Cornflakes whiskey

[NSWiner]

I use baker's yeast in this recipe.

Odin.

Hi Odin, just getting ready to to some cornflakes ferments and I read where you said to not forget nutrients for
The yeast and I'm wondering what you use for the nutrients? I was thinking the cf had enough nutrients?

Thanks,

NSW

[CuWhistle]

I missed the point about the nutrient but I didn't read all 29 pages before I started. It isn't mentioned in the early posts that i did read. That could have been a big part of my problem with stalling. I would think that a mention in the "recipe" in the OP (or at least early in the posts) would be helpful. Perhaps it can be amended so others don't fall into the trap I did.
I ended up running it after 16 days as it just wouldn't kick back off. I guess I could have spent more time investigating. The SG was only down to 1016 so it was a bit sweet still but I ended up taking a full 2 litres off at 38% ABV in the strip down to about 20% and slow running. The UJ of the same quantity, fully fermented out, gave me about 2.6 litres.

[NSWiner]

Just pitched the yeast in my first cornflakes wash. Added 2 tsp nutrient with a dash of citric acid and a pinch of Epsom salts. I did use 4kg of sugar and 760g cornflakes. Fingers crossed lol

Also got a bag of jd oak chips from Canadian Tire, didn't know they had them

[NSWiner]

Forgot to mention specific gravity was 1.078 at start

[CuWhistle]

Go 1 gram per liter. Use 0,25 grams to boil into a yeast nutrient, use 0,75 grams per liter remaining life yeast and sprinkle on top.

Odin.

NSWiner, this is the only resulting post, in this thread, ie: Cornflakes whiskey, from an Advanced search of the keyword "nutrient" by Author "Odin" in the "Tried and True Recipes" forum. It is the second last post on page 24 and I admit I hadn't read past page 12 before I made the first batch. Nowhere in this thread did I read to add Epsom salts or citric acid and your last post appears to be the only instance. Advanced search showed no results matching posted by Odin.

I will add that my recent experience tells me that you will have a Ph problem. I did and I didn't add Citric Acid. I followed the recipe to the letter.

If nutrient is required it would appear that 1/4 of the yeast count should be killed by heat before pitching the remaining 3/4. I would think that this recipe would also benefit from the now fairly common practice with sugar heads and that is CaCO3, and you should have added some already or have it on hand ready to go. Egg shells, shell grit, oyster shell or marble. The Ph will drop to less than 4 and it will stall.

[Odin]

pH crash is pretty dependent on how calcium rich your water is. pH at around 4 is good for the ferment. Higher hampers flavor development. Lower may stall your ferment. Well, pH 3.5 is still okay, but start out at pH 4.0 and then play around a bit to find your flavor profile. Depending on your water, you may need to use some bicarb. Adding it (or not) is not part of the recipe, because it may be different for different distillers/locations.

Odin.

[CuWhistle]

Got it Odin and thanks for the reply. These things are locality variables indeed. I'm running rainwater out of a recently cleaned tank. The rain is sending the pool acidic so I guess it's a bit on the low Ph side. I have to calibrate my Ph meter to get an accurate read and it's been low on the priority list. I'll get around to checking my hardness out to see where it is as well.

I take it that nutrient is not needed but may be used if desired, killed yeast.

By the way, the flavour from the batch I did run was impressive.

[Odin]

Good to hear about your success. Congrats. In my opinion managing pH and fermentation temps are ESSENTIAL to what flavors your whiskey will get, so maybe move it upward on your priority list?

Odin.

[NSWiner]

PAIN IN THE BUTT. Lol. This is the first and last time I do it. My hose kept getting blocked from the solids. Hen my hose flipped out
And got juice all over the damn floor.

I'm concerned when I run it off in the still, what if some solids are in the boiler? Could that cause issues?

[CuWhistle]

Did you rack it straight off the fermenter into the boiler? Secondary fermentation after racking to allow clearing is good practice. Also get yourself a racking cane assembly that keeps your siphon hose out of the trub.

If your using an electric element is could cause scorching.

[NSWiner]

No I racked into another bucket for clearing. What is this racking cane u speak of? Lol

How do I avoid scorching? Might pour it thru a collander mesh thing when I put it in boiler

[The Baker]

Tie a stick or a piece of metal (light) rod or tube to the bottom of your sucker tube so that it sticks out a bit and the hose can't get so close to the bottom that the kacky stuff sucks up.
Or buy a commercial version of the same thing.
Geoff

[CuWhistle]

I use a piece of stainless steel TIG welding rod bent like an upside down walking cane and use cable ties to secure the siphon tube. Siphons the clear juice and leaves the crap. I still allow a few days to a few weeks to clear up and then use the same process to get the clear juice into the boiler. This usually leaves only a small amount of clouded yeasties at the bottom which can be thrown back into the fermenter.

[johnjohnston]

I'm finally on my second batch of this. George from Hops and Barley did a neat little video on getting the fermentable sugars out of cornflakes. There's actually a fair bit of gravity points in that big box of flakes! I used about a half a capful of liquid amylase on a 680 gram box of cornflakes from Walmart. It turned that corn flake porridge into a nice liquid at 155 degrees F. I think it will help with the initial racking as well.

Here's what I put in to ferment

6 liters backset from first run
4 Kg sugar
680 Grams of Corn Flakes (starches converted to sugars)
4 table spoons baker's yeast
Pinch of gypsum
Pinch of epsom salts
Pinch of citric acid
topped up water to 6 gallons
OG 1.084

[bendraynor]

Hi all,

I have made a 20l batch of cornflakes whisky and left it to sit for a couple of weeks. Very exciting!

It has now finished fermenting but the cornflakes are sitting up to the 9l level in the fermenter. Any tips on how to rack it - can I squash the cornflakes down before racking with a long spoon to recover maximum liquid? And do I need to add something like campden tablets before racking or is this not required given the fact it will be distilled? Do I really need to rack at all - can I not just leave it in the cornflakes for a while longer until everything has (hopefully) settled down?

Thanks!!

[DSmith78]

Get another bucket, pour through a pillow case and squeeze for all you're worth!

[bendraynor]

Get another bucket, pour through a pillow case and squeeze for all you're worth!

Thanks! But isn't that going to massively oxidise it?

[One Eyed Ross]

If you were making a beer, that would be an issue.....here, not so much.

[bendraynor]

If you were making a beer, that would be an issue.....here, not so much.

Thanks again. If I do this, how long do I have to run the strained mash through my still before it goes off? I assume it won't last very long?

[fizzix]

Do you mean how long will the unstilled wash keep good?
How long do you plan?
Since it's not airlocked anymore, I would only go a few days.

[bendraynor]

Do you mean how long will the unstilled wash keep good?
How long do you plan?
Since it's not airlocked anymore, I would only go a few days.

Correct. I won't be able to run it for perhaps a couple of weeks so based on that helpful feedback, I'll just leave it in the original fermenter for now. Thanks!

[fizzix]

Good idea & glad you asked.
I'd hate for this to go all vinegary or get an infection.

[dcwilson303]

Ran a batch of this a few months ago on an 6 gallon distiller with a thumper. Nearing the end of my supply soon. Thanks for this recipe!

[Brewbuddy1999]

Hey guys love seeing all the positive feed back and good reviews for this recipe iv only put down a few versions of this now and I have read this entire thing twice to make sure I never forgot anything. Odin I noticed a few guys asked about the sludge on the bottom and how to reduce it a few suggestions were to use a hop bag or grain bag to hold all the corn flake sludge in, another guy said he skips the boil completely and gets cornflakes that float and some that sink he mentioned he gets good flavour and has half the amount of sludge you never ended up getting back to any of those comments just wondering if you could chime in and help out I too am very curious on how to reduce sludge.

I love the recipe was very easy and very tasty only on second generation but I love the recipe great job

[The Dark Alchemist]

Gave this a kick on the weekend based on all the good comments it was receiving;

750g CF as that was the Kellogs packet size, simmered in 4L UJSSM backset that I had frozen, for 30mins, then added to 3.5Kg sugar. Waited for sugar to dissolve, made up to 22L, then let it cool to ~35C before pitching Lowans yeast.

Fizzing away ever since - looking forward to the outcome.....

Will check pH tonight and adjust to ~4.0 if required, as suggested above.

Thx Odin for another easy recipe - I'm a massive fan of your OE Gin recipe.

[Odin]

You are welcome. Glad I could be of help.

Regards, Odin.

[The Dark Alchemist]

Will check pH tonight and adjust to ~4.0 if required, as suggested above.

pH at 3.2, so added CaCO3 - checked this morning and had increased to 3.8, so added the same amount again - still fizzing away

[The Dark Alchemist]

Stripped yesterday - at the ~40% mark, was tasting beautiful off the still; great corn flavour coming through, looking forward to the spirit result....

[Just 4 Fun]

So I have done several runs of cornflakes in the last couple years and seem to run into stalled and or slow ferments sometimes.
Not sure if cornflakes in Canada are different than elsewhere but for the most part I have been adding yeast nutrient to force the ferment.
This time I thought id try something a lil different and it seems to be working so I thought I’d share it.
For my 23L ferment I have been using 1-454g box and 9lbs of inverted sugar, this time I added 2 cans of cream style corn and no nutrient.
Happy to report the ferment is chugging along just fine and expect it to be fermented dry in 7 days.

Not sure if this will help other but I just thought I’d put it out there.

[CuWhistle]

Go up a little bit to posts around #900. Water hardness, pH and nutrient all discussed not long ago.