Advice for first malt whiskey

[superblah]

I really enjoy single malt whiskey as well as all grain beer brewing. I'm hoping to find the cross between these two things and make all 2-row barley whiskey. I have access to wonderful locally grown and malted Montanan barley. Most recipes and grain bills I see on this forum refer to high adjunct brewing, and I would like some pointers on malt whiskey.
I was planning to make a beer of about 8% alcohol and use a whiskey yeast I've purchased. Any help is much appreciated.

[MichiganCornhusker]

I was planning to make a beer of about 8% alcohol and use a whiskey yeast I've purchased.

Well there ya go, it's just that simple.

Lots of good info in this recipe thread as well.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=48654

[RedwoodHillBilly]

I really enjoy single malt whiskey as well as all grain beer brewing. I'm hoping to find the cross between these two things and make all 2-row barley whiskey. I have access to wonderful locally grown and malted Montanan barley. Most recipes and grain bills I see on this forum refer to high adjunct brewing, and I would like some pointers on malt whiskey.
I was planning to make a beer of about 8% alcohol and use a whiskey yeast I've purchased. Any help is much appreciated.

A few things that I had to learn when going from AG beer to AG whiskey were :
1) If doing a single infusion mash, mash in at a lower temp, i.e. target 145°F (we don't need/want unfermentable sugars )
2) Don't do a mash out, you want to keep the enzymes active during the ferment
3) If you aren't doing a step mash, you may want to use a glucanase enzyme, i.e SEBflo TL instead of a protein/glucan rest

Other than that, your AG beer experience will be of great help.

[shadylane]

I was planning to make a beer of about 8% alcohol and use a whiskey yeast I've purchased.

Well there ya go, it's just that simple.

Lots of good info in this recipe thread as well.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=48654

That's a good simple recipe
I use it with malted wheat, One thing I've noticed, wheat doesn't have a husk like barley.
It's easier drain the liquid from a barley mash than from a wheat mash
Especially if you grind the wheat fine

[mashinations]

Add some rice hulls to the mash if you're doing anything higher than a 50% wheat mash. Helps with the draining.

And if you're a brewer and have the ability to re-pitch yeast off your beer, just use some of that to ferment your mash for the whiskey - no need to go out and buy specific whiskey yeast.

[just sayin]

Leave a lot of head room in the still and maybe little bit of butter because barley malt is probed to puke. It sounds like you are on your way to a fine single malt whisky/whiskey ( the e or not is your option ). Enjoy, let us know what you learn...

[frunobulax]

For an Irish whiskey ya can use 50/50 malted and unmalted barley. Definitely keep mash temp between 140-150 for 1.5-2 hours for maximum conversion.
To get to pitching temp. faster, try cold water sparging.

[Swedish Pride]

if you like Scotch it's not a bad idea to add some high PPM peat malt to the mash, you still get a very nice drop with unpeated malt just not Scotchy.

[aircarbonarc]

Add some rice hulls to the mash if you're doing anything higher than a 50% wheat mash. Helps with the draining.

And if you're a brewer and have the ability to re-pitch yeast off your beer, just use some of that to ferment your mash for the whiskey - no need to go out and buy specific whiskey yeast.

Rice hulls work pretty good for those sticky grains, I used them now all the time with corn, rice, and wheat . They go a long way and are available in huge bags at your local garden store!