sweetfeed whisky

[Rclark12]

From what Ive read on the many pages of this I've been threw, people scoop off the top inch/quarter of spent grain and just replace the same back. Thats what I have seen quite a few times, im sure you could also experiment with different amounts too though. I think some people were saying scoop out all the floating stuff as well. Others also were experimenting with only replacing corn or barley after or different ratios, o the possibilities.

[Rastus]

my third generation is fermenting now and i am planning on scooping off the darker colored grains off the top this round and replacing with a same amount. those oats always float when it thins out it is a good indication it is close to done. i bang the tub every once in a while just to knock the carbon dioxide out of the grain. dont know if i am supposed to or not but it makes me feel better. it is kinda like burping a baby
I have been putting about 2/3 of white cane sugar and 1/3 Sucanat which is basically dehydrated sugar can juice. it is dry brown and dusty not crystalline. my second generation run tasted so darn good, i oaked about 1.75 liters with some toasted and charred White oak, and just watched the color and flavor while it was 55% till it seemed right, and drop it into a Patron bottle peeled the labels off of and wowzy! it is so darn nice i have been sipping a little every night and pinching myself just to make sure it is not a dream. Here all this time i been paying big bucks for spendy scotch and look what i could have been doing all this time. and imagine all that money could have been saved and spent on copper when it was much cheaper! but again i guess i wouldnt appreciate my spirits as much as i do now.

regards
Rastus

[F6Hawk]

Rastus, how long did you leave it on the oak before it became your "dream booze"?

[steve2md]

I scoop out about 1/4 to 1/3 of the grain and replace with the same. doesn't really matter if you take it from the top or the sides IMO. I also scoop out any "floaters" that may be in there as well. I like this recipe, but I think I'm going to go back to all corn recipes. I just like them a bit better.

[Offshore]

Hello, I just started an 8 gal Sweet Feed mash, I have got a bug problem, I have about a have bag of sweet feed that has been stored for about two months, I put the sweet feed in the fomenter and then poured the sugar on top of it, I then went to start heating the water, when I come back to pour the water in fomenter I nosiest that where was little black bugs on top of the sugar, so I checked the feed bag and found some more in there. I took what ever bugs I could find out of the bucket and went ahead and started the SF mash, it is fermenting like crazy right now, My concern is that I know I did not get all the bugs out of it. I am not to concerned about a little extra protean, but what else should I be concerned about? Or should I just dump it and get new SF? Thank you for any help.

[Rastus]

hope i am not out of line... if the bugs are small they are going to get drunk and die in bliss, so no stress horomones released and besides they been eating the grains so probably taste like the grain.. so may not be so bad...
(never eat a pig that's been fed Salmon)

however if they're Large and you have a major infestation... i would rethink that

[Offshore]

hope i am not out of line... if the bugs are small they are going to get drunk and die in bliss, so no stress horomones released and besides they been eating the grains so probably taste like the grain.. so may not be so bad...
(never eat a pig that's been fed Salmon)

however if they're Large and you have a major infestation... i would rethink that

thank you for the reply, they were small not more the a 1/8" long

[Rastus]

yep bugs are a personal thing some people get all freaked out and some not.

we get em around here they love the grains, cant blame them for that, but i tried something called Diatomaceous earth.

check this out:
http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I aint no sales man but i will say i haven't seen any more bugs in my Flax seed since i tried this stuff. and what i like is that its not a poison.
I found a 10 pound sack on amazon and haven't regretted it. And a little goes a long ways it seems
for what its worth.

[Rastus]

Rastus, how long did you leave it on the oak before it became your "dream booze"?

F6,
please realize I may be still in the honeymoon stage of my relationship with my Copper Lady, but i ordered some white oak that was done up buy a guy back east, and he toasted half and charred half. here is a link to the ebay page.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200702272501?ss ... 1497.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

since i am far away from any such wood i decided to try it... the sticks are length wise as opposed to chips, i soaked mine in pint Jars, and i think the longest time has been 12 hours plenty of color and flavor without over powering the spirit, which is 110proof. i mixed equally the char and toasted in pint jar batches as i look smell and taste, occasionally shaking them briskly. now my main problem is just getting enough stocked up so i can save some long enough to see what time adds to the equation.
of course i can say that real expensive bottle of Glengoyne i bought a few years ago distilled in 1967 ( I said "but dear that is the same year as you were born how could i not!") was exquisite, and i never regretted getting it, except it is all gone now the oak flavors were an education and showed me what i was looking for ...

um she bought my reasoning bye the way.

regards

Rastus

[Truckinbutch]

There are federal standards for how much 'foreign'material is allowed in food grade products for human consumption . That includes rats , mice , flies , feces , human fingers , et.al . I doubt that a few small critters in your sf is going to be a matter of concern .

[Offshore]

There are federal standards for how much 'foreign'material is allowed in food grade products for human consumption . That includes rats , mice , flies , feces , human fingers , et.al . I doubt that a few small critters in your sf is going to be a matter of concern .

Hello, thank you all for the replies about my bug. I decided to let it do its job, I started the mast on 04/02/2013 at 3:00 pm. The SG was 1.073 and now on 04/06/2013 at 10:04 am the FG is 0.996, wow my little critter must have kicked the yeast in the butt. This is an 8 gal batch, I used 12 lb of sugar and 4 table spoons of supper start distillers yeast.

[Rastus]

And your bugs are celebrating their mighty Battle with the superstart yeasties in Bug Valhalla! it was a honorable death i am sure!

[Andy Capp]

Offshore..
If you still have any bugs in your bag, put it outside in the full sun for 30 mins and they usually come crawling straight out. This works well with weavils, which sounds like what you have.

[Offshore]

Andy Capp

Thank you for that info, I sifted out enough sweet feed out of the bag to replace the spent SF after I rack off the wash, I did find 3 or 4 more bugs. I will give that a try on putting it out in the sun, thank you.

[Truckinbutch]

I am going to store my grain on the floor of my very confined , sealed fermenting room in hopes that a concentration of co will inhibit crawling critters .

[1131morg]

Just curious. The recipe says to boil water, pour over feed then stir in sugar. Is there any difference to disolving the sugar in the boiling water before pouring over feed and stiring ?

[Stainless dude]

Hi Morg, either way is good..

[jeremy38541]

Hi everyone. I've been making neutral for a few months now and am ready to start experimenting with some whiskey. I think this is going to be the first that I try. I live in the city so its not that easy for me to find farm supply stores within a reasonable drive. I've emailed/called the ones I can find looking for some sweet feed. I'm left with two options.
1. I found an all-grain sweet feed that contains barley, oats, corn, molasses and SALT. I searched this thread and from what I can understand the salt is going to cause problems with the ferment. Is it just that it will slow it down or kill it altogether?
2. I found another place that sells cracked corn, oats and molasses seperately that I can mix up myself. I saw corncooker earlier in the thread say he gets his mixed up like so:
75% oats
25% cracked corn
molasses

I would rather go with option 1 because its already mixed and contains some barley I'm just worried about the salt.

Thoughts?

[Rastus]

Jeremy,
welcome aboard the sweetfeed train!
i dont know where you are but i found this place here that has what your looking for... check em out if they ship at an affordable price.

Ingredients:
Rolled Barley, Rolled Corn, Whole Oats, and Molasses.

and note here:

Note: C.O.B. does not contain added minerals or vitamins.

here is the link:

https://shop.grangecoop.com/products/ro ... 62870.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

if shipping is a problem the key things i pointed out are what you want. look possibly to rural areas of you location, find an agricultural supply store, call em and tell em your looking specifically for corn, oats, barley and molasses no extra added anything.
where i live a feed store in the city would be happy to mix the feed according to whatever ratio, and add molasses to my spec. but they had their own Line of sweet feed that is working great.

SALT is not good for yeast.

Good Luck!
Rastus

[jeremy38541]

Looks like the sweetfeed train is going to be a fun ride.

So just after I read your reply I received a response from one of the feed stores I had contacted. Looks like they sell everything I need separately.
Cracked Corn
Rolled Barley
Crimped Oats
Molasses

It seems that 'crimped' oats should be ok. It still seems really weird for me to be buying horsefeed, its not something I've ever had to do!

Earlier in the thread Samohon mentioned 30% each of corn, barley and oats and then 10% molasses. Sound good?

EDIT: As far as location, I'm somewhere west of Toronto in Ontario.

[Rastus]

Looks like the sweetfeed train is going to be a fun ride.

So just after I read your reply I received a response from one of the feed stores I had contacted. Looks like they sell everything I need separately.
Cracked Corn
Rolled Barley
Crimped Oats
Molasses

It seems that 'crimped' oats should be ok. It still seems really weird for me to be buying horsefeed, its not something I've ever had to do!

Earlier in the thread Samohon mentioned 30% each of corn, barley and oats and then 10% molasses. Sound good?

sounds like your on solid ground.
i am going on the 4th generation with mine it is amazing how far i think my 50 pound sack is going to last. the oats like to float to the top while the ferment if fizzling away, i have had almost 2" of oats floating.
also be prepared for the mass of the grains in the fermenter. i have a 12 gallon bucket and i get about 5-6 gallons out to run in the still. i just siphon down to the top of the grains and leave them and the yeast and the wash they contain alone. what i am getting at is if you want to run 10 gallons might need a 20 gallon fermenter. someone can correct me on that but that's my guess based on what i have seen with mine, i am looking for an affordable 30 gallon food grade container now for the summer.
good luck

Rastus

[Truckinbutch]

That's scary , Rastus . I had planned to set a 40 gallon batch in a 44 gallon fermenter . If what you have is typical I need to get a bigger boat or go fishing for a smaller shark .

[Rclark12]

To the guys making their own, maybe its worth trying to experiment with rye too? Im waiting for my first sf mash to finish I will deffinitetly be experimenting with grains. I have seen alot of people in the dozens of pages I've read say that they believe oats are the taste they dont like, I might try corn rye and barley eventually. Just food for the though for those who are making custom sweet feed any way

[Rastus]

That's scary , Rastus . I had planned to set a 40 gallon batch in a 44 gallon fermenter . If what you have is typical I need to get a bigger boat or go fishing for a smaller shark .

that is way beyond my experience size wise... the grain does swell up a bit... i will step aside on that one and someone may have better info and experience on that.

[jbird1992]

That's scary , Rastus . I had planned to set a 40 gallon batch in a 44 gallon fermenter . If what you have is typical I need to get a bigger boat or go fishing for a smaller shark .

I run a 20 Gal ferment and get about 70% to run. That is if (IF) you keep up with the grain bed pretty good. One thing to note is I have almost eliminated the oats and they seem to swell up the most so you may get a little less if you run a lot of oats. I also let it settle real good (3-4 days after finished) so I can rack off right down to the grain bed with out gettn any yeast.

[braemar]

Hi Everyone,
I have been using birdwatchers recipe for some time now and putting it thru a reflux column gets rid of all the taste that the mash could have, so i am wondering how some people put this sweetfeed recipe thru a reflux still and keep the flavour, do they run it fast or with less packing, i have a sweetfeed fermenting at the moment and i am wondering the best way to distill it to retain the flavours of the grain while still maintaining a quality product. My still has the capability to do a run thru a 500 mm column with or without packing or a 1 metre column with or without packing, I think if i use the 1 metre column with packing i will have a neutral spirit the same as my Birdwatchers, can someone advise me please.
regards
braemar

[nightmoves]

I have ran this through the reflux and it was stripping out almost all the flavor but was getting 185 out of it. I took the next batch and ran through the pot still and it ran @ 150 but with all the flavor that I like. I will only run this through pot still

[jeremy38541]

I actually have a bit of flaked rye at home that I was thinking about adding. I'm going to try to recipe out as is to start before I start mucking with it though. Being from Canada I think some rye in the whiskey will give me a flavor I'm more used to anyway.

[jeremy38541]

Now I realize I'm getting ahead of myself because I haven't even procured the grain yet but I can't help myself.

What is everyone's preferred way of drinking the sweetfeed?

[Stainless dude]

On the rocks with a splash of water, yummy..