uncle jesse's simple sour mash method

[1fourme]

Here's a copy
1fourme

* 1 Introduction
* 2 Ingredients
* 3 Theory
* 4 First Fermentation
* 5 Basics of Pot Distillation
* 6 First Run
* 7 Second Fermentation
* 8 Second Run
* 9 Repeat the Process

Introduction

This method was originally taken from J.W. Walstad's book Simple Sour Mash to Simple Alcohol
Fuel! and has been modified according to my experiences.

This method is the most inexpensive I have found for producing Corn Whiskey. It is perfect for
beginners because it does not rely on skill for mashing and does not require any cooking which
greatly reduces the hassles and expenses.

I used this method for years until I mastered the processes involved in creating a quality sour mash
whiskey, at which point I moved on to cooked mashes and more advanced efforts.
Ingredients

For a 5 gallon mash:

* 5 gallons soft, filtered water.
* 7 lbs cracked corn. 6-8 pieces/kernel is the proper crack. If using bird feed, make sure it is
perishable, or in other words is free of preservatives.
* 7 lbs of granulated sugar.
* 1 tbsp yeast (distillers yeast if available.)

Theory

Unlike a cooked mash, a simple mash does not rely on grains for starch. The corn is included for a bit
of alcohol, but mainly for flavor while the sugar provides the alcohol. The conversion of starches to
sugars is a natural process, accelerated by cooking. An uncooked mash will convert starches to
sugars but much more slowly and less efficiently. Your added sugar will ferment rather easily and
will provide most of the alcohol in your beer.

Your first distillation run will be a "sweet" run since you will not have any backset to use for
sour mashing. I recommend using the spirits you collect in your first run as feints for the next run.
Yes, all of them. Your second run will produce your first batch of sour mash which will be good,
but in truth the flavor and consistency will not start to reach their peak until the third or
fourth run in my experience.

Practice, practice, practice!
First Fermentation

Put your ingredients into the fermenter in the order listed and close it. You should start to
see fermentation of the sugar within 12 hours. It should take 3 or 4 days for the ebullition
to end. Siphon your beer out of the fermenter with a racking cane and charge your still.

Siphoning is the best method because it allows you to pull the beer off the top of your lees,
leaving them undisturbed. You do not want suspended solids in your still and this method
works quite well in keeping the lees at the bottom of your fermenter.

At this point you need to make your first decision. How much backset will you use in your
subsequent mashes? The legal minimum for a sour mash is 25%. I do not like to go above
50% in my experience. For the sake of simplicity, let's say you will start with 25%
backset. This means that for a 5 gallon mash you will use 1-1/4 gallons of backset and
3-3/4 gallons of water.

Since you will be running your still for hours, you do not want to leave the fermenter empty.
Put your 3-3/4 gallons of water back into the fermenter so your yeast won't die while you distill.
While you're at it, this is a perfect time to scoop the spent corn off the top and replace with
an equal volume of newly cracked corn. Later we'll add the 1-1/4 gallons of backset and 7 more
pounds of granulated sugar.
Basics of Pot Distillation

There are two basic types of pot distillation:

* The first involves a traditional pot still which has no cooling in the neck or column. The distillate
produced is lower in proof than that produced by a reflux still with a fractionating or splitting
column. This is the traditional method of distillation and requires multiple runs. The distiller will
save up enough low wines from the first runs or stripping runs to fill the still for a second run. If
a triple distillation is desired, the product from second distillations are collected until enough spirit
is saved to fill the still for the third spirit run, and so on.

* The second type of pot distillation is performed in a reflux still equipped such that the column
can be cooled during distillation. This type of still is far more efficient and can produce a high
proof, high quality spirit in a single run.

First Run

Pot distill your wash, being careful to keep things running slowly. For beginners, 2-3 drops of
distillate exiting the worm every second is just about the perfect speed. As you collect, periodically
put 4-5 drops of distillate into a spoon with an equal amount of water and sip it. You will learn to
identify the off-taste of the heads very quickly.

For your first run it is best to take very conservative cuts. I recommend very generic whiskey cuts,
say 80% down to 70%. As your skills improve you will be able to go deeper into your cuts, tasting
periodically for the off-taste of the tails. Once you learn to identify the off-tastes of the heads and
tails you will be able to make proper cuts without the use of a hydrometer, a big step toward
becoming a competent distiller.

By law any spirits collected above 80% cannot be called whiskey because they are considered too
"light"
or neutral. In other words, they are too high in proof and thus do not properly imbue the spirit with
the flavor of the grain mash. I use anything collected above 80% as feints for the next run. For more
information on the legal definitions for whiskies and other spirits check out Title 27 of the U.S. Code
of Federal Regulations.

Remember to discard the first 150ml or 5 fluid ounces collected so you don't get any methanol
build up over time and batches.
Second Fermentation

Your fermenter should now contain 3-3/4 gallons of water, your old yeast (barm) and your old corn.

Take 1-1/4 gallons of backset from your previous distillation and add to it another 7 pounds of
granulated sugar. This will dissolve the sugar rather easily. Hot backset directly from the still works
better at dissolving sugar, but adding hot backset to your fermenter will kill your yeast, so allow
the backset to cool if you use this method.

Next, add this mixture of sugar and cooled backset to your fermenter which already contains 3-3/4
gallons of water. This will bring your total beer volume back to 5 gallons.

Now is the time to make sure you have removed and replaced any spent corn kernels which float
to the top of the fermenter. You only need to do this if you plan on a continual ferment, that is,
past 7 or 8 fermentations at which point your corn would otherwise be expended.

Cover the fermenter and let it ferment for another 3-4 days or until the ebullition ends.

Congratulations, if you have done everything properly you are now ready to run your first sour mash!
Second Run

Siphon off your beer and charge your still. Again, replace 3-3/4 gallons of water into your
fermenter so your yeast doesn't die while you distill.

Distill your whiskey in the same manner you did during your first run, being conservative
with your cuts until you gain more skill. Anything collected under 80% ABV on this run is
considered a Sour Mash whiskey. Congratulations! This spirit is a palatable moonshine when
collected directly out of the still.

Collect your run down to your stopping point. Again, I recommend 70% ABV for beginners,
perhaps a few degrees into the 60's if you are bold. Save all of the spirit run as good
sippin' whiskey.

Most moonshiners keep running their stills long after they are finished with the spirit run,
collecting down to about 20% ABV before stopping. Together, the heads and tails are
reused as feints. I do not normally go as low as 20%, you'll have to find your comfort zone.
If you start to get blue or green flecks in your spirit, you've gone too far or run things too hot.
Repeat the Process

After your run, collect 1-1/4 gallons of backset to return to the fermenter for your next
batch. Repeat the process starting at the Second Fermentation.

You are now producing a simple sour mash whiskey and with practice you will be able to
produce a very high quality moonshine. Age this whiskey in an uncharred oak barrel to
produce a traditional Tennessee-style whiskey.


Safety first, Duke boys. Have fun!

[pro65]

I have another question on UJSM that I need help on please.
I started my first batch several weeks ago and am now at my 5Th batch. But with reading the last few pages posted here now I am wondering if my process is right.

My first batch was done just like UJ said to do as I had no back-set.
on the 5Th day I syphoned off my beer and charged the still, and added 3 gallons of distilled water back to the fermenter.
I ran the first batch throwing away the first 250ml, it started at 83% ABV. I caught this in a jar until the HYD. came to 80% ABV. Then switched to a new jar and collected down to 70% , at this time I put another jug in and caught everything from 70% down to around 35%.

Then I mixed the first jug with the last jug to have faints.

Then I took 2 gallons straight out of the still and mixed it with 8lbs sugar and let it cool and poured it back in my fermenter with the old corn and fresh water.

This is the way I have done every batch. I am doing a slow run and have not run any beer stripping runs at all, Am I doing this wrong? The way UJ explains it is the way I have done it,

I have kept everything from 80% to 70% for drinking. I cut it down to 130 proof and put it on toasted white oak and use the freezer method, in 2 out 2 etc.

After doing this for a couple of months I plan on cutting to 100 proof and then let age at room temp for a couple of years or more.

I use a 50L beer keg, with a 2" copper column 38" long to the take off unpacked, and a Ly-beg arm 27 1/2" long ,3/4" pipe inside a 1" pipe for cooling.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[Stevewhiskey]

OK so Im a newbie at all of this just to let you know, I apologize in advance if these questions have already been answered, but i couldn't find anything.

I just made my first batch following UJ recipe exactly, I used Prestige Whiskey yeast with Amyloglucosidase.

My question/concern is that I put all the ingredients in my fermenter a week ago today and it is still bubbling, I know that the recipe says it should be done fermenting in 3 to 4 days, So do I let it continue to ferment, or should i run it through my still now.

Im sure ill have more question to come later on,

Thanks in advance for any help

[olddog]

Wait til it stops, I have just run a batch that took 10 days to stop.

[Dnderhead]

Let it finish, a lot depends on type of yeast ,,,how much sugar/starch,,,,,the temperature of wash/mash ,,,nutrients in the wash/mash
all wash/mash should finish.

[Stevewhiskey]

thanks for the quick answers guys.

got another question though, is it dangerous to open the fermentation vessel while its fermenting? I have done this several times and then I read in some places that it can contaminate the mash.

[Husker]

Steve,

any time you open a fermenter, you wan to be very careful. However, distillation of wort, is a little different than making wine or beer. Also, with UJSM type recipes, you have a literal yeast bed from hell. There is not much in the form of bacteria which can really get a foot hold, once the wash is working (especially after a couple generations).

Of course, you do have to open when finished. However, do practice some sanitation when you do. ONLY put in instruments that are sterilized. Do not put your hands into the wash (impossible to sterilize them). And only open the fermenter as infrequently as you possibly can.

H.

[Stevewhiskey]

Thanks Husker, I was worried i had ruined my mash, i only ever opened it to look at it, haven't put any instruments into it yet, looks like I'm going to be waiting a while for the ebullition to end, and Ill be sure to keep it closed from now on.

[pro65]

If you do have back set and want to start a new batch fermenting for a second batch, would it be fine to use it or would you stick with just plain water?

[blanikdog]

I use backset/dunder in most/all of my ferments and am happy with the result. Others may have different opinions and I'd love to see what you all do.

blanik

[Stevewhiskey]

Anyone happen to know where I could find a new laboratory grade thermometer for my still without ordering one of the internet. Im ready to distill today, got my still charged and then right before I was about to begin like an idiot I broke the thermometer. I was going to try the hardware store, anyone know what kind of store might carry these. Thanks

[1fourme]

I purchased a digital one with a remote probe at walmart, It was adjustable so I used a medical thermometer to calibrate it, and has worked well for me.

[rad14701]

I purchased a digital one with a remote probe at walmart, It was adjustable so I used a medical thermometer to calibrate it, and has worked well for me.

While some of these remote thermometers work well, others are somewhat inaccurate... Not what anyone would consider a laboratory grade measuring device... I've seen a $149 remote unit be about 10 degrees F off over the course of baking a turkey in an electric roaster when compared to the two meat thermometers it was calibrated with...

[1fourme]

Hi Rad,
I would agree, I have bought 3 lab quality ones and broke 2 of them... I have nerve damage in my hands and have very little feeling in them, so I drop things all the time. Over the last 5 years I purchased 3 different digital ones and have found most to be inaccurate. The one I'm currently using has been accurate,
I check it often using boiling water and Ice water compared to my last surviving lab thermometer.

1fourme

[punkin]

What difference does it make if it's inaccurate?

Unless you're adding malt at malting temp (use taters finger method to calibrate or dispense with your thermometer) , you're only looking for changes when you're running your still.


Sensitivity is much more important than accuracy.











EspeciallyIfYourInaccuracyIsRepeatablePunkin

[Wade]

Ive been trying to get this recipe for some time now but the wiki has been down, can someone please post this for me or pm me with it?

[HookLine]

This what you are looking for?.......




Uncle Jessie’s Simple Sour Mash. (bourbon)

(Wiki link)

This method was originally taken from J.W. Walstad's book Simple Sour Mash to Simple Alcohol Fuel! and has been modified according to my experiences.

This method is the most inexpensive I have found for producing Corn Whiskey. It is perfect for beginners because it does not rely on skill for mashing and does not require any cooking which greatly reduces the hassles and expenses.

I used this method for years until I mastered the processes involved in creating a quality sour mash whiskey, at which point I moved on to cooked mashes and more advanced efforts.
Ingredients

For a 5 gallon mash: (20l)
5 gallons soft, filtered water.
7 lbs (3.2kg) cracked corn. 6-8 pieces/kernel is the proper crack. If using bird feed, make sure it is perishable, or in other words is free of preservatives.
7 lbs (3.2kg) of granulated sugar.
1 tbsp yeast (distillers yeast if available.)
Theory

Unlike a cooked mash, a simple mash does not rely on grains for starch. The corn is included for a bit of alcohol, but mainly for flavor while the sugar provides the alcohol. The conversion of starches to sugars is a natural process, accelerated by cooking. An uncooked mash will convert starches to sugars but much more slowly and less efficiently. Your added sugar will ferment rather easily and will provide most of the alcohol in your beer.

Your first distillation run will be a "sweet" run since you will not have any backset to use for sour mashing. I recommend using the spirits you collect in your first run as feints for the next run. Yes, all of them. Your second run will produce your first batch of sour mash, which will be good, but in truth the flavour and consistency will not start to reach their peak until the third or fourth run in my experience.

Practice, practice, practice!
First Fermentation

Put your ingredients into the fermenter in the order listed and close it. You should start to see fermentation of the sugar within 12 hours. It should take 3 or 4 days for the ebullition to end. Siphon your beer out of the fermenter with a racking cane and charge your still.

Siphoning is the best method because it allows you to pull the beer off the top of your lees, leaving them undisturbed. You do not want suspended solids in your still and this method works quite well in keeping the lees at the bottom of your fermenter.

At this point you need to make your first decision. How much backset will you use in your subsequent mashes? The legal minimum for a sour mash is 25%. I do not like to go above 50% in my experience. For the sake of simplicity, let's say you will start with 25% backset. This means that for a 5 gallon mash you will use 1-1/4 gallons of backset and 3-3/4 gallons of water.

Since you will be running your still for hours, you do not want to leave the fermenter empty. Put your 3-3/4 gallons of water back into the fermenter so your yeast won't die while you distill. While you're at it, this is a perfect time to scoop the spent corn off the top and replace with an equal volume of newly cracked corn. Later we'll add the 1-1/4 gallons of backset and 7 more pounds of granulated sugar.
Basics of Pot Distillation

There are two basic types of pot distillation:
The first involves a traditional pot still, which has no cooling in the neck or column. The distillate produced is lower in proof than that produced by a reflux still with a fractionating or splitting column. This is the traditional method of distillation and requires multiple runs. The distiller will save up enough low wines from the first runs or stripping runs to fill the still for a second run. If a triple distillation is desired, the product from second distillations are collected until enough spirit is saved to fill the still for the third spirit run, and so on.
The second type of pot distillation is performed in a reflux still equipped such that the column can be cooled during distillation. This type of still is far more efficient and can produce a high proof, high quality spirit in a single run.
First Run

Pot distill your wash, being careful to keep things running slowly. For beginners, 2-3 drops of distillate exiting the worm every second is just about the perfect speed. As you collect, periodically put 4-5 drops of distillate into a spoon with an equal amount of water and sip it. You will learn to identify the off-taste of the heads very quickly.

For your first run it is best to take very conservative cuts. I recommend very generic whiskey cuts, say 80% down to 70%. As your skills improve you will be able to go deeper into your cuts, tasting periodically for the off-taste of the tails. Once you learn to identify the off-tastes of the heads and tails you will be able to make proper cuts without the use of a hydrometer, a big step toward becoming a competent distiller.

By law any spirits collected above 80% cannot be called whiskey because they are considered too "light" or neutral. In other words, they are too high in proof and thus do not properly imbue the spirit with the flavour of the grain mash. I use anything collected above 80% as feints for the next run. For more information on the legal definitions for whiskies and other spirits check out Title 27 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations.

Remember to discard the first 150ml or 5 fluid ounces collected so you don't get any methanol build up over time and batches.
Second Fermentation

Your fermenter should now contain 3-3/4 gallons of water, your old yeast (barm) and your old corn.

Take 1-1/4 gallons of backset from your previous distillation and add to it another 7 pounds of granulated sugar. This will dissolve the sugar rather easily. Hot backset directly from the still works better at dissolving sugar, but adding hot backset to your fermenter will kill your yeast, so allow the backset to cool if you use this method.

Next, add this mixture of sugar and cooled backset to your fermenter, which already contains 3-3/4 gallons of water. This will bring your total beer volume back to 5 gallons.

Now is the time to make sure you have removed and replaced any spent corn kernels, which float to the top of the fermenter. You only need to do this if you plan on a continual ferment, that is, past 7 or 8 fermentations at which point your corn would otherwise be expended.

Cover the fermenter and let it ferment for another 3-4 days or until the ebullition ends.

Congratulations, if you have done everything properly you are now ready to run your first sour mash!
Second Run

Siphon off your beer and charge your still. Again, replace 3-3/4 gallons of water into your fermenter so your yeast doesn't die while you distill.

Distill your whiskey in the same manner you did during your first run, being conservative with your cuts until you gain more skill. Anything collected under 80% ABV on this run is considered a Sour Mash whiskey. Congratulations! This spirit is a palatable moonshine when collected directly out of the still.

Collect your run down to your stopping point. Again, I recommend 70% ABV for beginners, perhaps a few degrees into the 60's if you are bold. Save all of the spirit run as good sippin' whiskey.

Most moonshiners keep running their stills long after they are finished with the spirit run, collecting down to about 20% ABV before stopping. Together, the heads and tails are reused as feints. I do not normally go as low as 20%, you'll have to find your comfort zone. If you start to get blue or green flecks in your spirit, you've gone too far or run things too hot.
Repeat the Process

After your run, collect 1-1/4 gallons of backset to return to the fermenter for your next batch. Repeat the process starting at the Second Fermentation.

You are now producing a simple sour mash whiskey and with practice you will be able to produce a very high quality moonshine. Age this whiskey in an uncharred oak barrel to produce a traditional Tennessee-style whiskey.


Safety first, Duke boys. Have fun!



So, for 40l wash. Recipe goes like this.

7kg cracked feed corn,
7kg raw or white sugar (I like raw)
Dissolve sugar in hot water, then add enough cold water to make 40 l total.


Strip in potstill discarding 100ml of foreshots down to 20%. Save the strip. While the drum is empty, scrape off 1/3rd of a bucket of corn and add 1/3rd of a bucket of new corn.
Add some water (20l or so) to the yeast bed so you don’t burn the yeast next step.

Use 10l of hot slops (backset from the still run) to dissolve 7 more kg of sugar, stir it up and add to the drum. Add water to bring it up to the level it was before.

Watch it ferment and strip again and again.

When you have 40l of strip saved up, do a slow spirit run in the potstill making careful cuts. Age it on toasted oak sticks.

[Stevewhiskey]

Whats the amount of spirits one should expect to produce from the UJSM recipe if followed exactly?

ie a 20 liter wash produces how many liters of distillate?

[Wade]

Thank you!

[punkin]

Whats the amount of spirits one should expect to produce from the UJSM recipe if followed exactly?

ie a 20 liter wash produces how many liters of distillate?

I generally get around or a little better than 1 litre of strip to 1 kilo of sugar.

Where it goes from there depends on your method and cutting regime.

[captstill215]

Not reading other replys. Sorry. I distilled this last sunday. OMG Its great. the first wash was a little slow ferminting but when it was done and I ran it It came out great. You have to do it slow, make your cuts. Trust me, I am a novice, run It SLOW and you can make the cuts. I now have some really good stuff. I cant wait untill the second comes ready. Hopefully on sunday

[Blueraven]

'Cept next time, Boil ya say 5 or 10 lbs of ground up corn from the feed store( make sure it does not have chemicals in it tho). Then sparge that and add that to the fermentor along with the rest. I think I added some malt and some rye. Maybe 1-3 lbs each. You'll be able to taste the diff if your potstilling and it will be much better AFAIAK. Others may disagree.

But doing the above takes more time and is a pain since ya gotta clean more and throw more away in the end..

Good ruck!..slurp!!

Rick

[Scribbler]

as soon as I get my still up and running, this will probably be the second wash that I try... (ujsm) the first couple times I do it will probably be from wine I make from a kit... I want to practise distilling for a while before I have to learn to fiddle with the baking and processing of the mash. my question is this:

whenever I go to a liquor store, 40% ia the strongest a person can find (in canada anyway). but everyone on this forum seems intent on producing alcahol in the 60-80% range... what's up with that? I mean if you run something through your pot still and come out near 40 percent, why bother running it again? From what I have read you lose flavour when you get higher alcahol content... is this not the case?

any thoughts or comments are welcome!!!

JMK

[olddog]

Its distilled to a higher ABV by double distilling for purity, then watered down to 40ABV for consumption

[Ayay]

When pot stillin you get a range of ABV starting high and ending low, and the hearts will be an average of what's after the heads and before the tails. UJSM will be high ABV; PuGiRum will be lower in my limited experience. The flavors will be there and diluting to 40% is common sense because people are accustomed to that strength.

When reflux stillin enough flavors get through at 95% to make a difference, specially if you run it in the dunder.. I'm enjoying a sip of reflux right now and there is some UJSM in there for sure!

[Blueraven]

What olddog and ayay said..

Here you can experiment to. Cut what ever you get, with distilled water, to 20%, 30% and 40%. You might like a lower ABV so play with it.

[trthskr4]

Try oaking at different strengths as well from 65% down to 40% in 5-10% increments, you get different colors and flavors at each point and at different times. You can also blend these together and cut later to 40%.

[squeezins]

Well it looks like UJSSM had converted another one. Thats the third person that has tried it and now wants to make their own booze instead of store bought. A friend of mine wouldn't drink anything but Beam Black and Makers until yesterday . I gave him a sample that has been on oak for 6 months and that was all it took . Now he is in my all grain and burning my ear with questions. Its amazing how careful cuts and practice can make a great spirit thats not going to leave you feeling like you were thrown out of a moving car the next morning . Looks like im going to be building him a pot still next week.

[dropping_planets]

after reading a post by THM i topped my 10th generation UJSM off to 7.5 gl. instead of 6 gl... the starting SG was 1.050 rather than 1.070 (which is what it always is)...it fermented completely dry in 2 days...when i started it took 7 or 8 days.... after the fifth generation, by aerating a bit extra and using a brew belt for the first 24 hours, i got the ferments to run dry in 5 days......

will the 1.050, 48 hour wash strip down to the same %abv as the 1.070 wash or will it be lower....? is it the same product...?


the bottom of my fermenter has about 5 l. of lees ...when the ferment is done, the bottom half of these lees, settles out white and the top settles out kinda grey/brown .....

is either of these layers live yeast..?

i wanna remove this yeast bed... i think there's enough yeast in my corn to keep going without it and i'm racking off about a gallon less wash because of it...

thnx 4 any help........

[Dnderhead]

Taking one hydrometer reading is not going to give you the answer,do to unfermentable in the wash. you need OG (at the before fermenting) and FG (after fermenting) . the difference will give you the ABV. yes theirs yeast left in the bottom.turb settles to the bottom yeast drops out latter to
settle on top . should be cream colored.