My most recent run, I decided to try for a whiskey. Primary reason is that I wanted to expand my experience and also my dad's birthday is coming up and he don't mind a drop o' that! (me neither actually, funny that)
I did just 4Kg of crushed, malted barley. I boiled it up in my still's boiler (basically just a big stainless keg) over the propane. I tried my best to let it sit at 66-67 degrees C for an hour and a half, but it could have been off slightly.
Well, fermenting, it bubbled like a crazy person foams at the mouth for just barely 2 days then pretty much stopped dead. It tasted kind of bitter, almost like a beer, so I guessed it was done. (I used an Ale yeast)
Ran it through the still and collected a few liters of stuff. Took off the meths, but the stuff after that was "fruity" and smelled too good to chuck. Middle run was raw booze (my still is a reflux) then towards the end it started taking on a not unpleasant "sweet and bready" smell. The tails did not get cloudy at all even down to 10% (Although I had stopped collecting the drinking lot well before that)
Well I mixed together the pleasant smelling middlest portions, watered it down to about 55% (it was only about 75-85 straight off the still) and put it on oak chips. Been sitting there almost a week and although it still smells quite "sweet and bready", I do not find it an unpleasant smell. It might be something interesting and new for the old man at least I hope so!
(he isn't a great connisuer or nuffin')I guess my question is are these smells usual? Are they desirable or did I push it too far into the tails? They seem to be fading with time as they are noticably weaker than when they first went on oak.
Any suggestions for my next run (ie what did I fuck up on?)
