Recipe for 46L (12usg) wash:
60L (16usg) water
1T gypsum
2t citric acid
11Kg (24lbs) cracked corn
7Kg (15lbs) table sugar
½C baker’s yeast
2t G-A enzymes
Method:
Use chlorine and chloramine-free water (I treat my town water using Potassium Metabisulphite to to remove both chlorine and chloramines)
Add 1T gypsum, stir well and aerate for 30+ mins
Place 24lb cracked feed corn in 20usg fermenter and add water to cover
Simmer 15lbs sugar in 7.5L/2usg water for 20-30 mins (with 1T citric acid added on 1st gen. - Use backset and omit citric acid in subsequent gens)
Add to the fermenter and top up with a further ~38L/10 usg water
Check pH is 4.0+ (4.5 to 5.5 range is best) - adjust up with calcium carbonate if/when required
Aerate for 30 minutes
Ensure temperature is less than 38*C (100*F).
Stop aeration and sprinkle ½ C (125mm) bakers yeast on surface
After 15 minutes add 2t G-A enzymes and stir in.
Resume aeration for 30 mins.
Cover and fit airlock. – mine bubbles (slowly) immediately. Within 60mins the fermentation is very vigourous, and complete within 3 days (though the G-A and yeast will continue a very slow fermentation from the grain bed/lees.
Maintain heat at 27*C/80+*F throughout the fermentation.
Subsequent 3 generations:
Do not remove/replace trub
Stir up all the trub vigourously at the beginning of each new fermentation
Reuse 100% of the back-set, using calcium carbonate to maintain at least 4.0pH. in wash
Cool the backset and the inverted sugar so that 38*C/100*F is not exceeded when added to fementer with water to bring up to ~46L/12usg above the corn
After 4 (or 5 maximum) generations, remove ALL the grains and trub. Add fresh corn, gypsum, yeast and G-A …..BUT….. reuse ALL the back-set from the previous generation
Always add 4 or 5L water to fermenter after removing 45L/12usg for a strip rum
Freeze ALL back-set for future use and discard grains/trub if the fermentation will not be restarted within 2 days.
Filter wash through EZ filter into boiler
I make no cuts on my strip runs using 3000w internal elements.
On a 23L pot-still spirit run I collect fores at maybe 1 drop per second using ~250w, heads at ~2 drops per second using maybe 350w. After collecting 1L I switch to my parrot, collecting in 250ml jars down to 80%abv using maybe 500w. I then increase the power to about 1200-1500w and collect in 1L jars down to 70% abv.
I then switch to 250ml jars and collect down to 60%abv. I check all the above (except the first 1L of fores/heads which goes in the “alcohol cleaner” jar) for possible blending after 2 days under a coffee filter. Unwanted heads also go into the "alcohol cleaner" jar.
From 60% down to 40% I ramp the power up to 3000w. Nothing much I like the taste/smell of here (unless I am missing something?) - It all goes into my tails jar for future refluxing.
From 40% down to 15-10% goes into my “Corn Oils” jar for reuse in future spirit runs – much the same as Pugi’s pugirum recipe/method. Some of this smells/tastes really good to me, and I think it is a major benefit to the Corn Likker I am now producing, some 15 generations on.
I oak maybe 11L (3usg) at 65%abv on 10g light toast chips, 15g medium toast chips, 75g dark toast chips for a slightly lighter-than-average colour, opening the cork bung an swirling it around vigourously whenever I think about it. This is still being experimented on (and a barrel or two is in my future plans). After a month or two I start adding add distilled water in 0.5L stages per week to bring it down to 45-50%abv for use.
Friends, much more knowledgeable than I about corn whiskey, rate it very highly, and it has become my “drug of choice” – I never thought a good single malt Scotch (or Irish) would ever be replaced as my likker of choice.
Edited typo (from 80*C) to 27+*C/80+*F - It's the oak that's toasted, NOT the yeast!!!
