NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

[Jimbo]

The backset is to lower the pH and help the enzymes work on all that corn. The barley malt you add will help some. Ive made bourbon without backset when I didnt have any, and all turned out fine. Give it a little longer mash time if nothing else. Add some gypsum too, it helps lower the pH and it also provides calcium to make your yeast happy.

[TonsOfFun]

Thanks Jimbo! I will keep you all posted on how it turns out.

Regarding the oak, what do use to oak?

I haven't quite decided what i am going to do yet. I don't have the cash flow to buy a barrel, so i was thinking of buying some oak sticks...but then i thought since i am making my own bourbon i should stick with the homemade theme through and through. I was thinking of buying some oak chips and tasting/charing them myself, or possible oak sticks although i am not sure where to get american white oak around my area.

[FreeMountainHermit]

In the beginning of the thread the recipe calls for 6 row barley , I'm getting ready to make an order and my supplier offers barley in crushed as well as in uncrushed form. Advantage/disadvantage ?


Thanks, FMH.

[Jimbo]

6 row has a higher DP, (diastatic power) than 2 row. Diastatic power is a measure of the enzymes that convert starch.

As an example if you wanted to convert half a bag of cracked corn, 25 lbs. You need a DP of 30 average for the whole mash, so with 6 row at 180DP, it will take 5 lbs. (5*180)/(5+25)=30 With 2 row, 140DP it will take about 6.5 lbs, same equation.

[FreeMountainHermit]

6 row has a higher DP, (diastatic power) than 2 row. Diastatic power is a measure of the enzymes that convert starch.

As an example if you wanted to convert half a bag of cracked corn, 25 lbs. You need a DP of 30 average for the whole mash, so with 6 row at 180DP, it will take 5 lbs. (5*180)/(5+25)=30 With 2 row, 140DP it will take about 6.5 lbs, same equation.

I know that Jimbo, my question, is there any advantage in crushed v. uncrushed. I'm hoping the crushed may be less labor intensive in the beginning of the mashing process. Only have one arm which causes me to think ahead when it comes to manual labor such as stirring a mash.

Thanks for the math. It will be used.

Crushed versus uncrushed Thoughts ?


Thanks, FMH.

[frunobulax]

The grain needs to be crushed to expose the inside of the grain to the mash water for conversion, so if you don't have your own mill, get it crushed.

[FreeMountainHermit]

Thank you.

[Parker36]

What should this smell like during fermentation?

[Jimbo]

haha, thats a damn good question Parker. It should smell like corn muffins and ass.

[Parker36]

Ok, as long as it is suppose to smell bad then I guess Im good so far. Doesnt smell any where near as good as that Irish red thats going right next to it.

[Jimbo]

Irish Red beer? Ya beer ferments always smell better. Mus tbe the hops and extra groceries in a good beer.

one smell you want to be on guard for is puke. Cant miss it. When butrytus takes a hold youre done. But DONT open it up wide to smell too often, cause yo ujust keep lettin bugs in . I smell every couple/3 days by poppin the bubbler off slow and sticken my nose down by the hole. Not as pleasant as the same activity in another context.....

[Colin202]

Thanks for the great recipe, just tries a poke of my batch and I have to say its a damn fine drinker. It's been sitting in the basement for 6 weeks on oak and the color and taste are killer. Thanks again!!

[SIXFOOTER]

Wow, just read through all 47 pages on this thread. Kicking off my first batch tomorrow.

[slaphappypappy]

Not really a brewer, just a looker, but, is there a reason you use malted barley rather than malted corn. Ease, price, taste????

[Jimbo]

Malted corn is not readily available.

[jebar77]

so i have this fermenting right now.... only thing i changed is i added 1lb of malted rye. hope it comes out as good as it sounds

[SIXFOOTER]

Finally got this one started today. 7 lbs of cracked corn cooked in 4 gallons of water, Jesus this stuff gets thick, just about did my shoulder in.
Its in the mash tun now with the malted barley and a pound of rye.
See how it looks in the am and pitch the yeast before work.

[SIXFOOTER]

OK, ran this stuff today, got a couple issues.
First, I only got 4 half liter jars
The product is cloudy
ABV started at 65 down to 40, proof, not %

Followed the OP recipe exactly, no problems
Seemed to ferment out fine but I didn't take OG or FG readings
I run a valved reflux rig
Ran it wide open, no reflux
Dumped the 100ml

What did I do wrong?

[Swashbuckler]

Hey NC! lurking around these parts for around a year or so, and this my first post. Ive done a couple rum and sugar washes with pretty good success. You're mash here is the first AG ive done and It went great just finished up, minus the fact I didn't have anything to mill the barley with so I used a plastic bag with a hammer not sure if that's a little too crude but it worked. just wanted to say thanks for posting all this info up here, its a great website..

[Usge]

Finally got this one started today. 7 lbs of cracked corn cooked in 4 gallons of water, Jesus this stuff gets thick, just about did my shoulder in.

Did you see this in the original recipe? *optional - you may add a half pound of 6-row malted barley while cooking the corn to loosen it up a bit ( this is called pre-mashing) as it gets very thick.


That will keep it more loose so it's easier to stir. The other thing you can try is to use more water than 4 gals initially. That helps as well. You'll be adding less water in the end to top up to volume...but it will make cooking and mashing your corn easier. Try using 5 gals of water next time, and the pre-malt. See if that doesn't make it easier to work with. Always take OG/FG readings. It will tell you not only if your mash went well (OG)...but if it's finished fermenting or not before you run it (FG).

[brazenheadbeer]

Could you substitute corn meal for cracked corn in this recipe and produce the same and or similar product?

[BoomTown]

Could you substitute corn meal for cracked corn in this recipe and produce the same and or similar product?

yes, but it is more expensive.

[brazenheadbeer]

Could you substitute corn meal for cracked corn in this recipe and produce the same and or similar product?

yes, but it is more expensive.

Thanks

[TonsOfFun]

Howdy Y'all. I have done 3 mashes of this recipe (7 lbs corn, 3 lbs 6-row, & 1 lbs malted rye). I have stripped all three, and currently doing a spirt run with my pot still. i have about a half gallon of spirt right now and will have it on some oak tonight! Great recipe NCHOOCH!! Thanks to all those that posted. For my oak I was able to track down some white oak that I ripped on my table saw into 1" strips, then i cross cut the strips every quarter inch one quarter inch deep. After all the cuts have been made a 6 inch piece has about 51sq inch of surface area. I plan on charing all sides and tossing one 6 inch strip into a half gallon of spirt. for those of you who have oaken, what is your recommendation on how long to leave to oak in for? Also do you think that i am using too much oak, or not enough? Thanks

[Jimbo]

Hey Tons congrats on your AG bourbon bashes, good to see on here.

I oak with 1" x 5" JD sticks cut on the table saw from half barrel JD barrels. They are white oak, toasted (by jack) and charred on the 5 uncharred surfaces by Jim (me). Thats 22 square inches. I use 1 per quart at 62%. That 88 sq inches per gallon. 53g barrels are 52 sq inches. These are used, but frankly the outer surfaces I dont think so much. After 4-6 months gotta start watchin it close. It oaks up big. Since it takes a few months to age (Im not talking about oaking here) and lose that young dog flavor this seems to be a good balance between oak and age. At 4 months+ its mighty nice drinkin. Longer better.

[TonsOfFun]

Thanks for the response Jimbo! I think I might add more oak to mine then. I used one 1"x3" piece of oak that I toasted for about 2.5 hours at 450F and then charred for each quart in the pic below. I have also included a pic of the oak that I made. Do you think that there is an advantage to cutting grooves to create more surface area and exposing more end grain? Do you cut grooves on your oak sticks? If it is worth doing, great, but if not i am going to say hell with it as it is kinda of tedious. The AG Bourbon in the pic below is at 63% and has been on oak for 24 hours. I think the color is coming along nicely, what do you think, more oak?

[Jimbo]

Ive never cut grooves. I know some do, the spirals you can buy are cut like that too. Ive read mixed reports on endgrain. Barrels have no end grain touching likker. Dont know if the concerns are founded or not. But I havent tried it sorry. The straight sticks, like I describe below, do a hell of a job so I never tried anything else.

[guittarmaster]

UPDATE:

I just made a double batch of this yesterday. 14lbs corn, 6lbs 6-row, and added 2lbs rye for a little something something.

I split the boiling-the-corn step in half on the stove. i adding 7# to boiling water and poured it into a large cooler to steep and stirred every10-15 min. After an hour it was super thick almost like polenta. Then it was transferred to the Mash tun, and mashed until the iodine test passed, and sparged. I fly sparged 9 gallons, then my sparge stuck. I added three gallons of water, mixed, and sparged. I ended collecting 11.5 gallons at ph 6.5. I boiled until my final volume was 10.5 gallon. SG 1.048.

How does that sound, about right? It's my first time with an all grain bourbon!

<holy crab there were a ton of errors in that. Last i post before 8am!

UPDATE:


I striped this ~10gal of mash down into ~2gal of low wines. A few weeks later ended up repeating it again just as before with about ~2-2.5 gallons low wines. The low wines sat around for a few months before I found the time to rerun them for a proper spirits run. Yesterday I found the time.

After I mixed all of my low wines I was left with about 4.5 gallons of about 36%. I guess my lids were not on tight enough over the past few months Well. I cut the low wines to 20% and had about 7.5-8 gallons @20% for re distillation. Now usually I'd fill my keg boiler, crank it up, and start to assemble my still. by the time I got my gaskets cut and pasted on I already had vapor raising ! Man that happened fast with 8gal of 20%!!! Turned it off, and assembled everything, turned everything on, and started my run.

Now I might say something that might raise some eyebrows. During the stripping runs I took really good notes and collected my distillate in cups like I would have done for a spirit run. After airing I tried to "blend" about a 1/4 cup for drinking. This gave me a little preview of what to expect for flavor at different proofs. From the stripping runs I can say that I would have kept what came off from about 78% - ~56% so during the spirits run i just collected everything from 75-60 in a giant glass jar that i have. I still tasted from time to time; but mosty just used the hydrometer as the flavors were exactly what i expected but MUUUUUCH smoother! Has anybody else noticed that/experienced that? This was my first time double running properly…. Usually I do 1.5 runs.
I’m hoping that after airing out overnight I find everything as nice as I expected cause I kept portions for blending from 81-75 & 60-30. The 60-50 part tasted really rich and complex out of the still, somewhat oatmealish... Hopefully I'll get to use it for blending. So far I'm very impressed with this recipe. No wonder it's in the tried and true!

[mbz250sl]

Love the recipe and have run it a few times now in my PSII - normally run single spirit run low and slow - when collected and blended I usually have a final product in the 50-60 ABV range - I add some sugar to bump the yield - so looking to play around and have few questions - first off, if I want to increase the ABV am I better doing it by running on reflux mode or making multiple batches, run stripping runs and then a final spirit run? Reflux would be one and done so less cost and since only one run, would it have more flavor than stripping and then doing a spirit run?

If I make multiple batches, should I use backset for each subsequent batch and how will that pact the flavor. Lastly, if I do a stripping run, added the backset to the next mash and then added the striplings a d did a single spirit run would I get the best of both - higher ABV and more flavor?

Thanks in advance for the feedback

[modstore]

I just ran a batch based on this recipe and so far all seems good. I have done the stripping run, and will do a final run this weekend. I used baker's yeast, and just wondering if there is any negative to this, if another type of yeast would improve things at all?

Cheers.