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This website is my distilling bible. Huge help during my journey to produce a heavy peated Scotch and and AG bourbon using corn, barley and rye. I have learned that simplicity is king and scale of operation is my biggest limitation to putting up significant quantities of spirit. Having said all that...

Just emptied a 10 liter oak barrel after 2 years with a grain schedule of 78% corn/12% barley/10% rye. Good news is the spirit is to die for. Vanilla, cherry with a caramel finish and a nice oak flavor throughout. Bad news is after 2 years I only got 2 quarts of product after lowering proof to 110. ...

I was put onto the Lallemand products by bluefish here on the board. Their Distillavite GN nutrient is outstanding and they offer yeasts for fruit wash, malted wash and grain wash. I have been using them and so far like the result. My first single malt run was using US 05. The Lallemand worked off ...

Okay, so today is 3 days later. The yeast was bubbling like crazy for the past 3 days but doesn't appear active now. Could still be, but no bubbling. As of now the gravity is 1.012. I'll check again tomorrow but if it doesn't drop any further, should/could I do anything? I have stalled 3 days in be...

Did you check your conversion with iodine? If it was totally converted 1.080SG is strong. What yeast? If it stalls probably will be low ph. Throw some crushed oyster shells in there and it will boil up showing it was needing calcium.

I am not an expert but I am sitting here watching a spirit run from my variation of NC's recipe. The corn is the main player. I run 78% cracked corn, 12% milled two row barley and 10% milled malted rye. I always use amylase when I add in my malt. I stick with 2 pounds of grain per gallon of water. I...

I have mashed in about 40 pounds of grain this week. Ran one batch that had fermented. The white dog at 120 proof is smooth as silk and mixed with a little Coke the rye after taste has that peppery flavor. Should be really good after oak. Will strip all the stuff working off now , strip it then do a...

Cheers NChooch!!!

Finally got the chance to do a little cooking. The corn had given me some heartburn the first couple of go rounds but I was using flaked then tried milling some. Disaster. Went back to Mr. NC Hooch's recipe and used cracked corn. To fit my fermenter to the top I used 7 gallons spring water, 5000 gra...

Malted barley is killing me on cost mainly due to shipping. Was wondering how much flavor difference I would have by using unmalted barley that I can source locally and use enzymes?

Thank you. Good to see someone else likes a little rye kick. I am understanding more and more about the pros and cons of corn....!! I am adding 5 gallons of boiling water to about 10 pounds of cracked corn and I get a lot more temperature drop so had to go to boiling and adding corn to cook it up. G...

StuNY would really be interested in hearing your grain:water ratios, mashing and straining techniques. I ground some of the cracked corn in my barley mill at .040" and it dough balled really bad when I mashed in. That's when I ordered 50# of flaked and trying to use it up. If I am going to the ...

Dollar General store at $2 a pint for syrup. About everything I have found in bulk has vanilla flavoring added. Again, my taste runs to scotch with medium peat 90 proof with a couple of ice cubes. Everything else except some of the Jack Daniels single barrel select I usually mix with Coke so if it i...

Give the lauter tun a try. You can always do half batches or make up in 10 gallon or bigger pots then transfer a few gallons at a time to lauter tun. Worth trying to see if you like the spirit better on or off grain. See if YOU have a preference for taste and/or time/prep it takes. Corn is much har...

cayars I have a lauter tun from old beer making equipment. It's only 5 gallons but had a nice pump system set up to circulate the wash back through the grain. Worked great on barley. Corn.....I don't know. I do know I am not worrying as much after using the left over trub from the bourbon run for th...

Yep. I am feeling it. Barley is so much easier to work with but really wanted to give the bourbon a try.

Guys I found out real quick on the grain to water ratio when it started to thicken up. I ended up on the first batch adding 3 more gallons of water. Most of that was due to the strainer basket creating the false bottom holding my water away from the grain. That made it really thick to stir. The last...

Took about a gallon of grain out of the bourbon fermenter and put it in a brew bag. Bought 4 quarts of light corn syrup at Dollar General for $16. Added a cup of honey and five gallons of water just warm enough to melt the honey and syrup. About 130*F. Topped the 6 gallon fermenter off with a little...

apaka you're hooked. I am on my third run. Just converted the corn and added the malt and amylase for good measure. I do use a little rye but the product is great.

Yep. Scorched.

I love this site. Ran my first ferment on the grain corn wash and my BIAB was way too fine. Worked pretty good with a barley wash but the corn was a different animal. Mop bucket and paint strainer next time. Should work great for squeezing muscadines too!!!!

Running 4.5 gallons of my first 78% corn, 12% barley and 8% rye wash today. It had fermented down to 1.005 FG from an OG of 1.075. Running through simple pot still with SS boiler and 3" copper column and liebig condenser. I was a little disappointed in abv which started at 54%. It has dropped v...

I am interested in seeing how these two batches ferment out and what the yield is compared to an all barley wash. Much more economical. Barley is pretty expensive for me to have shipped.

i love the peat barley flavor My first AG was a barley wash with 20% heavy peated barley. Aged it 40 days in a 10 liter new oak barrel. Best whiskey I have ever tasted and I will not buy scotch again. Put it on oak at 135 proof and it came out at 124 proof cask strength. I bottled it at 90 proof bu...

It is for a fact. Both batches I have done in the last 72 hours are running like a late freight train. Woo-Hoo!!! The corn doesn't smell nearly as good as the peated barley wash....but I bet it yields more abv. My barley washes run off in 3-4 days using the Lallemand MW.

Hydrated 12g of the Lallemand GW magic dust and pitched in the first batch of wash which was sitting at 77F. HAd to take a little liquid out of the primary to give it some head room. I didn't know how violent the ferment would be in the beginning. Pitched a handful of oyster shells in it and put it ...

I like the way you think Durhommer.....more gallons!!! I am running the recipe to the letter today except for the rye addition and using up the flaked corn I had. My OG was probably due to my high grain/water ratio. Some of my thickness problem was using the basket in my cooker and I was losing the ...

I Start with 7 pounds of cracked corn, n cook in 4 gallons of good water for at least an hour (i usually go 90 mins) at a low simmer. ...careful not to burn it. *optional - you may add a half pound of 6-row malted barley while cooking the corn to loosen it up a bit ( this is called pre-mashing) as ...

Strike water was 170F and wash dropped to 150F then added enzyme. Waited for it to drop to 144-145 thinking it would thin. How did that denature the enzyme? Not arguing, trying to learn. First attempt at corn and thought the flaked would make it simpler.

Started with 15 pounds of grain 78% flaked corn 12% 2 row barley and 10% malted rye. Put bag in basket of my Bayou classic BAP so the grain wasn't touching bottom and added corn only. Set the whole thing on my propane burner. Heated 5 gallons of water to around 170*F and dumped it over the grain. Ad...