Simple Golden Pond Mash

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golden pond
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Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by golden pond »

Well for doing you a small batch, use 12.5 lbs. of good yellow cracked corn, for those of you in the southern USA, I get my cracked corn from Southern States CO-OP, 7.5 lbs. of plain old white sugar and 5 gallon of water. I'd get my water from the hot side of the tap so your sugar dissolves good. Mix this together and cover with a wire screen or a loose piece of cloth to keep insects out. Put this in a building or shed outside so it can get natural outside air (not sure how it would work in a smog filled city) stir it about twice a day. When it quits working, cook it off. I'll tell more later if yall want to know how start to finish cause I use this same mash four times.
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Post by pothead »

Do you use backset? how much? how much sugar/corn do you add back in?
What %abv does this ferment to?
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golden pond
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Post by golden pond »

Yes I use every bit of the backset each time and it gets better each time. Take a couple of pounds of corn off the top each time and add the same amount of new corn back, and add the same amount of sugar agin with the warm backset and let it work off agin. Your first run is not going to produce alot, the 2nd one will. I also add singles off the first run to the next run and all others. Pothead as far as the %ABV goes I've nerver checked it, I have the gage now to do so and I'll try to let yall know.
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Post by hornedrhodent »

Will I remember this in 6 months? - What's your latitude GP?
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Post by golden pond »

Will I remember this in 6 months? - What's your latitude GP?


I don't have a map here that shows that, I'm in western Kentucky, so your weather is different there now Hornedrodent?? Wednesday the 21st of June was our first day of summer here in the USA.
Never follow good whiskey with water, unless you're out of good whiskey!!!
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Post by golden pond »

I brought this over from Tony's site, I sent this to him a few years ago, DIAMOND, writes from Kentucky ...
the only way I can tell you is by the barrel full. We used 55 gal. barrels or 53 gal. oak whiskey barrels. Take 100 lb. of cracked yellow corn ( this corn needs to be air dried, not dried by gas, gas dried takes the goodies out of it) Put the meal in the barrel, put about 40 gal. of good water in your cooker and heat the water to about 100 degrees, drain the water by the bucket full and stir your sugar in so it dissolves good, we used 50 lbs. sometimes 60 lbs. of sugar on the first barrel.

Here's probley whats different, we DID NOT add any YEAST of any kind to this. If the weather is in the mid 90's this would work off in 5 to 7 days, about day 2 or 3 it sounded like Rice Crispie's that just had milk poured over them, agin no yeast was added. We did take a wood paddle and maybe stir it once or twice a day. In those days all there was available was baker's yeast, and adding baker's yeast caused an off taste, hic-ups, indigestion or heartburn so thats why it was left out. In cold weather sometimes yeast was used to get the first barrel going.

When the mash got "dog heads" on it, that's when the large single bubbles come about 20-30 seconds apart it was ready to cook off, its better to cook a day early than a day late. The mash also had a sour taste to it. On a 50 or so gal. cooker with two propane burners, shine would start running in about an hour. The cooling barrel was also about 55 gal. with a 5/8 inch by 40 foot copper worm, had cold water running in the top and discharging water coming out mid ways or most time at the bottom of the barrel. This first run would usually start at about 120-125 proof and let it run down to about 80 proof, this was strained through a heavy white felt hat, sometimes a double hand full of hickory charcoal was used in the hat also. You put this 80-125 proof to side to keep, but kept running from the 80 proof on down to about 45-50 proof, this would be about a gal.and we called it singles. The 80-125 proof would be about 4 gal.

You cut your cooker off when you got to the 45-50 proof and let the beer cool down to about 100 degrees. You took about 3, 3lb. coffee cans of your meal out of the barrel and put the same amount of fresh back in ( this makes a difference in your next yield and proof) mix another 60 lbs of sugar to your warm beer and put back in your mash barrel and stir up, let it work off agin.

On your 2nd run, put your beer in the cooker and also the gal. of singles you saved out. This run here should start out about 135 proof, have seen it go to 140, after a gal or so it may be 120 and stay 120 for an hour or better before it drops lower in proof, this run usally last about 2 1/2-3 hours and makes about 9 gal. agin quit saving it when it gets to 80 proof but keep running till down to the 45-50 proof for your singles, it will make about 2 gal or so this run, repeat the whole process 2 more times or more, don't forget to take some old meal out and put same amount of fresh back in each time and also pour the singles back in the cooker. I don't think I've ever seen the proof get above 140, but have seen 11 gal. yields.

On your very last cooking, pour all your previous runs of the 80-140 in a barrel and run your last cooking, keep adding your makings to the barrel stirring and checking till you get the proof you want, most times we done 97-100 proof. But this could be drinked as is or if you wanted it much better, you put all of this finished shine back in the cooker and cooked it agin, this time it comes out at 170 proof and let it run to about 150. Take this and put in a barrel and mix well or spring water with it to get the proof down, it still makes about the same amount, 3 runs always made 22-23 gals. REMEMBER NO YEAST WAS ADDED!!!!!!!!!
Never follow good whiskey with water, unless you're out of good whiskey!!!
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Post by possum »

GP, were you using a thumper rig for this, or a simple potstill ?
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Post by golden pond »

I nerver did use a thumper Possum, once I get my still up to temp, I cut the heat back and run it slow with a steady flow of cold water in the condenser.
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Post by goose eye »

golden pond do they add alittle water to the kettle see how they got about 1/2 a kettle full 1st time.
round here they put 30 then come back with 20 - course-
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Post by golden pond »

Sorry there goose eye, I don't really understand your question, but I add nothing else to my cooker. :?
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Post by goose eye »

if you got a 55 gal barrel add 100 lb sack of cracked corn an sugar an
then 40 gal of water. you want be getin but about 30 to 35 gal of beer that first time to run. the corn gunna hold some of the water unless you
squezze it. if you put 30 to 35 gal in a barrel outfit do you add alittle water to to the beer in kettle or do you run it just half full.


these boys start out with 30 lbs then add 20 the next run. they use the course cracked corn instead of fine cause it easyer to strain
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Post by golden pond »

Got you now Goose, I one time measured the water I could put in the mash barrel and it was 41 gallon, by the time the mash is done working off, you'll lose about 3 gallon of liquid due to evaporation, I don't much think the cracked corn is absorbing that much liquid if any. But agin I nerver added any extra water to the beer when it went in the cooker. I had a mash barrel fixed with a facet where I could get all the beer out but maybe a quart or so. Some of the old boys in Golden Pond put their cracked corn in flour sacks, so when the mash was ready, they'd just pull the sacks out of the barrels and pour the beer off, no need of straining that way.
Never follow good whiskey with water, unless you're out of good whiskey!!!
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Post by goose eye »

round here they use a hand pump with screen made of hog wire around the suckin end then screen wire on outside of hog wire so the pump dont suck screen back flat. when they cant get no more like that they tip the barrel an start dippin. they dont try to get every bit - cause of time-. takes a young man to lift a 100 lb feed sack full of corn once it swells. they use sacks on peachs round here but they mostly go away. so im tole
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Post by rmj993232 »

so let me get this straight and it all make since on this simple way .. take the cracked corn put it in a gunny sake and put it in the water with the sugar and thats it after it done working pull the bag out and run it threw the still .... no yeast no malt bla bla just what im looking for old school simple way . am i right? i sure hope so
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Post by masonjar »

If you want simple and reliable, use yeast.
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Post by golden pond »

If you want simple and reliable, use yeast.
By all means use yeast if you like headaches, heartburn, indigestion, hicups, hangovers, aftertaste, liquor smell on your breath, and a funky tasting liquor, to each his own :D
Never follow good whiskey with water, unless you're out of good whiskey!!!
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Post by masonjar »

Yeah, but adding yeast also cures impotency, keeps vampires away - and hey - the chicks dig it. ;-)
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Post by masonjar »

I mean no disrespect to you, GP. The wild yeasts in your area may be great, but in someone else's area they may add off flavors. I plan to try a few wild yeast ferments myself next summer, but using the good yeast at the brew shop is more predictable. I'm not talking about bread yeast.
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by blanikdog »

golden pond wrote:Well for doing you a small batch, use 12.5 lbs. of good yellow cracked corn, for those of you in the southern USA, I get my cracked corn from Southern States CO-OP, 7.5 lbs. of plain old white sugar and 5 gallon of water. I'd get my water from the hot side of the tap so your sugar dissolves good. Mix this together and cover with a wire screen or a loose piece of cloth to keep insects out. Put this in a building or shed outside so it can get natural outside air (not sure how it would work in a smog filled city) stir it about twice a day. When it quits working, cook it off. I'll tell more later if yall want to know how start to finish cause I use this same mash four times.

Has anyone tried GP's mash above and how did it go. Seems very much like UJSM.

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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by blind drunk »

By all means use yeast if you like headaches, heartburn, indigestion, hicups, hangovers, aftertaste, liquor smell on your breath, and a funky tasting liquor, to each his own
Is this true or was it said in humor? BD.
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by grunger »

don't think GP is gonna answer you on this.
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by blind drunk »

don't think GP is gonna answer you on this.
I'm aware but was hoping someone else had some insight on this. I've never come across this POV and it got my curiosity. Cheers, BD.
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by rad14701 »

blind drunk wrote:I'm aware but was hoping someone else had some insight on this. I've never come across this POV and it got my curiosity. Cheers, BD.
Perhaps this topic will help explain things a bit more... RIP...
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by Tater »

GP firmly believed that wild yeast had better flavors then using bakers yeast and wouldn't cause heartburn and such .From talking with GP I would hazard a guess that he had the same strain of yeast started from wild and was continued from left overs in mashing barrels{seemed like he used wood) and paddle he used to stir with Ive drank some of GPs product.I thought it tasted very good.Ive used wild yeast myself but cant make same claim :)
I use a pot still.Sometimes with a thumper
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by blind drunk »

Thanks for filling me in Tater, I was really drawn into what GP said. Wood makes sense. Worth exploring. BD.
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by Uncle Jesse »

I've used wild yeast and had good results. There's only one type of yeast which ferments ethanol for us, right? The other worries are off-flavors from other types of things growing in your mash. Old time shiners have told me about removing the bugs off the top of their mash before charging the still.

I believe that a well done mash will ferment more quickly and thus will not allow enough time for the nasties to get going. We've all seen a good healthy ferment and it only takes a few days and kicks out a lot of co2. Backset and simple ABV will kill off some of the less tenacious things which might cause off flavors.
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by Rum Bum »

I find it so fascinating how old bootleggers like Golden Pond could just throw corn in a wooden barrel and turn it into a delicious whiskey. Nowadays we are so concerned with sanitation and using wood would be out of the question. Things seemed so much simpler back then. I wish I had a chance to talk with you GP, but I hope your having a good time drinking with the kings.

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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by luther-blissett »

Im thinking about trying this with wild yeast, just not sure how the ferment will go with it being winter here. Guess I can just bring the fermenter in if it looks like its gonna rain and so on.

One question, do you all think golden pond cooked his corn before using it, as the dried cracked corn (samp) I felt in the shop felt hard as rocks. Looks like "DIAMOND from Kentucky" boiled it to 100 degrees and then drained it.
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by Samohon »

Nice to see this thread bumped again...
Makes one realise that the great tasting shine I make and age is due to the testimony of those shiners that have gone before us...

Guess these guy's will always be with us as the hobby goes forward...

God Bless You GP... RIP...
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Re: Simple Golden Pond Mash

Post by Tater »

luther-blissett wrote:Im thinking about trying this with wild yeast, just not sure how the ferment will go with it being winter here. Guess I can just bring the fermenter in if it looks like its gonna rain and so on.

One question, do you all think golden pond cooked his corn before using it, as the dried cracked corn (samp) I felt in the shop felt hard as rocks. Looks like "DIAMOND from Kentucky" boiled it to 100 degrees and then drained it.
GP and Diamond are same guy.Gps recipe is similar to uncle Jessie and about any other old timers sour mash sugar recipe including one my fokes used . 100 degree water isn't very hot in his recipe it was heated to dissolve sugar.As far as the wild yeast gos around here fokes claimed wild yeast was gotten long as dogwoods bloomed. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9169
I use a pot still.Sometimes with a thumper
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