Probably simple, but I dont know

[VictoryRay]

I just did my first wash that wasnt all sugar based, and i cant figure this out. i got the recipe from the parent site and followed it to the "T" for a 25lt wash. on the sugar wash's i am able to check with the hydrometer the entire fermant process to record it. i let this wash go for three weeks and couldnt get a reading once. it never really bubbled alot in the air-lock and i even added another half pack of yeast cause i thought something was wrong.

is this normal for grains or is something wrong? its not reactive to sugar and has no sweet taste to it. im ready to run it if its ok.

heres the reciepe


Alex H writes :
you can make very good malt whisky from malt extract and grain mash. I find that it is best to use a blend of two row pale malt extract and pale malt powder. The liquid malt extract has been boiled heavily and adds a nice rich, deep chocolate flavour to your wort and the powdered malt gives it that round fresh malt flavour.

I use a blend of cracked maize and the above malts in my wort and find that this gives a balance of flavour that is a lot like an Irish Whisky. Due to using malt extracts instead of malted grain I never cook my wort as this would caramelise the malt and give a nasty flavour to the distillate. I used to always use malted grains and cook my wort and go through the whole process but I have found that using malt extract is just as good and so much easier. A lot of emphasis is placed upon SG, enzyme conversion of starches into fermentable sugars and many other esoteric factors but the truth is that these factors are more important in the making of beer or if you are not using added sugar and are relying upon the sugars from the grain starches.

I use a 120 lt pot still and run to a high wine of 30%, empty the still and then re-distill the high wine to 60%. After distillation, I run the entire run through activated charcoal to remove any impurities. To age my whisky I use a 225 litre American oak barrel that I have heavily charred inside, this is the only way to age whisky as wood chips do not simulate the many chemical reactions that go on inside the barrel over time. You can get smaller barrels but they must be American oak and they must be charred (you can do this yourself.) I use used red wine barrels from Margaret River and rinse them out well with a few litres of white lightning to get the excess red wine out before I char the inside. A famous distillery in Scotland who I will not name has just released a premium scotch whisky aged in used French red wine barrels, selling for over 250 pounds per bottle (my idea first!!) The red wine remnants in the oak give a beautiful, round flavour to the whisky.

My recipe is as follows;
10 kg cracked maize
2 kg liquid malt extract
2 kg pale malt powder
22 kg sugar
1 pouch Alcotec turbo yeast
Water to make 100 lt (inclusive of above ingredients)

Method;
Fill fermenter with 50 lt hot water.
Add sugar, malt extract, malt powder and maize. Stir until sugar dissolved.
Add cool water to fill up to 100 lt mark (will be less than 50 more lt as dry ingredients displace water)
When mash is approx body temp cast your yeast over the top and stir well.
Mash will be rich brown colour.
Seal the fermenter (I never use an airlock. Trust me, you do not need one as the fermentation and escape of co2 is so rapid that nothing will get in)
Wait approx 10 – 14 days depending on ambient temp.
Mash is ready when it has gone a lighter colour, has no sweet taste and is non reactive (no foaming response) to added sugar.
Strain grain out and run through still.
Age and enjoy!

Obviously you will have to adjust this recipe to suit your still and fermenter size. This is a great recipe and will produce sublime whisky!!

[CoopsOz]

Go by taste, if it tastes dry and a bit like cider it is ready to run.

[goose eye]

your cap fall or are you a stirer. if you aint stirer get you a reed an push thru cap - it wont fall - an suck out enough to test. if you is a stirer pour some out to test.

so im tole

is that bout 2 pounds of suger to the gal countin corn.

[VictoryRay]

CoopsOz, thats about how it tastes. im going to run it through my hybrid this weekend.

goose eye, i stired at the start, the cap fell after about two days (i used turbo), couldnt get any reading, stired again, waited a couple days, no reading, stired in some more yeast, couple days went by, still no readings, but i guess its ready to go.

ill give it a run this weekend and see how it turns out.

it just seemed weird cause i am used to always being able to track the gravity through the whole fermantation process

thanks for the help fellas..

[arkansas]

What do you mean by "no reading"??

[gs_moonshine]

My very first corn mash didn't bubble at all either. I did the same thing added more yeast because I thought the yeast had died. In the end all it needed was time. After three weeks I decided just to run it and see and i got about 2 quarts of 50%ABV out it.

[VictoryRay]

by no reading, i mean when i put the hydrometer in it just falls over cause its floating so high. i know that the more sugar unturned will make it float higher (graity), but this has no taste of sweetness, and is dry tasting.

thats why this has me thrown off..

[arkansas]

Ok, I am more confused than I was, I have never mixed up a mash that makes my hydometer fall over, seems like that might have been alittle to high of gravity for the yeast? I did however have to make a dive to get my achometer back once.

[VictoryRay]

now you feel MY pain

thats why in asking. im going to run it anyhow just to see what happens..

[punkin]

Sounds to me as though it is just a sugar wash with flavours. Aside from the malt extract (no enzymes) and the pale malt powder (whatever that is, does it have active enzymes?) it's just like UJSM with heavy sugar content.
Unless you used turbo it'd be hard for regular yeast to get started in that high a concentration i think.

If you run it and get no alchohol off it, just means you have the sugar there still, you can water it down some, then pitch some more yeast.

[VictoryRay]

ill give it a shot and see what happens.

i did use turbo, and it did bubble through the air-lock a little for a couple days, but nothing real big to talk about. i would think that if it hasnt started i would still taste the sugar in it, but i dont taste any sweetness at all.

[goose eye]

what kinda numbers is on that tester.

rack an try an float a egg

so im tole

[RadicalEd1]

Punkin:

In beer brewing there's two kinds of malt extract, liquid and dry. So his recipe is most likely calling for a can of liquid malt extract and a bag of dried (or powdered) malt extract. DME can have enzymes, but they need to be added, and it is very expensive to do so.

Victory:

Rough math puts your OG at around 1.100. This might be a little too high for some yeasts. If you can, split the batch into 2 containers and water it down to 1.060 or so, and repitch your yeast. And at that gravity, some EC-1118 or other more suitable yeast will make quick work of it .