NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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rrlepez
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by rrlepez »

Hello, this is my first corn recipe.
I made this modified recipe (52% corn and 48% barley malt), I took 45 liters of beer at 8.4% v / v. All good in fermentation.
Then I struggled with separating the solids. I distilled the pure and the tails began to come out very early and with a cloudy color (typical of the deepest tails). The result was 8.5lt @ 36% rather cloudy.
Is it normal in this grain recipe to get tails very early and this color cloudy?
Does corn contain more oils than other grains?
Greetings RR
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Durhommer
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Durhommer »

Google search it yes corn is oily a bit. .most strips are cloudy with grain if you are stripping for flavor on a small hobby still
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Psilocide
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Psilocide »

Hey NCHooch - thanks for the recipe - it looks awesome.
One question for you (or anyone else here who's tried the recipe) - what size of pot do you use to cook the corn mash in? Before I start I want to make sure I've got something big enough.
Thanks for any help.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Tcoastal1 »

is there no sugar added to this recipe
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by HomerD »

The grain is converted to sugar.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by HDNB »

Psilocide wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2020 5:09 pm Hey NCHooch - thanks for the recipe - it looks awesome.
One question for you (or anyone else here who's tried the recipe) - what size of pot do you use to cook the corn mash in? Before I start I want to make sure I've got something big enough.
Thanks for any help.
well, NC says tot top up to 6 to 7 gallons total volume, so bigger than that would be good. i'd say 10 gal would be good for the headroom needed. i like about 8 inches of clear space above the ferment for cap and krausen.

try a 45 to 50 gallon barrel. then scale the recipe up x 5....that way you will have a few strips to work on and a nice big spirit run for some quality hootch.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Psilocide »

Thanks HDNB,
I'll go with that. As for the cooking part though, I cant imagine a barrel would work (on a burner) - anyone see any issue with using an aluminum pot for the cooking portion? I'm not aware of specific reactions with aluminum, but have little experience with that.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Durhommer »

My local hb shop has 16 gallon cheapo brew kettles for 99 bucks and its stainless steel check yours
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Beerswimmer »

There's no issues with cooking with aluminum. Get the biggest pot you possibly can.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Psilocide »

Awesome - thanks guys
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by rrlepez »

Durhommer wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 1:34 pm Google search it yes corn is oily a bit. .most strips are cloudy with grain if you are stripping for flavor on a small hobby still
Hi
Durhommer.
- What is considered a small pot?
I cook in a 50 litre keg.

Today he's carrying it with 35lt. and again very cloudy and tails appearing early.
- Is it always like this for a 50-litre pot?

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RR
I speak Spanish, everything I write goes through the google translator. Excuse me in advance for the English.

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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Hambone »

For strip runs I don’t worry about appearance or smell/ taste. They often aren’t too appealing. Should be fine after spirit run.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by rrlepez »

Thank you hamb, I'm worried about transferring all that matter to the spiritual.

Tomorrow I'll strip another 37lt of pure CB with grain. I do it with propane and it doesn't burn. Lucky for you.
I think I'll collect 24lt of low wines.
I'll tell you when I run spiritually .

Best regards
RR
I speak Spanish, everything I write goes through the google translator. Excuse me in advance for the English.

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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by The Baker »

rrlepez wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:11 pm Thank you hamb, I'm worried about transferring all that matter to the spiritual.

Tomorrow I'll strip another 37lt of pure CB with grain. I do it with propane and it doesn't burn. Lucky for you.
I think I'll collect 24lt of low wines.
I'll tell you when I run spiritually .

Best regards
RR
I had never before thought of distilling as a religious experience.

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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Hambone »

The Baker wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:39 pm
rrlepez wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:11 pm Thank you hamb, I'm worried about transferring all that matter to the spiritual.

Tomorrow I'll strip another 37lt of pure CB with grain. I do it with propane and it doesn't burn. Lucky for you.
I think I'll collect 24lt of low wines.
I'll tell you when I run spiritually .

Best regards
RR
I had never before thought of distilling as a religious experience.

Geoff
Several times, the morning after drinking way too many distilled spirits, I was definitely talking to God...
Good judgement is the result of experience.

Experience is usually the result of bad judgement..
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by rrlepez »

The Baker wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:39 pm
I had never before thought of distilling as a religious experience.

Geoff
He's the translator.
But since God enlightened me with the knowledge of transforming grain into Whiskey ... It's a religious experience

Saludos
RR
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Durhommer »

Grain to whiskey is a beautiful thing
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Sunshine1 »

Thanks for the solid recipe. Years ago when I was doing my first UJSSM runs I was adding around .5-1lb of 6-row to my mashes for an extra flavor boost.

Giving this one a go now. Here's what I got-

7lbs flaked maize
3lbs 6-row
Cal.chloride[to adjust pH]
Amylase enzyme
Prestige WD yeast[made into a yeast bomb]

Heated around 3 gallons of water to boiler and used a false bottom and a brew bag to prevent scorching. Slowly added corn, waited for temp to drop to 150F and added my 6-row, along with 1tsp amylase for extra power.

Stirred every 15min for 1 hour. Let sit for a few hours more without stirring then starch tested. Failed. Tasted pretty sweet though. SG was approx 1.076

Checked ph - it was around 5.6-5.7ish. Added 1/4-1/2tsp of cal chlor. To a quarter cup of mash and stirred it in. It dropped the pH to 5.2. Reheated back up to 155 and added 1tsp more of amylase. At that point the pH was 5.2 and the temp was between 150-155 so the amylase should have converted any remaining starch.

Cooled for the next hour. Put it in my fermenter and added cool water and ice to bring it down to pitching temp quickly - at this point its been north of 130-140 for a good 5 hours+. Retested the starch test - failed...sort of? It stayed black for a couple minutes then turned brown...

After diluting to a full 5 gallons it was right at 1.070 and pH is 5.4. Pitched the yeast bomb and threw on the top and airlock.

I'm not sure how well I did with starch conversion, but I imagine its pretty decent? Cant wait to run it and see how it compares to a classic UJSSM.

Thanks
-Sunny
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Sunshine1 »

It stalled out a couple days ago. I let it go for another day and it finished around 1.004-ish.

Much better than sugar shine, even fresh off the still. Ran slower than usual this time to maximize the fractionalization. Its looking like 3 or 4 through 10 are going to be blended. Letting them air out now.

9-14 have an INTENSE corn flavor, and are nutty as well. 11 and on are cloudy. Since it was run so slow im betting fusel oils formed a azeotrope/hydrosol. Kind of sucks since they're flavor is so good. Not too keen on having a cloudy product. I might take half of 11 and see if it the cloudiness blends out. That'd make 1/2 gallon from a 5g wash. Almost double my normal yield.

TLDR; Much smoother and better corn/nutty flavor than sugar shine. Worth the extra effort.

Thanks again chooch!
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Down_Home52 »

Finally got the chance to do a little cooking. The corn had given me some heartburn the first couple of go rounds but I was using flaked then tried milling some. Disaster. Went back to Mr. NC Hooch's recipe and used cracked corn. To fit my fermenter to the top I used 7 gallons spring water, 5000 grams corn, 750 grams malted two row barley and 625 grams of malted rye. Cooked up well at 180 for about an hour. Cooled to 152 and hit it with malt and two tsp of Amylase. Steeped for 3 hours adding a little heat back once. Fermented down to .990 using Lallemand GW yeast and 5 tsp Distilavite nutrient. I have another batch just in the fermenter on top of the trub from first run and it started running in 15 minutes at 78F!!! Another batch of corn in the cooker right now and first wash is in the boiler waiting for me to run it tonight. I think I have made friends with maize.....thanks NC.

By the way I added a half hand full of oyster shells the second day to the fermenter and it had gone acidic. Boiled like a tea kettle when the calcium carbonate hit it. Love it. Now to decide on running enough for a 20 liter barrel or go with the ten liter I have and add a few sticks of charred oak. The barrel has been used three times.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by kiwi Bruce »

Tomorrow it will be 10 years to the day that NChooch posted this receipt for what I think is a truly GREAT bourbon...I think I can safely speak for us all here on the forum...Thank you NChooch for a very good whiskey receipt, greatly appreciated !
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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Cheers NChooch!!!
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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Down_Home52 wrote: Mon Oct 12, 2020 9:58 am Finally got the chance to do a little cooking. The corn had given me some heartburn the first couple of go rounds but I was using flaked then tried milling some. Disaster. Went back to Mr. NC Hooch's recipe and used cracked corn. To fit my fermenter to the top I used 7 gallons spring water, 5000 grams corn, 750 grams malted two row barley and 625 grams of malted rye. Cooked up well at 180 for about an hour. Cooled to 152 and hit it with malt and two tsp of Amylase. Steeped for 3 hours adding a little heat back once. Fermented down to .990 using Lallemand GW yeast and 5 tsp Distilavite nutrient. I have another batch just in the fermenter on top of the trub from first run and it started running in 15 minutes at 78F!!! Another batch of corn in the cooker right now and first wash is in the boiler waiting for me to run it tonight. I think I have made friends with maize.....thanks NC.

By the way I added a half hand full of oyster shells the second day to the fermenter and it had gone acidic. Boiled like a tea kettle when the calcium carbonate hit it. Love it. Now to decide on running enough for a 20 liter barrel or go with the ten liter I have and add a few sticks of charred oak. The barrel has been used three times.
Should still be some life left in that used barrel, you just might have to leave it in a little longer.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by NcHooch »

kiwi Bruce wrote: Mon Oct 12, 2020 3:33 pm Tomorrow it will be 10 years to the day that NChooch posted this receipt for what I think is a truly GREAT bourbon...I think I can safely speak for us all here on the forum...Thank you NChooch for a very good whiskey receipt, greatly appreciated !
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Down_Home52 »

I have mashed in about 40 pounds of grain this week. Ran one batch that had fermented. The white dog at 120 proof is smooth as silk and mixed with a little Coke the rye after taste has that peppery flavor. Should be really good after oak. Will strip all the stuff working off now , strip it then do a spirit run hopefully going into a new 20L barrel. I have made friends with the corn. As NC said go by the recipe!!! A couple of process notes. I cook in a 44 qt. stainless stock pot. When it is full the liquid left fills my 6 gallon fermenter to the 6 gallon mark. My next move is to convert a 15.5 gallon keg into a cooker. I was using a 200 micron mesh brewing bag and it to FOREVER to drain and the grain still had to be squeezed. Went to a 400 micron and it all drains out in an hour with maybe 3-4 ounces left for the cows in the grain. Ferment is wild. My wash is down to 1.000 in 2 days. It takes another 3-4 to get to .995 or less. I am adding crushed oyster shells after 2 days and it definitely reacts and the ferment picks up. I learn something new each batch. The real trick was to have a batch ready to go right back in the fermenter on the trub from previous batch. It starts almost immediately. Cheers from somewhere on Thunder Road!!!
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Sunshine1 »

Alright, I got some feedback which I believe to be note worthy. So in my 3 weeks of playing with this yeast I've noticed it behaves a bit different than your standard bread yeast.

1. It will almost completely stall out south of 70F
2. Optimal temp is mid to high 80s. Vigorous fermentation was noted at 90F.
3. Is is more or less unaffected by pH as far south 3.6.
4. Sulfur nose is noted on anything containing barley. [This is not the case, ime with bread yeast]

TLDR: prestiege yeast prefers higher temps[85-90F] and doesn't mind low pH[3.6], and produces interesting containers.

Currently testing it with a 1st gen ujssm using inverted sugar and spent mash from my 1st gen nc burbon. But thats a bit off topic.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by vafarmdog »

I made this recipe last year (as my first run ever) and it came out great. Now it's a year old.

Question...this weekend I want to make a larger run. I have a 20 gallon still. So I'm trying to figure out if I have the numbers/process right for that size set-up. Here's what I'm planning.

- 14 pounds of cracked corn and 1 pound 6-row malted barley.
- Cook in 8 gallons of water for 90 mins at slow simmer while stirring very frequently.
- Cool corn mixture to exactly 150F.
- Add 6 pounds of 6-row malted barley. The temp should drop to exactly 145F.
- Stir well frequently for several hours. Keep covered.
- Add yeast once the temperature hits 86F. Stir several minutes.
- At 77 degrees F transfer grain and all to a sanitized bag in a 20-gallon container to ferment.
- Top it up with water to as close to 20 gallons total volume as I can.
- Take SG.
- Ferment 7 days.

Do I have these numbers/process correct, or should I be adding more?
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Down_Home52 »

I am not an expert but I am sitting here watching a spirit run from my variation of NC's recipe. The corn is the main player. I run 78% cracked corn, 12% milled two row barley and 10% milled malted rye. I always use amylase when I add in my malt. I stick with 2 pounds of grain per gallon of water. I tried more grain % and made a mess. I cook my corn at 180-185F for about and hour in a big brewing bag in a 44 quart stainless stock pot sitting on a propane turkey fryer burner. I don't cook it with propane. More on that in a bit. 14 pounds grain and 7 gallons spring water. I heat my water in a 7 gallon electric boil pot so I don't have to stir constantly on propane to avoid scorching. I leave my cooker on the propane burner to mash in and when I let the corn cool to 155F or so I start to add my malt. Then two teaspoons of amylase. If I go below 145F I light a low fire and lift the brew bag up off the bottom of the kettle until I have the heat back to 150-154F and dunk it back in. I do this for about 3 hours. Usually have to add heat maybe twice. I test it with iodine until I know I am converted. At this point if you want higher SG you can add corn syrup. I shoot for at least 1.058-1.060 SG. I use Lallemand GW yeast and 1 teaspoon Lallemand Distilavite per gallon and a hand full of crushed oyster shells to ferment. I pitch yeast at 90-96F without re-hydrating and it takes off quick. If you are doing multiple batches keep your trub and put your fresh wash in on top of it and it will start running in 15 minutes. It will run like jack the bear for two days but to get to below 1.000FG I let it run out and check with hydrometer looking for .995 or lower. I love corn. I hope this helps.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by vafarmdog »

Here's what I ended up doing...
  • Heated 16 gallons of water to boiling in a 25-gallon pot.
  • Turned off heat.
  • Added 28 pounds of cracked corn and 2 pounds 6-row malted barley.
  • Stirred/simmered for about 90 mins while stirring very frequently.
  • Cooled corn mixture to exactly 150F.
  • Added 6 more pounds of 6-row malted barley AND 6 pounds of rye. The temp dropped to about 145F.
  • Stirred well off and on for a few hours. Kept covered.
  • Added yeast once the temperature hits 86F (took a day and a half). That was today. Stirred several minutes.
  • Took SG. It was 1.080
  • Covered pot, have it in a room that varies from (68-85F).
  • Will now ferment for 7 days.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Down_Home52 »

Did you check your conversion with iodine? If it was totally converted 1.080SG is strong. What yeast? If it stalls probably will be low ph. Throw some crushed oyster shells in there and it will boil up showing it was needing calcium.
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