My First AG Fermentation and Run in the CCVM Still

Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
Pics are VERY welcome, we drool over pretty copper 8)

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Biff Henderson
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Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 8:19 am

My First AG Fermentation and Run in the CCVM Still

Post by Biff Henderson »

TLDR: Disappointing fermentation leads to a disappointing yield, but a great great taste

Key lessons:
1. Need a wired drill - not enough torque or battery strength for a grain mill with a cordless drill - negatively impacted the grain bill
2. It is hard to understand what you're really getting with store bought wheat and corn. Makes computing a grain bill shooting for 1.060 difficult. The hard red winter wheat currently donated to my efforts is unmalted, which is a part of the issue. I do not intend to malt it myself, so will either use it as an adjunct or ... bake bread I don't know.

I am wanting to construct a repeatable grain bill for a good wheated whiskey - read a lot of different threads (30 maybe on HD) on the topic. Came away smarter, but still pretty confused. Am realizing - in terms of grain bills - there is a great discrepancy between what I can read at HD and what happens at the stores I buy the grains. It's a journey - we'll get there...hopefully sooner rather than later.

I wanted 5 pounds wheat, 3 pounds cracked corn, 2 pounds two-row barley (after a Bernheim thread I read). I got 2 pounds cracked wheat, 3 pounds cracked corn, 2 pounds two-row barley when I ran out of juice on my cordless drill - doh. I did use gypsum and amylase to increase fermentability. I knew immediately I was going to have a yield issue. Thought about adding a couple of pounds of sugar, but I really wanted to get an understanding of what the grains were going to taste like.

Brought 7.5gal water to 165, added gypsum. Added wheat/corn, let the water settle down to 152. Added 2-rwo and amylase. Stirring every 15 minutes, I gave it 90 minutes in my mash tun. Question: Do I want the lid on to maintain the temp, or is it fine to leave the lid off?

Transferred to a bucket using a pump and a Therminator. Here, the HD calculations worked perfectly as I yielded exactly what I'd read (30% loss of wort due to grain saturation) and settled in at 5.25 gal. Not surprisingly the SG was low (1.035). Pitched my baker's yeast and yeast starter at ~75'ish degrees and put the bucket on.

Since I had fermented late at night, I was not able to get a full 72 hours in, but wound up with 60, which I'm sure effected the fermentation to some degree. Measured my FG at 1.009. In terms of efficiency, not bad. Just too little sugar to yield much liquor.

In terms of still operations, I was really pleased. To those who have been following my journey in the past, water was not an issue this time as I had plenty of ice packs/frozen water bottles on hand. I was able to keep the recirc water under 80 at all times. I'm improving at PID management and keeping still equilibrium - really just nothing major to report here.

Wound up with 400ml usable at 154 proof and 200ml of tails (feints for next time). The 400ml really has a nice taste and I'm looking forward to storing it on white oak staves in whiskey bottles just to see what happens over the next few months. I'll dilute that with distilled water when the time comes.

Would love to seek the wisdom of the community on building a good grain bill and suggestions on the fermentation process. That way I can get back to running a still - which is why I quit home brewing the first place.
"Moonshine? Hell naw officer, we makin hand sanitizer"
arentwejusthere
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Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2019 9:41 am

Re: My First AG Fermentation and Run in the CCVM Still

Post by arentwejusthere »

Biff Henderson wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 9:08 am

I got 2 pounds cracked wheat, 3 pounds cracked corn, 2 pounds two-row barley

Brought 7.5gal water to 165, added gypsum. Added wheat/corn, let the water settle down to 152.
So at 7.5 Gal with the above grains at 75% you could have potentially been looking at 1.026. I think the grain bill might be a little light at 0.6lbs/gallon.
Biff Henderson wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 9:08 am Added 2-rwo and amylase. Stirring every 15 minutes, I gave it 90 minutes in my mash tun. Question: Do I want the lid on to maintain the temp, or is it fine to leave the lid off?
I don't see that you gelatinized or cooked the cracked corn. I'm used to seeing temps north of 160 to start for an overnight soak/cook. Did you cook the corn ahead of time?

I'd say to leave the lid on and keep your temp as stable as possible when you've reached whatever temperature rest you're trying to hit. The idea of the temperature rest is that you're trying to optimized some kind of activity (be it gelatinizing or enzymatic activity) around a time/temp/ph balance.
Biff Henderson wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 9:08 am ...the SG was low (1.035).
That's 90% efficiency if you started out with 7.5 gallons of water on 5lbs of grain. That seems nice to me.

It sounds like you separated the liquid from the mash before putting it in the fermentor. Is that what you did, or is that a bad read on my part?
seabass
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Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:08 am

Re: My First AG Fermentation and Run in the CCVM Still

Post by seabass »

Looks like you gave your fermentation 60 hours then ran it? Next time, dont measure it in time. Measure it in SG. It might have dropped several more points giving you more alcohol.

I'm all for fast ferments with the right yeasts, but it's not done until it's done and the only way to know that it's done is by checking SG over a couple of days.
Yating_Ju
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2020 12:05 pm

Re: My First AG Fermentation and Run in the CCVM Still

Post by Yating_Ju »

2-Row: 38ppg (38*2=76)
Wheat: 36ppg (36*2=72)
Corn: 39ppg (39*3=117)
Total = 76+72+117 = 265 points

265 points / 5.25 gallons = 50. That means that your maximum potential yield was 1.050. If you got 1.035, your efficiency was 70% (35/50). This yield is ok for infusion mashing.

Edit: Error in my calculations
Biff Henderson
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Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 8:19 am

Re: My First AG Fermentation and Run in the CCVM Still

Post by Biff Henderson »

Great commentary all and thanks for the responses. My lack of delay in response does not indicate a lack of value of appreciation. Definitely right on the grain bill - I have increased counts of all grains accordingly. Did not cook the corn ahead of time and part of my learnings - I'm now starting my cooks at 195+ in the mash tun. I did separate the liquid from the mash before putting it into the fermentor. Ran it through my old brewing setup with a therminator. Now I have a much higher SG, but a much larger mess and process considerations. Different problem and different thread.

Seabass - good advice. Good note for the future. I have always managed things to a clock, but with so many recipe changes right now, you're spot on - this can't be measured by time.

Yating_Ju - the Lintner scale is not something I am well acquainted with - but will read up on it.
"Moonshine? Hell naw officer, we makin hand sanitizer"
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