Making mash

[Fuzzy head]

Hi guys,

I'm new to distilling so sorry if it's a silly question. First of all hope everyone is well and keeping safe.
I have a question about making mash and experimenting with different grains, flavours and sugar amounts. Is there a way to see what the taste would be before making say a 30 litre mash that produces 2 litres of alcohol. As I've found that the taste is totally different when distilled.


Many thanks for your time.

[still_stirrin]

How big is your boiler? How do you plan to heat it?

With a small stove top still, like made from a stock pot, you can distill smaller amounts. So, building a small still would be a great idea, especially for a brewing rookie like yourself.

But, just understand that with a smaller boiler and a smaller wash, you’ll have less product to sample.
ss

[Twisted Brick]

Hi guys,

Is there a way to see what the taste would be before making say a 30 litre mash that produces 2 litres of alcohol. As I've found that the taste is totally different when distilled.

You can mash/ferment/distill in <5gal increments, but the cuts get progressively more difficult without experience. Sugar washes like UJSSM don't involve mashing, but you can fiddle with the grain combinations and get an rough idea of your taste profile.

[Prairiepiss]

First of all you aren’t making a mash using sugar. Sugar head, sugar wash, or just wash would be more acceptable terms to use. Usually sugar head refers to one that has grain added for flavors. Sugar wash is usually just sugar. And wash covers any sugar made ferments. Because in sugar heads you are not mashing the grains to extract the starches and converting them into sugars for the yeast to eat. Just saying.

And the only way you are going to know what the flavor profile of something is. To make some. And making small batches doesn’t always give you the best indication of what you would get from a full batch. But here is the best part of the whole deal. If you don’t like what comes out. You can dilute it and run it again. Or add it in with the next run. Or add it in with an all feints run. Or mix it with another one to get a different flavor. Or or or. There are so many things you can do with it. It’s almost always better to just make a normal for you size run.

I would suggest starting with the UJSSM recipe. You can make it without doing the souring part. With no problems. Then just change the amount of the different grains you want to try. You want all corn. Use all corn. Want all barley. Use all barley. Want all whatever use all whatever. You want a faux bourbon use 51% corn and your choice of other grains. A big part of the fun is mixing stuff together and seeing what you get out. Just follow a proven recipe. Don’t willy billy throw stuff in a pot and go. Take the proven recipe and adjust the flavor additives to what you want to try. There are no failures. Just learning experiences. Some of the best stuff I have made came from a rerun of something that was not good the first run.

[The Baker]

If you are not sure of the right term, you can call ANYTHING a "ferment"

Geoff