Down_Home52 wrote:masonsjax that is way beyond my current level of accomplishment!! I will need to get the dictionary out just to understand your process. Aging/oaking process? I am working on a small electric set up for this winter to do my first AG so that is driving questions around processes and results.
Conan/Pacman?
Partigyle style second running?
Update.....Got the partigyle sparging. You must come from a beer making background. Me...just farm style fruit wines.To do the water profile are you having your supply tested by a lab first, then making your amendments? I need to do that as all my water is coming from a spring that evolves through limestone on my property.
Yup you guessed it, I'm a long time beer brewer! I haven't done a ton of wine, but a friend runs a successful vineyard/winery and gives me loads of wine when I visit, which I turn into some exceptional brandy. I'd like to try distilling some other fruit wines at some point.
I periodically send a sample of my water to Ward labs for testing. I then calculate my mineral/acid additions using the brunwater spreadsheet. There are other similar tools out there such as brewers friend and ez water, but I think brunwater is more extensive and it's predictions have been very accurate for my process and system.
Conan is the yeast strain used by The Alchemist brewery on their flagship beer Heady Topper. It has high attenuation while leaving a good bit of body and produces peach like esters. It's great for American IPAs.
Pacman is the house yeast at the Rogue brewery in Oregon. It's similar to Safale US-05, but leaves a slightly more mineral taste. Great yeast.
I age on wood (usually heavy toast/heavy charred white oak sticks cut from barrel staves) either in mason jars or 5 gallon corny kegs.
I've been using various roasted grains in my whiskeys for a while and really like the end product. The taste difference is pretty subtle at the ratios I'm using, but I do notice the difference.