uncle jesse's simple sour mash method

[SuperDavid]

good info! thanks!

[punkin]

I've got a propane fired pot still, the only thing i'm worried about burning is sugar.

I get bits of grain and fruit and crap in my still all the time, i mostly pour through a strainer, but sometimes i don't bother. Nothing ever burns except a wash/mash that hasn't finnished. If you try to distill a wash thats stuck halfway through the ferment, be very car3full.

That's where you're burnt taste in a spirit will come from. i don't know how to stop it, and i don't know how to correct it besides running through the VM.

[trthskr4]

Just take your time and don't get everly excited with the heat. It's hard to scorch it but it's still possible. I collect about a pint every 10-15 minutes and have so far never scorched a wash. It's easier to scorch when you're stilling on the grain.

[big_daddy_d]

Awsome Recipe Uncle Jesse

Hers what ive done so far
I have 2 9gal fermenters. I adapted the recipe to fit them 7.5 gal water 10.5 lbs corn and sugar 1 pack of whiskey yeast w/ag in each. Im now on my third ferment. Each time i run i put 21 lbs of sugar in my 20 qt pot then fill it up with the hot backset to melt sugar then i divide this up between the 2 fermenters then fill them the rest of the way with water.With in 30 min to 1 hour they start getting HAPPY takes about 4 to 5 days then i let them sit 1 day. i have to make 2 runs since my boiler is only 8 gal. I run it as hard as i can with out it puffing steam out the end of the condensor. im getting 1 gal of low wines per run. i dont drain the fermenters dry i just pour off till it starts getting cloudy about 6 gals.i add 3 gal of water to each fermenter to keep them yeastes happy while im running .It takes me a total of 3 hours to strip.Im using a propane burner in a draft free building i use a fan and have the windows open to keed carbon monoxide out. I plan on making a spirit run Wed. mourn. I will have 4 gallons of low wines to do a spirit run on.My buddies are pestering the piss out of me about when im gonna have it ready.

[Dutchmancreek]

big_daddy_d............instead of pouring from your fermenters, get a racking tube and siphon. You can carefully siphon a lot more clear mash that you can pouring since you don't disturb the bottom. You can get a lot more than 6 gallons from a 9 gallon fermenter this way and it's a lot easier.

[big_daddy_d]

LOL Ive got one. DAMN thang I drink more than i get out of it, got get me a Turky baster.

[Pita]

Thanks for sharing the recipe! I picked up all of the ingredients today, I can't wait to try it out! I have to clean my still out real well before I run this mash though. Definitely excited, seems like everyone loves it!

[harllequin1971]

Am I running things right here?

I have done my second batch of this now and I would just like to make some notes for you guys to read and see if I'm on the right track please.

I have created my pot still using a 70l stainless pot. The column is 260cm (2ft) high and 54mm (2inch) in diameter. I have reduced that down to an 8mm (0.3inch) outlet with 45degree downward slope. This outlet is wrapped with a 22mm (0.8Inch) wide 260cm (2ft) long condenser.
To this I have strapped a digital thermometer to the outside of the top of the column. The probe bit insulated to get the best reading I can.

I start the 25 ltr (6.6US Gallon) batch on full heat until the probe says it’s at 55c (131f) I then turn on the condenser flow and lower the heat to minimum.

This then lets the temp rise to 84c (183f) and I throw away the first 150ml of collected distillate.
I then collect the next 400ml and set that aside this is at 75%
I then collect in 100ml batches and test them anything above 70% I keep.
Once I hit 70% and below I've been keeping to use later and not drink as at that level I've noticed the off taste and smell of wet cardboard.
The volume I was able to keep was about 1500ml of 71% to 75% spirit.
I didn’t notice a gradual change from clear taste to cardboard, it seemed to happen in the space of 100 to 200 mls.

I can’t get the temp down on my boiler any lower than I have now unless I plug up some of the holes in the jets. I can easily however increase the heat.

Does what I'm doing sound about right or should I be doing things different.

Any comments will be gratefully accepted.
Thanks in advance folks

~Edited to add the wash size~

[punkin]

All sounds ok, cept the way you do your cuts.
You should collect the first 400ml segment in the 100ml lots too and use your sense of smell and taste to do your cuts. Taste from each jar by watering down a teaspoon full from the jar in a glass with a teaspoon of water. You don't need to rely on the hydrometer readings, they'll only give you an indication, each run is different.

You're on the right track and learning.

[smeag]

For Calcium Carbonate needs all I can find is caltrate pills that have vitamin D, I also checked other brands and they all seem to have the D. Will this have any adverse affects using crushed caltrate+D pills?

[Dnderhead]

Chalk,, also can be found in brew stores. as water conditioner,

[big_daddy_d]

I found a source for whole white food grade corn(exceptionaly clean no pieces of cob or trash). Running my first run of UJSM from it as i type.First samples taste very good.

[trthskr4]

I found a source for whole white food grade corn(exceptionaly clean no pieces of cob or trash). Running my first run of UJSM from it as i type.First samples taste very good.

You do what you want but if it's much more expensive than regular feed corn I don't see the point. If on the other hand it's a different type of corn ie. sweeter, more starch etc. then maybe it'd add a little to the brew.

[big_daddy_d]

10.00 a 50lb bag .50 cent more than yellow corn with out all the trash. White corn is alittle sweeter it gave it a smoother flavor right off the still. Once i backset it and let it work off and run it, should be real nice.

[trthskr4]

Hey that's not bad for the price then, let us know how it turns out. Have you made much UJSM with feed corn to compare it to? Matter of fact I'd like to know how it would do in an all grain mash cooked.

[bali boot leg]

Ive gotta say this forum and the people in it are just great. Iam only new and never made a batch but thats about to change. This week iam building a pot still and i am going to try this recipe.
a couple of questions.
can i use fresh corn instead of cracked ???(just cut the grain off the husk)
can i combine some fresh malted corn (just wash and clean the sprouts off with this ?? ( ive got some ready to germinate
would Palm sugar be ok instead of the white
most of the above is watts available to me where i live
Thanks

[Dnderhead]

yes you can use fresh corn but you will have to replace more often . and it is a sugar wash so you do not need the malt.but can add if you want.
If you cut the corn off like creamd corn. I thank you will have better luck.

[goose eye]

yea you can use palm suger but it probly aint as sweet as cane but dependin how they make it it mite be better. aint no need to mash if you usein fresh sweet corn with suger.

so im tole

[Hack]

I just ran some UJSM yesterday. I've had to skip putting the backset in for the last three generations because using approximately 25% backset had sent my ferment way too acidic and slowed fermentation way down. The latest generation that I started last night, also without backset, is just getting back into a good pH. I've been wondering why my pH was so far out of whack until it occured to me that the UJSM recipe is probably talking about backset from a spirit run. Because I use a thumper, backset from my boiler is going to be different than from a basic pot still on a spirit run. It would seem much more potent. For the next generation after the one I just started, I'm thinking I'll use my thumper juice as backset. Or maybe I could try using backset from the boiler, just in a much smaller proportion, and watch the pH carefully.

Any suggestions?

[punkin]

I just ran some UJSM yesterday. I've had to skip putting the backset in for the last three generations because using approximately 25% backset had sent my ferment way too acidic and slowed fermentation way down. The latest generation that I started last night, also without backset, is just getting back into a good pH. I've been wondering why my pH was so far out of whack until it occured to me that the UJSM recipe is probably talking about backset from a spirit run. Because I use a thumper, backset from my boiler is going to be different than from a basic pot still on a spirit run. It would seem much more potent. For the next generation after the one I just started, I'm thinking I'll use my thumper juice as backset. Or maybe I could try using backset from the boiler, just in a much smaller proportion, and watch the pH carefully.

Any suggestions?

25% should keep it ticking along nicely. If you need to recuce the backset because of acidity, i'd suggest doing it in small stages, just dropping backset for a stage reduces flavour to zero.

I can't see how the use of a thumper can possibly influence what is left in your boiler and how that could be different to not having a thumper?Can you explain your thoughts?

If the 'thumper juice' is anything like the boiler contents after a spirit run, i'd avoid putting it anywhere cept down the drain. Not something i'd wanna drink or have in my brew.

[Hack]

I guess I'm assuming most people take their backset from the boiler after a spirit run and that what I've got in my thumper after a run is similar to that. Now if the backset comes from the boiler after a stripping run, I've been doing it right all along except adding too much.

[Hawke]

Backset from a stripping run is what you want to use for your next wash. What's left from a spirit run is usually some pretty rancid stuff. Depends on what your thumper charge starts out as, as to how rank it is.

[Hack]

I guess I've been doing it right then, just adding too much.

My thumper fills itself, so I'm using low wines in it and yes it smells pretty rank when I open it up. It's definately not something I'd intuitively think to add to my fermenter, but some things you never know until you try.

[trthskr4]

Hack, I do my UJSM in 7.5 gallon fermenters and I use 1 to 1.5 gallon of backset from the stripping run in the next generation wash every time and usually have no problems until around gen. 6-7. If you are running UJSM with no backset then it is only a sugar wash with corn in it and you really don't get the flavor buildup that you're looking for.

What's your water ph that you use starting at? If it's low to begin with that may be where some of the problems are coming in. Usually it's around 7 for municipal water supplies but not always. Just asking about this but what are you using to test ph? Is it possible that it's not accurate? I'd use the backset until the ferments slow way down and then buffer the Ph or start over. That's just what I would do.

[smeag]

Ran my first run last night. After syphoning with my cane while fermenter is on a tilt it still leaves over a gallon or 2 of wash in the corn, I added 3.75 gallons of new water along with 1.25 gal of cooled sugar filled backset which filled my fermenter to the rim, I removed enough to give me headspace for the air lock to work (which is violently going to work).
Question is, should I have dug a hole in the center of the corn let settle so my cane reaches to the bottom therefore getting most of the wash or did I do the right thing by syphoning to an inch above the surface of the corn? Up to now I've been learning on sugar washes which one can clearly see the lees and know what to leave behind.

[punkin]

I let mine run out the tap on my fermenter just using the grain as a filter bed. It's fine, matter of fact it's better than fine

[trthskr4]

I put a piece of stainless steel scouring pad on the end of my racking canes and zip tie the thing to it then shove it to the bottom and siphon it off. That way I keep the corn out of my racking canes.

[smeag]

I put a piece of stainless steel scouring pad on the end of my racking canes and zip tie the thing to it then shove it to the bottom and siphon it off. That way I keep the corn out of my racking canes.

This is how I did rack it off, but just to the surface of the corn, tilting the fermenter slightly to get as much as I can, was concerned about leaving enough yeast behind. I now understand this is not so, after Punkin's method of running it out the tap at the bottom. Greedy guy like me will change my way on this next generation. Thanks

[Hack]

Hack, I do my UJSM in 7.5 gallon fermenters and I use 1 to 1.5 gallon of backset from the stripping run in the next generation wash every time and usually have no problems until around gen. 6-7. If you are running UJSM with no backset then it is only a sugar wash with corn in it and you really don't get the flavor buildup that you're looking for.

What's your water ph that you use starting at? If it's low to begin with that may be where some of the problems are coming in. Usually it's around 7 for municipal water supplies but not always. Just asking about this but what are you using to test ph? Is it possible that it's not accurate? I'd use the backset until the ferments slow way down and then buffer the Ph or start over. That's just what I would do.

I just caught your reply trthskr4.

I'm seeing that I'm probably not getting the flavor I could by skipping backset. Flavor has been very light on the last few runs, but still there. My water pH from the tap is right around seven. I'm using pH strips to test with. they're only good down to about 4.5, so when the pH gets too acidic I'm really not getting any visible change on my strips. This last generation I started is number 6 I think. I had a buildup of gunk in the bottom of the fermenter. So I scooped off the top 3/4 which was still good corn and dumped out the gunkiest that was in the bottom. I returned the good corn to the fermenter and replaced the amount I tossed with fresh corn. This ferment is now bubbling away nicely.

I suspect part of the reason my pH got so far off is that I've only been racking off the cleared mash and leaving a couple gallons in the grains. (I use a 12 gallon fermenter.) Maybe the combination of 25% backset along with leaving so much mash behind is what threw it so far out of whack.

All I really know is that the pH went out of the range of my test strips. Really, most of my suspecting the pH being way off was that my ferment was slowing way down, but now I'm thinking it could be a combination of gunky buildup and the weather cooling and not keeping the mash as warm as well. I've got an aquarium heater in the fermenter, but its not the same as warm summer weather for keeping the mash temp up.

[smeag]

I guess I'm a hard head and a work in progress one question gets answered and I have two more...hate to reach pest classifacation.
While leaving 2 gals in the fermenter covering corn adding 5 gal new water, 8.2# sugar and backset mixure seems I only will yeild around 8%, would it be wise or would you advise to add my first stripped pot run (70-35%) to this wash (The second batch) and strip together or save for sprit run? Will adding strippings to low ABV wash give me higher ABV to save for later spirt run, would that be the way to go?