"Scotch" whisky - my fermenting plan.

[Sungy]

That was a great start.....cant wait for more.........waiting already

[King Of Hearts]

I couldn't wait, my 98% Marris Otter, 2 % smoked malt, 8% beer is in the secondary. I hope to strip it this weekend.

[peanutaxis]

I couldn't wait, my 98% Marris Otter, 2 % smoked malt, 8% beer is in the secondary. I hope to strip it this weekend.

Hi KOH,

Oooh, I'm doing some Marris Otter right now. Can I ask a few questions?

What is secondary? I must be missing this step!
I always thought - after reading Michael Jackson's whisky book - that Golden Promise was the ultimate. Is Marris Otter even better?
I have no idea how much sparge water to use. How many liters of 8% wort do you end up with per kilo of grain?


thanks,
p

[King Of Hearts]

I couldn't wait, my 98% Marris Otter, 2 % smoked malt, 8% beer is in the secondary. I hope to strip it this weekend.

Hi KOH,

Oooh, I'm doing some Marris Otter right now. Can I ask a few questions?

What is secondary? I must be missing this step!
I always thought - after reading Michael Jackson's whisky book - that Golden Promise was the ultimate. Is Marris Otter even better?
I have no idea how much sparge water to use. How many liters of 8% wort do you end up with per kilo of grain?


thanks,
p

Secondary is just moving the beer from the first container to another to get it off the yeast. The only reason I did this is because I wanted the yeast to make a Scotch Ale. after the primary I moved it to another container and added glucoamylase enzyme to it to reduce the gravity to zero, or 1.000. i didn't want any enzymes in my other beer. Golden Promise is another fine malt very close to Marris Otter but a bit sweeter and maybe darker. I used 1.25 qts per lb for the mash at 146' and sparge with 175' water till you get 11 gals. I used 21lbs of MO malt. I get 90% efficiency because I can raise the mash temp to 170' and I sparge slow. I did not boil but kept the wort about 170 to keep any bugs out till I chilled it.

[peanutaxis]

Thanks KOH,

At the risk of asking too much,

As far as I can research, adding the enzyme means that you get more fermentable sugars, yes? How slow do you sparge? And how do you calculate and measure efficiency?


thanks,
simon

[King Of Hearts]

Thanks KOH,

At the risk of asking too much,

As far as I can research, adding the enzyme means that you get more fermentable sugars, yes? How slow do you sparge? And how do you calculate and measure efficiency?


thanks,
simon

The gluco amylase enzymes break down the rest of the starches the malt doesn't. For 11 gals sparging takes me 60 to 90 mins, temp also plays a part as does ph. You calc eff by how many gravity points you get from the mash bill. I use a program called Beertools that does it for me, but there are others out there.

[Washashore]

This calculator might help:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/

Here is John Palmers explanation on calculating it yourself:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-5.html

[peanutaxis]

Thanka a lot guys.

[JBronco]

I too am waiting on the Scotch tutororial. Im a HUGE scotch snob and that will be my first run through my still (if i ever finish building it). Would it be at all worth it to use a scottish ale yeast? Typically you can push the final gravity into the 14% area if you have a starter and ferment at 70*F. It has great attenuation rate in the 70-75%.

[King Of Hearts]

I too am waiting on the Scotch tutororial. Im a HUGE scotch snob and that will be my first run through my still (if i ever finish building it). Would it be at all worth it to use a scottish ale yeast? Typically you can push the final gravity into the 14% area if you have a starter and ferment at 70*F. It has great attenuation rate in the 70-75%.

Yes I just did, waiting for it to finish after my enzyme addition.

[JBronco]

Secondary is just moving the beer from the first container to another to get it off the yeast. The only reason I did this is because I wanted the yeast to make a Scotch Ale. after the primary I moved it to another container and added glucoamylase enzyme to it to reduce the gravity to zero, or 1.000. i didn't want any enzymes in my other beer. Golden Promise is another fine malt very close to Marris Otter but a bit sweeter and maybe darker. I used 1.25 qts per lb for the mash at 146' and sparge with 175' water till you get 11 gals. I used 21lbs of MO malt. I get 90% efficiency because I can raise the mash temp to 170' and I sparge slow. I did not boil but kept the wort about 170 to keep any bugs out till I chilled it.

You can use secondary and re-use and wash your yeast. In essence its like doing a sour mash for your fermentation process so you can keep getting the same flavors out of your yeast over and over. Most of the time us beer makers like to pull the beer off the yeast after a few weeks so we can rase the temps a bit to give us a cleaner looking beer as well.

170* sparge is cutting it a bit close once you get out of the the Alpha phase you take the chance of scorching your grain bed and giving off flavors that cant be distilled out. Make sure your thermometers are calibrated. ITs better to use 170* sparge water than to keep the grains at 170*. Here is a chart for your Batch sparging use

[King Of Hearts]

I have a false bottom the entire diameter of the kettle and a pump and have never scorched.