Good ol' grain spirits!

[aircarbonarc]

So after a few month break from distilling I decided the weather was getting cooler and the temperature in the basement was easier to regulate, so it was time to pull the brew equipment out of storage. I have been seeing alot of local craft distilled whiskey start to come of age, and have samples some. One distillery I recently visited blew me away with their new single malt, and got me thinking also after sampling some of their white dog which made my taste buds dance. Also seems like there a tonne of grain based craft vodkas hitting the market also which are all mostly pretty good and usually have a nice hint of grain flavor goodness. The thing with grain sprits is that you've got whiskey or vodka, vodka being almost neutral to neutral in flavor and whisky is full of flavor as a white dog but not always palatable. I was thinking of focusing in making a grain spirit which is between whisky and vodka with a really good perfectly balanced flavor profile so it can be drank straight up or mixed as a Caesar or Martini. So I made my first attempt recently, it was a 50% Bohemian Pilsner, 20% rye, 20% ESB and 10% light crystal malt. I used a trusted Safael 05 fermented off the grain and ended up with a beer about 7ish%. The distillation went well, and ended up after 2 runs through my pot still, wasn't greedy with the cuts and an 87% good run of hearts. So I tastes the final product, it was good , let it sit for a week and air out and just had my Friday afterwork tumbler of corn whisky and I was very amazed. The flavor of the grain came out nice, has a nice balanced sweetness, some spice and a hint of fresh cut grass. Ill try to describe it better after drink 2 when my buddy joins me. I would like to say that this stilling season I'll be focusing on the flavors and drinkability of grain based liquor. I would love share and discuss grain based wisdom with some seasoned AG Stillers. I will share my progress and recipes as I explore the grains we love to drink.

[still_stirrin]

I made a strong Scotch ale (beer) sans hops using medium peated malt, 2-row base malt, a touch of Munich malt, and a little melanoid malt. The beer was formulated for roughly 10% potential. I did not ferment on the grain (lautered like I normally do). It finished with a FG of 1.008, so there were some dextrins in the mash.

I ran it twice through the potstill and put it on charred oak. After 45 days on wood, I pulled it and aged it in glass for another 8 months. It turned out to be a very enjoyable (full flavored) whiskey.

So, I vote: 1+
ss

[HDNB]

i've been working with 100% rye lately. Well that is 90% organic rye i get from an old high school friend and 10% malt rye.

one pass with some reflux and the hearts are immediately palatable, but have a little off smell. warming, sweet grain smoothness with a hint grassyness and easy spicyness to finish. The fresh grain has a hugely different profile than the rolled rye i was buying from bulk barn. totally different flavour.

i'm still working low wines up, so i have not done a spirit run yet, but it sure tastes promising!

[aircarbonarc]

A few weeks ago I ran my first batch of ESB, rye, pils. And most recently some 75 corn, 25 2row. It was great! For the first time I used Cracked corn from the feed store, was a bit stumped on how I was going to cook it at first but after some research I found that heating my water to over 200° and pouribg it over the corn in a bucket with a couple Tbsp of acid blend, mixed with my drill and paint mixer and turned it into a mushy yellow goop!! I let that sit overnight added some enzyme when it cooled a bit, then heated more water which I added to my mashtun with the corn. Once that cooled to 165° I added my 2row and damn within 20min it started tasting like sweet corn tea! I usually make about 4 12gal batches of wash at a time. My fermenters aren't the biggest and I try for 7.5% alcohol in my wash (I can't remember the gravity off my head). The final result after 2 runs in my pot still was an amazing sweet corn tasting liquor! I want to try using my reflux for a lighter liquor next but since first jumping into AG washes a year ago I think my techniques and controls have developed and my finished product is miles better than anything before. Next I will be doing another ESB pilsner and rye mix, unfortunately it's expensive so I'll be cutting the grain bill with generic 2row (advice from an experienced beer maker)