NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Catmandew · Post by **Catmandew** » Sun Sep 28, 2014 9:29 pm

NCHooch, I just wanted to say that I enjoyed your recipe. After just a few weeks of stress-aging it tasted mighty fine. I will be starting a fresh run soon to replenish my drained bourbon stock (of just 4 months age now). I loved that bourbon. My first one too.
I never imagined that the hearts cut at 70%abv could be so smooth.
I've got a home-built 2"x36" tower reflux cup type design (similar to a double-cup Boka reflux design)and I measure proof real-time through a parrot.
For whisky and rum, I de-tune the tower by pulling all the packing out of the tower and open the reflux valve wide open. This is potstill mode.
I've thought about shortening the column but I get 70%abv this way and no low-wines to process.
I was pleasantly surprised, after only 3 months aging on med. char oak, just how good it was. It was smokey and oakey with more than a hint of vanilla. Oaked at 60% it is black in the jar and when held up to the sun, a deep red disk of the sun could be seen through the bottle. It was that dark!
I hadn't tasted any bourbon like this either. It had an added flavor that I enjoyed but cannot yet describe. It could be from the corn or some maillard reaction in the cooking process - I don't know.
I run the electric 15.5gl keg-boiler nice and easy, filled with 5 to 8 gals of wash. Well into the tails and towards the end of the run, I tighten the reflux valve and maintain 60%abv. I quit at 90c.
If the cut tastes good I'll drink it (blend and oak it), if it is off-tasting I'll be making vodka from it later .
I'm pretty new to this and I don't have a mentor to show me what it is supposed to taste like and all, so I take my time, pay attention and refine the process.

homebrew+ · Post by **homebrew+** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 12:12 pm

Is it common for this to be cloudy after a spirit run? Its perfectly clear at 160-135 proof only clouds after cutting to 80 proof. Could i filter this out "chill filter" ? There was no tails smell,and tasted good.I keep 2 quarts from a 3 gallon 35% charge. I was doing uncle jessie's last year with no real problem. just wanted to try all grain.

Post by **Jimbo** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 2:09 pm

That happens occasionally, its due to esters and other volatile components making it through your cuts. Easiest solution is to blend it at a little higher proof, most likely it will clear right up at 90 proof.

Post by **Full_moon** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 12:18 pm

I want to try this as my 1st AG ferment. I have been successful for about a year now with UJSM and Sweetfeed, All Bran etc. I have an 8 gal.SS milk can boiler with a dual purpose cm still. I have used the CM still a few time with some success, but just havn't got it all down pat yet and operate mostly by stripping runs and then spirit run in pot still, which I plan to do with this.
I would like to know if the plan I have in mind is workable. I don't have a BOP, mine is too small only 5 gal. I'm thinking about using the boiler as the pot. The boiler has a 4500 watt element in it, however I have a broilking hotplate with controller I could use under it and just use the element for initial heat up. I could maintain the temperatures for required times under close watch with the hot plate.
Then transfer to 13 gal. fermenter I am looking at on ebayhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/191396595586?_trksid=p ... EBIDX%3AIT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
When it comes time to distill I think a slow heat up would be OK.
Does this sound workable

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 1:28 pm

Lowest I can get on "Flame" today is 160* F
Will this convert the corn?

Post by **npstephe** » Mon Dec 08, 2014 9:31 am

I've done a few generations of UJSSM now and wanted a good AG recipe to try. The instructions and grain bill didn't seem too difficult to understand on this one so I went for it. Scaled up a little for about 9 Gallons of mash (i use 12 G barrels as fermenters). Next time I will probably do at least a 10 Gallon mash since the potential Alcohol is so low.

I used 10 lbs of corn and 4 lbs of crushed barley with a total of about 9 gallons of water. Followed the directions and ended up with a SG of 1.045 this morning before pitching the yeast. not too shabby for my first AG. It smelled great! Cant wait for the results!

Post by **NcHooch** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 7:36 pm

CRACKERCREEK wrote:
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1417987650.253796.jpg
Lowest I can get on "Flame" today is 160* F
Will this convert the corn?

not as well as 145 would ...160 will denature the enzymes in the malt a lot quicker and lead to more unfermentable sugars n starches in the beer. Next time, try turning it off and on to maintain your target temp This is what most brewers do .

Nice kettle BTW

Post by **NcHooch** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 7:39 pm

npstephe wrote:I've done a few generations of UJSSM now and wanted a good AG recipe to try. The instructions and grain bill didn't seem too difficult to understand on this one so I went for it. Scaled up a little for about 9 Gallons of mash (i use 12 G barrels as fermenters). Next time I will probably do at least a 10 Gallon mash since the potential Alcohol is so low.

I used 10 lbs of corn and 4 lbs of crushed barley with a total of about 9 gallons of water. Followed the directions and ended up with a SG of 1.045 this morning before pitching the yeast. not too shabby for my first AG. It smelled great! Cant wait for the results!

Not too shabby at all npstephe ... congrats of your first AG mash.

Post by **npstephe** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 5:49 am

NcHooch wrote:
npstephe wrote:I've done a few generations of UJSSM now and wanted a good AG recipe to try. The instructions and grain bill didn't seem too difficult to understand on this one so I went for it. Scaled up a little for about 9 Gallons of mash (i use 12 G barrels as fermenters). Next time I will probably do at least a 10 Gallon mash since the potential Alcohol is so low.

I used 10 lbs of corn and 4 lbs of crushed barley with a total of about 9 gallons of water. Followed the directions and ended up with a SG of 1.045 this morning before pitching the yeast. not too shabby for my first AG. It smelled great! Cant wait for the results!
Not too shabby at all npstephe ... congrats of your first AG mash.

Thanks NcHootch!

I did the first stripping run on this last night with my pot still. It didn't come out as high in ABV as i had hoped, but it is my first AG so im sure its different than corn and sugar wash. It started coming off (after foreshots) at around 50% ABV. I also had never done a stripping run. Maybe this is normal? My plan is to to do 3 or 4 stripping runs then a spirit run like i have seen on here many times.

I may be abandoning my 6th Gen UJSSM so I can free up my other 12G fermenter so this process goes quicker!

A little birdie told me i was getting a 5L Barrel from my GF for Christmas too

so it looks like this will be what goes in there! Thanks again for the recipe Hootch! It was smelling good coming out!

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:44 pm

Ok so please help me with this. I have a run/wash taking up a 7 gal conical and a 6 gal carboy and a 5 gal car boy all are about 1/2-3/4 gallon from full. They are done now due to a cold snap here in FL they took about 5 days longer to kick can I siphon off the beer into a carboy and go ahead and recharge these with a sugar-corn wash without backset ? Saving this beer for a run this weekend? Please help

Post by **Fastill** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:52 pm

CRACKERCREEK wrote:Ok so please help me with this. I have a run/wash taking up a 7 gal conical and a 6 gal carboy and a 5 gal car boy all are about 1/2-3/4 gallon from full. They are done now due to a cold snap here in FL they took about 5 days longer to kick can I siphon off the beer into a carboy and go ahead and recharge these with a sugar-corn wash without backset ? Saving this beer for a run this weekend? Please help

If you are asking if you can do a sugerhead on top of the grains after you racked off the original wash, yes you can. I think it would taste better with backset but there should still be plenty of good stuff in the grain for a sugar run.

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:54 pm

What about racking off the originals for safe keeping until the weekend?

Post by **Fastill** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:57 pm

CRACKERCREEK wrote:What about racking off the originals for safe keeping until the weekend?

No problem. When you charge your still, you will get even more settling that you can leave in your fermenter, letting you charge a clear mash. (clear meaning yeast and grain particals settling out, NOT a clear like water wash)

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:47 pm

Knocking it out now even though I don't feel like messing with it tonight

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 5:41 pm

Damn this stuff stinks lol sour corn stink?

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 5:42 pm

Tastes pretty good barely sour

Post by **rad14701** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:44 pm

That would be draining rather than racking so you will probably have more solids in your wash than you would by racking (siphoning)... A second clearing and racking will definitely help...

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 8:02 am

rad14701 wrote:That would be draining rather than racking so you will probably have more solids in your wash than you would by racking (siphoning)... A second clearing and racking will definitely help...

I racked into the bucket thru a silkscreen and then again into the pot.

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 8:37 am

Could use some help here. @nchooch
You can PM me if needed. The wash really stunk I mean real bad. Then when I ran the wash it produced first 20proof then 10 proof then water I think something is up lol! Can I re use this or discard it and start over. Infection? What is the stink methane? What did I do wrong?

Post by **npstephe** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:01 pm

I have my second batch of this fermenting now. It should be done by this weekend so I can do my second strip on it. One more strip after that and I think I will have enough for the spirit run!

I had a problem with scorching this time, but luckily I can't smell it anymore in the fermenter. Hopefully it comes out fine. I only have a 5Gal SS stock pot to cook the corn in, any idea on the best way to handle this? I'm trying to do a 10 Gallon batch since I have 12 G fermenters. Would it be ok to just boil 5 or 6 Gallons and pour that over the corn that has been soaking in boiling backset for 24hrs in a good cooler? This would solve scorching and still cook the corn overnight I believe. I think I read about that somewhere on these 22 pages.

my SG was only 1.044, which I think was because of the scorch.

It smells great though!

Post by **NcHooch** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 4:32 pm

CRACKERCREEK wrote:Could use some help here. @nchooch
You can PM me if needed. The wash really stunk I mean real bad. Then when I ran the wash it produced first 20proof then 10 proof then water I think something is up lol! Can I re use this or discard it and start over. Infection? What is the stink methane? What did I do wrong?

Maybe a lacto infection Cracker...it aint supposed to stink ....it usually smells like a corn wine/beer.

It sounds like you may've done something wrong and failed to get proper conversion (maybe that 160 degree mash?).
Perhaps there wasn't enough sugar to get a healthy yeast colony going and the bacteria present in the mash (from the malt)
took over .

It goes without sayin that we combine the malt with the corn to convert the starches into sugar, and since we don't boil the wort after the mashing, it's dirty and a perfect place for bacteria growth. We get around that by pitching a healthy colony of yeast in there so we're converting the sugars before the bacteria can get going.

Give it another shot, it's worth the effort.

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 4:39 pm

@ hooch
Yeah man I'll grab some more grains and give it at least another go lol. Try and try again

Post by **jedneck** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 4:58 pm

CRACKERCREEK wrote:@ hooch
Yeah man I'll grab some more grains and give it at least another go lol. Try and try again

Dont give up it very worth it.

CRACKERCREEK · Post by **CRACKERCREEK** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:00 pm

Oh I / we don't give up on anything ! Hell were in the south!

youngonce · Post by **youngonce** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 6:46 am

This is my second go round with this recipe.. I have a 15 gal pot boiler and use 15 lbs corn with 7 smoked barley and a little rye thrown in. It sure is a LOT of work.. Anyway I have about 3-6 gallon fermenters laying around and somehow I saved the trub from a few of the cleared mashes - about 12 gallons. This being the holidays I had some time so I ran the trub to see if there was any alcohol in it - I added some backset to try an keep it from scorching. I got about 1.75 gallons running down to 20%.

With all the work involved I am tempted to keep this - it tastes ok and is not completely clear but should be after run #2. The recipe says to run it without clearing anyway nut I read where folks say to let it clear and keep the trub out of the boiler.. So I plan on mixing it in with the 1st run from the cleared mash.

Just to be clear I am calling the trub the stuff that settles on the bottom of the fermenter - about 2 gallons out of the 6..

thumper123 · Post by **thumper123** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 10:21 am

Been making my bourbon like this for a long time, and it's real good. I do a couple things slightly different. I grind the cracked corn down to a course meal because I believe I get a better and faster cook - nothing highly scientific here, and my rudimentary iodine starch tests don't show that it's a better conversion. Also, I use enzymes instead of the usual amount of malt - still use some malt for the flavor, just not nearly so much.

Bourbon_Greg · Post by **Bourbon_Greg** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 3:31 pm

I don't really like the ideal of dumping my mash into a plastic cooler. Instead of dumping into a cooler after the boil can you keep it in your boil pot and on the burner and use the burner to maintain the temp?

Anyone made this with wheat instead of rye? If so, would you mind sharing the grain bill?

Has anyone tried distilling on the grain?

Post by **Jimbo** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 3:56 pm

no problem mashing in the same pot just wrap it up tight in an old blanket to hold the temperature. You can ferment in there too if you want but it uses up your pot for a week. Distilling on the grain requires a steam boiler or you'll scorch the crud. Wheated bourbon is delicious Theres a recipe in my signature

jpierce3 · Post by **jpierce3** » Wed Mar 18, 2015 7:21 pm

Hello all, love the site I have learned alot on here. I have perfected my sugar wash recipes and have brewed several extract beer kits. This is the next recipe I want to try. I have a few questions however:
Since you said to transfer to your fermenter grain and all I should be fine with buying a 10 Gallon cooler from home depot and not worry about the ball valve or false bottom(also use another bucket to aerate)
Also If i maintain the temp for 2-3 hours while mashing in the cooler mentioned above is adding the beano and letting sit overnight only for additional conversion, also is temp important for the overnight sit
Could I just mash for 3 hours then toss in the fermenter and be done?

Thanks

hren · Post by **hren** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:57 am

Hi All. Set up my first batch of Carolina Bourbon last night. Or, rather, a recipe inspired by the Carolina Bourbon:

7 pounds yellow corn
1 pound roasted buckwheat
3 pounds 2-row malt

I ground the corn and the buckwheat with my hand-operated mill (it was a bit of a workout even with this little of it) and threw it into a bigass pot with 1 gallon of backset from a similar batch (that didn't convert so well, so I I added some sugar to) and 4 gallons of water. Left the pot in my oven overnight at 200 degrees. Woke up to find it barely warm, at something like 140.

Mistake #1 - should have used boiling water and then put it in the oven.

I raised the heat to 250 and left it there for the day. When I got back, it was very nicely gelled. Way the hell better than any gelling I've gotten from boiling and mixing. Threw it into a cooler, let it cool to 150, and mixed in the malt. I have one of those awesome 9-day coolers, so I didn't worry too much about it other than mixing it a few times and leaving it overnight.

In the morning, it looked pretty good, was nice and runny, and tasted sweet. I started pouring it into the fermenter and spilled about 1/3 on the floor.

Mistake #2: don't spill your mash on the fucking floor.

I recovered most of it and threw it back into the bucket. I figured that I infected it with all sorts of shit in the process. The floor was relatively clean kitchen tile, but it couldn't have been THAT clean. I added water to the mash, pitched twice the amount of yeast I would have otherwise hoping that my nice ale yeast will out-compete whatever the hell got picked up in the process.

It's bubbling away nicely now and smells great. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Home Distiller

NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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