Adding peat flavor?

[brewmaker1]

I have a friend that's been after me to make a whisky (faux scotch). I'm not a big fan of scotch and don't really want to ruin perfectly good barley mash by adding 15 to 20% peated malt. So I figure I might be able to make him happy (and maybe surprise myself) by adding peated malt to a jar or two of spirit I already have in storage.
The question I have, would it be better to macerate peated malt in the spirit, then redistill? or put the malt in the vapor path? Or simpler still, just filter the spirit after the malt has soaked in it for awhile.
So far the only thing I've found is on the parent site that calls for cooking peat and soaking it directly in spirit then distilling. Nothing about using peated malt (other than in mash).
Any recommendations?

[Dnderhead]

I whould thank adding malt after distilling whould give a "sweet malty" flavor witch mite or mite not be a good thing. (more like beer?)
also the starch mite give it a haze.( depending on malt you used ,darker malts have less starch ,more is carmelized)

[punkin]

You may well be able to distill an essence by cooking it, adding alchohol to 40% and distilling.
But i would think it'd be a shame to ruin a batch of allgrain doing any of these things when you could just do a peated amsh and put the rest of it away for a few years to mature and use it as gifts if you don't like it y'self.
The quantities we're dealing with over the years here make that sorta thing the best option.

[brewmaker1]

Good idea Punkin. I could have Christmas covered for the next several years.

I still might experiment. The idea of adding some extra malt charactor sounds interesting. I could do a couple half pints and if they don't turn out, they'll go in the peat run.

[brewmaker1]

Curiosity got the better of me, so I had to try an experiment. I put a tablespoon of milled peated malt in a half pint of 60% and let it set for a couple days. It now has a grassy smell. The smoked flavor is there, but so is the green. I'd say the malt's too green without roasting, but roasting might take away some of the peat flavor. So scratch this one.
I'll do it the right way and make a good malted barley mash tomorrow, and let the experimental stuff air out for a couple weeks. At least I can toss it in the mash when it's fermented out.

[violentblue]

someone posed a while ago about smoking cornflakes, then adding a couple to his finished product. he seemed to think it turned out allright.
myself I'd do a small batch of heavily peated barley mash, then use it to cut your unpeated distillate.

[brewmaker1]

That's not a bad idea, but I just finished the mash. I'm either going to learn to like scotch, or I'm going to make a few people happy for the holidays.
It's really tempting to take some of this and boil it with hops for beer. My shop is smelling damn good right now.

[duds2u]

I've been making whisky for about 2 year now, Last brew No. 27. I still don't have it right yet but I'm getting closer. Yes, I also know that here in Aus I can't call it whisky until it's 3 years on oak. Who gives a rip, it's mine, so I make the rules.

The real story is all about oak. You do all the correct things in making the wash and correct stilling procedures but then you put in on oak to age. Let me tell you, if I have learnt one thing about whisky it's all about oak and time. I have about 50 ltr of whisky of different brews and of that about 15 different "oakings". If there is one thing I have learnt over the period and has become my motto it is "Less oak , longer". And I will include in that second and third use oak chip.

I have whisky's that jump out of the botle at you and others that you have to go lookin for. None of them have the Islay style of peat because I haven't found anyone that sells malt barley with that level of peat. I don't mind though as what I'm making is mine - not trying to copy a commerial whisky. It's a great feeling to sit on the verandah at sunset and sip something straight out of the barrel (damn. it's glass) and be able to say " It's mine and I'm proud of it.)

[brewmaker1]

I hear that Duds2u. I'm still working out the oak issues with several of my other spirits. I'm using small jars and trying to get the right combination of time, quantity, and style of oak. Then I can start oaking the bigger jars. I have to say, it ain't easy. Some of the stuff will be coming along nicely, then the next day I'm drinking a forest. Have you found that sweet spot yet?

[Barney Fife]

T'was I who did the peat smoked corn flakes. Sure enough worked well! The corn flakes take on any flavors immediately, and give them back up. I've tried peat smoke, as well as maple and hickory. Maple is now a favorite; lends a bacon'esque, smoky flavor profile. It works both in aging(use a little bit, leave it a few days, then filter through coffee filters) or in the mash itself, where it takes much more to get the flavors across, but they seem more refined.

Here's where to get genuine Scottish peat, which is very, very different from the peat moss from the garden centers.

http://www.irishsmoke.ie/products1.htm

[brewmaker1]

Very cool! Thanks for the site and the info. Me thinks it's time to go to the store get some cornflakes. I've got alder and maple.

[brewmaker1]

Okay, tonight I'm feeling kind of stupid. I have a ten by ten fermentation room in my shop that has it's own temperature control and can maintain a constant temperature summer or winter. Because it's the weekend, I don't bother to turn the heat on in the shop, just the room. After spending several hours out there mashing the malt yesterday, I put the fermenters in the room and set the temp. Tonight I go out to the shop to check on things and the door to the room is wide open. Temperature of the ferment? 59 degrees. By the time wort warms back up and the yeast gets active I'll have lost 2 days. All because I forgot to close the damn door.

[Dnderhead]

most yeast is active at 50f just slow.

[brewmaker1]

Real slow.
It's starting to pick up this morning. I was just bugged because I wasted money by letting all the heat go out the door for a day, and it added a couple extra days to my ferment time.
I'm looking forward to trying the finished product for a couple reasons. I created my own recipe, and I pulled some off added hops and boiled 60 minutes to turn into beer. I'll have a smoked beer to go along with my whisky. If it turns out good, I'll post the recipe.