5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

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Old Forschotz
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5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by Old Forschotz »

After making a quite tasty wheated bourbon white dog, I decide to jump in with both feet and ordered a 5 gallon #3 char barrel from Gibbs. This run I swapped the wheat for rye to yield this recipe:

20.4 lbs cracked corn
4.5 lbs pale ale malt
4.5 lbs rye malt
2 gallons backset
14 gallons water
10g SEBstar HTL
10g SEBstar GL
9g beta glucanase
1 qt distillers yeast starter

First, I ran the corn through my malt mill because I found it difficult to fully gelatinize it when it is coarsely cracked. Now, this was before I became enlightened with high temperature amylase (in this batch). But since my malt mill motorized, it's not a bother.

Next I get the water up to boil and add the corn. My boiler has a 5500w element, so I have to be a little careful not to scorch. I drop the power down to 50% and keep stirring until about it hits 205 F. It starts to thicken at this point and I shut the power off. I put on the lid and wrap up with an old comforter. Once the temperature drops to 190 F, then I add the SEBstar HTL, stir, and let the magic happen. I cover it again and let it go for a couple more hours, stirring a few times in between.
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Next I add the backset and try to get the temperature to 150 F, either with frozen water bottles or a little heat from the element. Then I add the malts and the beta glucanase. Cover up again until 140 F and add the SEBstar GL, and cover until 120 F. Cool to 90 F and pitch yeast starter. I have a lot of wort canned for beer brewing, so a starter is kind of second nature for me, although I can tell I really don't need it for this yeast and won't do it any longer.

After 1 week ferment, I filter through a huge grain bag and then press the remaining liquid using my wine press. This is a hell of a lot easier than squeezing by hand since I built the press to fit my 20 ton shop press. This gives back about 2.5 gallons. The OG/FG was 1.065/0.995.

The 14ish gallons fit nicely in my still.
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I ran five batches in total, one the first week, and two each the following two weeks. I stripped each batch and saved them in glass carboys until I could do the one spirit run. I filtered the low wines through a wad of cheese cloth to remove tails precipitates. After choosing my cuts and diluting to 60% ABV, I had a little more than 8 gallons. I found that the Gibbs barrel holds about 5.5 gallons. The final blend tastes damn good!
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Now that I had all this wonderful baby bourbon, I needed some place to age it. luckily I have an easy access to the attic above my garage, so with a little scrap lumber, now I have a rackhouse.
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Lots of work, but fun too. Now all I have to do is wait, but what to do in the mean time? Maybe order another barrel for rye whiskey...
Last edited by Old Forschotz on Sun Jun 04, 2023 7:18 am, edited 2 times in total.
tjsc5f
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by tjsc5f »

Nice work! Add in another 1-2 runs and fill a 10gal barrel next time lol
Old Forschotz
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by Old Forschotz »

That’s right, I forgot to mention that my plan is to run this like a half-ass solera. I put 12” of 400 F toasted and then charred white oak in the extra 1/2 gallon jars.
Wildcats
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by Wildcats »

Nice I been wanting to get me a 5 gal Gibb's Brothers barrel. Haven't pulled the trigger yet. Is it too hot up in the attic to store and age that whiskey?? I hope it turns out great for ya man. Have fun and stay safe.
Old Forschotz
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by Old Forschotz »

That’s a good question. This section of attic is not as hot as the main part of my house and has pretty good airflow, so I think it should be okay. I’ll put a thermometer out there and see though.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by Twisted Brick »

Nice write up on your process control, OF. By chance did you take a pH reading after adding your backset? 2gal is alot of backset in 14gal, and remember, grains and enzymes both have an optimum pH they work in. FWIW, refrigerating your backset prior to adding it will help with dropping temp for your malts.

I like making a yeast starter that mirrors the grain bill I'm pitching it into.
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PLAYMP
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by PLAYMP »

Great post. The part that’s standing out to me is you’re brave enough to cook your corn with an internal hearing element.

Ripple element? And running at 50% left it coming out clean at the end of the run?
Old Forschotz
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by Old Forschotz »

Yes, I do measure my pH and I didn’t mention, but I adjusted it back up a bit with baking soda, shooting for around 5.3. That’s a happy place for the enzymes! My water is fairly hard at about 300 ppm carbonate, so it’s good to have extra acid to neutralize it.

I do have a Denord ripple element, so fairly low power density. When I said 50% power, I only ran it for a few minutes to bump the temperature up from about 190 to 205 F and I am stirring the hell out of it the entire time. Element is clean.

My brewing system is controlled with a Raspberry Pi running CraftBeerPi 3 and Crydom solid state relays. I can easily dial in the power, which is really nice when running the still.
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rubberduck71
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by rubberduck71 »

I've never that style of condenser before. Tricky!
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Old Forschotz
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by Old Forschotz »

My condenser is copper take of the one DAD300 shows in his CCVM topic. Instead of using unpainted CSST, which I couldn’t find locally, I just used some 3/8” soft copper that I had already. It goes in and out of the keg spear and has a 180 fitting soldered inside. I wad up some copper mesh at the bend too. I recirculate water from one of the boil kegs to chill.

I did monitor the attic temperature today with remote sensor. It hit 90 F outside and the attic maxed out at 107 F. I don’t think it will get more than 120 F anytime throughout summer, so it should be fine.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: 5 gallon bourbon barrel fill

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Old Forschotz wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 4:00 pm I did monitor the attic temperature today with rem
Small barrels attract the thirstiest Angels.
I'll suggest that you make an oak dip stick that reaches to the bottom of your barrel.
Take a measurement now, mark that on the stick, a small nick with a knife works.......in a month or two check to see whats been lost.
You might be surprised.
Having said that you will have lose regardless of if its in the attic or the basement.
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