first single malt barley ferment

Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
Pics are VERY welcome, we drool over pretty copper 8)

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rager
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first single malt barley ferment

Post by rager »

not much to say other than , HELL YEA!

10 lbs of malted barely
2 lbs of smoked peat barley
5 gallons of water

hit 1.062

got the wort chiller cooling my mash and my yeast starter started . ill pitch at 85

looking forward to see what I get, I don't expect a large yield because this is just an experiment to see how it goes , but the mash taste fantastic!!

cheers

rager
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still_stirrin
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by still_stirrin »

OK. Got ingredients to make a 2nd? You'll be wanting a follow-up ferment asap I'm sure.

But the peated malt could be bumped up in the grainbill too if you want more of the smoke character to come through. I did one with 40% medium peated and 40% light peated malts and the character did come over to a degree off the potstill. But it was very subtle.

I do think you'll enjoy the all-grain brew however. Much more delicate that sugar washes.
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Halfbaked
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by Halfbaked »

Rager sounds like you did everything right. I assume you are gonna pot still it and strip it fast with only making a fores cut on strip? I would guess you will want to do 4 or 5 stripping runs and do a spirit run. Sounds like you have some top quality Likkkkker on the way.
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Very nice, looks like someone's gonna be a happy guy!
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rager
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by rager »

ive got a 50 lbs bag of 6 row :D

and like 10 lbs of smoked peat. I went with 20% of the grain bill just to start. and see what comes through as far as the smokiness. ill bump it up next time. I plan on making more I just need to free up a fermenter. so I see a striping run of another AG coming today.

halfbaked. I usually do 3 striping runs and then my spirit run. only have a 5 gallon pot still at this time. but it makes a tasty drop

no im not sure if im right here im my thoughts but my original SG was actually 1.074. I didn't calculate the temp difference at first. this is the highest I have ever got for mashing this amount of grains. are there more potential "sugars" in the 6 row and lets say a corn and wheat mash ? or other single AG mashes . that's been my go to for a while now but I usually average 1.065 , so im up a full point .I did add some water to bring it down to 1.06. at that SG I found the ferments have been going better/ faster and usually getting under 1.01 in less than a week. ive also been aerating the shit out of my mashes when I pitch now with a drywall mixer on a drill. I think this has also helped in my success.

thing is I have like over 8 gallons of low wines of all differents stuff and im running out of glass for collection, I guess know I know im a shiner :wink:

cheers everyone. ill let you all know how it goes in a few days.

rager
rager
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by rager »

well I went from 1.06ish to 1.012 in less than 48 hours. mash taste fantastic like previously mentioned!!!!!

I starting to really get a hang of this AG game.

I am so stoked to run this!!!


rager
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

rager wrote:I am so stoked to run this!!!
You gonna like it!
Shouting and shooting, I can't let them catch me...
rager
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by rager »

MichiganCornhusker wrote:
rager wrote:I am so stoked to run this!!!
You gonna like it!
this I know!!!!

started another ferment last night.

taste good enough to drink straight. got me thinking what this would taste like as beer with some hops.
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

rager wrote:got me thinking what this would taste like as beer with some hops.
If you've not made beer before, you should definitely do up a batch or two. 5 gallons makes two cases, and it is a short leap from what you are doing to make a nice IPA, or any other kind you like.
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firewater69
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by firewater69 »

+ 1 on an IPA, with lots of hops. (Im a hophead)
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rager
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by rager »

striping as we speak. also started another mash of the same ferment. gonna strip all three and do my spirit run. very excited.

mash only got down to 1.01 :(

the cap dropped and hadn't changed sg in 2 day so I figured wtf less run this thing.

I squeezed the grains out and im running it dirty.



cheers . ill update soon
rager
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by rager »

umm so I may have screwed this one up. the distillate is coming out almost a light yellow. not sure if its cuz im running hard or because im running dirty . it taste good. not burnt by any means, just not to sure why im getting this color . ive seen in the past but only at the end of the tails.

any thoughts on light yellow distillate? I know its not a big deal because it will clean up in the spirit run. ive got my other batch clearing and will let it clear over night like I normally do. thought I would gamble a little and see if I could cut out one step of having to let it clear before running.

we will see
bellybuster
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by bellybuster »

its only been 4 days since you started the mash. Definitely not cleared but Im sure it will clean up on spirit run
rager
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by rager »

bellybuster wrote: Definitely not cleared but Im sure it will clean up on spirit run
I purposely ran it without clearing just to give it a go. didn't think yellow distillate would be the result


next one will be cleared
ltrmoore
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by ltrmoore »

I got a yellowish low wine from running an all grain batch on a stripping run too. I was running it pretty hard though. I slowed down quite a bit and it cleared up a little. This might be normal. Everything was crystal clear on my spirit run. Hope this helps.
Matt86
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Re: first single malt barley ferment

Post by Matt86 »

Yellow low wines is from the still puking. I boil before fermentation to reduce this likelyhood (and for sanitising).
Either beat the CO2 out before running it or run less wash to avoid this.
Or ignore it, it doesn't do any harm if nothing gets blocked and if that's possible you have bigger worries.
rager
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Re: first single malt barley fermentive

Post by rager »

might as well update,

got about 2 liters of 120p . drank a shitload the of the hearts fresh the first night. put away a nice liter sitting on some used French oak that was in a corn and rye. gonna give it a couple months and see how it goes .

ive learn that the yellow distillate was from puking a little. its ok though. it cleaned up in the spirit run. I ran all three striping runs dirty. I after squeezing I only let is sit long enough for the major solids to fall. than poured into the boiler trub and all. no scorching or yeasty flavor. I thinking I am going to continue to run dirty. I slowly bring it up to a boil and stir then add the cap. if I was running a larger rig I might not but im trying to get every oz of hard earned alcohol out during my striping runs that includes running down to 20%abv.

cheers
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