Uncle Jessie's sour mash, 1st batch

[Fitter313]

Well I should be doing first run on uncle Jessie's sour mash in the morning, it's at about 1.05 sg tonight, should be about 13% smells Devine also, and has a real nice color to it as well, kinda of a milky kinda clear it that makes sense.
I made a 30 liter batch, I will post results even though I will be putting it all back in as feints, this is the first round so I don't have any sour mash feints yet, I also put alittle twist on uncle Jessie's recipe by cooking the corn for 1 hr, like it sit for 3 hrs, then cooked again for hour,adjusted ph with lemon to 4.2 and made a starter of yeast about a hour early then added yeast at 96 degrees f., I left the fermenter open top with a towel over it, and had a heat belt on maintaining 78 degrees f. tomorrow will be 5 days to ferment with 3 tablespoons of Crosby and baker distillers yeast, started with a sg of 1.100

[Richard7]

It may pay off to let it clear for a day or two....

[F6Hawk]

I'm curious why you went so high with the sugar content? Was there a reason you wanted your wash to be over 10%?

[flht01]

...well, kinda of a milky kinda clear it that makes sense. ...

I rushed my first batch a couple of weeks ago. Looked just like you've described. Even though I intended to put it all back onto the second run, I still had to try it. Very harsh with an aftertaste almost like medicine. i did too many things wrong, start to finish . My second generation batch stopped a few days ago and I didn't realize just how clean and clear it would be if allowed to settle out. Just for reference, It took my second batch two weeks, average temp was about 70 deg F and it started at sg 1.060

[Fitter313]

I'm curious why you went so high with the sugar content? Was there a reason you wanted your wash to be over 10%?

well honestly i over pitched the sugar alittle and said to myself hell fire and just ran with it

[Bushman]

You can pitch it all back in like the recipe suggests but there will be some good hearts in that first batch you can save as well. Also the corn is cheap, after the second or third generation instead of just removing the floating spent corn I replace about a third of the corn on each generation after 3 then I am not having to adjust pH as much.

[Fitter313]

Thanks bushman for advice, I been letting it settle now for past 36 hrs, in the morning I am going to siphon over to a clean pot and strain thur a coffee filter,and let it settle another 24 I believe, it has really cleared up in the last 36 hrs I have some sparkloid I was thinking of using but wanted to let it clear it self

[Hoodlums Hooch]

Well I should be doing first run on uncle Jessie's sour mash in the morning, it's at about 1.05 sg tonight, should be about 13% smells Devine also, and has a real nice color to it as well, kinda of a milky kinda clear it that makes sense.
I made a 30 liter batch, I will post results even though I will be putting it all back in as feints, this is the first round so I don't have any sour mash feints yet, I also put alittle twist on uncle Jessie's recipe by cooking the corn for 1 hr, like it sit for 3 hrs, then cooked again for hour,adjusted ph with lemon to 4.2 and made a starter of yeast about a hour early then added yeast at 96 degrees f., I left the fermenter open top with a towel over it, and had a heat belt on maintaining 78 degrees f. tomorrow will be 5 days to ferment with 3 tablespoons of Crosby and baker distillers yeast, started with a sg of 1.100

Ok officially crnfused here. Fitter started with a 1.10 sg and now his fermentation is complete with a finshed sg of 1.05? Am I missing something here? Wouldnt there still be lots of unfermented sugar in that wash or did he mean 1.005?.
Not trying to stickle but I am running my first ujsm tomorrow and I had to wait 9 days for mine to drop from 1.07 to 1.00.

[Fitter313]

Yes you are correct, typo my error sorry for confussion , but on a good note I did my first run on it after letting it settle out for a few days it became a nice clear wash I could see the bottom of my copper boiler after siphoning though a coffee filter, while running very slow I let it simmer at about 165-170 for about a hour then let it climb very slowly to about 173 collected and tossed the first 5 oz, took off the heads about 3/4 of a quart ranged at 140 proof 65 abv, at 65 degrees, the heads actually had a very corn whisky flavor with a bite. The next quart ranged from 65 abv 130 proof at 65 degree I was tasting and checking with meter about every 8 ozs about a 1/3 of way in third quart proof started dropping of still had good flavor but I decided to keep as feints ran it down to 50 % abv then which made a total of 5 quarts,
I took 1 1/2 gals of back pitched sugar and cooled to 90 then added to first mash, with in a hour it was bubbling and happy as could be, ph was at 4.4, I also added some 2 tbls of nurturants ,
I really like the flavor of the first quart that I decided to char a chunk of white oak, put it in jar and covered top to let air for 24 hrs, as of this morning it has a really char color to it smell good enough to drink now, but I want it to age, maybe I will sneak a oz or two tonight:)
The second quart I put up to age as is,
Can't wait for next batch to finish fermenting being it has back set in it, and will at that point be considered sour mash, no greed and lots of patience does produce great product,
Honestly I think the 36 to 48 hrs of settling is the key

[Hoodlums Hooch]

Thanks for the detailed post Fitter. I am following you along as I am in the exact same timeframe as you running my first UJSM. My first fun was not as high of ABV as yours however, started collecting at 62% so I need to figure out what happened but had a blast dialing it all in and collecting my first run. I got 5 quarts and ran it all the way down to 20% just because. Keep this thread going Im in! Good luck

[Fitter313]

Second batch of sour mash, I took the heater belt off the fermenter today after confirming that the fermentation was complete with the hydrometer 990, I siphoned out the wash though a coffee filter, and transferred from bucket to bucket to degas for a couple hours this morning and decided that being it was only in the 40's outside today to let it settle over night outside with lid on loose and rock on top also added 5 tsp of sparkleloid to help clear it up, smells great again also,
In the morning I will siphon thur another filter and start the distilling process again, I got the sugar right this time at 8% abv and very interested in tasting the difference from the first batch that was 13% abv
I will also be adding 3 quarts of feints to the pot

[Fitter313]

image.jpg

Here is a picture of second generation ujsm wash after settling 24 hrs outside at 40 degrees f

[Hoodlums Hooch]

Wow thats really clear...just a crazy question but why filter so much before distillation? Im sure its a personal preference but Im just curious. Also your throwing your low wines back in from your first run? Are you saving any for an all spirit run. Im trying to be patient and save up all of my low wines and then do a final spirit run but That will take time between fermentations and distilling.
I syphoned off my wash yesterday and got 6 gallons. I just picked up another fermenter that can hold up to 10 gallons so I think I may start another Ujsm in that as well and run 10-12 gallon batches to save time and propane and get some product a little sooner. Anyway keep up the documentation Im following

[Fitter313]

Wow thats really clear...just a crazy question but why filter so much before distillation? Im sure its a personal preference but Im just curious. Also your throwing your low wines back in from your first run? Are you saving any for an all spirit run. Im trying to be patient and save up all of my low wines and then do a final spirit run but That will take time between fermentations and distilling.
I syphoned off my wash yesterday and got 6 gallons. I just picked up another fermenter that can hold up to 10 gallons so I think I may start another Ujsm in that as well and run 10-12 gallon batches to save time and propane and get some product a little sooner. Anyway keep up the documentation Im following

that's a easy question my friend ....FLAVOR.... the more you polish the wash the less nasty tastes in product, my heads come off good enough to sip at about 75% abv not strong at all
about adding my heads and tails..... I only do a single run in my all copper pot still without the thumper, my first cut heads is about 500 to 750 ml. which is very smooth not too much bite, I could keep it as sipping, but I prefer to add back. then I get 4 some times 5 quarts of hearts 1st starting at 75% abv, 150proof, second at about 73% 146 proof, 3rd at 70 % 140 proof and lastly 4th at 65% 130, I blend all 4 quarts into a 140 proof 70% whiskey that is very pleasant on the tongue as is, but I char white oak pieces of wood cut off my land into pieces 1inch by 1 inch about 6 inches long, and let air 24 hrs with coffee filter over top of jar, then seal tight, with in days its a beautiful color and a nice vanilla/almond flavor, you have to watch how much you toast the oak as you can get many different flavors pending on how much you char it, there is a graph in aging and fflavoring on board
sorry back to your other question, rememeber that anything over 80% abv is a neutral spirirt, no flavor, if you run it as fients every time it is getting its second distillation but not anything over 80%, less gas and less time and no neutral, and I do my distillation of a 5 gal batch in about 12 hrs start to finish, that's how slow I run it,it seems to help in final flavor, no rush no rush....quality over quantity . even when its green I feel its the best whiskey I ever drank and my friends agree, its all in the settling my friend

[Hoodlums Hooch]

Thanks for sharing Fitter! What recipe were you using before? Seems that you have some stillin experience...
This is pretty much my 2nd whisky runn and I have run a couple sugar washes thru the pot to just get a feel. ive got a long road ahead of me so any help I can get along the way is great.
So from what I gather, you do single runs with some feints, all below 65%, cleared and double filtered, and ran super slow over propane. You take anything between 65 and 80% and keep as hearts for oaking. Sounds like a good method. I think until I get used to the process I will not worry about the clearing and filtering of the wash so much but will in the future. I have a buddy who owns an organicish feed store in town and has given me 50#s of cracked corn and I already had 50#s so I have plenty of corn to get this down. Im gonna throw all of my low wines in from my last run, as it was all under 62% and under for ABV, which was a little over a gallon and a quart and I have 6 gallons of wash to run, at 8%. Any recommendations for my run on Monday?

[Fitter313]

Thanks , but i am new to this as well, i am a big research junky and i have some 4 and 5 generation mentors up here in the hills of tenn. i still have alot to learn but attention to detail and patience is key to success .
i am a big believer in degassing and settling at least 24 hrs in temp of 40 or less then siphon the beer from top start in middle then work the way down to just above the solids that settled on the bottom,
Make sure you put your yeast to bed before you siphon it, cold temps tuck them in until add your next slops that will wake them, if I want neutral that's when I add my thumper, one run thur pot and thumper I get hearts of 170 to 190 proof, if I botch up a run I will do neutral or spirt run then add back to my whisky washes then I might get 2 to 3 gal of good 80% whisky, good luck on Monday, I think you will be surprised about flavor different of settling out, it's a moonshiner s secret

[Hoodlums Hooch]

Thanks , but i am new to this as well, i am a big research junky and i have some 4 and 5 generation mentors up here in the hills of tenn. i still have alot to learn but attention to detail and patience is key to success .
i am a big believer in degassing and settling at least 24 hrs in temp of 40 or less then siphon the beer from top start in middle then work the way down to just above the solids that settled on the bottom,
Make sure you put your yeast to bed before you siphon it, cold temps tuck them in until add your next slops that will wake them, if I want neutral that's when I add my thumper, one run thur pot and thumper I get hearts of 170 to 190 proof, if I botch up a run I will do neutral or spirt run then add back to my whisky washes then I might get 2 to 3 gal of good 80% whisky, good luck on Monday, I think you will be surprised about flavor different of settling out, it's a moonshiner s secret

Wow thanks man. Definitely something learned that I hadnt really paid much attention to. Im a virgin to this and dont have any older heads to help me along so this site is the bible for me right now. Its so easy to get distracted by building, buying equipment and supplies,and other stuff that you can overlook these details pretty easily.
And as far as using a thumper, i havent gotten that far. Still need to do my research on that whole technique and style of distilling but its fascinating. Ive said it before but im so happy to be a part of this culture and that I have this forum enriching my life. Thanks for sharing. Monday cant come quick enough!