Chasing Easy, Simple “Good Moonshine”

[Shiny Chancer]

Here's my latest attempt at a crowd pleasing shine without a ton of fuss. I just pitched yeast on this yesterday and I plan to update as I progress.

Gear Used:
20 Gallon Kettle (from Spike)
100,000 BTU Banjo Burner
Big A Mash Paddle (homemade from oak)
6 gallon brewing bucket
extra bucket for crushed barley

Ingredients: 25# corn meal (5 each 5 pound bags from the grocery store)
10# Sugar
6# 2row Barley (crushed)
2# Quick Oats
2# raisins
Lemonade - pint (sugar, lemon juice, water)
yeast nutrient
Red Star Dady Yeast

Method:
Get 10 gallons of filtered water boiling (I have hard tap water with 220ppm Chalk/Bicarbonates at 8.2 pH; I run it through a whole house charcoal block filter)

Slowly mash in the corn meal, add a couple handfuls of barley, stir, then cut off the heat - put the lid on and let sit for 30 mins+

Put the raisins in a blender with the lemonade and blend pretty well Add sugar, oats, and raisin/lemonade mixture (my goal with the lemonade is to reduce the pH)

Have 5 gallons of cold filtered water ready -- add enough to drop the temp to between 155-160F (it took me all 5 and I got to 156)

Add the rest of the crushed 2row barley malt, cover with lid and big blanket, wait overnight.

I took a sample and my calibrated refractometer showed 1.084 The next morning (yesterday) it was 90F so I pitched in 5 tsp of Dady, stirred it in and recovered with the lid and the blanket. I checked it today and its got a nice krausen going.

Now to do a vinegar run and sacrificial spirit run on my new still... more to come.

[Dougmatt]

Looks interesting. I personally don’t understand why you would add sugar and fruit to what looks like a nice base AG recipe and process, but hope it turns out good for you.

Enjoy.

[Shiny Chancer]

The raisins are to contribute a slight pleasant fruitiness that Dady yeast otherwise lacks. Many old timers used small amounts of raisins as a nutrient as well. I like the speed, efficiency, price, and peppery notes of Dady otherwise.

I have found a certain amount of sugar (~30%) to provide a beneficial bump considering cost and time while not upsetting the goal of the final product. The oats add some smoothness. The goal for my “Good Moonshine” is 100 proof white lightning that has some complexity but mainly a good punch without off flavors. Something that most are impressed with — a good conversation starter.

[Bradster68]

You mention time? Are you drinking this new or aging white. Barley has a grassy taste and may need time to settle. Unless you like grassy

[Shiny Chancer]

Hopefully I’ll have enough to play with but the goal for this recipe is good enough to start some conversation right away. I’ll note the new taste profile and decide from there.

I’ll likely keep some white, carbon filter some for immediate use, age some on oak (charred “staves” made from well seasoned post oak BBQ wood in a jar), and maybe try out a 1 gallon oak barrel I picked up in a batch of used equipment that probably needs some attention.

I’m happy to take recommendations from the crowd as well. What would you do with a recipe like this Brad?

[NormandieStill]

HBB is the oft-recommended go-to for making tasty whisky which can be drunk white. It just comes down to your cuts. No added sugar. When you make your cuts you can always make two blends. One narrow for immediate drinking, and one a little wider for ageing on oak.

[Shiny Chancer]

HBB is the oft-recommended go-to for making tasty whisky which can be drunk white. It just comes down to your cuts. No added sugar. When you make your cuts you can always make two blends. One narrow for immediate drinking, and one a little wider for ageing on oak.

It is pretty cool how the honey malt comes through in the spirit!

I find it interesting that HBB has a grain bill of 14% barley and my recipe above is 13% barley.

Honey malt is definitely a good “ace in the hole” addition especially for results even in white dog. I’m tempted to do a 95% wheat malt with 5% honey malt next. Maybe I’ll change that to HBB since I haven’t tried it yet.

[Yummyrum]

Seems a shame to go to all that bother to carbon filter some .

[Swedish Pride]

Yeah, what yummy said.
Carbon filtering removes flavour, shame indeed

[Saltbush Bill]

Sounds to me like you need to refine your methods, and do a heap more reading, well made booze doesn't need filtering , badly made stuff can benefit, but at the cost of loosing flavour.

[Shiny Chancer]

Sounds to me like you need to refine your methods, and do a heap more reading, well made booze doesn't need filtering , badly made stuff can benefit, but at the cost of loosing flavour.

This is a newly modified recipe, I am using a new still and there's always more to learn which is a main reason for this post. I am refining my methods and posting the results for others to enjoy and hoping for *constructive* feedback. Part of that is splitting up the batch and trying different things to see what it likes.

You've never filtered some white dog and compared it after aging? I guess you don't like Tennessee whiskey then?

[Shiny Chancer]

Seems a shame to go to all that bother to carbon filter some .

Feedback noted. Just brainstorming now as I have not run this batch yet -- Planning to tomorrow.

Do you like Tennessee whiskey? A buddy of mine has some dead maple trees on his property which give me an idea...

[Saltbush Bill]

A buddy of mine has some dead maple trees on his property which give me an idea...

Filtering whiskey through maple charcoal , the "Lincon County Process" is going to give a different outcome to filtering through " Activated Carbon"
If you say " filter through carbon" then people will assume the later of the two.
Terminology matters, it saves confusion.

[Dougmatt]

A buddy of mine has some dead maple trees on his property which give me an idea...

Filtering whiskey through maple charcoal , the "Lincon County Process" is going to give a different outcome to filtering through " Activated Carbon"
If you say " filter through carbon" then people will assume the later of the two.
Terminology matters, it saves confusion.

Agreed SBB. I had same reaction as you, SP and Yummy but didn’t want to pile on. The nuance makes me rethink a little if your desired outcome is something edging toward Tennessee whisky Shiny, but personally I don’t love the style as anything other than a mixer so it’s not something I would strive for. It might help smooth out the raw bite of the added sugar though so that would be good.

All in all it’s interesting to see what recipes people come up with.

[jonnys_spirit]

JD isn’t the only LCP “Tennessee Whiskey” but it is probably the most widely consumed. If you haven’t yet, try some others if you get the opportunity. I have yet to implement it in my TN Shed but do have grand allusions to experiment

Cheers,
jonny

[Shiny Chancer]

Fair enough thanks for the positive feedback.

At this point I'm just brainstorming... at least until I taste it. We shall see soon enough!

What do you guys do with your shine? Mainly shoot for white dog fresh? I'm thinking I'll save at least a 750 of the best hearts for white dog. I'm looking forward to seeing how the hearts taste and how much I can get that I like fresh at 50 proof.

I'm expecting some hearts that will be better aged or filtered or both outside of just collecting feints. I like to experiment. Give it a chance I'd say.

[bilgriss]

I like to experiment.

An admirable quality. I mean that - no snark.

Generally a good experiment isolates a single variable and uses a standardized procedure that can be replicated to understand what that variable introduces to something or what it results in. Based on the feedback you are getting, I'd suggest two ferments treated the same way, distilled the same way. The first would be to take your sugar and raisins, ferment it, distill it, and keep your best hearts cut. The second is take the corn and barley mash, ferment it, distill it, and keep your best heart cuts. Then measure the results based on perception, flavor, etc.

Now imagine what adding one to the other will do, and whether combining them is going to make something better than either alone.

I remember when I first started home-brewing beer, I would throw in spices, molasses or whatever seemed interesting as an experiment. What I learned was that for the amount of effort to get to something really good, it was better to practice technique and figure out what I liked, then improve on that, rather than throw it all in a pot.

Hope you are having fun, keep on letting us know where you end up!

[Dougmatt]

I like to experiment.

An admirable quality. I mean that - no snark.

Ditto! An admirable quality and an appreciated one!

Generally a good experiment isolates a single variable and uses a standardized procedure that can be replicated to understand what that variable introduces to something or what it results in. Based on the feedback you are getting, I'd suggest two ferments treated the same way, distilled the same way. The first would be to take your sugar and raisins, ferment it, distill it, and keep your best hearts cut. The second is take the corn and barley mash, ferment it, distill it, and keep your best heart cuts. Then measure the results based on perception, flavor, etc.

Now imagine what adding one to the other will do, and whether combining them is going to make something better than either alone.

Yes!!! This!

Blending AG with sugar with fruit at the fermentation stage “could” be interesting, but it opens lots of question such as have you ever tried them as separate finished elements blended? I’ve had whiskey brandy cocktails. Is that something you would enjoy and want to replicate or improve on? Now thinking about cuts, I like brandy heads side cuts, but lean into whiskey tails side and sugar wash is all about a very clean heart cut.. So how would I cut them combined? Plus now that I’ve tasted sugar heads versus their AG equivalent that sugar “bite” or mouth feel jumps out at me so do I want it in a blend?

Isolation of variables is critical to replication and analysis of experimentation. I couldn’t have said it better, but in the end you may stumble on something amazing. Regardless, share your thoughts after!