to end up with the SG you want.