My last completed LME started on 1 June and finished on 10 June (overnight in fridge), strips on 11 June.
Ten days at between 22 C and 28 C
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Trapped-in-Oz wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:49 pmMy last completed LME started on 1 June and finished on 10 June (overnight in fridge), strips on 11 June.
Ten days at between 22 C and 28 C
Cold CrashTrapped-in-Oz wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:17 pm
Not heard of ‘cold crash’ before………. after ten days it is already well-settled….. the time in fridge just clears it further.
Cold Crash doesn't get rid of the gas. Probably just the opposite.Trapped-in-Oz wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:44 pm
Okay……….. but I don't think the chilling is not the reason it’s devoid of gas.
I’m guessing it is because you have a fairly low powered boiler. I had to run my LME washes at a low power setting to begin with, where I was still foaming a lot but not enough to puke. This was with a bit of butter in the boiler. As the run continued, the foaming would go down a little so I would raise the power a little until it was about to puke again. I kept raising power as the foaming subsided until I got up to my normal power. That was at about 1/4 to 1/3 through the run.Trapped-in-Oz wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:16 pm Thanks guys, that’s terrific information on malt extracts….. and how to release co2…….. but I am still searching to understand the reason my LME washes are flat, no gas, no mountains of foam.
Don’t know about ‘lager style’ but the manufacturer of the roasted dark extract I use do claim to have removed excess proteins.still_stirrin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 6:27 pm
the LME is probably a lager style extract that has little residual protein
Thanks.Trapped-in-Oz wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:37 pm
Kits are LME with hops………. tins of extract also available without hops………. works fine…… use M-1 yeast for best result……….. add polenta for a ‘blended style’.
Last year (following the first round of lock-downs) a few Australian breweries sent their unsold beer to ‘whiskey makers’.
Grundefuht, Great story! Very nice write up. Thanks for posting.Grundefuht wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 3:18 am Let me tell you a story.
I may do mistakes in some words(English is not my native) - don't judge me rough plz.
I do not pretend that my method is most right. It is just story of my experiment I wish to share.
I know that you use gallons and pounds but my units are kg and litres. nothing I can do
I do not produce drinks for sale and do not perform any illegal activity
My still is less than 30gals, and I am pure hobbyist
4 years ago. May 2017, I made a decision to try to produce Single Malt from LME (Liquid Malt Extract as I understand).
I had no easy access to super ingredients and had to stick to simple ones. So no magic yeasts, barrels from «ultra super duper oak» and so on.
All story took about 5 month for me. most of that time I read, read, buy ingredients, wait delivering, read, read, and lil more reading.
Then about month fermenting and running.
Let’s start.
1. How much LME is needed?
my LME Producer stated for consumers that:
a. dry part of LME is 79%
b. Fermentable part of sugars is 80%
having no idea about possible spirit/kg of malt sugar I took numbers of 550ml/kg (just like for normal sugar)
so 1 kg of LME is 1000x80%x79% = 632gr of sugars x550ml/kg = 347 ml of pure spirit per kg of LME
Now I know from my experiments(lets call it experiments) that LME produce bout 317-330 ml of Ethanol (in Lower Wines) per 1 kg. It depends on conditions, tails cutting and many more points but it was never less than 280 and never more than 360.
Since my plan was to fill 50l barrel with 65% AbV - I got about 100kg of LME
It is sold in neat Polyethylene(PE) cans by 15kg each - easy to toss.
2. How much water to add
I do not know how much water I added, but my mix was pointed to 15% BRIX
So I poured a can to PE barrel, poured like a 30 litres of hot water mixed, checked BRIX and added cold water to match plans.
15 kg of LME made for me about 85 litres of wash.
3. Yeasts - used simple bakery yeasts 100gr per portion.
4. Active fermentation took about 2 days (and it was like boiling) see attachment. Then I did wait 2 days more for settling. tastes like a nice dark beer w/o hops.
5. Stripping run. This one could be pretty much simple. Just boiled it until its 0. But:
a. Foam is a mess. Once you try to speed up process- foam starts rising like a volcano. Answer is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydimethylsiloxane
this is an antifoam agent(AA) widely used in food production, also this is a main component of some medicine drugs (carminative). Wiki says enough about it.
so my 1st run was to Drugstore to get some Simeticone (i don't know how its named in the other countries than my one)
for the next stripping runs I prepared with cheaper AA I found in some stores for food production
b. Coal building up on heaters. Either you have to perpetual mix while boiling and lower the heating speed or you will see black coal inside your still.
for several runs its OK - but then its starts to smell (I had to change heaters twice and after that season I moved as fast as I could to SteamBoiling)
6. Spirit run.
here on HD I found an article(can’t find it anymore) stating best(in my opinion) cuts on 2nd run. Now I'm 100% sure - in 2017 I just believed in it.
here it is (percents are of total Absolute Alcohol in lower wines):
0,5% is Foreshots and treated as it should
~17% is Heads (High Feints) - goes to the Feints Tank
54% - Hearts (collecting no more than 75% and no less than 55% AbV)
what is left - Tails - goes to the same Feints Tank as a Heads.
Next 2nd run Feints from Feints tank should be added to lower wines (to raise Abv to ~30-33%)
I do not pretend to be author of these cuts. I do not pretend they are best ones. It is just my opinion.
Thats it.
After making bunch of runs I got refreshing drink to fill my oak barrel(for 1 month it was filled with clean water, changed every 2-3 days).
RESULTS(this is the best part):
Product was aged in oak barrel from Oct 2017 to Dec 2020. Lil more than 3 years.
IMG_0394.jpeg
During ageing I allowed myself to steal some of contents to try «If it is ready?» - NO.
first year - don’t touch. It is just a moonshine.
2nd year - it tastes like a very young whiskey. Too young.
by end of 2nd year I diluted it to 40 Abv and waited more. I got an extra jar of very young whiskey at this step. it helped me waiting confident and patient.
Once 3 years past - it tastes like … well its not Glen 12(it is exactly aimed to). But its much better than simple sorts of whisky and whiskey.
Angel's share. not easy to calculate since I was some kind of angel myself. but it is about 30% for 3 years. It is very good result, because after ageing and diluting to 40% you will have full barrel of whiskey.
My conclusion to this experiment is:
Good SM from LME is more than possible.
Most You need are :
1. Steam Still (avoid coal on heaters and bad taste)
2. Oak barrel
3. At least 3 years of patience.
Thats all folks
I think your hydrometer is going to show you the way.shadylane wrote: ↑Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:51 pm
Next on the list is figuring out how to do the spirit run.
Should I do one more run and call it done.
Should I run it twice. I'd like to do that, but there may not be enough in the pot to keep the heater submerged.
Or should I use the CM column with one or more plates.