Search found 465 matches
- Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:52 pm
- Forum: Mashing and Fermenting
- Topic: What'd ya'll make today?
- Replies: 6950
- Views: 741244
Re: What'd ya'll make today?
I stripped the first half of that corn/rye mash today. So far, so good. I think I need to push the second half a little harder, though. A half hour after the last gallon ran dry of alcohol, plenty of good flavor was still coming out. I'm going to try cutting the second half much deeper to get more f...
- Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:51 pm
- Forum: Flavoring and Aging
- Topic: cart before the horse
- Replies: 16
- Views: 2825
Re: cart before the horse
Any update on how this turned out?
- Tue Jan 14, 2014 3:53 pm
- Forum: Flavoring and Aging
- Topic: the American toasted oak chip experiment.
- Replies: 28
- Views: 3051
Wine Barrel Oak
I'm curious whether any of the folks who use oak cubes have ever experimented with soaking them on wine. Nothing expensive, mind, just to impart some of the flavors. Some of the finer scotches and bourbons I've had use old wine barrels for aging, and it gives some lovely results. I'm about to embark...
- Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:13 pm
- Forum: Mashing and Fermenting
- Topic: What'd ya'll make today?
- Replies: 6950
- Views: 741244
Re: What'd ya'll make today?
I made my first corn mash Friday and yesterday from 10 lbs of cracked corn, 10 lbs of rye, and 4 lbs of barley. The extra rye and barley is because I screwed up the mashing first time around and added the malt when the corn meal was still way too hot and killed my enzymes in a flash. The next day, I...
- Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:59 pm
- Forum: Grains
- Topic: The odor of an all grain mash
- Replies: 17
- Views: 10682
Re: The odor of an all grain mash
I'm just now mashing my first corn whiskey and I have to say that the description of it being like sourdough bread rising is a pretty good one. It doesn't smell like beer fermenting, which is what I was expecting. It smells like sourdough, with a much rawer, more grainy quality to the smell and the ...
- Tue Jan 07, 2014 3:16 pm
- Forum: Mashing and Fermenting
- Topic: The No Boil Corn Mashing Method
- Replies: 128
- Views: 138347
Re: The No Boil Corn Mashing Method
Just want to say a quick thank you for this thread. I am about to embark on my first bourbon after years of all-grain home brewing, and I think this thread has saved me from cooking a potful of Evil Corn Mess™. I'm still searching around on the site to nail down the specific method of mashing corn, ...
- Tue Jan 07, 2014 2:37 pm
- Forum: Mashing and Fermenting
- Topic: fresh corn recipie
- Replies: 10
- Views: 2955
Re: fresh corn recipie
Hey friends. Long time since I've posted here, and long time since this thread ended. But hey, what with The Walking Dead being so popular, perhaps now is the time for a zombie or two. I wanted to weigh in on the whole koji for fermentation thing. I'd bet it could be used nicely for corn, but unless...
- Tue May 29, 2007 9:06 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: Absinthe recipe
- Replies: 285
- Views: 200485
As to the ratios, there would be no question because I would be carefully measuring the herbs and adding them into the flask at the same time. Then the resulting oil could simply be collected as a whole and added to the appropriate amount of spirits, diluted and then given final maceration. I see. ...
- Wed May 23, 2007 1:21 pm
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: Absinthe recipe
- Replies: 285
- Views: 200485
I don't think Zman is dismising it out of hand. He's simply stating what is generally a known fact, which is that absinthes made from oil mixes tend to be lower quality than those made by distilling the whole charge in a pot still. While it's theoretically possible to make a really good oil mix, my ...
- Wed May 23, 2007 7:00 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: Absinthe recipe
- Replies: 285
- Views: 200485
- Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:50 pm
- Forum: Off-Topic Discussion
- Topic: Personal age
- Replies: 39
- Views: 11218
- Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:41 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: absinthe recipe
- Replies: 6
- Views: 3570
- Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:20 pm
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: First try at absinthe
- Replies: 45
- Views: 24237
It's probably 68% across the board. I don't have a bottle in front of me, so I was most likely remembering wrong. Point is, 70%--really a little higher than that, even--will preserve color much longer than a lower abv. And Farom is right--where and how you store it plays a role in keeping color. Sto...
- Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:52 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: First try at absinthe
- Replies: 45
- Views: 24237
Whether it stays green depends more on the final abv than anything else. If you're talking about the Eichelberger, Kevangogh, it's bottled at 62%. If you bottle it at lower than 70 percent, the chlorphyll from which absinthe gets its green color degrades quickly and the absinthe gets that dead leaf ...
- Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:44 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: My best Absinthe so far...
- Replies: 282
- Views: 149380
It really depends on where you get your fennel from. I can attest that sweet fennel can definitely cause really bad camphorous flavors in absinthe, though. It's nasty when it happens. I wouldn't recommend using sweet fennel from the grocery store, though. Find yourself a good source and go from ther...
- Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:24 pm
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: My best Absinthe so far...
- Replies: 282
- Views: 149380
- Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:26 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: My best Absinthe so far...
- Replies: 282
- Views: 149380
Depends whether we're talking distilling herbs or steeping herbs. I assumed the former, as that is where the wormwood usually comes in. As there's no such thing as an absinthe made by steeping herbs, and as A. abs is never used in the coloration step of making absinthe, I had assumed so, as well. I...
- Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:44 pm
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: My best Absinthe so far...
- Replies: 282
- Views: 149380
- Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:37 pm
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: My best Absinthe so far...
- Replies: 282
- Views: 149380
- Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:46 pm
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: My best Absinthe so far...
- Replies: 282
- Views: 149380
- Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:36 pm
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: My best Absinthe so far...
- Replies: 282
- Views: 149380
Keep in mind that wormwood is notoriously difficult to grow from seed. If you want to grow it, I recommend buying them as plants, rather than as seeds and growing it that way. Also, bear in mind it will be a while before the plants come to maturity and produce flowers you need to make a decent absin...
- Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:16 pm
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: tails and absinthe
- Replies: 7
- Views: 2683
Yeah. Basically, it sounds like you're getting too much reflux in your still to allow the heavier oils to come over in the distillate. As for the collection of tails being arbitrary, it's anything but. Basically, you should be able to collect out of your distillation exactly as much alcohol as you p...
- Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:03 pm
- Forum: Mashing and Fermenting
- Topic: What can I make with honey?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1886
- Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:01 am
- Forum: Mashing and Fermenting
- Topic: What can I make with honey?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1886
- Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:20 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: First try at absinthe
- Replies: 45
- Views: 24237
Atta boy.
To answer your second question, yes that's a perfectly acceptable way to color. I've always colored cold, myself, letting the herbs sit in the distillate for 24 hours until I get a nice green color out of them, but I know others who color hot in more or less the same fashion you described.
To answer your second question, yes that's a perfectly acceptable way to color. I've always colored cold, myself, letting the herbs sit in the distillate for 24 hours until I get a nice green color out of them, but I know others who color hot in more or less the same fashion you described.
- Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:45 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: First try at absinthe
- Replies: 45
- Views: 24237
I'll agree you can't get as strong a taste from the coloration step using less herbs, but you absolutely can get a flavor that is every bit as complex using less herbs in coloration. Moreso, even, since over coloring your absinthe can make the flavor of the coloration herbs swamp out the more subtle...
- Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:38 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: First try at absinthe
- Replies: 45
- Views: 24237
- Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:25 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: First try at absinthe
- Replies: 45
- Views: 24237
You actually don't need star anise to make it louche. The oil that causes the louche is specifically anethone, which is found in both anise and star anise. In fact, less star anise in a recipe is considered a mark of a better absinthe. Really, the best way to make an absinthe that louches well is th...
- Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:56 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: Aging absinthe
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2573
- Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:55 am
- Forum: Absinthe
- Topic: First try at absinthe
- Replies: 45
- Views: 24237
Add them to the macerate when you add the water, just before distilling. You should buy whole anise in the future and grind it just before adding to the macerate to ensure that it retains as much essential oil as possible. Store-bought, prepowdered anise is always going to be significantly lower in ...