sweetfeed whisky

[Deplorable]

My sweet feed was the first thing I made to drink and I made almost 3 gallons of it. It took 10+ months to get good. What remains is now 16 month old on oak, and it's gotten much better.

You don't like it right away? Granted, I agree, 10 months is really begins to gel wonderful, but we're consistently pleased with ours straight out the gate. I always get chocolate, raisin, and vanilla with each batch. Do you not like the initial bite?
We only add enough sugar after using enzymes to hit 10% which is typically .5 lb / gallon

Like I said, it was the first thing I made after my sacrificial ferment. So it could have been wide cuts, or sugar bite, but its likely more that I just don't find a fondness for white dog.
I'm not one to yuck on someone else's yum but I rarely keep more than a pint of white to sip on. Pretty much everything goes on wood.
I've only made one sugarhead since that bag of sweetfeed. But after drinking the last bottle of sweet feed, I've got half a mind to buy a bag and make another 3 gallons to hide in the shed for a couple years.

[WithOrWithoutU2]

My sweet feed was the first thing I made to drink and I made almost 3 gallons of it. It took 10+ months to get good. What remains is now 16 month old on oak, and it's gotten much better.

You don't like it right away? Granted, I agree, 10 months is really begins to gel wonderful, but we're consistently pleased with ours straight out the gate. I always get chocolate, raisin, and vanilla with each batch. Do you not like the initial bite?
We only add enough sugar after using enzymes to hit 10% which is typically .5 lb / gallon

Like I said, it was the first thing I made after my sacrificial ferment. So it could have been wide cuts, or sugar bite, but its likely more that I just don't find a fondness for white dog.
I'm not one to yuck on someone else's yum but I rarely keep more than a pint of white to sip on. Pretty much everything goes on wood.
I've only made one sugarhead since that bag of sweetfeed. But after drinking the last bottle of sweet feed, I've got half a mind to buy a bag and make another 3 gallons to hide in the shed for a couple years.

I made about 3 gallons as well fairly early in my exploration of this hobby. At first it made an ok mixer, but not a sipper. Kind of set it aside and forgot about it. 3 years later, it makes for an ok every day sipper but I would not serve it for special occasions.

Same kind of thing with one of my first AGs of Corn and Barley that I just came across. It did not have a lot of character at first. I only oaked if for about 3 months as I went with lots of oak for short amount of time when I first started. Now I go with less oak for longer time. Again, I kind of ignored it for a couple years as I was making better stuff that was drinkable fairly quickly. I even thought about throwing it out to make space and get my jug back. Opened it up and had a FANTASTIC smell to it. The taste was better but not as complex as I'd like. So I've decided to put a fresh piece of toasted and charred oak in it. Gonna forget about it again and see what happens. Worst case, I use it to mix with some of the stuff I'm producing that has a little more character.

Time really does change things in this craft. I always read it and knew it. But I definitely did not appreciate it. I am now digging a little deeper in cuts to get some funk and character even if it is a little harsh at first. Anxious to see what time can do to help smooth the harshness but still keep that character I think I missed with my conservative cuts when I first started.

[Deplorable]

My sweet feed was the first thing I made to drink and I made almost 3 gallons of it. It took 10+ months to get good. What remains is now 16 month old on oak, and it's gotten much better.

You don't like it right away? Granted, I agree, 10 months is really begins to gel wonderful, but we're consistently pleased with ours straight out the gate. I always get chocolate, raisin, and vanilla with each batch. Do you not like the initial bite?
We only add enough sugar after using enzymes to hit 10% which is typically .5 lb / gallon

Like I said, it was the first thing I made after my sacrificial ferment. So it could have been wide cuts, or sugar bite, but its likely more that I just don't find a fondness for white dog.
I'm not one to yuck on someone else's yum but I rarely keep more than a pint of white to sip on. Pretty much everything goes on wood.
I've only made one sugarhead since that bag of sweetfeed. But after drinking the last bottle of sweet feed, I've got half a mind to buy a bag and make another 3 gallons to hide in the shed for a couple years.

I made about 3 gallons as well fairly early in my exploration of this hobby. At first it made an ok mixer, but not a sipper. Kind of set it aside and forgot about it. 3 years later, it makes for an ok every day sipper but I would not serve it for special occasions.

Same kind of thing with one of my first AGs of Corn and Barley that I just came across. It did not have a lot of character at first. I only oaked if for about 3 months as I went with lots of oak for short amount of time when I first started. Now I go with less oak for longer time. Again, I kind of ignored it for a couple years as I was making better stuff that was drinkable fairly quickly. I even thought about throwing it out to make space and get my jug back. Opened it up and had a FANTASTIC smell to it. The taste was better but not as complex as I'd like. So I've decided to put a fresh piece of toasted and charred oak in it. Gonna forget about it again and see what happens. Worst case, I use it to mix with some of the stuff I'm producing that has a little more character.

Time really does change things in this craft. I always read it and knew it. But I definitely did not appreciate it. I am now digging a little deeper in cuts to get some funk and character even if it is a little harsh at first. Anxious to see what time can do to help smooth the harshness but still keep that character I think I missed with my conservative cuts when I first started.

The next thing I did after finishing that bag of sweet feed was filled a 5 gallon barrel with single malt. It's now 18 months old and I really appreciate the time it spent in the barrel. It's a great American expression of single malt whiskey. I went wide on the cuts and set aside a pint of the barrel cut and left it white to compare. You gotta get funky in the white to get complex finished spirits.

[RockinRockies]

You gotta get funky in the white to get complex finished spirits.

That's where I'm struggling because I'm filling 15 and 30 gallon used barrels, and that's a massive investment of time and resources. I've been scared to go that wide but I'm beginning to find it necessary because of what you just said

[Sailman]

I haven't been able to find any sweet feed like I'm used to for a long time. A buddy went down to the feed mill and picked up some for his cattle and he brought me this bag. There's no corn in it but I have some corn left over from a UJSSM run. Will this work also how much corn would you add to a 50 pound bag?

[Twisted Brick]

Not knowing how well the cattle feed will convert, you could start go anywhere from 50 - 75% corn and adjust accordingly. If you can, try to mill all your grains to a meal, especially the corn.

Not sure if you'll be adding some additional molasses, but here's a look at doing that.

[Deplorable]

I haven't been able to find any sweet feed like I'm used to for a long time. A buddy went down to the feed mill and picked up some for his cattle and he brought me this bag. There's no corn in it but I have some corn left over from a UJSSM run. Will this work also how much corn would you add to a 50 pound bag?

Are those pellets in the 2nd picture?

Edit: I don't think Id want to make booze from this. Lots of sulfates, shredded beet pulp, and Potassium chloride?

[Sailman]

I haven't been able to find any sweet feed like I'm used to for a long time. A buddy went down to the feed mill and picked up some for his cattle and he brought me this bag. There's no corn in it but I have some corn left over from a UJSSM run. Will this work also how much corn would you add to a 50 pound bag?

Are those pellets in the 2nd picture?

Edit: I don't think Id want to make booze from this. Lots of sulfates, shredded beet pulp, and Potassium chloride?
image.png

The things that look like pellets I think are dried compressed molasses I tasted it and it is sweet. I was worried about the sulfates. Since it was free I may try a run and see what it looks like after It's done. It looks like it also has soybean oil, i my wind up with an oil slick. I think what I've been reading is tbeen reading is the ratio on grains is a 3rd a 3rd and a 3rd of whatever grain you put in and then A percentage by weight of molasses. At least I think I'm gonna try that if this doesn't work out.

[Carbonfilter1978]

I haven't been able to find any sweet feed like I'm used to for a long time. A buddy went down to the feed mill and picked up some for his cattle and he brought me this bag. There's no corn in it but I have some corn left over from a UJSSM run. Will this work also how much corn would you add to a 50 pound bag?

Are those pellets in the 2nd picture?

Edit: I don't think Id want to make booze from this. Lots of sulfates, shredded beet pulp, and Potassium chloride?
image.png

I get his stuff over here in Ireland and it works wonders

[The Baker]

Don't know how much it cost you but you've got it now anyway....
Store it carefully (in a sealed container, cold, maybe in a vacuum or with carbon dioxide, whatever);
and try some mixed with another grain formula...
Or feed it to your own cow?

Geoff

[Sailman]

OK so what I did was I took the 50 pound bag and I mixed in 16 and a 1/2 pounds of cracked corn. I put 14 pounds of grain,18 pounds of sugar then I added a total of 12 gallons of water and 1 12 oz jar of molasses. The starting gravity was 1.073. I took some of the liquid after mixing everything up and did a starter and it took off like it was on fire. The starter I used 2 tbls of dday, then I added 2 tbls to the fermenter. If it works good if not I don't have a whole lot of money in it and I can put it in the field for the deer to eat.

[BoomTown]

Speaking of Barley, I need a source. Am in Norther VA, and willing to drive a bit to buy a couple bags. Anyone willing to make a referral for me?

[squigglefunk]

You don't like it right away? Granted, I agree, 10 months is really begins to gel wonderful, but we're consistently pleased with ours straight out the gate. I always get chocolate, raisin, and vanilla with each batch. Do you not like the initial bite?
We only add enough sugar after using enzymes to hit 10% which is typically .5 lb / gallon

I mean isn't this really just a sugar shine recipe with a little raw grains thrown in to make you feel like your making "whiskey" ? I guess the little bit of molasses in the sweetfeed adds something.

I didn't see anything about using enzymes in this recipe? The grains really couldn't be converted much in this recipe anyway.

[RockinRockies]

You don't like it right away? Granted, I agree, 10 months is really begins to gel wonderful, but we're consistently pleased with ours straight out the gate. I always get chocolate, raisin, and vanilla with each batch. Do you not like the initial bite?
We only add enough sugar after using enzymes to hit 10% which is typically .5 lb / gallon

I mean isn't this really just a sugar shine recipe with a little raw grains thrown in to make you feel like your making "whiskey" ? I guess the little bit of molasses in the sweetfeed adds something.

I didn't see anything about using enzymes in this recipe? The grains really couldn't be converted much in this recipe anyway.

I despise sugar shine, so I decided to add enzymes to convert the available starch. I also despise waste, which this process or any sugar head that's not a gumball, does in a massive way.

Spending the extra time to boil the water and adjust pH, add enzymes.... Makes an outstanding and incomparable product. I make it the way it OUGHT to be made, ASSUMING* one wants a much higher quality product for less money, utilizing the available sugars contained in the grains.

But that's my process and the conclusion I've reached, after making over 10 gallons at 120 proof of clean cut hearts, following the traditional method. There really is no comparison in quality and flavor, given very little extra actual effort.

There is only one downside: the oats and feed barley, when you add the boiling water, absolutely produces a slightly astringent/earthen funk/bite to the final product. Most don't notice, but I do. It mellows significantly after 18 months. I never had more than a gallon left after that time. But technically, that flavor is still present when you don't add enzymes, so just add the enzymes and very little sugar and you'll be so glad you did.

Still gotta press and strain the mash after fermentation anyway. It's not really much extra effort to make a product 5x's the quality.. Oh and cheaper considering sugar is now upwards of $.55/lb

[RockinRockies]

I want to follow up on my remark about this original recipe vs. Enzymes. The original recipe is a fantastic place to start to make a legit, traditional recipe and I did not intend to discourage newbies from going that route. I found a better method for ME and my friends, that I prefer. The tried and true recipe, that this thread is about, is absolutely fantastic and worth cutting your teeth on.

[squigglefunk]

Still gotta press and strain the mash after fermentation anyway. It's not really much extra effort to make a product 5x's the quality.. Oh and cheaper considering sugar is now upwards of $.55/lb

i gotcha, makes more sense...

and yah sugar has gone up a bit but it's also a lot easier to convert for fermentation than raw grains .... just add water

[RockinRockies]

Still gotta press and strain the mash after fermentation anyway. It's not really much extra effort to make a product 5x's the quality.. Oh and cheaper considering sugar is now upwards of $.55/lb

i gotcha, makes more sense...

and yah sugar has gone up a bit but it's also a lot easier to convert for fermentation than raw grains .... just add water

Indeed. I made an additional comment clarifying that the original recipe is still fantastic, as this thread is about that and not my own preferences. Definitely simpler to go tried and true

[GPBrewer]

Well, I read through this whole thread over the last couple days.

I'm a NOOB but I absolutely understand the whole "quit asking questions answered elsewhere please."

If I have to read one more "can I use hamster pellets instead of sweet feed" post I may explode! Or an "instead of sweet feed I'm using corn flakes, is this the right thread?" ... yikes.

I was only on page 30 or so before I went to tractor supply, rummaged around with the bags of feed, and found the one with "corn, oats, barley, molasses, and proprionic acid" as the only ingredients.

I've got my first ever wash fermenting right now, hoping it will be done by the weekend so I can distill it before thanksgiving, since I'll be out of town. Smells awesome, fermenting a little cold (I come from a beer background, so these 2-3 day ferments seem INSANE to me...), so I wrapped a heated blanket I had laying around on both buckets, keeping them near 70 deg F.

I'm currently planning a 1.5 run, any objections to that from the people who have done this before? (both as a "first run" plan and a "sweet feed" plan?)

[RockinRockies]

I think the 1.5 run will be fine, but expect a more earthy, grain forward, strongly flavored product. It's a great drop, You'll like it. Two runs will be a cleaner product, and this is a fairly heavy flavored distillate, so you'll need to try both 1.5 and add proper spirit run to find out what you prefer. I've made many many gallons over the years.

[GPBrewer]

I think the 1.5 run will be fine, but expect a more earthy, grain forward, strongly flavored product. It's a great drop, You'll like it. Two runs will be a cleaner product, and this is a fairly heavy flavored distillate, so you'll need to try both 1.5 and add proper spirit run to find out what you prefer. I've made many many gallons over the years.

Hah, yeah, I am certain this won't be the last batch I make! I still have 30-some pounds of the bag left, and a 15 gallon siedel fermenter showing up this afternoon I think.

If I don't love it, I may pull a pint or two of hearts out just on principle and then go for a "2.5" run instead, or just throw it in when I do the spirit run for the big batch from the 60l fermenter in a couple weeks.

[RockinRockies]

Whatever you choose, I'm sure you'll enjoy. It always tastes better when we make it ourselves.

We just did half wheat half sweetfeed all grain with enzymes and even though I didn't obtain great conversion due to operator error... The low wines are phenomenal

[squigglefunk]

\
We just did half wheat half sweetfeed all grain with enzymes

technically can't be AG with sweetfeed but you knew that

[bcook608]

\
We just did half wheat half sweetfeed all grain with enzymes

technically can't be AG with sweetfeed but you knew that

Must have meant no added sugar?
That actually sounds delicious.

[GPBrewer]

Whatever you choose, I'm sure you'll enjoy. It always tastes better when we make it ourselves.

We just did half wheat half sweetfeed all grain with enzymes and even though I didn't obtain great conversion due to operator error... The low wines are phenomenal

What conversion rate do you expect from the sweetfeed mix using enzymes? I assume you mean the high-temp enzyme and then a more standard amylase enzyme at pitching temperature?

I'd like to use as little sugar as possible, which means getting as much of the sugar out of the grain as is reasonable without milling/mashing/etc.

[squigglefunk]

getting as much of the sugar out of the grain as is reasonable without milling/mashing/etc.

not much sugar will be extracted in my limited experience without milling AND mashing. And mixed grains like sweetfeed are not the best for mashing IMO.... it is always worth playing around with tho as that is how to learn

but as mentioned earlier in this thread, it's really nothing to do with this recipe so I'll leave it at that

[RockinRockies]

Yeah I know that the molasses technically makes it not all grain but I don't think there's much molasses in the sweet feed since it's saturated and dry, maybe a gallon in a 50 lb sack..I don't know?

Starting gravity of 7.5% and it looked like it was done after 4 days and we got clear liquid on the top of one of the barrels with a 1.00 reading but when we pressed everything and ended up at 1.020. I'm now starting to think the lack of a complete starch conversion is what's throwing that off, and we're stuck it 5% which is why we got such paltry results. The barrels were still bubbling slightly so I stirred again and see going to let it go longer. The alcohol smell is very strong when you open the barrel.


We did 6) 55 gallon drums of 40 lb wheat and 40 lb sweet feed that we milled on a triple roller. Got the pH set but we didn't gel which probably affected our efficiency.
It was 2 lb per gallon and we added a another 4 lb of flour per barrel we had leftover and were concerned it would get compromised, so 84 lb and 40 gallons of water per barrel.

probably added the gluco a little too late and forgot the pH it correctly so we made a lot of errors(buddy didn't pH correct at night when he added, so we added more and adjusted pH at 95F then next morning) . It's been a while since we made anything of consequence, and I don't know why the left hand wasn't talking to the right. I'm embarrassed at our continued STUPID and careless mistakes. There's really no excuse. It's been another hard year of tough lessons from biting off more than we can chew.

But just from what we ran so far I think this is going to be my new whiskey blend. We only got 8 gallons at 30% from two 26 gain strips. Ugh. The strips took FOREVER

We still have another 16 bags of sweet feed and more wheat than I want to divulge here. I bought a bunch of feed grain for whiskey and long-term food storage (given the current global manufactured crisis), but we had mold issues and lost two tons of corn cuz we couldn't get it vacuum sealed soon enough and after 6 months in our walk-in cooler the humidity rose to the point where it ruined all the corn. Bye bye $800.
Oh and I lost a quarter ton of sweet feed (so add another $100 to that) because my buddy left in the garage for 3 months. So we're trying to salvage the grains before it's a total loss of about 3k.

The low wines yesterday tasted amazing though. One of the finest drops I've made and tasted for a strip run. The wheat really adds a nice touch, softens the edges. Big time grain heavy profile that reminds me of Leopold whiskeys.

I'm looking forward to doing this properly next time and trying to hit 9% potential. But there may not be that much available sugar given the grain bill, which is 1/3 corn, oats, wheat.. All unmalted. I'll know next batch.

THIS is the reason the tried and true is so important for btw distillers. It works. It's easy. It's effectively fail proof. Oh, l never once had an issue adhering to the tried and true sweetfeed recipe,
; however, I have grown to despise sugar heads.

[Dudeness]

I started this a week ago.

2x 5.5g wash in 6.5 gal fermenters
Per 5.5g
7# cob mix with molasses
7.5# sugar
1/8c molasses

Added 200* water to 1/3. Mixed well. Topped with cool water to 85*. Pitched 3T dady. Started within 10 minutes. Did not take a sg. 2-3 days hard bubbling from air locks. Slowed down after that. Very slow now. Floating grains still. Air loxk bubbles every 30-50 seconds. Wash is fermenting at ~81*. Reading is around 1.000. Giving it a couple more days and will rack for clearing.

Might have pitched a bit much yeast. But it does taste fine, nothing off flavourwise. Tastes dry and sorta like a decent white wine hmmm.

The cob mix i got doesnt look like it has as much corn but lists it first. Not sure what to think but I have access to this sweetfeed and im givin er.

[Dudeness]

Update

I let this sit a few more days and racked into carboys to clear. What a pain in the sack. Gotta get my rack/filter protocol on point. Flavour changed drastically in the several days from smelling of white wine. Darker sour beer taste. There is a big difference in colour between the two buckets. Only thing I can think of is when starting this ferment the darker on was hit with the very hot water faster and I might have exploded some of the grains. There was some popping going on. I ended up with just over 6 gallon charge.
Pot still slow stripping run. Collected almost 2 gallons combined at 39%/78p. Collected fores at 78%/154p and went to 15%/30p tails. Lots of raisin in the tails. Heads not so pleasant. Some promising taste in the middle. Not impressed so far BUT this needs another distillation.

Recharged my ferments with 7.5# sugar, 20oz grain and 10c backset in each. Ferment fired up in under an hour.

[RockinRockies]

Update

I let this sit a few more days and racked into carboys to clear. What a pain in the sack. Gotta get my rack/filter protocol on point. Flavour changed drastically in the several days from smelling of white wine. Darker sour beer taste. There is a big difference in colour between the two buckets. Only thing I can think of is when starting this ferment the darker on was hit with the very hot water faster and I might have exploded some of the grains. There was some popping going on. I ended up with just over 6 gallon charge.
Pot still slow stripping run. Collected almost 2 gallons combined at 39%/78p. Collected fores at 78%/154p and went to 15%/30p tails. Lots of raisin in the tails. Heads not so pleasant. Some promising taste in the middle. Not impressed so far BUT this needs another distillation.

Recharged my ferments with 7.5# sugar, 20oz grain and 10c backset in each. Ferment fired up in under an hour.

Merry Christmas!!! On your scale a mop wringer makes short order for getting at the liquid from the grain.

We just made a years supply of this recipe, but our recipe was:
2/3 c.o.b. but it's only corn and oats
1/3 wheat
Covered with enzymes, no additional sugar.
Mix yeast of bread and DADY.

The raisin is overpowering. It's the strangest thing but it's like drinking straight boxed raisins. I think that's because we didn't have the traditional barley mix, which I've found balances out the raisin with some chocolate notes. I have another batch that was more corn heavy and I prefer that, it's drier and cleaner, less raisin.

We're making a big batch of corn whiskey to potentially add to some of our sweetfeed. I think you'll really like this stuff after 8 months (which is the sweet spot I've found to when it really gels). I've made this recipe tons of different ways and everyone always loves it. It offers so much flavor for easy!

[Dudeness]

Merry Christmas!!! On your scale a mop wringer makes short order for getting at the liquid from the grain.

We just made a years supply of this recipe, but our recipe was:
2/3 c.o.b. but it's only corn and oats
1/3 wheat
Covered with enzymes, no additional sugar.
Mix yeast of bread and DADY.

The raisin is overpowering. It's the strangest thing but it's like drinking straight boxed raisins. I think that's because we didn't have the traditional barley mix, which I've found balances out the raisin with some chocolate notes. I have another batch that was more corn heavy and I prefer that, it's drier and cleaner, less raisin.

We're making a big batch of corn whiskey to potentially add to some of our sweetfeed. I think you'll really like this stuff after 8 months (which is the sweet spot I've found to when it really gels). I've made this recipe tons of different ways and everyone always loves it. It offers so much flavor for easy!

Merry Christmas

Im in ferment buckets. My first thought is to take a spare bucket. Drill holes in the bottom. Then just press the grains right in the ferment bucket. With drilled bucket in place rack off liquid. We’ll see.

My original plan was to run this whole bag of sweetfeed but Im not super happy with the amount of corn in it. So plan is to continue on with 2 more stripping runs. Combine them into a spirit run. Then move on. When I come back to it I might just add 1/3 ratio of cracked corn.