NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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Down_Home52
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Down_Home52 »

Durhommer wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:10 pm 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 it gets very thick.
Then cool to exactly 150f.
Pour into a large cooler (helps conserve heat during the mashing session)
Add 3 pounds of 6-row malted barley ...The temp should drop to approx 145f
...stir well every 15 mins, while you mash for 2-3 hours. Keep covered.

* Note: Don't add malted barley to the corn if it exceeds 155f! the enzymes will be denatured in short order and and you won't get no conversion.the mashing process requires that you keep the mash at 145f +/- 5f for the entire duration of the mash session which is why you use the insulated cooler.

this is what the OP SAYS HE DOES
Yes sir. I understand. Was trying to match up what I was accustomed to doing on my barley washes. I will definitely follow the recipe to the letter next time and I will ferment on the grain then strain. A couple of observations. I was not prepared for the amount of water the corn would retain. I also was impatient for the mashing process. When doing an all grain 2-row barley wash it will pass the iodine test in 30 minutes. I usually let it steep for an hour but have seen no OG difference between the two. My wash never completely "thinned out" probably because I was heavy on grain'water ratio. It did finally pass the iodine test and came out at 1.075 OG with a little over 4 gallons of wash. My corn is still hanging and draining and looks like I will squeeze another 1/2 gallon or so. I added a gallon of water and ended up at 1.060 OG. I came up short of my 6 gallon target at 1.065. Will pitch in the morning. During the process I was thinking about using dextrose or corn syrup instead of corn and adding that to a barley/rye wash just to taste the difference. The corn is a booger compared to the barley washes as far as time and effort. Plan on another run tomorrow using the OP recipe to the letter except for my rye addition.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Durhommer »

yes corn is a deal to work with you did good reaching that sg tho dont know if id spoil it with sugar man if yer gettin those numbers with just malts and enzymes id say ferment the all grain then rack the fluid lightly squeeze the grain bed then to a sugarshine off that
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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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 liquid below the basket to help thin the mix. It did let me add a little heat so a double edged sword. I haven't bought a big cooler because of space constraints and was working with what I had. Before I did my first AG I had done a corn syrup shine and a corn sugar shine. Neither had the bite of cane sugar wash. The corn taste came through. I used it without aging. This bourbon will go into an oak barrel. I think I will try a side by side using corn syrup, barley and rye just for the heck of it and use the backset from this run to mash in and maybe use the very last bit of flaked corn. I bought some cracked corn today and will run this recipe again using it. Sure is cheaper than the flaked and the barley. The barley goes a long way when using it for flavor instead of the base malt. I will post up the results. I really like the rye taste and this recipe allows infinite numbers of ways to tweak the grain bill.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Durhommer »

I LIKE THAT IDEA USING ALL CORN SUGARS oops caps lock the sugar bite is annoying so i tend to over oak at 140 proof then proof down to 80...seems to flavor up nice and loose most of the cane bite ill never ruin another smooth ag with sugar tho life lessons! good luck down home!
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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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 to bed. The second batch is steeping after amylase and malt was added. It thinned out just like it was supposed to do. Voila..!!!! Instructions didn't lie.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by pope »

I just used Lallemand GW for the first time on Sunday, that stuff is no joke! I used an average of the min & max recommended pitch rate and I went from 1.065 to 1.007 in 48 hours at 81F. Took about 10-12 hours to start bubbling (while the wash was being heated from 50's to 80's), by 24 hours it was raging. This was single malt not bourbon but either way, it's a wonderful yeast so far.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD STRAIN
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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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.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Durhommer »

i love the peat barley flavor
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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Durhommer wrote: Thu Dec 19, 2019 12:16 pm 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 but even at cask strength the flavors were unbelievable. Cooked up easy. Fermeted down to 1.005 ish and was to die for. Best smelling AG while cooking and fermenting ever. This corn stuff doesn't smell near as good but want to age some then use the barrel to age the single malt.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Durhommer »

yeah im starting to lean more to single malts right now just easy i guess
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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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.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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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 very little as it finishes up first quart. First taste was at 50% abv and the rye comes through more than I anticipated also. Rather peppery. I have two more stripping runs to make. Depending on what the yield is I may hold some wash back for the spirit run. Ran down to 15% and got about 3 quarts. Running second 4.5 gallon batch now.
Update: Second stripping run was the wash that I fermented on the grain. It ran slightly higher abv at 58% to start. It also had higher yield. The wash was strained through a brew bag and then a fine mesh filter to remove solids. I ran it in a 7.5 gallon boiler with 1500w element. During the run I noticed wisps of non-condensed vapor at the condenser exit. The product and the water exiting the liebig were both cool to the touch and temp was 66*F. I am thinking the wash which had not cleared before running was burning off on the element. OP mentioned running before it had cleared and I am wondering now if he was using propane. Both jugs of strip are airing out and I will taste to see if the second picked up a scorched taste.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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Yep. Scorched.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by apaka »

So after reading every page of this thread, and many other threads as well really, I chose this recipe for my first all grain. I'm a huge bourbon fan so it seemed right up my alley. My plan is to stick with the same grain bill and experiment with different processes to see the different results along the way.

The first batch I attempted to do a 48 hour corn soak following the "no boil corn mashing" method but come brew day I had a pot of baby puke and a lot of questions. Luckily my local feed store is close and I had some extra malted barley so I just started fresh (I have come to the conclusion that it was a bacterial infection from the pot I used, I figured since I brought the water to boiling temperature that it would kill the bacteria and the corn would be pasteurized during the process but obviously not). I reached a 1.052 OG and it finished at 1.000 which seemed like a good start. I was very gentle with the grain during the straining after fermentation so my yield volume was only 15L, my beer background really kicking in during the straining I figure. I ran my stripping run and distilled down to about 10% and am left with 2.5L of 30% low wines. I reused the grains following Jimbo's "Gumballhead" recipe and distilled that with my thumper. The gumballhead worked great and gave me a chance to start experimenting with aging with oak as well. I have 2L on charred american oak stakes, baked at 415F for 2 hours first and then I have 1L on american oak chips which were baked at 350F for 2 hours, no char. I can definitely tell that the oak chips are the accelerated oaking technique already, even after a week the chipped spirit tastes great with excellent color and body. I am opening the jars weekly and pouring the liquid to another jar and back throughout the oaking process.

After spending an entire day on the first batch (really need to invest in a wort chiller, just leaving it outside to cool down takes forever) I decided to try a different corn technique, prep and cooking. Following the same recipe but this time I ran the corn through a hand blender first, a bit at a time. I was trying to create more surface area for starch extraction without turning the corn to flour. I followed "Jimbo's 1/2 barrel bourbon" process and started the corn cook later in the evening then left it overnight, inside, wrapped in blankets in the pot. That honestly worked great in terms of effort as it was only an hour in the evening, start to finish then continued the next day. The big difference here is which the corn was gelantinizing I wasn't stirring it, because I was sleeping obviously. I have a bluetooth thermostat so I could just lay in bed and check the temperature, so convenient. Another difference with this batch is on the first batch, since I wasn't asleep, I added alpha amylase enzyme at the 158F temp to try and kickstart the conversion but I missed that temp in the second batch since, as I mentioned earlier, I was asleep (could always wake up earlier!). I was really hoping for a better OG this batch but I only acheived 1.050 this batch, the 1.070 OG seems like a unicorn at this point. This batch is just finishing fermenting, I'll strain off the grains (more thoroughly this time), let sit for a day and strip it tomorrow.

It has been great trying out different techniques and taking clinical notes which I can use as reference for how long it takes full boil volume to specific temperatures, for example. I'll keep reusing the grains since it's just a cheap bag of sugar to produce some surprisingly tasty spirit, Definitely going to need to invest in some more jars. I have bought a large bag of cracked corn and a large bag of malted barley so at this point it's a continuous process, brew one weekend and ferment during the week, distill the next weekend and do cuts, oaking, etc during the following week. I plan on doing 3 batches, stripping all of them then running all of those low wines in my final spirit run, going to be a spirit that I'm proud of for sure.

Thanks for the great recipe and all of the forum feedback to give me the confidence to take on this recipe as my first all grain, this forum is such an incredible resource.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Down_Home52 »

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.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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apaka wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 3:29 pm .
I was really hoping for a better OG this batch but I only acheived 1.050 this batch, the 1.070 OG seems like a unicorn at this point.
Nice job on your first AG mash. My first was this recipe too and one of my favorites.

Maybe this will help.

All grain: OPTIMUM mashing temperature

Mashing AG sweetfeed
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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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 cool water. Added yeast nutrient and Lallemand GW yeast with a hand full of oyster shells after it cooled to pitch temp. Forgot to record OG. FG was 1.008. Ran through pot still, threw out first 300ml and collected everything from 60% down to 30%. Cooked the rest down to 30 proof and threw in feints carboy. Yield was a little more than 3 quarts. Filled a wide mouth glass gallon jar 1/2 full of lump sugar maple charcoal. Poured the product into the jar and let it set 24 hours. Filtered through a coffee filter twice and repeated for the remainder. 102 proof. One run and it is GOOD!!!! I find this to be a better use of the goo after an NChooch run than trying to press and strain the last few ounces of wash. I kept the goo/trub refrigerated a couple of weeks while the syryp wash was working off. I think this recipe is called Stonewalls's Southern Whiskey. I am going to leave it white.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by NcHooch »

Down_Home52 wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2020 8:01 am 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 cool water. Added yeast nutrient and Lallemand GW yeast with a hand full of oyster shells after it cooled to pitch temp. Forgot to record OG. FG was 1.008. I find this to be a better use of the goo after an NChooch run than trying to press and strain the last few ounces of wash. I kept the goo/trub refrigerated a couple of weeks while the syryp wash was working off. I think this recipe is called Stonewalls's Southern Whiskey. I am going to leave it white.
I used to call that a Piggyback batch :wink:

Rack off all the wine from the original all grain fermented run, dump 10 pounds of sugar into the fermenter , stir and top with about 6 gallons of water. ...then stand back :thumbup:
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by NcHooch »

Down_Home52 wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2019 12:45 pm 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. Added 1 tsp Amylase enzyme and started stirring. Temp dropped to 144F quickly and the goo was still stiff. Fired up a low flame and trying to bring back to 155F before adding barley and rye. I was expecting the amylase to thin it a bit before adding barley and rye. I added the remaing water in at 170F to help but goo still lingering at 140F. Haven't added malt yet. What am I missing? Keep heating? I am heating at a low flame due to small amount of water in the bottom of pot under basket. Bag is much larger than pot so I am stirring the entire contents.
The original recipe was 10 pounds of grain and 6 gallons of water (minus 1 gallon for grain absorption) for a 5 gal yield .
Looks like you were using 50% more grain than the recipe calls for.
You could get away with mashing an all barley recipe with those quantities , but corn is a bitch , no two ways about it.
Stick with the script and you'll get better results. :thumbup:
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by NcHooch »

Glad to see y'all are still carrying on the tradition.
Something y'all really need to do is age this sprit on oak for 4+ years at 120 proof ... Once you can't wait any longer, uncork it, dilute to 80 or 90 proof and bottle... 100% Heirloom grade bourbon
Enjoy
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by cayars »

NcHooch wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 7:40 am The original recipe was 10 pounds of grain and 6 gallons of water (minus 1 gallon for grain absorption) for a 5 gal yield .
Looks like you were using 50% more grain than the recipe calls for.
You could get away with mashing an all barley recipe with those quantities , but corn is a bitch , no two ways about it.
Stick with the script and you'll get better results. :thumbup:
Not to mention he used flaked corn vs cracked corn which is a lot more protein and starches for the same weight of corn.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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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 batch I ran i leaned out the grain even further still keeping my ratio weights but just adding more water. I ditched the bag and the basket. Much easier. I can rack off the cleared mash with my racking cane but I still have a bunch of liquid/grain goo that I have to strain. Last time I ran that portion of the mash it scorched on my heating element. That was after straining through a paint straining bag. I am to that point again and messing around with ways to get it to clear. I use a 30 gallon Rubbermaid fermenter. I am putting a bulkhead fitting in the bottom with 3/4" bazooka filter on the inside and 3/4" SS ball valve on the outside. Cooking another 20 gallons of mash and will see if draining through the grains will help filter out the wash. I have pour foam here that I use in boat repair and was pondering pouring the outside of a 55 gallon Rubbermaid to mash in if i can increase my ability to heat water.It is unbelievable as an insulator because of its density compared to spray bomb foam. I am using up my last flaked corn and will switch over to cracked corn for later runs. Trying to fill a five gallon barrel. The "Piggyback" product is easy, cheap and helps keep the mitts off the bourbon. Cheers.

I am wondering if the cracked corn might strain easier than the flaked? The flaked fermented down to .996, woo-hoo, but man does it ever hold the liquid. I use my 12 ton hydraulic press with a strainer basket set in a catch pan to squeeze muscadines. Might try that with the last squeezings of corn. Very little pressure but the size of it lets you do some real work. Just throw the bag tied off in the strainer basket, put my hardwood plate on top of the paint strainer bag and ease the ram down and put a little pressure on it. I will post results. Could even double bag it since the press will be doing the work.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Durhommer »

corn is just welll corn it is a pain no matter how you do it
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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Yep. I am feeling it. Barley is so much easier to work with but really wanted to give the bourbon a try.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by cayars »

Down_Home52 wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:09 am 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's good, make use of the tools you have and Lauter it. Drain from under the false bottom and add it back to the top. You can do this anytime, not just when trying to pull the wort. Use the false bottom to your advantage and recirculate the liquid.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Down_Home52 »

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 the corn syrup liquor. I get the advantage of using the liquid contained in the grain and the presence of the grain itself in that wash. Makes some pretty fine spirit too. Cheap and easy. I think I might try a run of corn syrup wash with the addition of an AG barley and rye wash. Basically substituting the corn component from NChooch's Bourbon for the syrup. Hmmmmm.....wondering what that would taste like filtered through sugar maple charcoal and aged in a new charred oak 10L barrel????? However....next AG run will be the thread starters recipe to the letter and aged in glass with charred white oak sticks.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by cayars »

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 harder to lauter than barley. What I do (if this will help) is use cracked corn right out of the bag without milling it further. So the pieces are cracked but "large". I mash in 10 gallon drink coolers with false bottoms. I start by adding in my strike water at roughly 200F then slowly mix in my pre-weighed corn (add corn to water). At 185F, I'll adjust pH to 5.5 if needed, then I'll either use a bit of malt or liquid enzymes to thin out the corn as it thickens. Mix every 15 to 20 minutes or so. When temp drops to 165F I'll add in rye, wheat, oats or other UNmalted grains. Again pre-weighed and cracked or milled large. At 152F I'll adjust pH to 5.0 to 5.2 and add malted grains or gluco. Continue stirring ever 15 minutes or so. At roughly 120F I'll start to lauter off the liquid and sparge. By keeping the grains big the lautering is easier. I still get great conversions due to the very slow drop in temps due to the drink coolers.

The first drain/lauter and first sparge drain will usually go in the fermenter. I'll then again do another sparge or two checking the SG of the liquid I get out. When it's 1 or 2% potential alcohol I put this water aside to use for the next sparge or strike water. Grains are shot at this point. Since it does take hours to do this (but easy) I use multiple 10 gallon coolers. This way I can work in batches and use 3 and 5 gallons pots on the stove to heat the sparge and strike water. This setup works for me as I can do mixing, sparging, strike water, etc during advertisements watching TV or just a quick 2 or 3 minute trip to the basement and the family doesn't miss me.

I'd personally rather lauter than squeeze out the ferment from the grains after ferment, BUT for a bourbon fermented on grain I'll put the clear liquid in the boiler and put the grains/trub in a thumper (won't scorch) which is the overall easiest! It creates a different taste done this way (like traditional bourbon!). Thumpers are great for stripping run with grains! I don't like Irish or Scotch style whiskey on grain however.

I've tried corn syrup and didn't like it. It's both expensive and really didn't add corn taste IMHO like real corn does. But like all things, it's worth a test run as your results might be different than mine. Experimentation of techniques and recipes is good.
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Re: NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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cayars wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2020 6:47 am 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 harder to lauter than barley. What I do (if this will help) is use cracked corn right out of the bag without milling it further. So the pieces are cracked but "large". I mash in 10 gallon drink coolers with false bottoms. I start by adding in my strike water at roughly 200F then slowly mix in my pre-weighed corn (add corn to water). At 185F, I'll adjust pH to 5.5 if needed, then I'll either use a bit of malt or liquid enzymes to thin out the corn as it thickens. Mix every 15 to 20 minutes or so. When temp drops to 165F I'll add in rye, wheat, oats or other UNmalted grains. Again pre-weighed and cracked or milled large. At 152F I'll adjust pH to 5.0 to 5.2 and add malted grains or gluco. Continue stirring ever 15 minutes or so. At roughly 120F I'll start to lauter off the liquid and sparge. By keeping the grains big the lautering is easier. I still get great conversions due to the very slow drop in temps due to the drink coolers.

The first drain/lauter and first sparge drain will usually go in the fermenter. I'll then again do another sparge or two checking the SG of the liquid I get out. When it's 1 or 2% potential alcohol I put this water aside to use for the next sparge or strike water. Grains are shot at this point. Since it does take hours to do this (but easy) I use multiple 10 gallon coolers. This way I can work in batches and use 3 and 5 gallons pots on the stove to heat the sparge and strike water. This setup works for me as I can do mixing, sparging, strike water, etc during advertisements watching TV or just a quick 2 or 3 minute trip to the basement and the family doesn't miss me.

I'd personally rather lauter than squeeze out the ferment from the grains after ferment, BUT for a bourbon fermented on grain I'll put the clear liquid in the boiler and put the grains/trub in a thumper (won't scorch) which is the overall easiest! It creates a different taste done this way (like traditional bourbon!). Thumpers are great for stripping run with grains! I don't like Irish or Scotch style whiskey on grain however.

I've tried corn syrup and didn't like it. It's both expensive and really didn't add corn taste IMHO like real corn does. But like all things, it's worth a test run as your results might be different than mine. Experimentation of techniques and recipes is good.
Excellent feedback and in my opinion the exact type of post that helps beginners like me understand everything I am reading/seeing and creates the urge to keep running and experimenting. I think the flaked corn is what got me. Very dense and sticky. I am going for the cracked corn right out of the bag on the next run. I do not have a thumper but designed my column to add one in the future. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your reply. By the way, the corn syrup fermented on the bourbon trub does pick up some corn, and in my case barley/rye, notes. At $16 a gallon for the syrup and about 3 quarts yield at 102 proof with one run it makes a pretty nice drop. If you are mixing with Coke it is a cheap drink.
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