Home Distiller

I know two ways to make Oat Whiskey.

The first is the SMOP method. Add 2 pounds of oatmeal per gallon to yer fermenter. Now add the amount of water (boiling) yer gonna use. Stir it well and cover and insulate with a few towels, blankets or a sleepingbag. Allow it to cool to 150ish degrees F. At 150ish F add amylase enzyme and stir it into the top 6 inches or so of oatmeal. Wait till the temp drops to 75 F or below and add some more amylase and also a nice neutral ale yeast like Nottingham ale yeast. IMPORTANT!!! Only stir it into the top 6 inches or so. If ya get pockets of yeast + amylase deep in the stiff oatmeal it will build pressure and possibly pop yer fermenter (I've taken the lid off of a batch of SMOP to have the oatmeal explode and hit the ceiling). What happens is that the top layer of the oatmeal is worked upon by the enzyme and yeast at the same time... conversion of starch to sugar and fermentation of sugar to alcohol is happenin' simultaneously. The top layer will turn liquid and thin. All ya have to do is daily stir the liquid on top into the top few inches of solid oatmeal. When it's liquid all the way to the bottom and the airlock stopps bubblin' yer done fermentin' and it's ready to run through yer potstill. It will take 10 days to two weeks to do a SMOP mash/ferment.

The other way to make oatwhiskey is to do a standard mash with a grain bill of 85% oats to 15% 6-row barley. You can use 20% 2-row if ya prefer, but I've noticed that while 6-row has a stronger flavor than 2-row, it seems to be less noticable in the oats than the 2-row. I can't explain this, but I have noticed it to be true time and again.



I wish yall luck.

I have made some oat whiskey,and me and 2 others have been experimenting with recipes. Use whole cleaned oats,the kind that you feed horses,and start out with 8-10Lbs of oats.You will have to run them through a grain mill and get a good crush,but where they are still intact.Put them in boiling water,and turn off the heat and cover,or even better put them in a cooler,and leave them over nite.Mash them with at least 4Lbs of 2 or 6 row malt thats been milled.Start the mash at 158f in a cooler,and leave it over nite.The next day add 8-10Lbs of sugar to the still warm mash,and put it in your fermenter.Use prestige whiskey yeast with /ag and ferment out.After the first run,save the backset,and use all of it with 8-10 Lbs of sugar on the same grain.After 3 runs add some oats,and malt or amelaze enzyme.Do stripping runs and collect down to 40%,and when you get enough ran to do a spirit run,add a 1/2 gallon of backset to all your stripped booze.Do your spirit run,and make some cuts.Be careful not to over oak it.It will be mild,but dont oak it as heavy as normal for whiskey.Just put a little color in it,and make sure its at 60-65% when you oak it.It is very easy to overdo it with the oak,so dont use much,and taste it every day,or you will overdo it. This is the no-smop method,and will give more flavor than using oatmeal,and is alot easier to rack,and deal with.
wineo

I am one of the 2 experimenters that Wineo talked about. I did 2 mashes of rolled oats, a dedicated and careful mash, but still had at end of ferment a fairly thick soup i wouldn't put into my boiler without a double boiler or jacket. Then, my wife got me 80# of whole oat berries, no husk but the whole oat grain, organic also. It was on sale of course, even though they had to order it so it was fresh. This worked easy and very well, converted nicely in my new cooler per Wineos reccomendations and with an overnight conversion. Made one heck of a great whisky. White and oaked and very easy to rack off, like corn or others after ferment.

I have had a taste of his, very young and truth to be told, his beats mine hands down. Just as mild as mine, and with equivalant cuts, but a much richer oats flavour and body. Just as important, he had the oaking down just right for my taste. Almost no color, but really excellent oak flavour, without being distracting to the mild oat taste. His addition of stillage to the spirit run,may have a lot to do with it also.

This is a very supurb taste unlike any store bought, just aint there, in any brand or bottle. Taint made. Nowheres, nohow, no place, except your own still. If you want a mild but rich whisky this is worth trying.

Caution: I opened a bottle he gave me and judged it by taste and bite to be a little over 8z proof. Drank it as such. By dang, i had to try it more carefully the next night just to remember. Not the slightest hangover or bad stomache, but sure drank a full gallon of water and juices in the next 24 hours.

A few further notes on Oat Whiskey:

If yer usin' whole oats or oatberries, be careful of burnin' yer mash in the still, but if ya use oatmeal a tiny amount of scorchin' will go un-noticed. Don't know why this is, but I've had to scrub off some scorched bits on the bottom of my boiler after oat whiskey runs, and the distillate had no burnt or scorched taste at all. None. The oatmeal version of this mash will distintegrate usin' the SMOP method and all the fermenter other than the yeast layer at the bottom goes into the still... just run it slow and don't sweat the scorchin'. (If ya burn yer mash bad, of course you'll taste it in yer whiskey... just run the still slow and don't sweat the small stuff.)

Also, oat whiskey has a very mild and easily overpowered flavor. Oak it if ya must, but be sure to try white. I prefer to drink it white after agin' it 100 days or so.



I wish ya luck.

Thanks Holy,

I obviously didn't get a good and proper mash, as my rolled oats sure didn't disintagrate, it did thin a lot but was like a runny oatmeal still.

Useing the whole oats or oat berries, it is pretty easy to rack off after fermentation and through a ss fine sieve so theres no grain to scorch. And yes this is a fantastic and mild drink.
I am going to try some millet this summer, and will let you know how it turns out.

On the recipe that I posted,I did not distill on the grain,and had very little stuff,or bits of grain in my racked mash.The oats stay intact for the most part,so scortching wont be a problem.Just dont mill the oats to the point that they fall apart.Just crack them open good.I ran this in a 30Ltr beer keg,and heated it with a turkey burner,using propane,and ran it slow.I always run with low heat because you will get better seperation.
wineo

I am trying the Wineo method sort of. I remembered the 8-10 lbs. of oats and I had planned on doing 15% 2-row, but when I got it in the cooler and all hot and converting I couldn't remember how much sugar. I did it this way, boiled 5 gallons water put 11 lbs. whole oats in my 8 gallon steel cooler (antique igloo water cooler) added the boiling water at 175*F to the oats and let it cool to 155* and tossed in 1.75 lbs 2-row, but this morning I couldn't remember how much sugar so I thought I'd use a little ingenuity and added sugar to bring my SG up to 1.05 or so and that is exactly what I did. It was a little warm when I got ready later to pitch my yeast so I added a half gallon of cold water to bring the temps down to 85*. When I got home this evening it had puked through the airlock and covered the top of my fermenter. I don't know what it will ferment out to but hopefully it'll get down to .095 or so. We'll see.

It sounds like your right on track.It should have plenty of flavor.

Wineo, it's forming a cap of course, should I try to keep that punched down? How long would you think it'll take to work off cause it's slowed way down this morning?

I usually punch down the cap every day or so to keep it wet.When its done,the cap will sink.

Duh, I forgot about the cap sinking. Thanks Wineo, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Geesh, 36 hours and she's already down to 1.005 and getting a bubble through the airlock about every 30-45 seconds. Stark contrast from nearly blowing the lid off yesturday. Got a nasty puke smell almost dog crap now.

Just let it finish,and give it a little time to clear some.You dont have to clear it real good,but if theres alot of yeast in the boiler,it can produce some unwanted esters,and possably scortch some if you run hard.

Annnnnnnnd? The results were.........?

Curious as I'm stockpiling oats for a big mash.

It turned out good, not much quantity though. 5 pints total output, but I found a leak in my still towards the end of the run. Very smooth even the heads if it wasn't for the smell the heads would be drinkable if watered down. My tails weren't quite so pronounced on this one probably because of it's mellow nature. I'm gonna do it again later just in a 55 gallon fermenter rather than 8 gallon. I only got about 100ml of drinkable body so I sipped a little of it while the tails were running and saved the rest for a second run. Got a UJSM style on now and going try Aidas' 10 weeks on oak trial.

Bump

I found this thread while searching for SMOP. It sounds to me like this method would work on most types of grains not just oats, or maybe with slight changes. Has anyone tried that?

Question: Does the viscosity of the oatmeal wash become a problem?

Ican imagine the mixture becoming really viscous or even gelatinous - if ever you've let oatmeal get cold, you know what I mean. What has your experience been?

oats is not a problem if you add enzymes as you cook, but oats does have a lot of turb.
it also makes a difference on the oats, hole, rolled oats,or quick oats (steamed)
hole oats have the hall and helps it from getting so thick.
rolled oats have the hall removed and gits thick unless you use enzymes during cooking.
steamed/quick oats does not need cooking (150f)(66c) water for enzymes to work.
I also recommend using a lot of water the first time. as 1-1 1/2 lb per gal.(1/2 -3/4kg to 4 L)

TXnational wrote:Question: Does the viscosity of the oatmeal wash become a problem?

Ican imagine the mixture becoming really viscous or even gelatinous - if ever you've let oatmeal get cold, you know what I mean. What has your experience been?

Yes. Go back and read the SMOP section of the inital post again... it makes it all clear (I hope).






I wish ya luck.

What would you usually do with the oats once you're through with them? Would they be suitable for "brewer's breakfast?" :P

they whould not hurt you but id cook good as live yeast (if you distilled on grain) will give you the farts.

My nebior did that with a batch i cooked up lol. Tore him up bad. I tried to warn him but, what the hell do i know right.
Any way I don't think he will do that agian.

Iv never used oats but other distillers grain in bread muffins etc with no effect,as long as cooked good.

dnder? if my atempts at oats was harsh or hot tasting, would speeding up the run help? or is oat whisky allways "hot"?

My only attempt at oat whisky - back in '08 - was a success although a bit light on flavour as Holymackeral noted. I did age it on oak for quite a few months and there is no harshness. I bottled it just a few days ago and will now leave it under the house for another year or so. I'll let you know how it is in 2011.

blanik

Had some oats sitting in the shed so I decided to have another go at this. I'll try add some light dried malt to the steamed oats to see what transpires.

blanik

The usual fuck up. No conversion. I'll give it another day or two and then pour the lot into a bigerr fermenter and whip up some oat sugar head.

blanik

your not going to git much out of oats, their one of the lowest starch grains there is.and lots of fiber.

Dnderhead wrote:your not going to git much out of oats, their one of the lowest starch grains there is.and lots of fiber.

This could explain why it's never worked as expected, dunder. Why I didn't ask this question years ago has me baffled. Just dumb I guess. Never mind, it'll still make a nice oak sugarhead. Thanks once again dunder.


blanik

Dunder you said "steamed/quick oats does not need cooking (150f)(66c) water for enzymes to work."
You mean like "quaker rolled oats" doesn't need cooking? Just pitching temp?
I just mix it in the warm water with the enzymes and it will convert?