Simple Golden Pond Mash

[luther-blissett]

Oh ok. Yeah i do wonder how the flavour could come out of the dry corn if it was so hard. I want that corn flavour as much as possible. Ive read uncle jesse's recipe but this appealed to me as its the old way of doing things. I started a sourdough starter today so i'll see if its possible to get some wild yeast anyhow. Interesting thanks for the link.

[blind drunk]

I started a sourdough starter today so i'll see if its possible to get some wild yeast anyhow.

If you go that route, you're gonna also get the bacteria that's always attached to the wild yeast. Hard to separate them. So you should make sure that the starter is fully developed and both yeast and bacteria are in balance. Once everything is in balance, pitch a fair size sourdough stater that's been newly refreshed and really active. This state favors the yeast in the culture. I'd also recommend a low abv wash, something that will be done in a couple of days. Then rack and run. Good luck.

[blind drunk]

GP and Diamond are same guy.

Interesting. Whose Jack on the Parent Site? I often wonder who all those folks are and if they've taken on different names.

[luther-blissett]

Thank you for the info. Yeah two things im worrying about is low yield from the wild yeast and some lacto bacteria ruining the wash and causing me to throw it all away. Itll be my first large wash so I want a good start What rubber duck has said in another thread was that chlorine dioxide tablets, what campers use to sterilize water, will kill all bacteria except yeast. Though i wont be near such a shop soon it is good to know. Read also that corn has natural yeasts on it, but I guess its killed/removed by processing as otherwise thered probably be a few people at least who have talking about using that yeast.

[KSAguy]

[evening, corn liqr, 1kg pop corn, 12 cups sugar, 5 L water]

This is my note for starting the ferment in the evening here in Saudi. The popcorn was milled in a small blender so it became a meal with chunks and kernels too.

Now it is the morning of the 5th day and I am going to fire up the still (ha, 6L pressure cooker). It smells like whiskey or is it the fact that I am here without GOOD alcohol??

Put ALL of the leftovers in a big 60L Thermal water cooler (Igloo) and have added 2.2 pounds more of the milled popcorn & 12 cups of sugar. Will now run the still and then add the leftovers from that.

Anxious to taste this!

[KSAguy]

Ok, took off about 500mL of very sweet & good tasting liqr...

On oak now.....

[noon, corn liqr, added ALL into 60L igloo, 1kg popcorn, 12 cups sugar (in the water of the last RUM cutting run), backset from the liqr stillin, more yeast]

translation>>>

At noon today I added ALL left overs into a 60L water cooler, added new 1kg ground popcorn, 12 cups sugar was added to the last stilln run of my rum'n cuts,
added the backsets from the Popcorn Liqr strip, little more yeast (bakers).

9:00 pm it is bubbling ok, and smells wonderful!

I am Happy!

[Capt_Teedge]

Just started a batch of this today. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

Capt

[Capt_Teedge]

Had to toss the first batch out, it got mold. Started a new one and added yeast. Couple days later I got quite a decent amount with excellent flavor. Collected from 120 abv down to 80 abv. Second generation is goin now. Excellent recipe.

[salmonskin]

way back in this post golden pond wrote about dog heads forming and better to run day early than day late. my question is why what happens a day late?
i have a batch of this in the bucket now on 3rd day as stated sounds like rice crispys in a bowl of milk, just dont want to miss something and be a day late
thanks for any input

[Dnderhead]

yeast does not form large bubbles.so if you have "dog heads" then a secondary ferment is going on.

[salmonskin]

i have pretty big bubbles, that wasnt my question really it was the statement of better a day early than a day late. my question was what happens a day late. thanks for the reply but now i have new question what is ment by secondary ferment? i tryed a search in mashin and fermentation got no results looked in glossery of terms no luck please explain a little

[Dnderhead]

a secondary ferment is something other than yeast fermenting.
Id say when the yeast have used all the sugar ,and you start to git "dog heads"
its a sign that the yeast is done and bacteria or other ferment is starting.
so its better to run before this happens.

[salmonskin]

ive read all the pages in this post and most of the 116 pages in ujsm posting i find the two very simular my question is i put my cracked corn into cold water to start. its hard as a rock , at my second generation i dont really find spent corn its softer but not completely, im on my 3rd generation and its getting softer but im not finding the grey spent corn ive read about. i like the product so far and want to double or tripple the size of my mash ive moved up to 15 gal size pot still, could i or should i cook the new corn a little in the hot backset before i add the sugar for the new run. im finding the 5 gal size to not be enough after cuts and want to move up in size but im a little concerned about how the corn isnt softing up very much -- i think im losing valuable flavor. im going blind reading so much but feel like im learning a lot just not sure about this one point. thanks for any and all input

[Usge]

You can cook the corn if you want...it doesn't make that much difference without malt. If you want to see what gray corn looks like ...dig a little deeper next time you empty your fermenter out till you find the "yellow' corn. It's not really "gray". It's just dull/darker than the brighter yellow corn beneath it.

Sourmash like UJSSM gets most of it's flavor from backmashing anyway.

[Dnderhead]

if you used white it will look sort of gray when spent.

[Usge]

Ah. And there's your answer. Thanks Dnder. So, dig a little deeper till you see the whiter/brighter corn to know what the spent corn looks like by comparison.

[salmonskin]

thanks for the replys i am noticeing some difference now and will try and seperate spent corn next time. i moved up to a 30 gl fermentor and ran off 4- 5 to 6 gl runs yesterday, got very simular results on each starting at 110 prf i got 9 16 oz glasses from each down to 45prf, i removed the first 16oz leaving right about a gal each time, average was 70prf per gal. i took the 4gl and did a spirit run today, started out at 160prf i got 14 16oz glasses down to 140prf i plan to let it sit over nite and try to do cuts then, so far they all taste pretty bad , is this due to the high proof? ive tryed tasting with watered down small amounts but dont seem right, i was very happy with the hearts i started out with yesterday just went ahead and blended all except the first heads and thought id try a spirit run ive been reading about, first time ive had enough at once to give it a try, so far i feel like i should have quit while i was ahead. did i do something wrong?
thanks for such a good place to learn im goin blind from reading so much but i cant seem to locate an awnser to this one. i will say that i think moveing up in size is really going to pay off im still looking for a 15 gl keg i feel good about using.

[salmonskin]

well after a little more reading i found the calc table in the parent site and i wasnt adding enough water to my small taste test, or aging over nite really changes things. this morn i was able to blend and bottle at 80 to 90prf, although i think i lost some of the flavor i liked from the hearts of my strip run i was able to put some good stuf up to age on some oregon white oak strips i been preparing [ cooking and charring] and finnally have enough to let some sit for some time and try to learn the ART of aging. this is a great and complicated hobby

[bentleyss]

Just started a batch today and will post ongoing results as they happen.

[bentleyss]

Update on my first time trying this recipe. I started it on 3/3 and it stopped working around 3/14 and the taste went from sour to a bitter taste. I strained it thru some cheesecloth and got about 3 1/2 gallons to run. I'm still a newbie at this and cut at every 200cc. The aroma and taste were quite different from my WPOSW that I have been making. It looked like it was going to turn out pretty good. Left the Mason Jars to air out on the Kitchen table and went to work. The kids were down for spring break and my daughter decided to clean the kitchen up for once. Thank goodness it was only a small run as she dumped it all down.

[Kravenhed]

I've used wild yeast and had good results. There's only one type of yeast which ferments ethanol for us, right? The other worries are off-flavors from other types of things growing in your mash. Old time shiners have told me about removing the bugs off the top of their mash before charging the still.

I believe that a well done mash will ferment more quickly and thus will not allow enough time for the nasties to get going. We've all seen a good healthy ferment and it only takes a few days and kicks out a lot of co2. Backset and simple ABV will kill off some of the less tenacious things which might cause off flavors.

UJ you tickle me, and bring back memories of me an my Pepaw, he used to say it's simple...use what nature gave you and don't complicate it, and yes bug picken was one of my early jobs in life, then he would have me taste my fingers and smell the mash, learn boy, it's easy but it aint simple is what he would tell me.

[rehrlich]

What is the backset?

[Prairiepiss]

Backset is the stuff left in the boiler. After you do a run.

There is a glossary of terms in the must read new distiller reading lounge. That covers most all the terms.