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The following is my log sheet for a recent spirit run of Jimbo’s Easy ½ Barrel Wheated bourbon that I thought I would post as a reference for anyone else trying this recipe. Your results may vary from mine but I followed the recipe very closely and used cracked corn. I had about a ½ quart of white s...

Twisted, Thank you for your comments! - I have read a few posts that note that cooking the yeast during the stripping run may impart undesirable flavors to the final product. Sounds like you have you have been able to A/B a clear wash versus cloudy and noticed an improved flavor difference? - Do you...

I’ve been out of the hobby for about a decade as a result of life getting busy as well as several moves due to work relocations. Sold all of my equipment but kept my shop-built simple copper lyne arm. Distilled several generations of UJSSM and a single malt whiskey run back in the day before packing...

Thanks Shady. I considered the same coin toss and decided to contribute this batch to the feed the squirrels fund. Corn is cheap, the wasted time for a failed mash, not so much.

So, I was getting set up to make an all grain bourbon mash earlier this week. I washed and drained about 20 lbs of cracked corn and then ran it through my Victoria hand mill for a little bit better grind on Monday and then stored the corn a 5 gallon lidded bucket. My little shop/brew house is always...

Twisted, Thank you for the guidance. I processed my corn this weekend and was able to achieve a fairy fine grind with my Victoria grinder so I may reduce the corn poundage somewhat. However, based on your overall capacity confirmation, I will still exceed the volume of the BAP and will need to trans...

I have some grain on order and plan on giving this a try next week using the suggested 15.5-gallon ½ barrel BAP cooking pot. My question for any of you that have run this using a ½ barrel cooker - is it big enough to hold 12 gallons of water + the full 30 lbs of grain for the mashing then transferri...

Mash looked to be fully fermented this morning so checked the FG with my hydrometer - just a tad below 1.000. Checked a few drops with the refract and ran the results on the reference calc page. Showed a calculated FG at .995.

Time to retire the hydrometer I'm thinking. Thanks for the link Skow.

Great link! I might have to retire my SG hydrometer. Have you checked the calculated values for accuracy?

Just finished up my 3rd mash this morning. I had previously posted on mash nos. 1 and 2. Mash no. 1 was 100% malted red wheat and was problematic finishing out with a SG of only around 1.030. Based on some double checks and small test mashes I concluded I likely had some issues with the malted wheat...

Got my proof and tralle hydrometer off of ebay. Plenty of listings for under $10US. International shipping may be a bit more.

+1 on the Starsan. Fill up a trigger spray bottle and mist all of your equipment including your hands prior to use.

Well, PTFE it is then. Looks like USPlastic.com has 3.5" diameter disks at .77/ea that can be trimmed down to fit a half gallon mason jar lid.

On a sligtly different topic, I've been considering using HPDE disks cut from milk jugs as Mason Jar lid liners for storage of 40% to 60% distilled product for storage and aging. I'm using PTFE liners from http://www.usplastic.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel=&q...

Update. Hadn’t gotten back to this for a while as I wanted to finish running a few more UJSM ferments in order to have a decent stock set up for aging. Ending up running eight 5 gal and two 10 gallon ferments and still have 6 gallons of low wines awaiting a spirit run. Anyway, when I last left this ...

Currently reading a fairly entertaining book on the history of Bourbon titled – Bourbon, A History of the American Spirit by Dane Huckelbridge. A lot of interesting facts. For instance, President Harding apparently kept a private stash of top shelf Kentucky bourbon hidden away in the White House dur...

Corene - thanks for the input and I agree with you regarding Jimbo - really enjoy following his posts and recipes and his willingness (as well as you and many others here) to take the time to share your knowledge is one of the reasons this forum is such a great resource. I had also read somewhere th...

Got home from work a while ago. Checked the digital scale I use with a 1 lb test weight. Spot on. Checked my hydrometer with some distilled water. Less than a point off. Reweighted a full charge of the measuring cup scoop I was using to measure out the grain - spot on again. Having said that I check...

Nope. Good old Lake Michigan water straight from the tap. The water shouldn't have impacted the mash. It's been lubricating a UJSM run for over a month without an issue. I've been getting a good crack with my hand grinder. Is there any reason the starch is staying bound up and not converting? Wouldn...

I am befuddled. The 1.030 and 1.035 hydro readings were taken from two different mashes (original and test mash) with room temperature samples that had sat in the test jars long enough for all of the particulate to settle out to the bottom of the cylinder. I've never checked my hydrometer but it can...

Frunobulax - Thanks for the comment. Don't think the grain crush was an issue. Crushed it myself with my hand crank grain mill. All grains cracked - most to a small grannular level. PItched the yeast anyway Saturday night since I had already activated it during the mashing so it's now chewing away a...

Well, at least I’m consistent. SG of 1.035 on this test try which is close to where I was yesterday. 2 lbs of grain and 1 gallon of water. Strike temp of 156 with a target mash temp of 148. Iodine test was black immediately after doughing in. Gave it a stir at 25 minutes. Temp had dropped to 141 whi...

Just ran an iodine test on a small sample of crushed grain mixed with some warm water. Instant ink. Looks like the iodine was not lying either. Tried another iodine test on yesterday's mash - no color change. Took another hydrometer reading on yesterday's mash and got a reading of 1.030. A bit highe...

Only a tiny hint of residual sweetness. Looks like the hydrometer was telling the truth. Maybe the Iodine was lying. I'm using Iodine Tincture USP (2%) which should work. Not a bit of color change when I mixed in a drop with a mash sample after several hours of mashing. Guess I'll run a small test b...

Right at 7.0 woodshed.

Yeah, the sample in my hydrometer test jar is at room temp which is pretty close to the calibration temp. Scratching my head. If I didn't get conversion, the iodine test would have been showing ink.

Made an attempt at Jimbo’s single malt recipe today. Cracked 20 lbs of Rahr Red Wheat Malt and combined with 10 gallons of water at a strike temp of 156. Checked the mash temp after 5 minutes and it was right at the target 148 degrees. Didn’t take a iodine conversion test at this point put did after...

If anyone else has any interesting old whiskey or spirit bottles, please post them. Would love to see them.

A good whiskey deserves a good whiskey bottle don't you think.
A couple of pre-prohibition half pint flasks.

For those of you with a Menard's closer to you than a Feed and Seed, they have 50 pound bags of cracked corn for $9.49. It's shipped from Minnesota all the way down to Illinois which is pretty ironic. Nice crack and very clean though.