My first (all grain?) rye whiskey

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irvingsprinkle
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My first (all grain?) rye whiskey

Post by irvingsprinkle »

Hi Everyone, I've been reading voraciously about grains and have been interested in going that route for a while. I've tried my hand at partial grain recipes involving corn syrup, dry malt extract, and mashing small amounts of flaked rye to give it some distinct flavour.
I decided to try all grain, although I used dry malt extract for the enzymes, so not sure if it really counts as such.
My recipe is as follows:
2kg flaked rye
2.2kg (3 big boxes) of corn flakes cereal
0.9kg of amber dry malt extract
1/3c baker's yeast
1tsp yeast nutrient

After sanitizing everything I mixed my grains into a mesh bag and put that into my 20L insulated drink cooler, brought 15L of strike water up to 78C, and poured it in. Mash temperature was 66C, sealed it up, and left it for 90 minutes.
Came back, drained my cooler into the primary, and sparged with water heated to 80C. I poured in a little at a time so there was an inch above the grain bag, and stirred it repeatedly while draining off the wort. Used approximately 15L of water this way and filled the primary to about 20L. Topped up to 23L, and used my home-made copper coil wort chiller to bring it down to room temp.
I added my dry malt extract, dropped in the hydrometer, and WTF?!? Starting gravity read a paltry 1.015. The calculator I used tells me the SG should be up at 1.057, just the dry malt extract should have got me to 1.015.
I pitched my yeast and put it in a warm corner of the basement, we'll see what we get, but I'm wondering if I did something wrong, misread my hydrometer (unlikely after 15 years of winemaking, but possible), or something else entirely.
Feedback most appreciated, thanks!
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Chixter
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Re: My first (all grain?) rye whiskey

Post by Chixter »

Sounds to me like you didn't get a good conversion. Did you test with iodine before pitching yeast? I am unfamiliar with DME my (few) all grains have used malted grains and A/G amylaze. I always test with iodine for conversion verification. Only my first attempt came out with a (relatively) low SG of 1.050 or there abouts.
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DrMalt
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Re: My first (all grain?) rye whiskey

Post by DrMalt »

Extract is finished wort. There are no enzymes in extract. You need to add malted barley to your mash to get enough active enzymes or mash with unmalted grain and use liquid enzymes to accomplish conversion.
More research into mashing grains is required.

For the 4.2 Kg of corn and rye you want you need close to 4 Kg of fresh malted 2 row or about 2 Kg of High Diastatic power 6 row distillers malted barley.
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irvingsprinkle
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Re: My first (all grain?) rye whiskey

Post by irvingsprinkle »

No, I didn’t test with iodine, but now I’m thinking I should do that on the next attempt. I broke one of my cardinal rules, I trusted but didn’t verify.
DrMalt, suggestion taken, more research coming up. My reading led me to believe that dry malt extract would be a suitable addition to introduce the enzymes from malted barley into a batch.
In the mean time I’ll stick to rum, seem to be enjoying more consistent success there.
Thanks!
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acfixer69
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Re: My first (all grain?) rye whiskey

Post by acfixer69 »

You could throw some sugar in there to make something from it.

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irvingsprinkle
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Re: My first (all grain?) rye whiskey

Post by irvingsprinkle »

I threw in 2 “plant based digestive enzyme” tablets chock full of amylases, and the airlock is bubbling like mad. Might check on it tomorrow and see if I want to add sugar.
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