single malt loaf whiskey

[suburban hillbilly]

Hi guys 'n' gals
I am between work contracts at the moment and my next one in a few weeks will take me away from my home and more importantly my still for 18 weeks (my wife works with me before anyone points out who's more important wife or still).
So with that in mind I wanted to stock up so i have stuff aging and also wanted it to be cheap. I already have some other stuff almost ready to be stilled (dark rye crispbread) but wanted to try some alternatives. I remember growing up my favourite treat was a slice of buttered malt bread. So this is what I did.
Took two soreen brand malt loafs (i used soreen as the house brand although cheaper had potassium sorbate in them which is used to stop fermenting ). The soreen contained calcium propionate which is a mould inhibitor. I did some research here on the site and it was mentioned that it may be possible to remove this by adding salt to seperate it and skim it out before adding to the wash.
This is how I threw it together.

For 25 litres
two malt loafs
6 kilo's white sugar
125g bakers yeast
two vitamin B complex tablets
5 teaspoons of dap

I chopped up the malt loafs into small pieces put them in a pan and covered with plenty of water and added two teaspoons of salt and then boiled for about thirty mins. I stired using a whisk to make sure that the loafs were well broken up. I then put the mix to one side to cool down.
I then inverted 3 kilo's of sugar and poured into my fermenting bin.
I put the other three kilo's into my pan and started them off. While they were boiling I checked the loaf mixture (cooled but still warm) and sure enough there was a slick on top which i had read could possibly be the seperated calcium propionate. Using a large serving spoon I gently sank enough to just break the suface tension so the surface water and the slick ran into the spoon. I managed to remove most of the slick only removing about 50ml of water.
I then poured it into the fermenting bucket with the dap and vitamin B and added the other three kilos of inverted sugar topped up to 25 litres and waited till it hit around 31c then pitched the yeast stiring well into the mixture.
After an hour or so there was a nice cap forming. After two and a half hours the surface had changed to a bubbling brown layer that close up sounded like frying chips (french fries).
I thought my last ferment was good but this one at the moment seems fiercer than the last. I don't know if the layer I skimmed off the loaf mixture was the calcium propionate or not but whatever else this stuff is fermenting nice.
Will keep you posted.
All the best S H
Ps forgot that this was about being cheap. The ingredients came in at £5.74. I already had the dap and vit b

[suburban hillbilly]

After a really slow single run I ended up with around 2.5 ltres (at 66% abv) of blended alcohol which has been breathing for around two weeks. Last night I watered down some of the blended stuff and stuck it straight over ice.
What can I say other than a very full flavoured smooth drink. I drank some along with some friends along with some bought havana rum and my stuff won hands down. I am very impressed with this stuff so will be taking it to second gen.
Unfortunately I will be working out of the country for 18 weeks from friday so it will have to wait till the spring.
So if you fancy something with a bit of flavour this stuff delivers and wont break the bank. Just remember if you are going to do this one and you can't get the branded loaf check the ingredients of other brands as they may contain potassium sorbate which might give you fermenting problems. Apart from that give it a go.
All the best S H

[Smokehouse Shiner]

Sounds good SH. I've never seen malt loaf here. Never even heard of it. Oh yea I live in the middle of flugging nowhere!

[suburban hillbilly]

Hi S S
Not too sure if its a uk thing or not but it is simply a small fruit loaf made with malt so Im sure there is probably plenty of alternatives. The flavour that carried over is very similar to the flavour that I got from my other dark rye crispbread experiment.
With rads all bran as a template I would imagine there are plenty of possibilities for interesting flavour ingredients. I might experiment with some different fuit loafs next year.
All the best S H

[suburban hillbilly]

Hi
I ran two washes very close together this one and a dark rye crispbread recipe (see other post).
After blending last year I went of to work for 18 weeks out of the country and left them sitting in glass demijohns. I diluted them down to 40% yesterday and then sampled both last night on the rocks.
They were both very drinkable but I have to say there was a definite difference in the flavour of the malt loaf. There was a distinct fuller more rich taste, which has swung me into deciding that this will be the recipe I will push on with for the time being. Hopefully the flavour will deepen as generations go on.
All the best SH

[suburban hillbilly]

Hi guys
Due to work commitments I have been away from home and my still. my supply of malt loaf whiskey has now gone I gifted some and drank the rest. as it had been in the bottle for over a year i guess it was resonably mellowed but one thing is for sure it was a hit and one of my friends (one of the one i gifted a bottle) who knows there whiskeys had nothing but praise and urged me to go second batch asap. So that's what Im going to do.
All the best SH

[suburban hillbilly]

So I've put my money where my mouth is and started my "single malt loaf gen 2".
I have taken a slightly different start as this morning i had to siphon a batch of banana wine from the fermenting bucket into the demijohns. the wine was still fizzing a bit so i decided to leave the yeast in the bottom of the bucket and use that as a starting culture for the 2nd gen of my malt loaf whiskey.
I am in the process of inverting my sugar as I write this and have just added the backwash I had stored from my first run (around 7litres).
So fingers crossed as the last batch was delicious and i'm expecting great things from this next batch.
All the best SH

[Mikey-moo]

I am so trying this at some point this year

[Mikey-moo]

Large malt loaves on offer at Morissons at the moment. Only £1 each:-D

[Phanatic]

Interesting recipe. Looks like it's what we'd call fruit loaf over here. Here in NZ we have a malt called Shepherd's Delight which tastes a lot like fruitcake/fruit loaf, could make for an interesting ferment too - but I like how over the counter your recipe is.

[Mikey-moo]

Well I can't take credit for the recipe but I'll let you know how I get on with it

[Mikey-moo]

I'm putting this together now:

2 malt loaves as above
4.25kg sugar
125g tomato paste
60g bakers dried yeast
topped up to 25l with spring water

bit like a birdwatchers with added malt loaf...

Any thoughts? Suggestions welcome

Edited - chucked in 2 pinches of epsom salts too.

[Mikey-moo]

Looked good an hour after pitching the yeast...

double malt loaf.jpg

Not sure the OG reading is very accurate with all the suspended solids, but hey ho.

[Mikey-moo]

It appears to be finished so I'll leave it a week to settle then strip it. Looks a bit... er... slimey at the moment but hopefully will taste good.

[Swedish Pride]

Mikey how's she coming along?
On schedule to strip this weekend, I'll be watching in anticipation.
May have to add it in to the list of washes to try before I go all in for AG

[Mikey-moo]

I've not looked to be honest. Also not sure now if I'll have room to run it this weekend - might have to push it back a week.

Stay tuned

[Mikey-moo]

I lifted the lid yesterday and it's looking a bit... erm slimy...

It smells fine. Just looks a bit angry... Hope it's ok.

IMG_2015042459810.jpg

[Swedish Pride]

Does not look to have cleared much, how are you going to get that in to the still without the goo and solids coming through as well

[Mikey-moo]

You have a good point. I judged it before by the amount of trub I could see had settled at the bottom, showing through the side of the plastic fermentation vessel. Seems there's still a bit of a cap going on. I'll leave it another week and check it again.

[Mikey-moo]

See what I mean?

IMG_2015042523994.jpg

I might have a go at skimming the gooey bits off the top

[Mikey-moo]

Today I sterilised a seive and skimmed all the gooey top off. Then I used some finings that I had left over from a wine kit. Will give it a week to clear and run it next weekend (hopefully).

If I do this again then I'll probably liquidise the malt loaf after boiling it up for 30 minutes. The floaty scummy bits seem to be raisins...

[Swedish Pride]

sounds lovely, floaty scummy raisins

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

What's the FG ended up as?

[Mikey-moo]

Just under 1.000

[Mikey-moo]

Worked out why it always looked so angry by remembering the tomato paste I added for nutrients. Next time I'll use some yeast nutrient instead, although I've noticed that the ingredients of the malt loaf now also appear to be fortified with extra vitamins, so perhaps I don't need to...

[Mikey-moo]

Ran this over the weekend - two strips and a slower spirit.

The hearts have a strange flavour that I can't quite place. It's not unpleasant though... Just unexpected.

I stuck it in a jar at 60% with a couple of toasted Oak sticks. I'll give it some time and see what develops.

[Swedish Pride]

to bad it was not an instant hit but you never know, time may yet work its magic on it

[Mikey-moo]

I'm sure a bit of oak will make it lovely. If not then I might give it another try at some point... There are a few things I'd do differently second time around

[Mikey-moo]

Opened the jar to have a sniff and today, after less than a week on new oak, this smells amazing.

Getting excited

[suburban hillbilly]

Hi Guys
ive been away from the hobby for a while but am happy to see someone giving it a go will be interested to see the final results.