Dumb Question about “Alt Whiskey” book

[usaftrevor87]

I’m reading the book now. Going over some of the recipes and it has all the poundage for grains but it never talks about how much water to add for the recipe.
Is the 200-250 lbs of mixed grains for the 100 gallon mash size mentioned in the beginning of the book??

[Deplorable]

I've never read the book, but that sounds logical. My usual is 2 to 2.2 pounds per gallon of water, depending on the mash bill, to get me in the neighborhood of 1.063 OG

[usaftrevor87]

I answered my own question. The recipes are in reference to 100 gallons of distillers beer of end product.
They are lautering and fermenting off grain.

[Bushman]

I’ve got that book and reference it every so often. Darek Bell, the author and owner of Corsair Distilleries has been a contributor to the Craft distillery industry for years.

[Stump Lake]

Would you recommend the book ?

[Bushman]

Would you recommend the book ?

I would buy it again!

[Stump Lake]

Thanks I'm going to add it to my library. I got it in the Amazon cart.

[Stump Lake]

I got the book (Alt Whiskey) in today. I've been reading through it will doing a stripping run. I really like what Darek Bell has to say about Craft Distilling. While most of the receipts are above my pay grade at the moment, this is the direction I would like to take in this hobby. I got a taste of really good craft whiskey with making SOD's HBB.

His (Darek Bell) scale of "making 100 gallons of beer" to produce 5 gallons of finish whiskey to fill a 5 gallon barrel is beyond my present capabilities. It is a goal that I would like to shoot for.

Another thing I found interesting is his "Original and Terminal Gravity" The Original Gravity seems lower than what I see posted here a lot times. His OG is more in line with what I have been getting. I kinda of suck at AG conversion.
His Terminal Gravity also seems high @ 1.010 -1.014s ? I though we were aiming for 1.000 ?

All in all, I am enjoying the book. Glad I bought it.

[Yummyrum]

His Terminal Gravity also seems high @ 1.010 -1.014s ? I though we were aiming for 1.000 ?

Maybe on a sugar wash . And in that case a bit lower . 0.995 is good .

For a Rum , a terminal gravity can often be as high as 1.055-1.065

Terminal Gravity will vary considerably depending on what you are making . There is no “one number fits all “

Gravity is a measure of the “thickness” of the liquid . Terminal Gravity is the “thickness” of the liquid left after all the sugars have been converted to alcohol . Any residual unfermentable sugars or starches or protein's or fibre or anything else that is floating about in the liquid will force the Hydrometer to bob up .

In the case of Whiskeys , there will be “stuff” left in the beer other than just fermented sugar that cause a Terminal Gravity that is higher than 1.000
Adding Backset for example will cause a Bourbon Terminal Gravity to be higher . It is boiled up soup from the last batch that contributes no sugars .

[Stump Lake]

Thanks Yummy. That makes me fell a little better. My latest CROW Bourbon finished at 1.010. I was disappointed in that. The cap had dropped and the bubbles had stopped, so I assumed it was done. I produced low wines with it, so I guess it was ok.

[Yummyrum]

Always good to wait a day and check again . Then even leave it another day and check . If it ain’t going down , it’s usually done .

Terminal Gravity readings are good to know . But , each time you take one , have yourself a sip. Recognise that sweetness . Recognise as it looses it .
You’ll get to point where you din’t need or even trust that floaty thing . You’ll know when it’s done .

[Homebrewer11777]

When brewing beer (to be consumed as beer) it is normally expected that some residual sugar will be left behind...for "body". Some beers have quite a bit of residual sugar on purpose, others are brewed to be pretty dry. The relative amount of sugar fermented is called apparent attenuation or just attenuation. Beer brewers will select a mash profile and yeast (some yeast are less picky about calling sugars undermentable than others) to get to the attenuation and final gravity desired.

Sugar is 100% fermentable. Corn is super fermentable already, almost any sugar you convert corn starches into will ferment with almost any yeast. But barley can give you less fermentable sugars. An all barley wort fermented with something like US-05 may easily end up around 1.010-1.020 depending on starting gravity and mash temperature.

Exogenous enzymes especially the low temp beta glucanase can pretty much convert all the unfermentable sugar into fermentable sugar for just about any yeast.

So assuming you are making a beer in the style of "beer" and not adding additional enzymes, it would not be unreasonable to have a FG in range you mention.