attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

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.
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needmorstuff
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attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

I bought sufficient stock to do 7 x 22l mashes.

I have a 50litre coolbox so am mashing in that with double quantity and then transferring to 30l FVs.

Mash grain bill – 7 mashes, these quantities get doubled and added to my 50l coolbox then split evenly between 2 x 30l FV's
3.57 kg maize
1.14 kg pale ale malt
0.5 kg rye malt

I am going to mash 2 x 25l (22l yield) at a time as my still is 50l. When I have done the strip runs I will charge for my spirit run.
Here's what I did

1. sanitize cool box
2. heat 40l of water to 70c
3. add maize to cool box (micronized flazked maize https://www.burnhills.com//equestrian-c ... 071/s10712" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow)
4. add water to cool box
5. stir and add alpha amylase, 2.5ml
6. when temp hits 65c add both malts, temp went to 62.7c
7. check ph - it was at 5.5. so I added a half teaspoon of citric acid and stirred - then retested. I did this 3 times to get to 4.5. I had bicarb ready if it was too acidic.
8. add 2.5ml glucoamalyse
9. stir a couple of times.. I then had to take my boy to the cinema
10. returned two hours later and stirred every 15 minutes for an hour.

11. I had planned on taking a small amount of clear liquid from the top and placing it in a dish and adding a few drops of iodine tincture to check for starch.. but the liquid wasn't clear. I took it anyway and added iodine and it went black. So I decided to let it mash further but temp was now at 58c.. so I boiled 1.7litres of water and added it to the mash to raise temp to 61c.
11a - I then remembered someone on the forum saying if there is anything other than clear liquid when you test for starch i.e. bits of maize that it will go black regardless... So I took some more liquid and filtered it through a coffee paper to get the clear liquid I was after, I then added iodine and it didnt change colour. I tasted the mash and it was sweet..
12. Using a 1.7 litre jug I then scooped the mash, grain and all into the 2 x 30litre FV's - I scoop left, 1 scoop right so the grain to liquid distribution was even.

Here's the bit that really got me in a pickle.. getting that temp down quickly before any bacteria or wild yeast could take hold of my mash.

13. I had a plan of using my reflux coil condensor as an immersion chiller - that didn't work! too many cooling cables to be effective. real pain. SO I got a fan on the surface of both FV's for some evaporative cooling - that was taking ages so I added ice form my chillbox and again it took it down a few degrees but it was so slow... eventually I got to 27c

14. check SG, it was at 1.04, not exactly amazing but I'll take it.

15. pitched 1 pack of Safale US-05 yeast per fv and put in my fermentation cabinet to hold around 24c. viewtopic.php?f=85&t=70016

24 hours on and it's fermenting away nicely.

Next time I need to nail that cooling process so I plan on using 30l (instead of 40l) for the mash and that will mean once the mash is done I can add cold water to get down to temp for pitching yeast quickly.
Last edited by needmorstuff on Mon Mar 26, 2018 2:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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fizzix
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by fizzix »

Infection:
I've found just letting the converted mash remain covered and cool on its own is sufficient.
Had one infection once with a mash that sat an unplanned 5 days before pitching yeast. Even then, scooped the worst of the shit out, pitched heavy on the yeast and all was fine.
Unlike some who say an infection improved their distillate, mine had neither a good nor bad affect- just normal.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by MoonBreath »

fizzix wrote:Infection:
I've found just letting the converted mash remain covered and cool on its own is sufficient.
Had one infection once with a mash that sat an unplanned 5 days before pitching yeast. Even then, scooped the worst of the shit out, pitched heavy on the yeast and all was fine.
Unlike some who say an infection improved their distillate, mine had neither a good nor bad affect- just normal.
Differnt kinds of 'infections'...Most talked about are During or After fermentation..Not sure to many folks stand to see a good mash go bad before pitchn..
Understanding yourn was a mistake.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

In this case I am talking from experience.. I did a wheat wash once for neutral, left it to cool overnight and the natural yeast in the wheat had started fermentation.. I did pitch my yeast and it turned out OK but I'd rather be on the front foot than the back.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

1st ferment of this complete and stripped it.. I did however forget to add the 300mm extension to my pot still so the takeoff arm was about an inch over the keg that was almost full.. on two occasions the liebig spat out some gunk! it was oily and brown.. and has gone into my strip.

I then dismantled the still and noticed a shiny substance in the takeoff arm - I wiped it with my finger and it was metallic.. nearing a gold colour. I am guessing it is because I need to get the liebig raised up so that boiler activity is removed from the product takeoff.

Thats all in "pot still mode", prior to this I have run it in "reflux still mode" and done multiple strips with no issue at all.. but I did those with the 300mm extension.

I do hope that the spirit run will remove this from my final product.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by der wo »

It's corn oils, no metal.
You want a prove? Wipe it off and stir it in water. After a while it will float on the surface. Metals would sink down. Another prove is, that such fine metal dust wouldn't shine, it would be oxidized brown or black. Except it's something like platinum perhaps of course...
It's typical for corn. With rye a bit less. Barley way less. Wheat? I don't know.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

thank goodness. it's so gold like its crazy. my stupid fault forgetting the riser... just getting to know my new still I guess.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by FL Brewer »

I cooled my first batch of beer with ice..... before realizing that ice from the freezer is an excellent source of frozen, dormant wild yeast, other fungi, and bacteria..... Since you're distilling, sanitation is not as important as it is for beer or wine making, and you can overwhelm the potential infections by pitching plenty of yeast. As you've found out, some of the infections don't make a difference, and others provide part of the expected flavor profile. At the very least infections compete for sugar and lower the mash alcohol yield.
Everyone has to believe in something. Me? I believe I'll have another drink......
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

I've just cooled the subsequent batch with an SS corrugated hose twisted into a makeshift immersion cooler attached to my garden hose.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

just done another strip run and even with a 300mm riser off the keg I still got some of the corn oil gunk in my product.. is this to be expected and the spirit run will cure it.

or is my 300mm riser not sufficient enough?
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by Wild Bill »

It is called puking. How much mash are you running and how big is the boiler. You should be at 80% of capacity or lower. If volume in boiler is not the issue, you may need to reduce your heat or try a bit of butter in your mash when stripping. Search puking in hd google search and you will find a wealth of info.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

50l boiler with 40l mash in it.. I will try a little butter and reduce power.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by ShineRunner »

It won’t hurt to try butter or olive oil in your strips, but I don’t think you’re puking. Those oils are pretty typical when I do stripping runs too. If they’re really bad, I’ll throw cotton balls or a paper towel filter into my funnel to catch most of them. Some still get through, but the spirit run will clean them up. You’ll get some in the tails still, and they’ll float on top of your jars in small clumps. If you want to keep the jar, take a paper towel and “dab” them and most will come out. Otherwise, it seems that time and oak sort hem out later anyways..

SR
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by ShineRunner »

Also, how low are you going on your strips? The deeper into tails you go, the more of that stuff you’ll get. Not a bad thing, in my opinion..

SR
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

I am going quite deep..

I don't mind if they come through in late tails I can sort that out when I collect in jars. My concern for this was I collect in a 1 gallon demijohn and it taints the whole thing.

cheers all!
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by ShineRunner »

Try using a funnel with a cotton ball to filter some of it out. It’ll still get somewhat into your container, but should clean out fairly easily with soap and a scrub brush.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

to continue this...

I finished up with 23l of low wines @ 30% so I guess I was going way too far in the stripping runs - not too much of an issue.

So I fired up the 50l keg still at 4kw until I saw the vapour temp approach 40c - I then dialed down the power to 2kw and waited for output, it was too fast for my liking so I dialed it down until i had a fast drip, this turned out to be in the 1kw range!

I took fores at this speed, 1l in 2 x 500ml jars
I then increased power to 1.5kw for a slow stream and took an additional 2.5l in 500ml jars
I increased power again to 2kw for a fast stream and collected 4l in 500ml jars

I noticed toward the end of the 4l that output at 2kw dropped to a very slow stream, I checked abv and it was in the 73% range

I collected another 500ml at this speed and then increased power to 3kw

I then collected another 2l in 500ml jars, as the output slowed I increased power to 3.5kw - the last jar started to eject corn oil and I was near to the end of the run so I switched off and slowly tipped out the oil in the last jar.

By my reckoning I left about 1l of tails in the still but I will dump in some sugar wash for vodka and restrip it, so it wont be wasted.

Overall it went how I had hoped and the product was crystal clear, I will leave it to air for a few days before making my cuts
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by ShineRunner »

needmorstuff wrote:to continue this...

I finished up with 23l of low wines @ 30% so I guess I was going way too far in the stripping runs - not too much of an issue.
I don’t think you went too far at all. I have advocated around here for averaging your stripping runs at about 30%. I got the idea from Jimbo. That percentage of low wines give you maximum flavor transfer. You usually will end up with a keep cut of around 65%, which doesn’t have to be watered down much, if at all.

Don’t fear the corn oils. They wash out!

SR
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

cheers SR! good to know.
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Re: attempt at NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

Post by needmorstuff »

Quick update.. I ended up with 4.5l after my cuts at 60%, I put this on oak and it's been there for 6 weeks. I couldn't resist a little taste tonight.. What a difference time makes. It has developed a caramel and vanilla smell.. maybe a little butterscotch. The taste carries through the same, my cuts must have been on the aggressive side as it's extremely smooth with the tiniest of sting in the back of my throat. I think I should hide the rest as it was too much effort to have it as an easy to reach tipple. Overall very happy.

I wish I'd have made more notes on the cuts as if any remember a thing.. lesson learnt.
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