Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Jimbo »

Congrats Jonny, happy to hear it went well.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Stilman »

on the subject of cooling the on-grain mash quickly, I am planning on freezing plastic (sterilized) gallon jugs of water and throwing them in after the 2 hours of sitting at strike temp. Should work a lot faster than a fan.....anybody doing that?
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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Just pitched yeast in two 5 gallon fermenters of sweet, brown, barley water. US-05 at 70 degrees. This was my first AG attempt after MANY hours of reading. I started with 10 pounds two row barley and 10 pounds of heavy peated barley malt. I quickly found I didn't have enough capacity in my BFP to mash in 20 pounds of grain. I ground all of it at .050" gap in my mill. I used a nice brew bag that had straps that came in handy later. I use water from a limestone spring on my property. It leaves a white deposit on the heating element in my boil pot and pH tests at 6.0. I took half the grain, which was mixed between the 2 row and peated, and put it in my brew bag. I used my 44 quart SS boil pot with the basket. I put the bag in the basket and poured in 5 gallons of strike water at 170 degrees. I had my pot sitting on my turkey fryer burner with a 1/4" aluminum plate for the pot to sit on in case I needed to add heat during the steep process. The temp dropped to 142*F immediately. My grain was cold. I fired the burner up on low and brought the mixture to 148*F. Stirred in but the basket held the bag off the bottom so it acted like a double boiler. I checked it every 15 minutes and had to add heat a couple of times just to keep it at 143-145*F. Let it steep for two hours. Did the iodine check and tasted it. Had a sweet taste so I figured I was good. Took a ratchet strap and attached it to my garage door track and pulled the brew bag up and let it drain over the BFP. Squeezed it out after it got cool enough to handle. Poured that 5 gallons in my fermenter. Heated 5 more gallons of water and poured over the grain from the first run to sparge it. Squeezed it out and dumped spent grain and re-charged with fresh grain. Repeated process. Doing it this way I lost my sparge of the second bag but I let it hang and squeezed it out until there was no drip. Best I could do with what I had. I have so many vessels, jars, pots, carboys etc sitting around I didn't want to go out and buy a couple of 10 gallon gatorade coolers. Adding a little heat with the burner seemed to work well and I didn't get but about 5* delta in temp between stirring, checking during the steeping process. Poured all of the liquid from both runs together to homogenize them. At 72*F SG was 1.065. Frothed them up good with a paint stirrer on a drill motor, added a little yeast nutrient and sprinkled the US-05 on top as the packet called for. I usually hydrate but directions said sprinkle. I have both fermenters in a shower stall with heat set at 70*F. I sure hope I get some bubbles. Been waiting a long time on this and after several stuck sugar washes I am hoping the AG will work off without adding graham crackers, oyster shells, tomato paste etc!! I hope to get a medium smoke tone if all goes well. I don't know if that will come through in the white dog. I thought I could get a hint of it in the wort but might just be wishfully thinking. It does have a grassy smell before fermentation. Will try 100% peated the next time. I guess I could always blend it if it came out too heavy. Wish me luck. Cheers.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by jonnys_spirit »

Sounds like it's going to be good! Good Luck!

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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by TDick »

Sounds Great!
I do have a question.
I put my corn mash in a cooler at 185-190 F and left it over night according to @Jimbo s recipe.
The next day I didn't put a fan on it, just opened the cooler and let it naturally cool down before adding barley, then wheat.
The let is naturally cool to the temp to throw the yeast.
Is there a reason not to let it cool down naturally, letting the grain work a bit more?

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Last edited by TDick on Sat Feb 17, 2018 7:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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I didn't ferment on the grain. Pitched yeast at 9 am this morning. Both fermenters have a cap and bubbles. Not very vigorous. Barely getting a bubble every 30 seconds or so. First AG so wondering if they are lazy? Should I have bagged up a small portion of grain and left it in?
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by raketemensch »

TDick wrote: The let is naturally cool to the temp to throw the yeast.
Is there a reason not to let it cool down naturally, letting the grain work a bit more?

ps. Jimbo's The Man!
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This period, when the mash is cooling and yeast hasn’t been pitched yet, is the highest-risk time for infection. Lots of people use coolers to drop it, or freeze some backset or water to drop it quickly.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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raketemensch wrote:
TDick wrote: This period, when the mash is cooling and yeast hasn’t been pitched yet, is the highest-risk time for infection. Lots of people use coolers to drop it, or freeze some backset or water to drop it quickly.
Okay.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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24 hours later and still very little activity. Really bummed out about it. I have had a terrible time with any fermentation unless it was fruit. Checked pH with 4 bar strips. Looks like it is at 4.0-4.5. I added some oyster shells. I had used 1 tablespoon of 5.2 to 5 gallons of water. This stuff is just laying there. Ambient is right at 70* F in room where fermenters are sitting. I went through the same thing with my last honey/Karo syrup wash. Was thinking the AG would be much easier....any suggestions, advice, critique welcomed.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Wild Bill »

I would not worry as many of my ferments with us-05 really didn’t start going until 30-36hrs and the end product ends up fine. If you are worried about any off flavors from a longer lag period just leave in primary an extra week or so as it is pretty amazing how yeast will clean up after itself.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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Down_Home52 wrote:24 hours later and still very little activity. Really bummed out about it. I have had a terrible time with any fermentation unless it was fruit. Checked pH with 4 bar strips. Looks like it is at 4.0-4.5. I added some oyster shells. I had used 1 tablespoon of 5.2 to 5 gallons of water. This stuff is just laying there. Ambient is right at 70* F in room where fermenters are sitting. I went through the same thing with my last honey/Karo syrup wash. Was thinking the AG would be much easier....any suggestions, advice, critique welcomed.
Everything looks ok on your mash protocol. Should have fermentable wort..

US-05 can be a slow starter. I’ve had it take a couple days to get started when I used too little/old yeast. You sure you don’t have a leak and are missing the bubbles on the airlock? Did you split the yeast pack between the two fermenters? Is the yeast fresh- should have a date on it?

SR
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Down_Home52 »

SR I will check the date on the yeast. I added some graham cracker crumbs and gave it a stir. Getting some air lock bubbles now. One fermenter has gained 5* F over ambient the other 2*F. Maybe the yeast is happy now.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by bone586 »

Hey guys first time trying this recipe. I used 6lb of 6 row malted barely and 2 lb of peeted barely to 4 gal of water per 5 gal bucket. grain was a little cold so i stuck at 170, steeped at about 150 for 3-4 hr, stirring every 30 min. then cooled pretty quickly to 80 and pitched a packet of bakers yeast per bucket. OG was only 1.022 on both, from the amount of grain i used i was expecting much higher. checked the zero of my hydrometer and stirred well before I took the sample. They are fermenting, but Im not sure why my sugar content is so low. any help would be appreciated thanks!
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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The date on the yeast was "use by" 03 2020. I did not combine and split the two 11.5g packs between the two before pitching. That feedback is appreciated and was not on my radar for sure. After adding oyster shells and graham crackers both fermenters have taken off. I might need to cut the ambient temp back as one 5 gallon bucket is at 81*f with room at 70*F. The next time cook up a wort I think I will do the brew in bag but transfer part of the grain into a sachet bag and ferment with that in the bucket. I am thinking the husks and leftover grain would be good buffers and I might not see the pH go acidic. I sure appreciate the feedback and hope this will ferment down below 1.000.
Last edited by Down_Home52 on Sun Feb 18, 2018 6:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by HDNB »

bone586 how fine was the grain milled?
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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I set the rollers in the mill at .053". It was pretty flowery. Sorry I didn't see the other post.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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HDNB wrote:bone586 how fine was the grain milled?
It was whole! is that my issue? lol
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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bone586 wrote:
HDNB wrote:bone586 how fine was the grain milled?
It was whole! is that my issue? lol
Yes! The grain must be crushed/milled in order for the starch to be accessed...
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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Down_Home52 wrote:The date on the yeast was "use by" 03 2020. I did not combine and split the two 11.5g packs between the two before pitching. That feedback is appreciated and was not on my radar for sure. After adding oyster shells and graham crackers both fermenters have taken off. I might need to cut the ambient temp back as one 5 gallon bucket is at 81*f with room at 70*F. The next time cook up a wort I think I will do the brew in bag but transfer part of the grain into a sachet bag and ferment with that in the bucket. I am thinking the husks and leftover grain would be good buffers and I might not see the pH go acidic. I sure appreciate the feedback and hope this will ferment down below 1.000.
I don’t think you need to combine and split the sachets. I was wondering if you split 1 sachet into 10 gallons, which would be under pitching. I always rehydrate dry yeast too. I know they say to just sprinkle, but it’s not that hard to hydrate. Cheap insurance..

Honestly never heard of adding graham crackers. That’s a new one to me! Good luck with the rest of the ferment..

SR
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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The graham crackers were from rad here on the site. They work!!!! Both ferments are bubbling nicely. Hope they finish off well and i get some nice beer.....
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by bone586 »

ShineRunner wrote:
bone586 wrote:
HDNB wrote:bone586 how fine was the grain milled?
It was whole! is that my issue? lol
Yes! The grain must be crushed/milled in order for the starch to be accessed...
appreciate the answer man! makes sense, having used sweet feed whole in the past had me confused! At least I got some sugar out of the deal so we will see how it ferments. should theoretically get me to 5% at least.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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Make sure you adjust the rollers on the barley mill too!!! I read anywhere from .038" to .063". I was around .053" with a feeler gauge. Also, I bought my grain mill used. It didn't work worth a sh-t because the idler roll wasn't turning. Took the eccentric adjusters out and used food grade lube and re-assembled. Put a 3/8" drill on it instead of the hand crank and was in bidness!!
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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Life is good. Fermentations are chugging away.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by ShineRunner »

bone586 wrote:
ShineRunner wrote:
bone586 wrote:
HDNB wrote:bone586 how fine was the grain milled?
It was whole! is that my issue? lol
Yes! The grain must be crushed/milled in order for the starch to be accessed...
appreciate the answer man! makes sense, having used sweet feed whole in the past had me confused! At least I got some sugar out of the deal so we will see how it ferments. should theoretically get me to 5% at least.

You might get that high, but AG doesn’t usually ferment all the way dry- much below 1.000. It can, but usually requires a slightly lower mash temp... and milled grain. :D

Now you know for next time! Good luck..
SR
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

Post by Down_Home52 »

Using 50% peated barley should I be able to get a hint of smoke in the white dog? Trying to make enough runs to put up in 3 gallon once used bourbon barrel but was wondering if i could get any hint of smokiness after first run. If not I will up the % peated for next 2-3 runs. Guessing some of that will be in the amount of tails I throw in for aging?
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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i think, lots. depending on the peat level. 5-15% are the common numbers.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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HDNB wrote:i think, lots. depending on the peat level. 5-15% are the common numbers.
I will know a little more when I get this first wash ran. That's why I didn't try to run 30-40 gallons at 50-50 and it be way to smokey. Also the supply of peated malt is different levels of smokiness.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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Down_Home52 wrote:Using 50% peated barley should I be able to get a hint of smoke in the white dog? Trying to make enough runs to put up in 3 gallon once used bourbon barrel but was wondering if i could get any hint of smokiness after first run. If not I will up the % peated for next 2-3 runs. Guessing some of that will be in the amount of tails I throw in for aging?
Depends on the phenol levels in the malt. The lightly peated stuff will probably be fairly light, but you should get it in the low wines for sure. I did 1/3 Baird’s heavily peated and it’s on the lighter side, for me. But I like lagavulin and such. I’d say it’s a little heavier than the glens.

Cuts are a little tricky with the smoke, but you’ll get there!
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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I like Highland Park. I will probably only do a strip and one spirit run through a pot still on this wash. No packing. Want all the flavor I can get. Read about Bruichladdich Octomore 8.3. It's an Islay that is supposed to be made with 100% 300PPM peated malt!!!!!! Man that would be like smoking a peat roll your own while sipping a regular Islay!!! I have a bottle of 18 year old Glengoyne that a very good friend brought me back from Scotland last year. Saving it for a very, very special occasion.
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Re: Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

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I have one 5 gallon fermenter that shut down after less than 4 days. Started slow but ran like jack the bear the last two days. SG was 1.065. I opened the lid and there is no cap, no bubbles. Sour as green apples and 1.005 on the hydrometer. Is that possible??? Smokey taste is heavy even in the beer. the other 5 gallons never built heat like the first but it is slowing a little too. I tasted the one that seems finished 30 minutes ago and still have a sour, smoked taste in my mouth.
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