Clawhammer recipe

[bht9665]

I am trying a all grain recipe from the clawhammer stills site. This is my first try at a all grain. 8.5 pds cracked corn
1.5 pds malted barley
5 gal water
I put 5 gallons of water in my pot and heated up to about 170f and put my corn in. Keep stirring until the temp drops to 152f. I then tossed in my malted barley and held the temp around 150 for 90 min. All starches should be converted by now.i didn't have any iodine to check. Wait unit the temp hits 96 and pitch yeast. I assume they ferment on the grain but I strained mine into carboy. Maybe it will work out.

[bht9665]

I forgot to say that I adjusted the recipe a little. I put 2pds of barley and a tablespoon of amylase.

[mick3b1g]

let us know how its working Id like to try an AG soon

Mick

[bht9665]

I am happy to say that my air lock is bubbling away. My starch conversion must have worked. I will let y'all know how the finished product turns out. Should I do a strip run or slow run?

[newengland]

I use the clawhammer recipe and am adapting it as I go along. It works every time. However, I received some good advice from stillers here on the forum, which you might find helpful:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 11&t=35172
I initially mostly single distilled. I am going to double distill henceforth.

[Xnerd]

I would only use 2 lbs of barley if it were 6 row.
Not that I am any sort of authority on the subject but had personally failed at that ratio.
I would go 3 barley if two row.

[Xnerd]

Its funny you say.. I am almost afraid to double distill this as it has so much flavor, GOOD flavor that I dont want to lose it.

Here is another thing that I have noticed about doing all grain with this basic recipe.
The tails are so faint that they are hardly detectable.... I did a run yesterday on 12 gallons and the proof dropped out and I kept waiting for the nasties, but it just got weaker and weaker with hardly a tell tail sing of tails smell taste or oiliness.

I dont know if anyone else has observed this? Perhaps its normal for all grains in general, I dont know.

Even the backset was real mild smelling.

[bht9665]

I just finished my disappointing run of all grain. I didn't get anything. I had a lot of work put into this mash and no return. I was doing a strip run and it went from heads to tails no middle. I caught about 2 quarts and most of that smelled like methanol. I don't know what went wrong. Maybe I didn't cook my crack corn enough. How much liker should one get from a recipe like this? I was really excited about doing all grain but man was this a let down.

[Rivver]

You'll find with an ag that there's not near the amount of alc as a sugar head. Did you check your sg before and after? 5-7% is optimal with an ag.

2-3 qrts from a 5 gallon mash is about right. Save it and run 2 or 3 more washes then do a spirit run on them.

[blind drunk]

I put 5 gallons of water in my pot and heated up to about 170f and put my corn in. Keep stirring until the temp drops to 152f.

Maybe I didn't cook my crack corn enough.

I think you're right. The corn's gotta break down quite a bit or gelatinize before you can get any sugar out of it. You may as well have a look in the tried and true -

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=17750

That threads got it all figured out.

[Rivver]

Sorry, I was thinking of rolled oats or maize. Yeah prolly didn't geletenize very well at all

[Xnerd]

I was even having this problem in my 15 gallon pot so I improvised and started getting better results.

What I tried was to get the water almost to a rolling boil and slowly add the corn a scoop at a time while stirring.
I kept the heat up for about 15 minutes until it started to get thicker. Then I shut down the heat and dumped in the last of the corn.
I continue to stir this non stop for about 6 or 7 minutes. By that time it was really getting nice and thick. I use a drill and a metal paint / drywall mud stirrer that I bought for 5 bucks.

I than kept stirring every 5 or 10 minutes until it cooled down to around 152 at which point I tossed in my malted barley.
At this point I tied a sleeping bag around the keg to hold that temp as long as I can.
I stir that non stop for about 5 minutes as well. Then again every 10 minutes for a couple of hours.

It had been pointed out to me that the enzymes do not seek out the starches. I think that stirring is the key here.
My method takes a hell of a long time to cool to pitching temp, but so far it has given me outstanding results.

I think that doing a ten gallon batch is perhaps easier as it it stays to temperature much much longer.

At any rate, My first batch turned out exactly like yours! I even posted somewhere where it went directly from heads to tails!
Dont be discouraged! Save what you have and do another one! try a bit more heat but stir like hell so it doesn't burn.

[Rivver]

Or if you want full gelletenazation and no stirring, check out this link.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =3&t=35600