grain ratio wild turkey?

Grain bills and instruction for all manner of alcoholic beverages.

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
Thebigthumpa
Bootlegger
Posts: 115
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:35 pm
Location: Southern Nsw , Australia

grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by Thebigthumpa »

Hi. Just n trying figure out a good starting point for a sugar head whisky to get a similar taste to wild turkey? Thanks alot
User avatar
Odin
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 6844
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 10:20 am
Location: Three feet below sea level

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by Odin »

It is on the parent site, somewhere ... I think.

Bourbon, so corn and malted barley. Not sure about rye or wheat though. I know I know. But since I am on these forums, I like to store my knowledge online ...

Drinking strength is pretty high, I remember. 56%? Maybe a bit less?

Sorry, not being of too much help here, I am affraid.

Odin.
"Great art is created only through diligent and painstaking effort to perfect and polish oneself." by Buddhist filosofer Daisaku Ikeda.
Thebigthumpa
Bootlegger
Posts: 115
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:35 pm
Location: Southern Nsw , Australia

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by Thebigthumpa »

Yer. Its aged at about 55 or so and on a deep charred and toasted oak.
Thanks anyway.
ohyeahyeah
Swill Maker
Posts: 163
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:53 pm

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by ohyeahyeah »

75%corn,12%malt,13%rye. The yeast has a huge impact on flavour as well, and most bourbon makers use their own special "jug" yeast. Backset plays its role as well, and each may use a slightly different percentage though 25-30% is normal. In the old days they would use the backset to cook and sour the corn, then add the malt the next day. Now with jet cookers used for gelatinizing corn instantly slop back is added to the fermentor. Wild Turkey says on their site they add it when they add the malt.
Thebigthumpa
Bootlegger
Posts: 115
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:35 pm
Location: Southern Nsw , Australia

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by Thebigthumpa »

Jug yeast? I use ordinary bread yeast? Or should i use like a lager yeast?
ohyeahyeah
Swill Maker
Posts: 163
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:53 pm

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by ohyeahyeah »

Jug yeast just means a wild yeast that is always kept going in liquid form. If you ever hear the terms "practical" or "scientific" distiller, practical distillers use wild yeast often strains that have been kept going for decades and even handed down through generations where as scientific distillers use dry yeast produced in a lab where every spore is the same.

I've always used dry yeast,bread or wine, and only just started experimenting with some wyeast liquids so i'm interested to see the difference.
Thebigthumpa
Bootlegger
Posts: 115
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:35 pm
Location: Southern Nsw , Australia

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by Thebigthumpa »

Sounds interesting. I will give I a go with bread n wine yeast n see if I can spot the difference.
User avatar
Jimbo
retired
Posts: 8423
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2012 1:19 pm
Location: Down the road a piece.

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by Jimbo »

Thebigthumpa wrote:Sounds interesting. I will give I a go with bread n wine yeast n see if I can spot the difference.
Stick with bread or beer yeast. This is a tub of maltose, like beer. Not fruit based fructose. Youll have better results with beer yeast than wine yeast. I like US-05, its a dry beer yeast. Any of the liquid ones are fine too. American ales ferment cleaner than the british ales.
In theory there's no difference between theory and practice. But in practice there is.
My Bourbon and Single Malt recipes. Apple Stuff and Electric Conversion
ohyeahyeah
Swill Maker
Posts: 163
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:53 pm

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by ohyeahyeah »

I wasn't reccommending wine yeast, just stating i had used it. I found EC-1118 would never finish as dry as fleschmmans bread yeast even in side by side tubs started together. Though it did seem to add less flavour.
Thebigthumpa
Bootlegger
Posts: 115
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:35 pm
Location: Southern Nsw , Australia

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by Thebigthumpa »

So a dry beer yeast will finish higher than standard dried bread yeast?
dakotasnake
Rumrunner
Posts: 680
Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2010 5:38 am
Location: south dakota

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by dakotasnake »

if you want it to taste like wild turkey, dont make cuts, if ya want better than w t. make good cuts.
today marks the dawn of a new error.
Thebigthumpa
Bootlegger
Posts: 115
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:35 pm
Location: Southern Nsw , Australia

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by Thebigthumpa »

I have been making good cuts. (Well im pretty new, n I think im doing it right). Take off in 500 ml jars, first 2l got tossed to faints. And kept collecting in 500ml jars till abv% started dropping off? Sound about right? I had 25l of 35% low wines
ohyeahyeah
Swill Maker
Posts: 163
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:53 pm

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by ohyeahyeah »

I believe bread yeast is good to around 12% alcohol so it will have no trouble finishing in an all grain. Theres definately nothing wrong with it, there used to be a bourbon called Fleischmann as well as blended whiskey.


Wild Turkey is made on a continous run column still. This kind of still is decent at seperating tails but not heads which imo is why WT has such a nasty bite to it. Jack Daniels is made in a similar fashion, barreling high wines. At buffalo trace(Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Blantons ect) and Jim Beam(JB white and black,knob creek,bookers ect) they use the same style still but they take the high wines that come off it and put it through a copper "doubler" ,which is essentially just a huge pot still, to produce "new make" that is then watered down before it goes in the barrel usually at the highest % allowable by the rules.

Some people hold that Wild Turkey is more traditional because they distill and barrel at a lower proof which is proper tradition, but traditionally it would be made with two copper stills, one large, on small. The large one would be used to makes low wines and they would then be put through the smaller doubler possibly several times until the whiskey was "proof"(50%) or better. Even though column stills have been around for 180 years barreling straight off the column has always produced an inferior product. Good producers see the column as an efficent way to strip beer, not make a final product. To me if you aren't making your final product in some kind of batch run still, then that is not traditional. But i guess its a debateable point. Sorry to be long winded, this was to explain why dakotasnake mentioned making no cuts.
varocketry
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 514
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2013 5:15 pm
Location: somewhere not near Detroit

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by varocketry »

From my trip to WT this summer while taking the Kentucky Bourbon Tour, I recall they used #5 CHAR on their barrels, too. Only distillery I visited that used a #5 char.
-Just need something else to build. -
Fastill
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 898
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 6:28 pm
Location: Where we drink more beer than you!

Re: grain ratio wild turkey?

Post by Fastill »

To come close I think the barrel is the most important part.
A.D.D. and HD don't go together. This hobby takes time and dedication to learn and do it right and safe.
Fill the pool before you jump in head first!
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=52975
Post Reply