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Twisted Brick wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 6:50 pm

Must be a great sense of satisfaction in completing the process of making such a fine bourbon

It sure is fun, right? Guess that’s what’s in a hobby, finding satisfaction in the journey, the process, as much or more than the result. But I do hope the result is tasty.

After the ferment was done, I hit the barrel with the mud mixer to degas the juice and let it set another couple days. Then I pulled off the clear, and broke out the mop bucket to squeeze the rest. On a good day, I can get about half the barrel as clear, the rest is mop bucket material. I noticed th...

Let's see, where was I? Good thing I dried the malt, it sat in sealed buckets for a year, but I finally got back around to it last fall and there was no sign of mold or any other problems, it even still smelled great! I came up with a basic recipe for a 55 gallon barrel: 25# corn malt, mix of red, w...

Yep, used any old plastic bucket for fermenting.
In fact, lots of ‘em!

vernue wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 18, 2021 9:06 am

I suppose there's no difference in the results.

I would definitely add HTL after you mix corn with the boiling water. If I recall right, those enzymes denature around 190F, so you need the corn to cool the water down just a bit.

so I'll just dry it inside on the racks that I'm going to build, nice thin layer inside with hot air and fans, rest spread outside in the blazing sun. Should be dry by Saturday morning? Right? Right...? You'll be surprised just how fast the malt will dry out simply by forcing air through it on tray...

If you’re worried about capability, just make the Liebig 1” longer and skip the wire wrap. 3/4” over 1/2”, Easy peasy, no need to pet it.

Another thing that I thought about this morning:
I find my corn malt develops plenty of enzymes by the time acrospires are only 2cm long. I can see several advantages to keeping your malting time to a minimum in your situation.

Lay them flat on the bedroom floor (very supportive SO) spread the grains 10-20cm deep (not enough space), wet with spray from a 2l PET bottle with holes punched in the lid. Turn, wet, spread 3 times a day for 5 days. On day 3 I got hold of an old bed sheet (from the very supportive SO) and covered...

When the water temp hit 165F, I added the rye and the corn in a straining bag. I wrapped the bucket in 2 moving blankets. When temp dropped to 152F, I added the distiller's malt. I don't understand what your were after with these temps. 165F is too hot for the rye malt, it probably denatured the en...

Another batch ready to distill 21-01-03 Boiled 16 gallon H2o Add 20 pounds fine ground cracked corn at 1100 hours. Simmered til 1230 hours. Added 1 1/2 tsp no name alpha to thin. Stir,stir, stir more. Chop heat and wrap it all up. When temp down to 194 added 19 pounds fine ground flaked barley. Sti...

Mashed in the corn with 10 or so gallons of water just below boiling. Initial temp was between 185-190 so we added the Sebstar HTL, about 25g. We let it sit for about 1.5 hours. The enzymes seemed to help loosen it up. It was still warmer than the desired 155 or so for adding the grains so we stirr...

Who said anything about there being no difference between malted and un-malted grains? To go back to the original questions: am I missing something by not using barley malt (or any other malt)? I would say yes! You don’t say what you’re current bourbon recipe is. Is it all corn? Corn with un-malted ...

I don’t believe anything has changed.
I guess I’m not understanding what you’re getting at.

Not Enzymes vs malt It should be Enzymes and malt. +1 There is no battle between enzymes and malt. With liquid enzymes you get all diastatc power, but none of the malted grain flavors. With malted grains you get the diastatic power, plus the flavor of the malted grains. Liquid enzymes allow you to ...

Did yet another experiment this morning.

1 part corn malt, 4 parts raw corn meal, at a 2# per gallon ratio. (20% malt)

SG of 1.057 in an hour.

I've made whiskey with steam and I've made whiskey with fire. I've done the side by side comparisons, and there is a substantial difference in flavor between running clear, racked ferment, and cloudy stuff including yeast, trub, and grain. I'm not saying that if I ran it all together it would taste ...

Great to hear from you, PP, amazing what goes on in a life when you don't hear for a while.
What a strange thing to go from off-grid to Hawaii and back again.
Best of luck on the transition, and super curious to hear about distillery, keep us posted.
Take care.

jedneck wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 03, 2021 5:54 pm

Jeremiah Johnson

One of my all time favorites.

Been a long time since I've seen it but I remember liking the sketti They Call Me Trinity

Prairiepiss wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 03, 2021 5:21 pm

And who said it was for Hobby? I might be looking at going legit.

Oh hell yes, I hope that comes to pass!

I can't give you a DP for corn malt but I can tell you what I've done before. 2# raw corn meal cooked in 1 gallon of water. Add 1lb air dried (not kilned) corn malt and mash at 150F for an hour. SG = 1.085 (3#/gal) also: 2# raw corn meal cooked in 1.5 gallons of water. Add 1lb air dried (not kilned)...

Great to see ya post up, Prairiepiss!! Hope to see more of you.

Oh, and that is a nice looking pot.

I was given a small stainless pot still, Three things to know: 1) You have found the right place to learn how to drive that little still. There is no better place on the internet to learn than this very forum. 2) There are inherent dangers in running a still, be sure to read up on how to clean and ...

Here are a couple more that come to mind:

The Last Outlaw (inventory...)

Lonesome Dove (the original mini-series based on the novel)

Welcome in, you have definitely found the right place.
Read up and pay attention here and you will be able to get up to speed on how to safely run your new still and make great spirits.

Also, just FYI, the adventure you are about to embark on is a felony. Just so ya know, don't tell, don't sell.

Thanks for the update, Stogie, sure is nice to think of a day when we could all meet up again without thinking about setting the chairs 6' apart!
Take care, Hope to see ya this year.

Still sipping...

I use a piece of solid oak about 3/4” x 3/4” x 4” long.
Toasted to 400°F for 90 minutes, charred on all 4 sides.
One piece in a quart of 120 proof whiskey for about a year works well.
Sorry, I have no experience with chips.

Cheers!

Good advice has been given. Also, if that was the first alcohol run through your still you should toss all of it, it’s considered a sacrificial cleaning run. Oh, and the water filter you poured it through almost certainly isn’t suitable for alcohol. Finding this forum was your first step toward well...