Mini review of Safale 04 and Wlp 007 and a question

[biker geek]

I've been mashing a grain bill that is made up of 10lb of corn, 10lb of 2 row base, and 5 lb of flaked oat. I started doing this because the ingredients were inexpensive, and at 40% corn I could still sparge without problems. An added side effect is that I could get my mashing routine down on the cheap. I call it bourbonesque. Using this grain bill I tried 2 yeasts for various ferments. I did not do split runs, but I did keep track of SG and used the same Grain bill for all. The SGs ranged from 1.055 to 1.060. For the Safale I rehydrated two packets and pitched at 65deg f, and for the White Labs yeast I simply pitched two vials at 65deg.(White labs ships yeast in liquid in plastic vials)
All the washes were sour mashed with two gallons of backset(for a ten gallon wash) from the safale runs. All washes finished with a small amount of lacto scum on top.

Using Safale 04 I got a distillate that was sweet and grainy. I really like the white this produced as you could taste the oats and the corn equally. The problem is that, once stripped, I keep about 35% of the low wines to drink.

Using WLP 007 I got a much less floral distillate. It's still pleasant, but all you taste is the corn. The up side is that I kept A LOT more as final product. Like, about 65% of low wines. I think I might have even kept too much of the heads, because the white dog tastes really sweet.

All the washes finished in the 1.005 to 1.007 range and the beer for both was very similar in taste.

The weird part has to do with the backset from the runs. The washes from the Safale ferments went into the boiler a pale yellow and the resulting backset was an orangish yellow color and smelled a bit like vomit. The backset from the wlp washes went in pale yellow and came out brown in color and smelled like a nutty brown beer, and tasted significantly less sour than the safale backset. The first time I drained the boiler of a WLp run I thought I had scorched the run and left the next to clear a lot longer, but the next run turned the same color.

So, can the Maillard reaction happen during a run? Can you think of another explanation for the dark color of the backset?

I use a keg still with a CM head on it and a Ultra-low density 5500w electric element running off of an SSR power supply. For my spirit runs I take off at 70% for most of the run with a small amount of reflux, collecting down to 15%. I use a parrot's beak and hydrometer to monitor the reflux.

[humbledore]

Nice experiment. I have used S04 quite a bit but not the white labs yeast. I might though if it has less heads.

[biker geek]

I still haven't tried good old bakers yeast and I still want to try wlp 001(or other Chico style yeast).

[Matt86]

I'm planning on using S-04 on my next batch of all grain barley.
I think the lacto infection is going to play a big role in the resultant distillate.
I do like it in beer so should be good!

[3d0g]

Lacto can be a pretty important flavor contributor when managed. Scotch wouldn't be Scotch without it.

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[Matt86]

Id imagine on the small scale (HD) level its a bit like wild yeast, which one is going to dominate today?

[Jimbo]

Very interesting article 3d0g thanks for posting.

US-04 and 007 are English strain that produces lots of esters, or at least more than other strains like US-05. Ive found English strains to produce nice whiskies, but cuts get tough due to the higher esters content, and in general my keep is lower as well.

Since my ferment time is very long, relative to distilleries, I get more esters occuring simply due to ferment duration, so I choose to stick with cleaner yeasts like US05 or at the moment Im using 1272 American Ale 2. I also use temperature with a small space heater pointed at the barrel to manipulate flavor. At slightly warmer temps (72ish) the yeast produces a fruitier character, and at cool ferment 65F area crisper and cleaner. Trick works well with stouts and other beers too to kick the esters up a bit.

My best guess on the differences in color of your backset is due to differences in attenuation and floculation (sugar and solids content in your wash). But thats just an ass pull thought.