Honey Bear Bourbon

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BigJames
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BigJames »

I just moved my wash to a secondary fermenter to clear. It was a PITA to strain all of the stone ground grits that I used for corn but it will definitely be worth the trouble!
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Oldvine Zin
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Oldvine Zin »

BigJames wrote: Thu Dec 17, 2020 7:27 pm I just moved my wash to a secondary fermenter to clear. It was a PITA to strain all of the stone ground grits that I used for corn but it will definitely be worth the trouble!
So true!
Did you mop bucket strain or by hand?

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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BigJames »

Used an E-Z strainer on a five gallon bucket and then used a mesh brew bag. I’m gonna run it tomorrow morning and then used the leftover grains for a gum ball head
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Oldvine Zin »

BigJames wrote: Fri Dec 18, 2020 7:13 pm Used an E-Z strainer on a five gallon bucket and then used a mesh brew bag. I’m gonna run it tomorrow morning and then used the leftover grains for a gum ball head
+1 on using the spent grain for a gum ball, if you can source it cheap I recommend dextrose (corn sugar) as your sugar it just rounds it out nicely.

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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BigJames »

I bought a 50 pound bag of corn sugar from a bakery supplier online. That was my plan. Thanks for the advice, I’m trying to learn everything that I can
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Soft batch »

Love this recipe - probably about my 10th run of this. My only modification is that I do steam cook the corn to improve extraction.

My house smells fantastic.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BigJames »

My first jar is dripping out the copper as I type. It smells freaking great. I can’t wait for the spirit run and getting it in my little oak barrel. All grain is the way to go!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BigJames »

Started my second wash of honey bear last night and after mashing in I had a SG of 1065. Not to bad for an amateur. I’m really starting to love this hobby! I’m hooked, can’t get enough of it!!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Oldvine Zin »

:thumbup: :thumbup:
BigJames wrote: Fri Dec 25, 2020 7:53 pm Started my second wash of honey bear last night and after mashing in I had a SG of 1065. Not to bad for an amateur. I’m really starting to love this hobby! I’m hooked, can’t get enough of it!!
:wave: :wave:
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BigJames »

Everything looks like it is going great. Can’t wait to see how this run turns out
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Oldvine Zin »

Sipping some 3 year old HBB as I type tjis and that typo well the HBB has taken control of both my taste buds and fingers, great recipe!!!

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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BigJames »

Running my first spirit run of HBB, slow and steady, first 150 ml is 170 proof. Damn that is pretty good for grains and no sugar. This is one hell of a recipe!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BigJames »

Should I let it air out before I put it in my 3 liter barrel?
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Deplorable »

BigJames wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:07 pm Running my first spirit run of HBB, slow and steady, first 150 ml is 170 proof. Damn that is pretty good for grains and no sugar. This is one hell of a recipe!
Yeah thats heads. Hearts should be coming in around 75 to 78%
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by acfixer69 »

Should air out then make the cuts to make it barrel ready.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BigJames »

Thanks for the advice. I’ll let it air tonight and make cuts tomorrow then barrel. I’m new and want to learn everything that I can. Thanks again
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Finally got to use my brand spankin new 50gal kettle, what better recipe to start with than this. Seems pretty magical after reading through. I used the following protocol/recipe. This is my first big batch of anything and so far everything is working perfectly!

25lbs corn meal
2.5lbs honey malt
5 lbs white wheat malt
5 lbs red wheat malt
5 lbs briess pale ale malt “American Maris Otter”

-Bring 25 gallons carbon filtered water to a boil
-Add corn and honey malt, stir with drill mixer, let sit for 30min
-Add 15ml SebStar HTL and mix with drill, thinned almost instantly. Place wort chiller inside kettle to naturally sanitize.
-Wrap kettle with 2 blankets overnight “8hrs.” Dropped to 155 next morning
-Check Ph: 5.8
-Adjusted to 5.55 with 10ml lactic acid
-Add Seb amylase, then remaining malts, mix
-Covered with blankets and let rest for 8hrs
-Checked for conversion with iodine and taste
-Chilled to 72deg with wort chiller
-Measured OG: 1.060
-pitched 4 packets US05
-Added 5tsp chalk
-set temp controller to 70deg with two heating pads under kettle.

Found a website where I could get a 50lb bag of fine cornmeal for like 14 bucks before shipping! It gelled almost instantly.

Enzymes are amazing btw. Took a literal solid mass and made it liquid in less than a minute with sebstar and a drill mixer!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

Sounds like clock work to me. Glad you finding your way through :thumbup:
"Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Thank you for the fantastic recipe. Very excited to see how this turns out with my 3” 4 plate. Although, I might want to stick
To the simple pot still to retain some these flavors. I’ll just need to try both methods! Thanks again!
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Tummydoc
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Tummydoc »

Might want to detune that plated column down to 2 or 3 plates if possible. I ran with 4 plates for HBB. But for chocolate sundae bourbon i found fewer plates brought more of the chocolate/roast through. I didnt try that on HBB but in hindsight wish I had. Not much honey came through at 4 plates.
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Oldvine Zin
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Oldvine Zin »

All the HBB that I have run was pot and twice stilled and think that its the best way :D
Just my humble opinion

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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Tummydoc »

Brewinbrian, i think you've got a chance to add to the knowledge base here, but may need to get another 50 gallon ferment started. Run pot mode strip and spirit runs recording: 1 your cumulative spent at the still, 2 time in days from start to age-able product, 3 yield volume, and 4 flavor impressions. Then do the same with various plate configurations and post the results.

I run a keg boiler, 2 inch sanke outlet, 240V 5500w element with SCR controller. I dont have a drain (just too damn lazy to cut another hole and silver solder a drain) which limits my ability to do multiple runs in a day cuz i have to let the boiler cool to drain before refilling. So 2 stripping runs followed by a spirit run involves 3 days, usually spread over 2 weekends. With a 3 inch column using 2 or 3 plates I can go from wash to aging in a single 6-8 hour run. Of course the volume yield was less than combining 2 stripping runs in pot mode. For me balancing time, taste, and yield i think a 2 plated column was my sweet spot. If i was single or retired the pot mode might win just because i enjoy the process. Given that 80% of the flavor comes from the barrel i think arguing about nuances between modes to my palate is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Thanks for the feedback guys! I like the idea of reducing plates to get the flavor.

I think I still need to figure out for myself what I like. I’ve been using the 4 plate for ujssm and I like the light/clean profile it has. There’s still quite a bit of flavor too. I also use a half barrel keg boiler with 5500W and 220V

Maybe this approach makes sense: this first batch I do the simple pot strip/spirit. Next batch I do the pot strip/4 plate column spirit run. That’ll give me the opposite ends of the spectrum. Maybe this will lead me to want something in between or realize double pot is the only way to go.

My goal is to fill my brand new 5gal Gibbs barrel with HBB. Got a lot of mashin/stillin in my future. Winters in the midwest are pretty dull, especially now, so I won’t feel too guilty. I’ll be doing all my mashing indoors with my 5500watt heating element in the new kettle. Not freezing my ass off outdoors anymore!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by ddizzle22 »

Just ordered all the grains and waiting on delivery to start a 30gal ferment. I think I will bypass the oats the first time around. For the many that have tried this recipe is it better to get the oats first time around.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

UPDATE:

Fermented down to 0.994, thank you enzymes! The wash wasn’t extremely clear, but I ran it anyways. Stripped the first 10gal to find out most of the remaining wash was soaked up grains.... ugh lol. Good thing I bought a mop wringer and a brew bag. I strained out another 11gal! Gonna let the buckets sit overnight in the cool chest freezer to cold crash for another stripping run tomorrow.

The run: Ran 10gal of wash for a stripping run today. Oh my god..... if what I tasted after the heads is any indication of the final product, I’m in for something special. Literally tasted like a honey graham cracker! Ended with what looks to be 2.5gal low wines after I shut her down at 10%ABV out of the still.

I’ll keep y’all posted!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

Lol. I will always remember that feeling, that excitement. Wonderful :thumbup:
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You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
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NormandieStill
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by NormandieStill »

So this is currently on my wish list. I've started building up my shopping list, but being in europe things don't quite match.

- Honey Malt is not easily available here. I can get Mélanoidin Malt which is what the Honey Malt is classified as but I've yet to find anyone doing a direct comparison.
- Likewise red wheat. I can get wheat malt in various degrees of roast, but either white wheat or spelt. What does the red wheat bring flavourwise? Any suggested substitutes?

The corn will likely be animal feed. I can get corn meal (corn flour) but the 9.5kg I'll need for three batches will likely cost more than the malts. Cracked corn (mais concassé) is a common chicken feed here and available everywhere. I can even go organic for less than the flour. I think my little grain mill is going to get some exercise... as is my arm.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by NormandieStill »

And for the record this is my recipe convert into metric:

3.18kg cracked corn (2.27kg corn meal) (for 22.7l)
227g Honey malt
454g white wheat malt
454g red wheat malt
454g pale malt

Rounded up for 25l (roughly. I've not done the maths properly, but it'll either gain or lose a few points)
3.5kg cracked corn (2.5kg)
250g Honey malt
500g White wheat malt (1kg if red wheat malt is not available)
500g Red wheat malt
500g pale malt
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

NormandieStill wrote: Mon Feb 08, 2021 4:05 am So this is currently on my wish list. I've started building up my shopping list, but being in europe things don't quite match.

- Honey Malt is not easily available here. I can get Mélanoidin Malt which is what the Honey Malt is classified as but I've yet to find anyone doing a direct comparison.
- Likewise red wheat. I can get wheat malt in various degrees of roast, but either white wheat or spelt. What does the red wheat bring flavourwise? Any suggested substitutes?

The corn will likely be animal feed. I can get corn meal (corn flour) but the 9.5kg I'll need for three batches will likely cost more than the malts. Cracked corn (mais concassé) is a common chicken feed here and available everywhere. I can even go organic for less than the flour. I think my little grain mill is going to get some exercise... as is my arm.
I looked at Mélanoidin when trying to help people in the past. Others have always referred them to this. Can't say I've done a side by side.

Use the wheat you got. You probably won't know the difference. I used red becuase it has a nutty, spicer taste than white wheat. This is a wheated bourbon, something like a Makers, Buffalo Trace, or Pappy. Without any rye for spice, I had hoped to pull some balance with a very sweet bourbon(from wheat and then adding honey) from the bitterness in the red (similar to hops in stouts - you won't taste them, but they keep your beer from being cloying). Rye tends to dominate, and I wanted a balance. So, I split 2/3 of mashing malts to be wheat, equal between red and white, and the third a basic malt for a base. Was a rocking trifecta to play with. Even did a 3 Wheated Heffer( COW - corn, oat, wheat) where the pale malt was a random winter wheat they had.

Anyways, all to say, use what you have. That's all I ever did, and when I made something I liked, I wrote it down and then screwed with it again. I can confidently say that if the only change are these small two things, then ya ain't gonna hate it. We'll branch out the new species franchise and call it the European Honey Bear.

Good luck!
"Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond."
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Soft batch »

FYI - Buffalo Trace is not wheated, it is a low rye mashbill. Their Weller and Pappy lines are wheated bourbons.
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