steam stripping on the grain

[jward]

Looking for some clarity. It seems like I read that one shouldn't distill yeast to avoid off flavors. Also, if you ferment on the grain and distill on the grain it seems like the yeast goes into the boiler for distillation too. Am I missing something? My best guess is that while it may be a best practice to leave the yeast and any other junk from the wash behind in the fermenter, but if you distill on the grain then it's not in the cards to leave the yeast and one has accepted that. It may be some yeast varieties are more prone to throw off flavors when distilled and one avoids those when distilling on the grain. Maybe yeast don't contribute off flavors.

[Getsmokin]

I feel it's more a factor of direct heat vs indirect heat. Direct heat with will cause different flavors than indirect. Steam stripping on the grain hasn't caused any adverse flavors in my experience. Side note 99% of commercial Bourbon is distilled on the grain.

[TimothyChurch]

I have a jacket still so most of my batches are done grain-in. Hell, even my rums are typically done with trub and solids mixed to some extent. Overall I haven't had any off-flavors due to the yeast.

I do find that batches done with the grain and yeast tend to have more of an effect on my copper plates. I know that one of the main reasons for copper is to help to reduce sulfur from the yeast and fermentation. I'd assume that as long as you have enough copper in there to cancel out the byproducts of the yeast it would be fine.

I know large bourbon distilleries have large copper baffles for precisely that reason and they change those out every year or so due to the effect of the yeast.

[Twisted Brick]

I think it's different for everybody.

Early on I squeezed my bourbon ferments and charged the still with the cloudy wash. After a year of (jar) aging I sampled a few drams and they had the unmistakeable taste of (SafAle) yeast so now I clear my squeezed ferments, leaving a pretty thick cake of custard behind.

[jward]

Thanks, Getsmokin. Thanks, TimothyChurch. I am still thinking about how to get enough copper into an all SS still. Thanks, Twisted Brick. Are you steam stripping when you pick up the SafAle in the product?

[Twisted Brick]

Thanks, Twisted Brick. Are you steam stripping when you pick up the SafAle in the product?

No steam (yet). 11gal keg pot still charge on natural gas.

Cool cat on your Avatar.

[tombombadil]

Every commercial bourbon maker distills without removing the yeast.

It looks like the scotch producers do it as well. They're fermenting off the grain, but I haven't seen any evidence to suggest they're letting their beer clear before stripping it.

Come to think of it, I've never heard of any commercial producers intentionally removing the yeast before striping.

They just pump it over and run it right?

I don't taste it in my likker but I haven't been doing this very long.

[Prairiepiss]

Most of the time it’s said to not because. Either the yeast and stuff can scorch To the bottom of a boiler using fire. Or scorch to an electric element. The scorching of the yeast is what you give you a nasty taste.

[MichiganCornhusker]

I've made whiskey with steam and I've made whiskey with fire.

I've done the side by side comparisons, and there is a substantial difference in flavor between running clear, racked ferment, and cloudy stuff including yeast, trub, and grain.

I'm not saying that if I ran it all together it would taste like yeast, or have "off" flavors, but when I run them separately I much prefer the cleared ferment. It's not even close. I couldn't care less how commercial whiskey is made.

It's an easy thing to do. Next time you run a batch just pull off the cleared ferment and run that, then squeeze the rest and run that cloudy. Keep the two runs separate and see how they taste after the spirit runs. If you think it's all good, just mix them together, nothing lost.

I built a steam stripper just so I could say goodbye to all the straining and squeezing. I was not happy with the results and I do not strip on grain anymore. I am still squeezing, straining, and racking. I prefer the product that way.

It's not about whether the clear is "better" than the cloudy, or on-grain, that is a subjective choice, but to suggest that a spirit made from a clear racked ferment is the same as one from clear, grain, yeast and all, well that's just not true.

[SaltyStaves]

Scotch distillers will literally pump an active ferment straight from the washbacks into the wash stills in order to keep to their schedules.
They don't care about those pesky washes that don't finish, because the volumes that they are working with will nullify any variation/anomaly.
Many have a fermentation regime that has a longer fermentation (hours) over the weekend, but come Monday morning, if the yeast ain't finished...Tough! Its gettin stripped..

We don't have the same concern and we can be patient. Or not.
I like to get ever last bit of sugar but get in front of any infection that might steal too much alcohol. Sometimes your hand is forced and you just have to run it.

[malt_lover]

Couldn’t have said it better. Just because a commercial company is doing it, doesn’t make it ok, otherwise why would we be into this.