"The Kilt Thief" Islay Scotch inspired

[Wobblin Gobblin]

For my first spirit, I didn't have any interest in a product that seemed compromised for the sake of easy-to-make. So I decided to go for all-grain whiskey. I have brewed an all grain beer beer a couple years ago with equipment left from that.

My favorite whiskey by far is Islay Scotch. So when I ran across Simpsons peated malt, I jumped on it. The recipe and instructions used are from "How to Distill" by Aaron Hyde.

12ish pounds of Simpsons Malt(I used peated), Distillers Whiskey Yeast. Instructions said it will make around 5 gallons of wash.

4 gallons of heated water at 160 F. Mixed the grain and water in an orange drink cooler from my beer brewing days. Held temperature around 149ish F for 1 hour. Heated 3.3 gallons of sparge water to 180 F. Did a 3 vessel auto-sparge. Used a wart chiller to cool down. Pitched yeast.

Original gravity read at 1.050. I'll accept that for a first. Fermentation took off like a rocket! There was so much activity at first I got a little worried when it started to slow down, but I think it was alright. Last time I checked, it read 1.000, 6.45 abv. How is that? Would it have been higher with non-peated malt?

Now I sort of jumped the gun making the wash before my still was complete. During the cleaning runs for my still, my crappy brazing broke where I tried connecting a ferrule to a stainless steel pot lid. The planned still was a modular stainless steel pot with ferrules and copper pipes. During the first test run with water, the copper pipe shook so much I called it the Wobblin Gobblin. During the vinegar run, my brazing on the stainless steel lid broke.

Trying to braze the lid was next to impossible for me, because getting the metal up to temperature, the lid would get all out of form. I was recommended a farmer nearby who I was told could weld. Haven't heard from him a couple weeks. So I got impatient, changed my plans, and ordered a purpose built stainless steel 8 gallon boiler from the same place I got the copper shotgun condenser from. Heating element is 2000 watts. My SCR controller was also giving problems during the test run, so I ordered another one. Currently waiting on those supplies.


Now, if I could get some advice on this. The initial plan for this spirit was a stripping run and spirit run. But I am concerned that I won't have enough product from the stripping run to put back in the 8 gallon boiler. How much product can I expect after a stripping run? If it's not enough, I was thinking just on single run. Going forward, I think I will ferment multiple batches at once.


Thank you for reading about "Kilt Thief" Batch 1.

[SaltyStaves]

I have a 7 gallon pot still and even if I doubled your mashbill, I wouldn't have enough to justify doing a run. With feints, you can make up for the smaller mash. My first mash (no feints to add), was 21 gallons. After that, I could downsize my typical mash to just over 18 gallons.

I'd strip this and put the low wines aside rather than try to get something to drink from a single pass.

[Wobblin Gobblin]

Just saving the low wines for late is a great recommendation, thanks. Sounds like I need to get a lot more fermentation equipment.

[SaltyStaves]

Sounds like I need to get a lot more fermentation equipment.

A 5g mash tun can make a good amount of beer for an individual to drink, but it won't make much whisky unless you want to really stretch your brew-day out.

[Yonder]

Oh, I don’t know. I make an 8-9 gallon wash that yields plenty to keep me going to the next run. If I go to an NCHooch or UJSSM for a month of runs, I might have 5 gallons or more of prime whiskey aging. ‘Course I don’t give it away nor drink it all the time, what with the beer and meads I put up. To each his own.

[SaltyStaves]

To each his own.

The OP is brewing grains to make single malt. Sugar washes and all grain mashes aren't the same thing. You can fit a lot more table sugar and water in a pot than you can fit cracked grain with the same sugar potential.

[Yonder]

Nc’s is all grain. I ferment in a 16 gal barrel and transfer the 8-9 gals of wash to the boiler. ‘Nuf said.

[SaltyStaves]

Nc’s is all grain. I ferment in a 16 gal barrel and transfer the 8-9 gals of wash to the boiler. ‘Nuf said.

The OP isn't trying to make bourbon though. There is a world of difference between mashing and fermenting on the grain in a large plastic barrel and mashing/lautering malted barley to make single malt.
Not saying it can't be done, but if you want to do it like the Scots, then it requires some equipment and processes that are appropriately scaled.

[Jstroke]

I would save the low wines and go get some more buckets/drum, mash enough to get two more strips of the same recipe and then spirit run all the low wines.

“Patience, Daniel-Son”
Mr. Miyagi

[Steve Broady]

Now, if I could get some advice on this. … How much product can I expect after a stripping run? If it's not enough, I was thinking just on single run.

VERY rough numbers, but I typically get around 1/3 volume in low wines from a given boiler charge, and something around 5-10% finished product relative to the original volume. In other words, in a 6 gallon fermenter, I might stretch the low wines out to 2 gallons if I collect really low, and I might end up with a quart or two of finished product. For a batch of apple brandy that I just did, I started with about 5 gallons, had 2 gallons of low wines, and a quart of brandy that made the cut, coming out at 53%. I also had about a quart and a half of feints. Fairly low yield, but I didn’t add any sugar, so I was limited by what the apples had in them. All grain mashes have given me similar results.

I’ll add my advice to save the low wines and combine them. If you don’t have enough product, don’t try to cut corners and stretch it. Make more. Low wines will keep far longer than you have the patience to let them sit.

To me, your story makes it sound like you’re being impatient and trying to rush to get something good. Slow down. There’s a good reason why people typically start with something a lot simpler, like a sugar wash or UJSSM. There’s a lot to learn, even before you get to something as complex as an all grain whiskey. I had to learn the same lesson, and it’s not an easy one. Slow down. I made plenty of mediocre stuff trying to hurry up and make the good stuff. I asked questions here and always got the same advice. Slow down. I finally got the message, and man am I glad I did! What a difference it makes. I say this as a newbie myself, and I know it’s hard to do. But do yourself a favor, and slow down.

[Wobblin Gobblin]

Update :

Just finished brewing 2, TWO batches of 6ish gallons of the same wash.

First one has an original gravity of 1.048. Second has an OG gravity of 1.044. Yeah...those are lower numbers. Anybody have insight on the amount of peated grain Islay distilleries use? I am full-on peat-head,so I want as much smoke as possible. But am I sacrificing too much abv in with an all peated grain recipe?

The plan for this weekend is to do the cleaning runs of the new still tomorrow. Followed by a stripping run of the first batch I brewed, IF I can find suitable vessel to hold those low wines until the 2nd and 3rd batches have fermented.

As a reply to the last post on this thread: I am aware this hobby takes times. I probably started this journey in the spring of this year and had set back after set back building the still. With all the research, I just overlooked what to expect off a stripping run. I'm in it the for the long-haul. I do not plan on any "accelerated aging" either. I currrently have oak oak soaking in a bottle of bourbon so it will tamp down on the wood bitterness on this spirit. I am expecting "Kilt Thief" to age minimum of a year before it starts to become enjoyable.

[SaltyStaves]

Anybody have insight on the amount of peated grain Islay distilleries use? I am full-on peat-head,so I want as much smoke as possible. But am I sacrificing too much abv in with an all peated grain recipe?

The barley has carbohydrate potential and peat potential. One does not influence the other. Being a peated malt doesn't make it less fermentable.
You can certainly screw up your yield of alcohol and peat potential with every step you do before your final cut, but if you are thinking that using peated malt somehow will reduce your ABV, then it is time for a little more research or experimentation with your mashing protocol.

Simpson's peated malt is on the lighter side. Baird's is probably the heaviest. How deep you strip your low wines, how you use feints and how deep you make cuts on the spirit run, will make all the difference.

[tombombadil]

I have brewed a whole lot of beer. And most of it was higher gravity beer. So I spent a lot of effort trying to get good efficiency. Basically I would collect a lot of wort and boil it down.

I would do 3 batch sparges. Fill the mashtun with the original mash water, do the mash, then drain it completely. Then fill it, recirculate and drain it completely two more times.

The more wort I collected, the higher my efficiency and also the longer I had to boil it to get the desired gravity.

When making Whiskey, you're not generally going to boil after the mash. So if you want high efficiency, you have to settle settle for a low gravity beer to distill.

If you mashed 12#s of grain and got 6 gallons of beer at 1.048, you hit 70% efficiency. That's actually not bad. Some homebrewers are happy even at 65%.

If you collected more wort you would probably get higher efficiency, but probably not higher gravity.

The scotch distillers get higher efficiency and an acceptable gravity by reusing the 3rd sparge in one mash as the strike water in the next mash. So it probably starts out at 1.02 before doughing in.

Maybe you could do a bit of a hybrid? Collect your first runnings and don't boil it since it's probably like 1.060. Then collect one or two more sparges but boil them down to 1.060 before adding them to the first runnings? That would get your efficiency and your gravity up.

[Wobblin Gobblin]

I put in the results of the 3 stripping runs and did the spirit run this weekend.

Collected into glass mason jars. The foreshots:I used it as lighter fluid for a bonfire today...I think they were closer to being jet fuel than methanol lol.

Heads were very much stingy, floral, fake fruit cleaning product. What I believe were the beginning of hearts was like sweet caramel with fruit jam. towards the last quarter of hearts was salt, pepper, salt covered meat. Tails I didn't find the cardboard,wet dog notes that I was thinking I would find. Instead they presented as rank vegetable water with cement.

After making a final blend, it yielded around 2.8 liters with probably around 3 liters of feints. The final blend was split into two glass cannisters with ex-bourbon barrel chips that I toasted.

After one day of sitting, I just did a small taste test. Raggedy on the nose. Taste was toasted caramel up front, followed by a heavy salt & peppered meat, meat that had syrup dripped over.

[jonnys_spirit]

How many total pounds of grains for the 2.8 liters final cut and at what abv? 100# usually nets me 2.5-3 gallons at 120 proof'ish all said and done..

How do you like it? I'm also a fan of the very peaty whisky and will make some one day..

I like to keep a bottle of middle hearts for early sippin then put up the barrel cut for the long rest in the shed.

Cheers!
-j