Whisky using the malt bill of Founders KBS and Irish yeast

[hanon]

I made a stout and am using part of the mash bill to make a whisky using the malt bill of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. I'm using WLP004 Irish yeast

13.25 lbs Pale Malt
1.5 lbs Flaked Oats
12 oz Roasted Barley
12 oz Belgian Chocolate Malt
8 oz Blackprinz Malt
8 oz 120L Crystal Malt

[hanon]

I did the stripping run. Only got 3/4 gallon at 15%. The mash was pretty thin after I pulled 7.5 gallons for my beer and added the sparge water.

[hanon]

I did a spirit run. I took 100 ml cuts and ended up with 200 ml at 110 proof for my hearts cut. I diluted it down to 95 proof and added 7g light toast oak chips. This whisky tastes similar to the whisky with the malt bill and yeast of Heady Topper, but much less sweet, I think the yeast is what makes the difference. I'm generally saving my malt now when I make a beer and trying to squeeze a bit more out of it. I'm starting to build up some feints so I'm going add them on my next spirit run. I have 4 gallons at 1.030 SG that I squeezed out of 16 pounds of barley from my last IPA. I'm fermenting it on the grain in my 8 gallon kettle with Conan yeast at room temperature.

[SoMo]

Are you doing these by re mashing your grains?

[hanon]

Yes. For example I get 75% efficiency with my mash for my beer doing a step mash with no sparge, but after that I can add sparge water and get another 15-20% out of the grain. No point in letting that go to waste.

[SoMo]

What temp have you found works best for sparge water, or does it matter? When I was using some rough cracked corn @ 3lbs or more to a gallon if I sparged I wasn't leaving any thing behind. Have you ever tried to re mash those grains, could it even work?

[hanon]

I'm trying to get everything 168 degrees with the last sparge. I'm getting close to 95% efficiency by that point so there is no way I could re-mash the grain, there is nothing left. I'm also fermenting on the grain at that point.

[hanon]

After 4 months on light toast oak chips this one turned out much better than the Heady Topper malt bill and yeast. I really don't think the malt bill made a huge difference, it was more from the yeast. It still has a little bit of the sweet taste, but much less than the Conan yeast would give. I have tried quite a few other ale yeasts with the leftover malt from my beers, but have yet to find one that doesn't end up with a slight sweet taste. I'm going to try using bakers yeast with this in the future and see if that gets rid of the sweet taste, not to mention bakers yeast is so much faster. Overall this is decent whisky, but nothing phenomenal. The light toast oak chips were definitely the way to go though as it didn't get too oaked. And I'd imagine more time would make it smoother.