uncle jesse's simple sour mash method

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

Good luck. This is the only recipe I've done and love it. Even better after some time on oak.

[ben stiller]

Plan your ferments so that that the extra 1/2g goes into the low wines for a spirit run. Dumping it into the next generation seems like asking for trouble to me, but try it and see how it goes, if it works for you, keep doing it.[/quote]

Exactly what I did. Saved it in the fridge for my spirit run.

[WalkingWolf]

Started a new cycle of this this evening. This has been my go-to recipe for several years now. This is what my wife and I drink and what friends have called the best whiskey they have ever had. Only keep the center hearts and dump the rest in and rerun.

4lb cracked corn
2 cups flaked rye
2 cups flaked oats
1/2 pound of crystal malt (I only replace this every other ferment)
10 lbs cane sugar

Can't stress enough -- if you are not liking what you're making then you need to work on your cuts (see my sig)

[Boxcutter]

Seeing if this is normal. Popped the lid to my fermentor and noticed a foam cap on top is that normal

[Bushman]

Seeing if this is normal. Popped the lid to my fermentor and noticed a foam cap on top is that normal

Yes.

[Boxcutter]

Seeing if this is normal. Popped the lid to my fermentor and noticed a foam cap on top is that normal

Yes.

Thank you

[moosemilk]

Started a new cycle of this this evening. This has been my go-to recipe for several years now. This is what my wife and I drink and what friends have called the best whiskey they have ever had. Only keep the center hearts and dump the rest in and rerun.

4lb cracked corn
2 cups flaked rye
2 cups flaked oats
1/2 pound of crystal malt (I only replace this every other ferment)
10 lbs cane sugar

Can't stress enough -- if you are not liking what you're making then you need to work on your cuts (see my sig)

Sounds great. Does the cane sugar give a bit of rum flavor? Also, hard for me to find even unmalted rye in my area, you think pure rye flour would do? (I realize it may make it thick, but being only two cups for flavor it shouldn't be too bad considering I'm not mashing).

Walking wolf whiskey...has a nice ring to it!

[HDNB]

Started a new cycle of this this evening. This has been my go-to recipe for several years now. This is what my wife and I drink and what friends have called the best whiskey they have ever had. Only keep the center hearts and dump the rest in and rerun.

4lb cracked corn
2 cups flaked rye
2 cups flaked oats
1/2 pound of crystal malt (I only replace this every other ferment)
10 lbs cane sugar

Can't stress enough -- if you are not liking what you're making then you need to work on your cuts (see my sig)

Sounds great. Does the cane sugar give a bit of rum flavor? Also, hard for me to find even unmalted rye in my area, you think pure rye flour would do? (I realize it may make it thick, but being only two cups for flavor it shouldn't be too bad considering I'm not mashing).

Walking wolf whiskey...has a nice ring to it!

no reason you couldn't add 3Ml of enzymes on that, convert the starches and then add sugar for the gumballhead if you wanted to moosemilk. and then send me a bottle.

i like the WWWhiskey brand too. Needs a label with his cool avatar Jimbo.

sry fer going further off....

[hiltonhead]

Have done several generations of UJSSM and it is better every time. Have 13 gallon boiler and added a 2 gallon thumper. With 10 gallon of wash in boiler and 1 gallon in thumper I get a head jar and the next is unbelievably good. After that jar it is still good but gets more of a bite. Is my thumper to small?

[Full_moon]

I have been making two strip runs followed by a spirit run of ujssm. Distilling in an 8 gal. milk can boiler, running a simple pot still, 15 in x 2 in packed column with 24 in. liebig.

I have always diluted my low wines to 40% to make my spirit run. Recently I diluted the last two runs to 33% and 34%. I found that the end results were much better than diluting to the usual 40%.
I had less heads, more hearts with the cut off between the heads and hearts easier to recognize. I usually make cuts for foreshots on each strip and spirit run prior to collecting.

So my question is, what percent abv of low wines do most of you run for your spirit run?
Mainly I'm talking pot still here. and ujssm recipe. I imagine the differences in individual pot stills could be a factor, and the way you run your still. However there should be an area of ABV of low wines that could be considered the best.

For me, it is now 33 to 35%

[moosemilk]

I always do a strip run down until my overall collected is about 28-30% abv. That way there is no worrying about watering down for spirit run, and I get a lot more flavor that way. Just toss the fors on strip run then let the jug fill.

[jedneck]

I have been making two strip runs followed by a spirit run of ujssm. Distilling in an 8 gal. milk can boiler, running a simple pot still, 15 in x 2 in packed column with 24 in. liebig.

I have always diluted my low wines to 40% to make my spirit run. Recently I diluted the last two runs to 33% and 34%. I found that the end results were much better than diluting to the usual 40%.
I had less heads, more hearts with the cut off between the heads and hearts easier to recognize. I usually make cuts for foreshots on each strip and spirit run prior to collecting.

So my question is, what percent abv of low wines do most of you run for your spirit run?
Mainly I'm talking pot still here. and ujssm recipe. I imagine the differences in individual pot stills could be a factor, and the way you run your still. However there should be an area of ABV of low wines that could be considered the best.

For me, it is now 33 to 35%

That is where taking notes comes in handy. Strip till you have the abv that will give you the abv that you want after cuts on your spirit run.

[Full_moon]

Thanks moosemilk and jedneck

Ill take notes, forget about stopping my strip at a certain percent and collect down to get the percent I want and wind up with a better spirit run of ujssm.
I think I'll shoot for a little lower % next run.

[Uncle Jesse]

In about a month...

This thread will be 10 years old.

[moosemilk]

In about a month...

This thread will be 10 years old.

[MichiganCornhusker]

In about a month...

This thread will be 10 years old.

Very well done, Jesse, and all those years are still available to us in these threads.
In about a month, then, I'll enjoy a nice glass of my first UJ, currently sitting on oak. Thank you!

[freshwaterjellyfish]

...happy belated Birthday UJSSM!!
....since i started this hobby those acronyms have been all ive seen-on google, this site, even other distiller's forums. i wasnt interested in distilling grain at the time, so i tried to disregard that UJSSM sequence. but theres no escaping them.
..... When im finished my oat project, i might hold off on the sweet feed project to give this a try.. (by the time my dad brings me some sweet feed, ill be done 3 runs of ujssm anyways)...

quick question:
should i keep the backset generations true to the UJSSM mash? or start w odins corn flake backset?

[Husker]

Wholly CRAP. in 2 days, this will be a decade long EPIC thread, with almost a half million views!!!!.

There are 3200 replies to it, and I bet over the years, we have removed 5000/10000 'not' relevant posts from it (the "wow, works great" type). The wonderful thing is this IS a wonderful recipe. Simple, classic and it WORKS well. Still one of my favorites, even IF it is just a sugar head recipe.

Note, this is topic 725 (on the new board), so it was done very early on when UJ switched over to phpbb. Actually, this post has been here longer than me, lol.

H.

[One Sock]

Happy anniversary UJSSM! Without a doubt the best recipe to cut yer teeth on when beginning this amazing hobby!

[moosemilk]

On the anniversary, it'll be perfect timing. I have a few AG to rack off so I'll use the grains for a piggyback with the UJ recipe and who knows, maybe set aside to age some for the next decade birthday of this thread. This is the recipe I started with, and use to piggyback almost every AG I do now to get the most out of my grains. Happy tenth birthday here UJSSM, and cheers to the next ten!

[Moonshiner 67]

Doing my first spirit run today, how ironic that its the 10th anniversary!! Hell i was only 12 when this thread started

[Bushman]

Don't know how you guys figure this out but sounds like a good reason for about 3 fingers this evening!

[Rastus]

So I started up on Ujssm a while back,

i had a long run on the sweetfeed last year, but finally finished my flute build and wanted to go with the corn this time ....

everything went fine first round, saved the hearts for the second generation. but this week i thought the ferment was done, the cap was dropped after 3.5 weeks ugh! when i checked it with the hydrometer, DAD BRURNED if it wasnt still 1.040...crap! it stalled.... didn't taste too sweet, so last night i got to thinking should if I should just run it ?....

for yeast this time i used Bakers yeast. on my sweet feed, I used Premiere Cuvee... which worked very well for me even in winter when it is hard to keep them yeast bugs from hibernating... they always pulled through for me for 9 generations. i tried hard to stick to bakers yeast but even in my boiler room I cant get it warmer than about 70 f, i even took my wife's electric towel drying rack and wrapped it up with reflectix (silver foiled bubble wrap) next to the 12 gallon bucket but, no luck. the cuvee says it is happy down to 45f so, as last year showed me i can count on it ,being it is a noted yeast for being neutral in flavor and excellent for saving stuck ferments... so ..... i dug out 2 packets of Cuvee ( 10 gallon batch) and sprinkled them over the top , and went to bed, this morning it is swirling like a northeastern snowstorm in 2015... whew!!! I hope it works good.
we'll see how it goes now.

first run came out so neutral i cannot perceive much flavor at all... although now i taste the familiar sourness in the gen 2 wash. so i really hope more flavor comes through.. i am a little worried about the 5 plate 4" flute pulling too much flavor. i may drop a plate if so, as i noticed a straight 92 percent through the hearts and tails hit like a brick wall very clear division.... Dont know what to do with my old 3" boka, i fear i can never go back to her.... Any comments from the flute men here? should i back off the Dephlag and let a few plates flatten out at the bottom of the stack for flavor? or just keep em all bubbling? I do want to taste some of that corn goodness.


Just a note from the field.

Cheers

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

Doing my first spirit run today, how ironic that its the 10th anniversary!! Hell i was only 12 when this thread started

So was I haha

[Jimbo]

Does anyone here have something left from 10 years ago?

[Moonshiner 67]

Doing my first spirit run today, how ironic that its the 10th anniversary!! Hell i was only 12 when this thread started

So was I haha

haha good to know that there are some people under 30 in this group. I was beginning to feel like the only one

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

Yep. There doesn't seem to be many younger people distilling at home. Which I think is a shame. It's a great tradition and needs to be passed down.

[Moonshiner 67]

Yep. There doesn't seem to be many younger people distilling at home. Which I think is a shame. It's a great tradition and needs to be passed down.

I completely agree! That is why my buddy and I wanted to start doing this. Its not a family tradition but for us its a southern tradition. Its part of where we come from and we wanted to be a part of it.

[glassstill]

hi there everyone I just got a glass still the "pot" is 1 liter and I was wondering what is the best quick mash and can you use corn meal? im wanting to cook up some high powered ethyl to run in my motorized bike LOL no just love watching moonshiners and thought I would try a batch and see if it comes out right using glassware instead of VERY EXPENSIVE COPPER. please let me know what I need to make a batch using corn meal

[NZChris]

hi there everyone I just got a glass still the "pot" is 1 liter and I was wondering what is the best quick mash and can you use corn meal? im wanting to cook up some high powered ethyl to run in my motorized bike LOL no just love watching moonshiners and thought I would try a batch and see if it comes out right using glassware instead of VERY EXPENSIVE COPPER. please let me know what I need to make a batch using corn meal

That sized still is completely useless for UJSSM. It could make 500ml gin samples, but you would still need to make the alcohol for those in a much bigger still, like ten times bigger.