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Like I said this last one with the White Labs yeast turned out great. I think fermenting in my 8 gallon kettle instead of my 50 quart cooler might have made a difference as well. I aim for a post mash pH between 5.4-5.6, if I didn't add the acidulated malt it would be higher than that.

Did this again with some White Labs Scotch Whiskey Yeast. Have been aging 2250 ml on light toast wood chips for a few months at 125 proof. I also have a few hundred ml of the white whiskey at 86 proof and have been drinking that. It keeps getting better and if I mix it 50/50 with quality non-peated ...

Heady Topper is force carbonated and if they bottle conditioned I'm sure they would use Conan. I use Conan when I bottle my clone. Conan is a very definitive yeast and it definitely came through in this spirit. Conan makes awesome IPAs as the apricot taste seems to work well with hops, but I wouldn'...

After 4 months on light toast oak chips this one turned out much better than the Heady Topper malt bill and yeast. I really don't think the malt bill made a huge difference, it was more from the yeast. It still has a little bit of the sweet taste, but much less than the Conan yeast would give. I hav...

After 4 months on light toast oak chips this seems to be pretty clean. It has a very odd taste from the Conan yeast though that nobody seems to be a fan of. Since doing this, I've been using other yeasts for my left over barley, but they all seem to end up with a slightly sweet taste whereas my peat...

If your water is that acidic, definitely leave the citric acid out. Most water is alkaline. 3.6 is a good pH to invert sugar, but an ideal pH for a wash is between 5-6.

I think what they're trying to say about your use of cracked wheat was that if you wanted it to convert to sugars you needed enzymes (unconverted starch comment.) As far as the scorching or foaming and puking comment, he thinks you're going to distill without removing the solids, I would assume you'...

I seriously doubt it. Yeast need nutrients. Maybe if you pitched a ridiculous amount of yeast, and it would probably be extremely slow. There is something called Winos Plain Sugar Wash that is going to be the closest to just water, sugar, and yeast. From my experience Rad's All Bran Sugar Wash is fa...

When I did this recipe I think I used 1.5 gallons of water to invert 10 lbs of sugar. I read that the ideal pH for inverting sugar is 3.6, and I have a pH meter so I was able to hit that spot on.

2-row and ale yeast will give you a very solid single malt. Don't use wine yeast. Most Scotches use Golden Promise, maybe some day I'll see how much better a Golden Promise vs 2-row single malt is. I am trying to figure out whether I like White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale Yeast, WLP045 Scotch...

I think the yeast will make more of difference than what kind of barley you use. I've ran the grain from quite a few beers and there really isn't a huge difference unless you're using peated malt.

It was 5.55 pH after the mash, but when I pulled some out to mix the bakers yeast in, it was down to 3.4 after barely attenuating 10 points. You may be on to something about the phenols in the peated malt, and I was thinking fermenting on that grain may have done it, but CO2 signifiacntly lowers pH,...

Room temp is high 70s, it's definitely not too low. 400 billion cells of WLP099 should smash 10 gallons of 1.055 ale - which is basically what this is - at 70 degrees. I think it has to do with being on the grain in the container it was in, my mash tun is a 50 qt cooler. 1/2 lbs of bakers yeast cost...

Gravity is still over 1.040. This is the first stuck ferment I've ever had and I've been brewing beer for a long time. I pitched enough yeast and the pH was fine, so the only thing I can think of was that it didn't have enough oxygen because of the grain and the nature of my mash tun. I'll probably ...

I plan to age it on light toast oak chips at 125 proof for 4-6 months. Eventually I need to get a small barrel.

Doing the spirit run. Dumped 25 ml of foreshots and took 100 ml cuts, but didn't really get a clean hearts cut as the second cut was already getting tails. The heads/hearts cut was 110 proof and the hearts/tails cut was 80 proof. The heads/hearts cut was actually cleaner. I threw them together and d...

I got less than 1/2 gallon of low wines at less than 10%.

It a copper pot still as pictured in my avatar. I like to keep it reasonably clean. I'm looking to get so little out of this, it's not really worth potentially having burnt yam inside it. There is a ton of orange crashing out of it as well, so I will probably get 2 gallons out of it.

I'm trying to get everything 168 degrees with the last sparge. I'm getting close to 95% efficiency by that point so there is no way I could re-mash the grain, there is nothing left. I'm also fermenting on the grain at that point.

I end up over losing over a gallon and a half to yam gunk. I'm crashing it in the fridge now.

Yes. For example I get 75% efficiency with my mash for my beer doing a step mash with no sparge, but after that I can add sparge water and get another 15-20% out of the grain. No point in letting that go to waste.

I'm working on my Islay Style Whiskey. Last time I did 10 lbs in my 8 gallon kettle with bakers yeast, this time I'm doing 20 pounds in my mash tun with high gravity ale yeast, which is a very strong English yeast. Here is the recipe: 20 lbs Heavy Peated Malt 4 oz Acidulated Malt 4 tsp Gypsum Added ...

I'm generally saving my malt now when I make a beer and trying to squeeze a bit more out of it. I'm starting to build up some feints so I'm going add them on my next spirit run. I have 4 gallons at 1.030 SG that I squeezed out of 16 pounds of barley from my last IPA. I'm fermenting it on the grain i...

I did a spirit run. I took 100 ml cuts and ended up with 200 ml at 110 proof for my hearts cut. I diluted it down to 95 proof and added 7g light toast oak chips. This whisky tastes similar to the whisky with the malt bill and yeast of Heady Topper, but much less sweet, I think the yeast is what make...

A lot of people refer to yams as sweet potatos. In fact at the grocery store I often think they are throwing sweet potatos and yams together, or at least different kinds of yams because they have ones that are darker on the outside and tougher and less orange on the inside. I can eat a Southern yam ...

My SG was 1.020. That means the 8 lbs of Southern yams only contributed 13 points of gravity in 4 gallons. Not too good. I thought my pH was a little high at 5.75 measured at ~100 degrees. The gravity was down to 1.006 after 24 hours so it will probably be finished fermenting tomorrow. If I do this ...

I did the stripping run. Only got 3/4 gallon at 15%. The mash was pretty thin after I pulled 7.5 gallons for my beer and added the sparge water.

Most people would refer to these as sweet potatos, but they're technically Southern Yams. They're actually more red on the outside and more orange on the inside than sweet potatos. They're softer, they taste a little sweeter, and I assume they're less starchy and hopefully will provide a little more...

Jimbo recommended making a wort chiller and it is incredibly easy to do as 3/8" copper tubing is extremely flexible and if you cut one end off a 4 foot dryer hose, it will fit perfectly on the end of it. It will literally take you a few minutes to make it. I bought 20 feet of 3/8" copper t...

I made a stout and am using part of the mash bill to make a whisky using the malt bill of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. I'm using WLP004 Irish yeast

13.25 lbs Pale Malt
1.5 lbs Flaked Oats
12 oz Roasted Barley
12 oz Belgian Chocolate Malt
8 oz Blackprinz Malt
8 oz 120L Crystal Malt