uncle jesse's simple sour mash method

[JollyMon]

I'm using a Nixon stone twin valve reflux. I read it could go either way (taking it off slow or just leaving the valve open) for the fores on a reflux still if running as a pot. I figured I'd just try it the simpler way first and see how it turned out.

I'll take your advice and build a pot, I have an itch to build something again. I have a couple feet of 2" copper lying around, so Ill whip something up and see how that turns out. In the mean time, I'll throw all my collection in to my feints jar and run the next gen in my reflux for stripping runs.

Thanks for helping.

[Odin]

Jolly,

Maybe someone else with a boka or N/S can step in and share experiences or give advice? Or you can post this question in the mentoring department. For sure someone will pick it up!

But building a pot still is never a bad idea!

Good luck,
Odin.

[KSAguy]

i'd appreciate any comments on this, especially ways in which i need to simplify things or explain things more clearly.

http://wiki.homedistiller.org/Uncle_Jesse%27s_Simple_Sour_Mash_Method

My first attempt to make this whisky seems like a disaster. I couldn't find any corn so tried using polenta (corn meal)......

I am in Saudi Arabia.

I am having good results with 'Yellow Popcorn" that I mill / grind in a blender (it has a smaller unit for grinding).

I am into my 5th generation and it has a corn flavor!

[Odin]

Congrats KSA!

[markbec]

Just a quick question,


On my 5th gen of sour mash and it's still quite sweet. The flavour has a distinct corn taste but still not going sour. A friend gave me an empty bottle of jim beam to use and hadn't cleaned it, noticed it had a rather sour smell not sweet. Using ultra pure pot still from pure distilling. Backset ranging from 25%-50% over the different generations and my wash finishes around 990 with 8%. I use about 3kg of dextrose for a 23L wash. Any obvious reason's as to why it would stay sweet??

I can't control output or temp.

[Odin]

Maybe you used sweet corn? That way you will end up with a sweet taste in your corn likker. What's important is that the beer you make is sour in taste. So you know no sugars are left and it fermented dry.

Odin.

[markbec]

Hi Odin,
Have been using cracked corn and every wash was the same(sweet). It's not like it was overly sweet but it didn't change and it doesn't taste/smell like sours at the local homebrew shop. I've got my last Gen this weekend and then i'll try something else.

Next attempt:
Cracked barley and sugar or a liquid malt, cracked barley and sugar combo.

Depending on success, I will try a grain mash after this.

[Odin]

Cracked barley is great too, and so is rye! That's my favourite so far.

Odin.

[markbec]

Do you do that as a sour or a one off?

[Odin]

I started with corn. Made a few gens, then started to add more rye instead of corn as replacement grain (I replace like 25% of the grain each generation). I did the same with barley. Then I decided (since my corn over here doesn't give much taste) to try and do an all broken barley. I used some 25% backset of the latest corn/barley combo. I made some 4 gens of that and liked it. Next thing is I switched to all rye. I used the last backset of the all barley to start that up. First two gens were pretty good already, but from gen 3 it really gets well. If I change my recipe, I usually use the first two generations for a vodka, and from gen 3 I start to double pot distill it into a whiskey.

Now that was the long answer. Now the short one: no, I never do a one off. Always at least 4 generations.

Say I have like a few kilo's left of something (had some 5 kilo's of peated barley malt for instance), and when it is not enough to start making continuous generations with grain replacement, I just dump in what I have (5 kilo's in this case) and make 4 gens not replacing grains. My feeling is the grain can get you 4 gens without replacing and taste only gets better. After that, you really need to replace grain to keep up the taste profile. If I have a lot of a certain grain, I simply replace 25% each time.

Try to find your taste, what you like! If you think your corn is too sweet to your palate, maybe add some rye or barley. Maybe malted. Or spelt or wheat. It is the experimenting I love. For me rye gave me the best. And then I "upped" to all malted rye ... and so far it is not good. Well, gen 1 wasn't. Gen 2 will be distilled this weekend. Who knows?

Odin.

[markbec]

Just got home from work and decided to check my last run, found 2 bottles have soured The smell and taste has changed greatly. The last gen had rye and barley added so maybe that changed it a little. Think I probably need 2 washes going, as I now want to keep this, but also try something else


Thanks for the feedback Odin, much appreciated.

[Odin]

You are welcome, now go get them!

Odin.