SRD and I

[Truckinbutch]

The jug on top of the pantry cabinet turned out to be a bust . It was tap water I put in the jug 4 years back to keep the cork from drying and cracking more . No matter . I'll get a new cork or corn cob and keep stillin 'til I fill it .
Got another AG strip run in today . Coalminer is coming in the morning to learn how to do a spirit run .
Life is good and we're closer to the next heat wave than we ever been before .
Did I mention that SOH came back from her cruise with laryingitis ? I got an additional 4 days of peace and quiet before that started going away . Time to book her on another cruise .

[Truckinbutch]

Coalminer now knows how to do a spirit run . He's coming back Tuesday to get the first class in cuts and blending . SRD kinda MIA with work and life as a family man . He'll get back to it when he gets to it .

[thecroweater]

Not say in how to suck eggs but if I had a protégé I would make the distinction between how ya cut for white dog verses what ya intend to age as they are different cuts

[Truckinbutch]

Not say in how to suck eggs but if I had a protégé I would make the distinction between how ya cut for white dog verses what ya intend to age as they are different cuts

Good point .

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Y'all mind going over that?
I always make the same cuts for lack of experience.
I know spirits intended for aging can have more tails, but what criteria do you use to determine just how much tails to add?
Also, do you allow any tails at all into a white dog cut?

[Jimbo]

This is a pretty subjective delicate topic, but Ill give you my 2 cents.

White Dog: No tails, and a wee touch of late heads for sweetness and a little spank.

Aging: A little tails, just the first jar that makes that turn where you can discern cardboard. And same on late heads as above. When you get more familiar with tasting the cuts, you might find a jar or 2 later in the tails you'll want. Or not. Dont convince yourself theres jars there if your taste buds tell you different. Just sometimes there's a prize there somewhere to find depending on many factors ; recipe, yeast used, ferment temp etc.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Sounds like psychoacoustics.
In the audio world there's a lit of hype and Bullshit marketing and if you drop $250 on 10ft of signal wire. You aren't gonna admit to yourself it sounds just the same as it did before, you're ginna think it sounds amazing. That's psychoacoustics.

[Jimbo]

Which part of my post are you saying sounds like Hype and Bullshit? You asked how to make cuts, I told you how I do it.

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

I think there is a misunderstanding here. If I read it right, he was adding on to your " don't convince yourself there's jars in there if your taste buds are saying otherwise" comment. At least I see it as the same point, not calling the response itself bs. But that's just from my seat.

[Jimbo]

haha, thanks, wouldnt be the first time I misunderstood someone,... or been told Im full of bullshit.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Yes, that was my point. Tha ks for clearing that up SCD.

[thecroweater]

Yeah look I was reluctant to respond as I figured its Butches run through. Yes naturally if its going to be drank unaged you cut way tighter, it has to be pleasant to drink as is. If its getting aged you need to recognize fractions that are going to improve over time and add a complexity to the whiskey which is both subjective and takes some experience. As jimbo wrote no tails are going into a good white dog and me personally I'd be very cautious about heads. Now if its getting aged you cut it quite different, a common scenario for me would be the last one or two jars of late heads some early tails (depending on the still you might go further by refluxing and dumping mid tails) and ya might consider stripping way down and adding backings. The question doesn't have a simple answer except to say you do not cut white dog like you cut whiskey.

[Truckinbutch]

Yeah look I was reluctant to respond as I figured its Butches run through. Yes naturally if its going to be drank unaged you cut way tighter, it has to be pleasant to drink as is. If its getting aged you need to recognize fractions that are going to improve over time and add a complexity to the whiskey which is both subjective and takes some experience. As jimbo wrote no tails are going into a good white dog and me personally I'd be very cautious about heads. Now if its getting aged you cut it quite different, a common scenario for me would be the last one or two jars of late heads some early tails (depending on the still you might go further by refluxing and dumping mid tails) and ya might consider stripping way down and adding backings. The question doesn't have a simple answer except to say you do not cut white dog like you cut whiskey.

You have never seen me acting the Prima Donna or claiming to know it all . This is a learning thread and all input will benefit someone .
I had so many jars of this last run above 70% that I think I'm going to start soaking my barrel tomorrow in prep for filling it .
Another tutorial for Coalminer . He's going to have a busy day at school .

[Truckinbutch]

Cut and blended today . Had considerable evaporation loss (14 -3/8 " on each half pint jar ). 86 half pint jars yielded 3 3/4 gallons of 75% . One of my more impressive runs . This is going to get cut and put in the new Gibbs Brothers barrel .

[FreeMountainHermit]

You have never seen me acting the Prima Donna or claiming to know it all . This is a learning thread and all input will benefit someone .

I've enjoyed your thread immensely as well as those by SCD, MCH, bigr and rgreen2002. You guys have basically turned me into a full time reader here rather than a poster. Keep up the good work all.

FMH.

[MichiganCornhusker]

This is going to get cut and put in the new Gibbs Brothers barrel .

Roll out the barrel!

[Truckinbutch]

This is going to get cut and put in the new Gibbs Brothers barrel .

Roll out the barrel!

Got 1 more ferment that I may get to run Saturday . That will make enough to fill the barrel . The barrel starts soaking tomorrow . When I'm satisfied that it is sealed well enough I'll fill it with likker .

[Little Hank]

Curious what the weight diff is between cured and un cured is.

LH

[Truckinbutch]

Curious what the weight diff is between cured and un cured is.

LH

If you are talking about a barrel , damned if I know . When it gets swoled up enough to stop leaking it is ready to fill .

[FreeMountainHermit]

Curious what the weight diff is between cured and un cured is.

LH

If you are talking about a barrel , damned if I know . When it gets swoled up enough to stop leaking it is ready to fill .

Well damn !!!! If it's too darn heavy, lie on the flo' and use a straw.

[rager]

Curious what the weight diff is between cured and un cured is.

LH

If you are talking about a barrel , damned if I know . When it gets swoled up enough to stop leaking it is ready to fill .

Well damn !!!! If it's too darn heavy, lie on the flo' and use a straw.

get a friend to come over and put it up on a table, then you can gravity feed it right into your gullet . an on/off valve is optional

[Little Hank]

Barrel shot guns

LH

[Truckinbutch]

Filled my Gibbs Bros keg with 200 degree water today to swell it up . It's been sitting in my shop empty and unattended for 3 months and 20 days . There was visible joint shrinkage on the outside of the staves . Put it on it's side and filled through the side bung . Impressive construction . There was some seepage from the top and bottom on the start . Maybe 3 ounces at the most .
I would not hesitate to fill it with likker tomorrow if I needed to . As it stands ; I will soak it until next week and then fill it .
SRD came over this evening for a short visit . He judged my last run to be fit for the barrel .
We opened a bag of that ground corn Coalminer got for us . It's the stuff dreams are made of . Ground so fine that we don't have to regrind at $11 a hundred .
I'll be mashing 50# tomorrow .
Coalminer put down a UJ sugar head yesterday and started his cleaning runs today .
Life is good in our part of the world .

[BayouShine]

6-8 months in that barrel and you guys will be shining!

[Truckinbutch]

6-8 months in that barrel and you guys will be shining!

Thinking about mounting that keg on a rocker to keep it in constant motion until S3 17 . Kinda like Granny's teedum keg strapped to her rockin chair .

[Truckinbutch]

Several of you have mentioned about how much you like this thread . None so much as me . It's mutually beneficial to 3 of us with different levels of expertise .
You only know a craft as well as you can teach it to another and answer his questions in a manner that he can understand and learn from you . Then the point arrives that that the pupil learns enough to ask questions that the mentor has no solid answer for . The entire group is then challenged to find these answers . That's where parity begins . A group working together to find solutions and improve their craft .

[Truckinbutch]

DAYM ! Long day at the office . Cooked one mash and half cooked a second one as well as racking and straining a finished mash .
Let's deal with the finished mash first : 50# fine ground corn cooked in 23 gallons of water being constantly stirred . Cooked out at 1.07 and I added 3-4 gallons of tap water to the mash barrel . It went well beyond a week before I got back to it and finished at 0.990 .
Racked 12 gallons of clear off the top . That will charge the boiler . Dipped the rest into 2 6 gallon buckets and a 5 gallon bucket to get the fermentor ready for a recharge tomorrow . Total of 14 gallons of unsqueezed corn mash .
The first mash is where I deviated from my protocol . I heated water to 150 degrees before I began stirring and adding corn and high temp enzyme . 50# of corn and a temp of 198 I cut the fire and slowed the mixer . Worked on squeezing finished mash until the new mash temp dropped to 180 . Relit the burner again and brought the temp back up to 194 and cut the fire and mixer . Few hours later the temp was below 150 and I added low temp enzyme and cooked at 140-150 for an hour and a half . When I dumped it into the fermenter and added 3-4 gallons of water I had an OG of 1.052 instead of the 1.065-07 that I have been getting .
Went back to the original protocol for the second mash . Cooking and stirring the entire time .
Back to the finished ferment I squeezed out . 12 gallons of clear and 9 1/2 gallons of milky dirty stuff to go in the thumper . I started cooking with 2 5 gallon buckets of finely ground corn .
Ended with 21 1/2 gallons of distillable liquid and 7 1/2 gallons of damp spent corn .
This is a long post and I am tired . I'll make another post on what I have found to be the most efficient way to squeeze a mash in a mop bucket .

[Truckinbutch]

Been remiss on gettin back here . Strip run I posted about in the last post yielded 4 1/2 gallons of low wines I haven't gotten to spirit run yet . Our Aussie Blue Heeler got sick and I've had to give her constant daytime care . No worries . I think more of them than I do most non-afilliated HD folks .
The two ferments I posted about are finishing . I'll be dealing with them in the next 2-3 days since the dog is getting better . Same with the strip run .
SRD and Coalminer are both working some brutal hours and we haven't been in touch much .
Coalminer was fixin to do a final cleaning run and then a strip run on a UJ last I heard from him .
They will both be in touch when they get time .
My new 30 gallon mash cooker rode in on a brown truck today right on time for promised delivery . Concordkettles.com 30 gallon pot with lid . $147 delivered .
Well enough made that , if I needed it , I wouldn't hesitate to turn it into a still .
SRD and I won't have to trade his ss 30 gallon barrel back and forth now .
It just keeps getting better here .
How's life by you folks ?

[thecroweater]

Sun is shinning, corn it high, kids laughing in the back ground, and I got whiskey to spare. Ran my German malt the other night and fell back in love with my still.
I figure heaven might just have to wait

[Truckinbutch]

Been studying that new mash pot . It is of considerably larger diameter than the support ring on my propane burner and I got a shit ton of fired red clay brick . I'm thinking a more efficient mash cooker with a dry bricked furnace jacket to the top and a vent away from my operator's area . will also support the outer rim of the pot bottom so that weight and heat do not concave the pot bottom .
This is going to be a bull bitch if it works out :
Still boiler/thumper and mashing station all within arm's reach of my operator's chair .Mash barrels on wheels to be rolled to convenient locations for fermenting . Puttin the laziest man on the crew in charge of getting the job done in the easiest manner possible .
GOD ! I love my work