Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

[The Baker]

I have wondered (and may have mused about it here...)

Supposing I had one or more fairly small barrels (or badmo barrels...).

I could keep them in a controlled environment. Maybe a big old (commercial?) refrigerator.
With cool and warm temperature controls, and humidity controls if possible.

And control over whether and how much there is access to the outside atmosphere.

Glass doors would be pretty.

Then I could control, pretty much, the way the spirit ages and the amount of the angel's share.

Yes??

Geoff

[TwoSheds]

My staves are 1.80" x 1.05" x 0.35" which is 5.78 sq inches per stick so I figure if I use 4 per litre, it equates to about the same surface area, would I be right in this logic ?

Goose, what you describe is about what I do. I measure the width of the stave right off the barrel and calculate (roughly, leaning toward less rather than more) how long it should be to go into my jars. I tend to keep them longer but if your staves are already cut maybe just throw one less in to avoid over-oaking.

I believe what Normandie is saying about the end grain giving up its goodness faster, but I don't think at the end of a 6 month+ age there will be that much more influence total, just more at the beginning.

Normandie, I look forward to your findings.

TwoSheds

[Goose]

Appreciate the input lads, I never did think about the end grain vs long grain exposure.

2Sheds.... do you re-use your staves or throw after one use ?

[TwoSheds]

Appreciate the input lads, I never did think about the end grain vs long grain exposure.

2Sheds.... do you re-use your staves or throw after one use ?

I air dry them and throw them in a marked bags.

You can reuse them for primary aging, I have some rum doing nice things on used Bourbon wood. A lighter whisky might be nice with it too.

Or you could age on fresh wood then mature on the used wood for extra layers. When the second-use is done on the rum I might throw it back in some bourbon after pulling out the fresh charred wood.

Or, probably at least once or twice, you could scrape or sand off a bit and reuse it.

But if all else fails maybe into the smoker or fire pit.

It's always something.

[Saltbush Bill]

Last few posts here seem to be wandering a loooooong way of topic ......how about we get back to "Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe"
Wanna chatter about Oak and Aging ? ........go find the right thread or make a new post.
viewforum.php?f=4

[Mr_Beer]

Regarding the recipe it seems clear and easy to follow.

That said I would like a recommendation for crushing the grain -- either barley or wheat.

Should it be ground fine (like corn meal) or just cracked like you would do for a beer or some other approach.

[bilgriss]

Either a crush with a roller mill or a fine grind will result in good yield.

I like to lauter a malted barley or wheat mash and ferment off the grain, and the roller mill approach simplifies that. This recipe, however, calls for fermenting on the grain, and you'll get good results either way with that approach.

[Mr_Beer]

My general notion is that the finer the crush, especially if fermenting on grain, will result in quicker conversion and possibly a more complete conversion.

My concern was if there was some notion that barley/wheat should not be ground as fine as corn meal (for example).

Thank you for you answer

[Goose]

Fermenting on the grain poses too high an infection risk for me, so I also ferment off the grain. I treat the mash like I would a beer, and crush for maximum extraction efficiency. I take the resulting wort to 90 deg C and hold for 30 mins as a pasteurization step. I do not boil.

Seems to work pretty well, though I am curious what flavor impact that fermenting on the grain would impart vs without.

[Housemoney]

I’m going to attempt this soon, but my BAP is only 9 gallons. My fermenter is 30 gallons.

Can I do this in two batches similar to the SCD large batch mashing?

[Deplorable]

I’m going to attempt this soon, but my BAP is only 9 gallons. My fermenter is 30 gallons.

Can I do this in two batches similar to the SCD large batch mashing?

Yes. Thats how I did this.

[samwell]

I've just bought some malted barley and am excited to try this recipe out in the coming weeks.

[samwell]

About 8 months into this recipe/process and it is my favorite for sure! I have made about 30 batches now. Batch size used to be 5 gal, then 10 gal now settled into 28 gallons in a nice 32 gallon pail! Couple of observations if anyone is interested:

Batch size- it really is true that a big batch doesn't take much more time than a small batch and gives much more product to put away for aging.

Hey Stu,

I’ve used the search function quite a bit to try and help me get an answer to this question, but I haven’t found a clear answer.

I’m gonna be trying the recipe soon and I plan to ferment in a bunch of 5 gallon buckets as I have many on hand and my boiler is only 9 gallons. This’ll be my first AG ferment, so I’m curious… how full did you fill your 5 gallon buckets? I’m not familiar with how much krausen you can get from AG ferments, so should I anticipate a much more active ferment with lots of foam?

I’m just trying to plan how I’ll break up everything into smaller buckets and don’t know how much headspace to leave.

Cheers.

[NormandieStill]

Not the same recipe but I've done 8kg of grains and 23 litres of water into 32 litre buckets and the Krausen touched the lid but stopped there. That's fermenting on grain using YLAY. I ferment in the house so I tend to err on the side of caution because clean up will be an issue.

[StuNY]

You have to think much differently from beer- took me a while using airlocks to realize they are completely unnecessary. Just loosely rest a lid on top of your bucket. There should be NO foaming at all. The only expansion you will see will be after a day the grains will float to the top increasing height maybe an inch. After 6-7 (depending on yeast and temperature could be 5 days) days the grains will settle back down to the bottom and it will be done. No need to stir while fermenting.
Good luck!

[StuNY]

(Shorter answer: leave 4” headspace in a 5 gallon bucket with no airlock and loose lid)

[samwell]

Great. Thanks for the guidance guys, I really appreciate it.

[Biker24a69]

Has anyone thought of doing the honey malt as a single really thinking on it or will it be to sweet or overpowered
Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated

[The Booze Pipe]

Great. Thanks for the guidance guys, I really appreciate it.

I would pitch, but leave the lid off for a couple days. The cap will rise and off gas so much CO2 it’ll keep it safe from outsiders. Then lay the lid on loose after a few days when the cap drops.

That way if it does get over active the lid won’t get in the way, the lip of the bucket will hold it in. Hope that makes sense. Or try it a couple ways, see how it goes.

[samwell]

Great. Thanks for the guidance guys, I really appreciate it.

I would pitch, but leave the lid off for a couple days. The cap will rise and off gas so much CO2 it’ll keep it safe from outsiders. Then lay the lid on loose after a few days when the cap drops.

That way if it does get over active the lid won’t get in the way, the lip of the bucket will hold it in. Hope that makes sense. Or try it a couple ways, see how it goes.

It's been a month and I've got all this grain waiting for me to ferment it... Been so damn busy with work . I guess I'm just getting used to the real world LOL

[samwell]

Finally made the time to get this grain fermenting. Smells great! Excited to distill it all sometime soon. I got half of this recipe going in four 5 gallon buckets and it worked out perfect.

[samwell]

Hey guys, I’ve been keeping an eye on my ferment of single malt two row barley for this recipe and I appear to have contracted a lacto infection.

I’ve used the search function and read about it and from my current understanding, it’s not something to worry about too much.

Whats the procedure for running something like this? Do you remove the film at the top of the buckets? There are no unpleasant smells.

Edit: it happened quite late into my ferment so I don’t think I lost too much sugar which could’ve been converted to alcohol. I also didn’t punch down the cap because I knew that could cause an infection. All of my buckets were untouched and I had sanitized everything well beforehand. I know people say that the lacto adds character, so maybe it’s a good thing

Thanks!

[NormandieStill]

On the various ferments that I've run that have had lacto, I just poured the whole lot into the boiler and ran it. I don't think there's much point removing the film. It's more a symptom, the infection will already be in the liquid of the ferment.

[samwell]

On the various ferments that I've run that have had lacto, I just poured the whole lot into the boiler and ran it. I don't think there's much point removing the film. It's more a symptom, the infection will already be in the liquid of the ferment.

Okay. Thanks!

One other question - did you have any special way of cleaning your fermentation vessel afterwards? I guess the biggest risk with Lacto is it fucking up my future ferments. I still have 20lbs more of grain and I’ll be using the same buckets. Would hot water and Star San be enough?

[NormandieStill]

On the various ferments that I've run that have had lacto, I just poured the whole lot into the boiler and ran it. I don't think there's much point removing the film. It's more a symptom, the infection will already be in the liquid of the ferment.

Okay. Thanks!

One other question - did you have any special way of cleaning your fermentation vessel afterwards? I guess the biggest risk with Lacto is it fucking up my future ferments. I still have 20lbs more of grain and I’ll be using the same buckets. Would hot water and Star San be enough?

I've never used a specific cleaning regime on buckets with a lacto infection. My big 110L HDPE barrel gets washed out with a pressure washer. My smaller fermenting buckets (32L) get rinsed out with clean water and occasionally a very mild bleach solution if I feel they're getting grubby. I don't track which ones I use when well enough to see if the lacto infections come from the buckets or the surrounding environment. I've generally assumed it was environmental.

[bilgriss]

I've had good luck with hot water and Star San.

[samwell]

Just did a stripping run of my fermented two malt barley. It fermented pretty dry at 1.000 and I let it clear. As this was my first AG, I didn't realize it would foam up so much and I think running hot and hard made it puke a bit... So this is the first time i've got a cloudy distillate.

I did a second run with some butter in the boiler and the distillate was lot clearer but still experienced a bit of puking.
Probably still ran too hard with it.

[Captain Spaulding]

Nah run it hard as possible without puking on your strip. You want to force all that flavor through. Cloudy distillate is ok on a stripping run. Only your late tails will be cloudy on your spirit run and you can even throw a bit of that into your blend, it will stay clear.

[samwell]

Nah run it hard as possible without puking on your strip. You want to force all that flavor through. Cloudy distillate is ok on a stripping run. Only your late tails will be cloudy on your spirit run and you can even throw a bit of that into your blend, it will stay clear.

I assumed that puking isn't really an issue on stripping runs as you're going to do a spirit run slower to clean things up anyways...

[Crabmanstyle]

Going to make this over the next two weeks. Took a year or two away from production to concentrate on other projects and looks like a really nice recipe - the plan is to long age for the first time in my life. Hey there’s always hope.