Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Fidget »

Thanks Jimbo. I've put the lid on and sealed it most of the way but not all. Co2 is escaping nicely as the tog lid is not bobbling out of shape :) and if I put my nose close to the unsealed area I can smell a sweet odour of malt and alcohol...it's lovely :)

So in my kitchen it's up at 22 to 24 degree. I fear for this ale yeast therefore that I ought to move it. The cellar is cooler around 16 degree ambient but there's mould and damp down there. Spare room is around18 degrees, so probably there.

Next time I'll try bakers and compare. My concurrent rum run, my other first go using molasses and sugar, is happy at 22 to 24 but it has bakers so that's all good.


If I let the ales yeast get too warm it will produce,esters that are crap for beer in know.....I guess they're also no good for whisky mash? Nb I do not have 10 years spare nor any oak barels :!: :( :)
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG R

Post by Fidget »

One other question, probably daft. Am I to just leave it be he whole ferment? Reason I ask is that there's a thick layer of malt bits coating the surface in the tub,. Is there anything to be gained from stirring and aerating every few days?
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by jedneck »

Leave it alone, the cap will fall when its done.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by HDNB »

i'm going after this with another 40 bucks worth of malt in the coming days. i have a question or a thought... the back story:
I made this and failed. i think for 3 reasons. 1. didn't stir enough 2. didn't aerate and 3. left it for an overnight rest instead of cooling. I made all these mistakes as i was also doing booner's casual corn at the same time and "melded" the recipes together in my mind.
the result was 1. poor sugar content from not stirring enough. 2. and 3. caused an infection that produced butyric acid (thanks for helping identify that jimbo) on research, it seems this particular bacteria proliferates in an anerobic fermetation, and by not cooling after a couple hours it established enough of a colony to make the distillate smell like puke.

so question/thought...what if a guy raised the temperature to kill the shit outta any bacteria and added back sebstar and sebamyl at temps? seems like a simple, cheap solution.

i think i'm going to follow to the letter, the recipe and 1. stir it more 2. aerate the hell out of it and 3. cool fast after 2 hours and pitch... but i wonder if the enzymes are an option to try one day after i get the recipe down...
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Jimbo »

You could try pasteurizing it, but shouldnt need to if everything is clean and sterile when you start, and you get a good yeast starter going asap. Plenty of Single Malt distillers the world around doing this without pasteurizing. My S3 is fermenting strong and smellin good. Gonna run it this weekend. Give er another go. Skip the overnight sit. THat warm temp is a hotbed incubator for bacteria. Drop from mash temp to pitch temp asap with a wort chiller and get a good healthy yeast starter going and youll be fine.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by 4xRotor »

HDNB- I am in the same situation. I did the overnight cooling also and woke to a massive infection. Can't decide if I should let it ferment out or dump it. Right now it smells like rotten eggs. (Sulfur)
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Fidget »

I think I'm done, it tastes very bitter, sour almost....

Mash was a mix of pale malt, Munich malt, Vienna malt and biscuit malt. Yeast was Nottingham ale.

It's had a month between 16 and 19 DegC

Now if opened to hydro test I'm concerned that the co2 blanket is gone so probably I should run it soon!


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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Jimbo »

Looks great Fidget! Run it!
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by chris_zx2 »

Hey guys I made a batch using 75% 6-row and 25% peated at 2 lbs per gallon (6 gallons total). Unfortunately I couldn't get milled so I "milled" it myself with a rolling pin and a zip lock bag.
When I all had cooled to 84° I checked the SG and it was only 1.035? I'm wondering if that is because I didn't mill it well enough?
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by 4xRotor »

Ok i will take run at this one. Truth be known I'm still a rookie but
Strike temp?
Mash time?
How often did you stir the mash?
I like your grain bill!
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Fidget »

Jimbo wrote:Looks great Fidget! Run it!

After a few weeks sat patiently in 9 cut jars, ad with a bit of airing here and there, I finally made a mini blend with bits of jars 2, 3 and 7 with a wee drop from jar 1 (jar 0 was fores and was ditched).

Even as white dog this was a very nice few sips, sweet and strong, no burn, nice sour after taste too.

I'll experiment a bit with the other jars, 4 definitely smelled good, but 5 6 and 7 seemed a bit off, though I do wonder if that could be containment odour from the jar lids (very cleaned but possibly some residual Asian curry paste smell!!! another lesson learned there).

Once cuts are picked I have a choice of dried cured cherry wood or pear wood to cut, toast and drop in....very exciting.


If some of the cuts are tainted with spicy food trace jars, should those be chucked, or could they go into the next run to be re-run and maybe cleaned?
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Jimbo »

sounds good. dont forget youre making whiskey, so if 4 is clean and 5 is starting to change in smell to tails, after aging on wood it very well may be among the tastiest. The very safest approach is to wood age jar 5 and 6 seperately, then taste in 6 months. If you say wow, you can pour them back into your blend at that time.

Keep in mind differnet woods will taste completely different. Oak lactones are not found in cherry and other woods. My experiments with other woods were not as delightful as others on here. It could be Im just accustomed to oak, but I found the flavors off, bitter, and missing the caramel goodness I want to taste in there. Not to rain on your parade, just be careful, be a shame to come back and be unhappy later.

If you have food and spice taint, you might be screwed. THose particular esters may prove very stuborn to get rid of. But defintiely try what you can with reruns before pitching. My worst similar experience was with a corny keg that held root beer. I scrubbed the keg out with hot soapy water, washed all the seals in a hot soapy tub (I didnt have replacement seals on hand), then sterilized everything. And in a week I still had a very root beer tasting pale ale. Was not happy about that.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Fidget »

The early middle, and very late jars are now cut together on half toasted half charred cherry

The questionable late middle jars are on charred oak, separate container. Will monitor both and contemplate blending at a later date, testing separate and mixed in a few months time.

Thanks for the suggestion to age separate....very good idea.

Will report back with pics once some colour develops :)

The smell even after one week and just a little bit a bit of nuking, Is already mouth watering....so now for some proper ageing to see what that adds.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by wjk1967 »

Root beer is impossible to clean, requires all new o rings and seals, even the poppets.

It's nice to see that making whiskey is almost easier than making beer, I'll be trying this soon as it warms up a bit here.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by chris_zx2 »

In my opinion making whiskey is easy but making good whiskey takes experience and patience more than anything else.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Notta Number »

So Jimbo...it's been a while since my last post upon making your recipe. I now have 2 successful batches after the puking/bacteria failure. This last batch I changed my procedure based on your recommendation of doing 2 stripping runs, then a spirit run. I sped up the stream on the stripping runs, and slowed it back down for the spirit run, but not all that way back to 2-3 drops per second, it was more like a very slow broken stream which seemed to work well. I've had some problem with my RSC getting hot and melting the inside to capture the still heater plug. I need to fix this for next run, I now keep a fan on it with the back off to cool off the inside during the run.

I had 2 mashes of about 5.25% of Red Wheat, and got about 105 oz. of product out of the still from each stripping batch, not making any cuts. I then combined and did a final spirit run (which was weird and cool since all the product put into the still was clear, as was the dunder). It took a while, but the result smelled really nice, and tasted really nice as well, sweet and fragrant like apples/bananas. I ended up collecting about 200 oz. of product, stopped collecting at about 10%. Left out for a day, did my cuts, and ended up with about 100 oz. of whiskey to put into my 1 gal. keg at about 90 proof. Man I had a hard time not putting more heads into the mix since they smelled and tasted so nice, but they did have a substantial bite, hence I'm assuming the headache monster was living in them. I also cut into the tails a fair amount, but the results from the previous batch seemed to indicate that these tails do mature into a nice rich and complex flavor after several months.

My plan is to not touch it for 4 months. I'll open and get some oxygen in there once a week or so, since that seems to help. And rotate frequently. But other than that, I'll just have to wait. But the tastes during the cutting were very encouraging, I have a feeling this will indeed produce a fine drop. It's amazing how much work this is. I figure I really need 3 stripping runs per spirit run to get a full gallon of whiskey for my keg. This hobby is sure not about making it easier, or cheaper for that matter, but it's about the satisfaction of making your own, being able to tell your buddies, "I made that whiskey!".

Thanks for all the pointers. Next up? Oats? Bourbon? Rye? Rum? Man, so many choices, so little time!
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by 4xRotor »

Notta
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Love this wheat
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Jimbo »

Sounds great notta. Congrats on some nice runs.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Swedish Pride »

SoMo wrote:Mash with half the water then cool with the other half, easiest way I know of, adjust water temps as you're adding to get to pitching temp.
Is there a reason that the worth chiller is recommended over using half the water as SoMo suggests?
to me it would seem an ideal way to cool her down, no cost and no messing with chiller tubes and pump etc... is it harder to get full conversion using less water?

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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by chris_zx2 »

Swedish Pride wrote:
SoMo wrote:Mash with half the water then cool with the other half, easiest way I know of, adjust water temps as you're adding to get to pitching temp.
Is there a reason that the worth chiller is recommended over using half the water as SoMo suggests?
to me it would seem an ideal way to cool her down, no cost and no messing with chiller tubes and pump etc... is it harder to get full conversion using less water?

Cheers
Was wondering this myself, that way you could mash on the heat instead of adding the water to the mash?
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Jimbo »

No reason not to cool down with half the mash water. Thin mashes convert better tho if you go higher on the water. And you wont quite hit ferment temp, but certainly will knock it down quite a bit. Ice water might do the trick.

This only works if youre fermenting on the grain. If youre fermenting just the wort, off grain, you need the second half of the water at 170F to lauter out (sparge) all the groceries from the grain.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Swedish Pride »

Cheers Jimbo.
Will deffo try the wheat once I get my keg built.
would kill me to half fill my current 10l still 5 times for a 25l wash :crazy:
Bad enough as it is.

Will report back once I've taken the AG plunge :)
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Notta Number »

So I've aged the last run for 2 months now....gots some color, and the flavor is developing nicely. Another 2 months of discipline and it should be niiiiice and ready! :) Just ordered a new 1 Liter cask for aging.....
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by npstephe »

I've been dreaming of doing a Single Malt AG since I started reading about distilling a few years ago. I wanted to get the basics down first before shelling out for one. Started with UJSSM for 8-9 Gens. Then I did 7-8 AG (NChootch Bourbon & Variant of Jimbo's 1/2 Barrel). Now I'm ready. I bought a Cereal Killer grain mill and will be doing the mash next weekend. My local HBS has 50 lbs of 6-row for $41 and peated malt for $2.40/lb. I'm thinking of doing 15% peated, so 34lbs 6-row and 6 lbs peated in the 23 Gallons of water, testing OG after the 20 Gal mark. Or I might just do 39lb 6-row and 7lb peated to keep the 2lbs/gal. thoughts?

I have two 25-Gal barrels and an electric keg. So I'm ready!
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by npstephe »

The mash is done. I ended up with 23 gallons of wash at a 1.057 OG. Got full conversion in two hours at 146 F. I'm happy with it over all. Waiting for it to cool to pitch my yeast starter I made earlier today.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by jedneck »

npstephe wrote:The mash is done. I ended up with 23 gallons of wash at a 1.057 OG. Got full conversion in two hours at 146 F. I'm happy with it over all. Waiting for it to cool to pitch my yeast starter I made earlier today.
Makes ya feel good don't it. I just tucked 50# malted corn,10# malted whrite wheat and 10# rye into bed for an over nite mash. Not a single malt but it never went over 150°. Smells great.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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jedneck wrote:
npstephe wrote:The mash is done. I ended up with 23 gallons of wash at a 1.057 OG. Got full conversion in two hours at 146 F. I'm happy with it over all. Waiting for it to cool to pitch my yeast starter I made earlier today.
Makes ya feel good don't it. I just tucked 50# malted corn,10# malted whrite wheat and 10# rye into bed for an over nite mash. Not a single malt but it never went over 150°. Smells great.

That's gonna be some good stuff! I'm jealous. I couldn't believe how different the mash was with using no corn. It was a lot thinner. I have a rye mixture ready to strip tomorrow too. Love the smell!

**Edit: I had to leave it set overnight to cool down. My immersion chiller isn't in operation yet. I even tried to use the 2nd addition of water to cool it, but it only got it down to 105F or so. So i put the lids on and went to bed for it to cool down. Woke up the next morning to a foam cap on the top of both fermenters...and it smelled of CO2, so im guessing some wild yeast got in there and started fermenting. Oops. I had healthy yeast starters going for half a day by then so i pitched them. Hopefully the yeast starters will overtake the wild yeast.

It's fermenting like crazy now so something is working. My garage smells good. I just hope the wild yeast don't add any strange flavors to it. Maybe i'll get lucky.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by npstephe »

Well i believe it has finished fermenting. my FG is reading 1.014...I was hoping it would get closer down to 1, but its been stuck here for 2 days. Testing PH it is way low, as far as my strips are concerned. added what seemed like a bunch of baking soda to one of the barrels which didn't seem to change the PH at all. I cant run it till this weekend so i'm going to let it sit. Anyone have opinions on the PH? I need to get a bag of crushed oyster shells for future ferments, my PH always seems to drop recently.

I plugged the recipe into brewersfriend and the FG it spat out was 1.013...So is it safe to say that I am finished?
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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npstephe wrote:Well i believe it has finished fermenting. my FG is reading 1.014...I was hoping it would get closer down to 1, but its been stuck here for 2 days. Testing PH it is way low, as far as my strips are concerned. added what seemed like a bunch of baking soda to one of the barrels which didn't seem to change the PH at all. I cant run it till this weekend so i'm going to let it sit. Anyone have opinions on the PH? I need to get a bag of crushed oyster shells for future ferments, my PH always seems to drop recently.

I plugged the recipe into brewersfriend and the FG it spat out was 1.013...So is it safe to say that I am finished?
what was your mash temp?

what is the pH now? you should not need oyster shells or other stuff to adjust pH up. If it stopped, it highly unlikely due to pH, especially in a single malt. Could be mash temp (unfermentable dextins) , yeast pitch rate, water chemistry (iron, salt, other anti yeast things), ferment temp for the yeast youre using etc etc. All those are more likely than a pH issue.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by npstephe »

Jimbo wrote:what was your mash temp?

what is the pH now? you should not need oyster shells or other stuff to adjust pH up. If it stopped, it highly unlikely due to pH, especially in a single malt. Could be mash temp (unfermentable dextins) , yeast pitch rate, water chemistry (iron, salt, other anti yeast things), ferment temp for the yeast youre using etc etc. All those are more likely than a pH issue.
Sorry, meant to include that. I mashed at 144-146F for around 2 hours. I need to get a better PH tester. All I can see with the strips is that its under 4.3...

The water chemistry I can't say, but I've had AG washes ferment out to 1.00 with the same water.

Yeast i am using Superstart distiller's yeast(not the best, i know. but its what I have and until i build a fermentation chamber it's what I have to use) which says 90F for ferment temps. My garage stays anywhere from 85-90 so that's where I keep it. It worked fast and hard for the first few days then slowed way down and I don't see any activity in there now. I pitched 2 Tablespoons per barrel with 11.5 gallons in each barrel. I used a starter of some clear wash.
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