Corn AG Turned Out BADDDD!

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Ok, I read and read about AG and thought I'd try it. I wanted to try it the cheapest way possible for my first time, so we went for TSC cracked corn. We have a KitchenAid stand mixer and grain mill, so we worked it all through there till it was a course meal with maybe 10% small, cracked corn. We used a 1.8 pound (ground) to 1-gallon ratio for grain to water. We used the steep method instead of cooking the corn to avoid scorching. I used two 14-gallon blue barrels, dropped the weighed corn in the bottom and topped with boiling water. I dropped the drill mixer on there and let it go for an hour, then swapped it to the other barrel and did the same. It was at about 200 degrees, but I went ahead and dropped about 1tbsp of powdered Amylase when I started mixing both barrels just to maybe get things going. I knew they would denature pretty quickly, but I thought it might help. After the hour it was at 180ish, so I dropped some SEBstar HTL and mixed for another hour, then bundled both barrels up and went to bed. The next morning, I added SEBamyl GL and mixed for another hour until it was at pitching temperature. I measured the gravity of both barrels; one was 1.055 and the other was 1.06 so I was satisfied I had a pretty good conversion. I didn't try an iodine test since I was fermenting on the grain and that seems notorious for causing a faulty iodine test. We aeriated the wash for about 10 minutes with a paint mixer. I used 3tbsp Red Star baker's yeast and proofed it in 3 or 4 cups of the wash. I added 1tsp of DAP, a pinch of magnesium sulfate and 6 drops of b complex and pitched it. We aeriated for another 10 minutes then clamped the lids on and put the airlocks in.

After 24 hours, I cracked the ferment cabinet open and both barrels were bubbling away nicely, it was a very different looking ferment than sugar or rum. It was large bubbles "blooping" to the top instead of the fast sugar "sizzle", I assume that's normal with all the solids in there. The CO2 builds into pockets in the solids then escapes would be my guess. There were some small bubbles too, but lots of bloops, it seemed like it was working good. Here's the part that I couldn't find out a lot of info about. Both barrels developed several quarter sized oily looking bubbles on top. I'm assuming here again, but I guess its corn oil being released during the fermentation process. I did a search on the forum and the opinions are mixed, leave it and run it, skim it off. Honestly there's not a lot of info at all about it, just a couple of posts. I left it and just ran what I ended up with. My finishing gravity was 1.000ish for both barrels, they were close to finished it not completely done.

We ended up with about 18 gallons that we ran in three strips. We used my little 120v electric set up and ran it wide open for the strips, 1300 watts give or take. Right away we noticed acetone or ethyl acetate, but I thought it would clear up some, it did not. It was so bad all the way through the run that even the last jar would burn your nose and eyes just being close to it. It was like paint thinner poured over corn flakes. I assumed since I was running it balls to the wall; I had smeared the heads through the whole thing. We just gathered it all up and hoped the spirit run would clean it up. We pulled to about 15% abv and wound up with just over 4 gallons to use for the spirit run at about 60%. We added water to get below 40%, added in a 5-gallon thumper full of distilled water to the mix and fired her off. I ran it super slow, all the way down around 500 watts after the initial heat up. The fist jar was 100 proof, but it climbed for the next 3 jars all the way to 150 proof, at that point it started to trail back off. It took over 10 hours to get to 60 proof, and I pulled off 1 1/2 gallons before I shut down. Damn I was tired.

Here's the kick in the teeth, after all that the nasties were still there all the way through the 1 1/2 gallons. The hearts got MUCH better, but it's still there. What do you guys think, run it again? Is it salvageable? Is it ant poison?

Rusty

[Twisted Brick]

It sounds like a case of smearing. I’d bet if you re-run it in your keg pot still and aim for a pencil-lead-sized takeoff it’ll come out fine. FYI- ABV of a proper spirit run will not go up. It will start high (fores, heads) and steadily decline throughout the course of your run.

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

It sounds like a case of smearing. I’d bet if you re-run it in your keg pot still and aim for a pencil-lead-sized takeoff it’ll come out fine. FYI- ABV of a proper spirit run will not go up. It will start high (fores, heads) and steadily decline throughout the course of your run.

I'm thinking the same thing Twisted, I think I might try to rerun it this weekend. That was the first run that I've ever had the abv climb in the first set of jars. Do you think I just started out too fast and should warm up more gradually or what could be the cause of that? Do you think I got water vapor right of the bat then dropped to a lower temp?

Rusty

[tommysb]

We added water to get below 40%, added in a 5-gallon thumper full of distilled water to the mix and fired her off.

Sorry if I missed it, but are you running with a thumper, or just as a straight pot still?

I would expect the proof to steadily decrease if not running with a thumper, so if you're pot stilling there's something funky going on. If using a thumper, that might explain the strange cuts and smearing.

Everything about your fermentation protocol seems 'ok', I doubt that's where the issues are coming from.

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

We added water to get below 40%, added in a 5-gallon thumper full of distilled water to the mix and fired her off.

Sorry if I missed it, but are you running with a thumper, or just as a straight pot still?

I would expect the proof to steadily decrease if not running with a thumper, so if you're pot stilling there's something funky going on. If using a thumper, that might explain the strange cuts and smearing.

Everything about your fermentation protocol seems 'ok', I doubt that's where the issues are coming from.

Thanks for the help, Tommy. We ran the stripping runs with just the pot and still, we added the thumper for the spirit run, hoping it might help with the cleanup. It always seemed to help with the sugar/rum runs I've been doing.

Rusty

[tommysb]

I don't have practical experience with using a thumper and the cuts on it, so please take this with a grain of salt. But I've done plenty of double pot distillations with corn and other cereals, and not had any issues. The oil on the wash is normal with corn - at least I've seen it plenty of times!

The ABV would be rising as your thumper is loaded with water, so the effective ABV of the thumper charge is rising as the vapors from the pot come over and condense into the thumper. There will reach a point where the alcohol level in the thumper is at it's peak, and the vapors coming over from the pot are now diluting the thumper charge. Your product collection will follow this trend.


I think that re-running everything you collected with the pot still will fix it. If you want to be extra cautious, dilute the still charge a bit to make your range for cuts a bit wider.

[squigglefunk]

did you measure the starting SG at the proper temp?

You're at the low end of grain per gallon IMO

what still is it?

could you be scorching? an all grain has much more issues with this than sugar washes.


DAP, vitamins, etc are not needed IMO for all grain - this is sugar wash stuff. I'd be more worried about pH, etc. was not mentioned

"oil" is not something I see during corn ferments ?

[zach]

I think the issues is on the fermentation side of things.

Just for fun, I've been trying out Grok and asked the following question:

A corn only distillate has a pronounced ethyl acetate or acetone flavor. Synthetic enzymes were used to convert the starches. Baker's yeast was used for fermentation. What is the likely cause?


The pronounced ethyl acetate or acetone flavor in a corn-only distillate, where synthetic enzymes were used to convert starches and baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was used for fermentation, is likely due to a combination of fermentation conditions and yeast metabolism. Let’s break this down:

Key Compounds
Ethyl acetate: An ester with a fruity, solvent-like aroma, often described as nail polish-like in high concentrations. It’s produced by yeast during fermentation through the reaction of ethanol and acetic acid, catalyzed by enzymes like alcohol acetyltransferases.
Acetone: A ketone with a sharp, chemical-like smell, less commonly associated with fermentation but can arise from certain metabolic pathways or contamination.

Likely Causes
High Fermentation Temperatures:
Baker’s yeast ferments optimally between 25–30°C (77–86°F), but if temperatures exceed this (e.g., >35°C or 95°F), it can become stressed. Stressed yeast increases production of fusel alcohols and esters like ethyl acetate as byproducts of sloppy metabolism. Acetone-like flavors could also hint at thermal degradation or atypical yeast activity under stress.
Yeast Stress from Nutrient Deficiency:
Corn mash, while rich in starch, is naturally low in free amino nitrogen (FAN) and other micronutrients (e.g., zinc, vitamins) that yeast needs for healthy fermentation. Synthetic enzymes break down starches into fermentable sugars (mostly glucose), but they don’t add nutrients. If no supplementation (e.g., yeast nutrients) was provided, the yeast may have struggled, leading to off-flavors like ethyl acetate.

Acetic Acid Production:
Ethyl acetate forms when ethanol reacts with acetic acid. Baker’s yeast doesn’t typically produce much acetic acid, but if fermentation was slow or oxygen was present (e.g., poor sealing of the fermenter), wild bacteria (like Acetobacter) or stressed yeast could have oxidized ethanol into acetic acid. This would then combine with ethanol to form ethyl acetate.
Overly High Sugar Concentration:
Synthetic enzymes might have converted the corn starch into an excessively high sugar concentration. If the mash had a high gravity (>15–20% fermentable sugars), it could overwhelm the yeast, increasing osmotic stress and triggering overproduction of esters and fusel compounds.

Acetone-Specific Possibility:
Pure acetone flavors are rare in yeast fermentation and might suggest contamination (e.g., from equipment cleaning solvents) or a misidentification of similar compounds like acetaldehyde (green apple, solvent-like) or isoamyl acetate (banana-like). Baker’s yeast doesn’t naturally produce acetone, so this could point to an external factor or sensory confusion.
Most Likely Culprit
The dominant ethyl acetate flavor strongly suggests yeast stress, most likely from high fermentation temperatures or nutrient deficiency in the corn mash. Baker’s yeast is robust but not optimized for high-efficiency alcohol production (like distiller’s yeast), so it’s prone to off-flavors under suboptimal conditions. If acetone is genuinely present, I’d lean toward contamination or a sensory overlap with ethyl acetate’s solvent notes.

How to Fix It
Lower fermentation temperature (keep it below 30°C).
Add yeast nutrients (FAN, vitamins, minerals) to the mash.
Ensure a clean, oxygen-limited fermentation environment.
Consider switching to a distiller’s yeast strain bred for cleaner ethanol production.
Does this align with what you observed during the process? Any specific details (e.g., temperature, mash prep) you want to dive deeper into?

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Hey Squiggle, let me address your questions. Thanks for taking the time to try and help me figure it out.

did you measure the starting SG at the proper temp? Yes, I cooled the mash to 60°F before I took the reading.

You're at the low end of grain per gallon IMO That was kinda the plan so I didn't stress the yeast, I wasn't looking for quantity.

what still is it? It's the EBII in my signature, 9 gallon 120v electric kettle into a small shotgun. For the spirit run, we added in a 5 gallon stainless keg thumper.

could you be scorching? an all grain has much more issues with this than sugar washes. I don't think so, the kettle had a little build up around the element (it's covered in the base) but nothing smelled scorched and nothing had changed color when I cleaned the pot between runs.


DAP, vitamins, etc are not needed IMO for all grain - this is sugar wash stuff. I'd be more worried about pH, etc. was not mentioned The PH held steady for the whole ferment, right around 5, I checked it when I would look at the ferment every few days.

"oil" is not something I see during corn ferments ? It must be hit or miss, sorta like the posts I found in the search. Tommy get's it all the time, and you never do. I figured breaking the corn down to the simple sugars released the corn oil. It was probably 2 TBSP per fermenter.

[Twisted Brick]

It sounds like a case of smearing. I’d bet if you re-run it in your keg pot still and aim for a pencil-lead-sized takeoff it’ll come out fine. FYI- ABV of a proper spirit run will not go up. It will start high (fores, heads) and steadily decline throughout the course of your run.

I'm thinking the same thing Twisted, I think I might try to rerun it this weekend. That was the first run that I've ever had the abv climb in the first set of jars. Do you think I just started out too fast and should warm up more gradually or what could be the cause of that? Do you think I got water vapor right of the bat then dropped to a lower temp?

Rusty

Duh! I completely forgot you were running a thumper. It makes sense that your fores/heads were diluted into your heating thumper charge and blending with higher boiling temp water.

Side note: I have always relied on the natural smearing of straight pot runs and stretching the spirit run out to help make cuts easier (it still takes practice). This practice has proved effective in cleaning up my all-grain newmake, and if you are on the trajectory to one day barrel-age your spirits (I believe you are ) you will be amazed at how effective charred oak is at conducting a final 'cleaning up', and absorbing bitter components, leaving a rich, polished grain spirit worthy of every day you spent aging it. Last note: by using a thumper you are conducting an extra distillation and thus raising the final ABV of your distillate. This in turn requires more (flavor-robbing) proofing water to bring down to drinking strength. The deeper you go into this hobby's rabbit holes, the more you lean towards obtaining a takeoff ABV as close to barrel strength as possible to minimize the amount of proofing water as much as possible. Hint: try your clean-up spirit run without the thumper and you'll see the difference first hand.

[SW_Shiner]

I think the issues is on the fermentation side of things.

Just for fun, I've been trying out Grok and asked the following question:

"This forum is dedicated to both the art and experience of its members. AI generated text brings neither of these to our community. Do not post AI articles or paragraphs as contribution to this forum. It will be removed at the moderators' discretion."



1) Safety- These articles are often long and difficult to read. It will either get skimmed over by the community, or take resources away to comb through these articles for validation

2) Internet hits will give the world a dull view of our rather vibrant community

3) There is no one to hold accountable for mediocre, bad or incoherent information

4) We all have access to hold conversations with a robot about distillation outside the forum. If you learn something on your own, great. We are here to learn from each other #

Sometimes its corn oils, either natural or added, sometimes its something like soy oil added to help with shelf live, and some benefits to the animals. Is it possible you grabbed a bag with additives? I dont know what the bags look like where you get them but here all the bags look the same except for a few words. Ive grabbed the wrong bag and not known until too late.

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Hey Zach, I assume Grok is an AI bot? I'll address the responses below. Thanks for helping me try and figure out what's wrong.

I think the issues is on the fermentation side of things.

Just for fun, I've been trying out Grok and asked the following question:

A corn only distillate has a pronounced ethyl acetate or acetone flavor. Synthetic enzymes were used to convert the starches. Baker's yeast was used for fermentation. What is the likely cause?


The pronounced ethyl acetate or acetone flavor in a corn-only distillate, where synthetic enzymes were used to convert starches and baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was used for fermentation, is likely due to a combination of fermentation conditions and yeast metabolism. Let’s break this down:

Key Compounds
Ethyl acetate: An ester with a fruity, solvent-like aroma, often described as nail polish-like in high concentrations. It’s produced by yeast during fermentation through the reaction of ethanol and acetic acid, catalyzed by enzymes like alcohol acetyltransferases.
Acetone: A ketone with a sharp, chemical-like smell, less commonly associated with fermentation but can arise from certain metabolic pathways or contamination. That's probably it, I know it would make your nose burn and eyes water if you got a big enough sniff of it.

Likely Causes
High Fermentation Temperatures:
Baker’s yeast ferments optimally between 25–30°C (77–86°F), but if temperatures exceed this (e.g., >35°C or 95°F), it can become stressed. Stressed yeast increases production of fusel alcohols and esters like ethyl acetate as byproducts of sloppy metabolism. Acetone-like flavors could also hint at thermal degradation or atypical yeast activity under stress. I would be surprised if this is the cause.The fermention was done in an insulated cabinet with a heating element and Inkbird to regulate the temperature. Ambient temps for that time period never got above 70°F and my Inkbird is set to 80°F low and 85°F high.
Yeast Stress from Nutrient Deficiency:
Corn mash, while rich in starch, is naturally low in free amino nitrogen (FAN) and other micronutrients (e.g., zinc, vitamins) that yeast needs for healthy fermentation. Synthetic enzymes break down starches into fermentable sugars (mostly glucose), but they don’t add nutrients. If no supplementation (e.g., yeast nutrients) was provided, the yeast may have struggled, leading to off-flavors like ethyl acetate. Maybe I was low on micro-nutrients, but I did add some typical yeast nutrients to the mash when I hydrated the yeast. DAP, Epson Salt, and a liquid B complex were added.

Acetic Acid Production:
Ethyl acetate forms when ethanol reacts with acetic acid. Baker’s yeast doesn’t typically produce much acetic acid, but if fermentation was slow or oxygen was present (e.g., poor sealing of the fermenter), wild bacteria (like Acetobacter) or stressed yeast could have oxidized ethanol into acetic acid. This would then combine with ethanol to form ethyl acetate. The fermentation lasted about 10 days, and then sat on the trub for 2 more before we racked it and cold crashed it. We racked it once more, then ran it. The fermenters both have tight lids and rings that secure the lids, both have an airlock. Typical PH for the 10 days was 5ish.
Overly High Sugar Concentration:
Synthetic enzymes might have converted the corn starch into an excessively high sugar concentration. If the mash had a high gravity (>15–20% fermentable sugars), it could overwhelm the yeast, increasing osmotic stress and triggering overproduction of esters and fusel compounds. I don't believe the sugar concentration was high, one was at 1.055 and the other was at 1.060. Isn't that right in line with what I should have gotten with 22#s of corn to 12 gallons of water?

Acetone-Specific Possibility:
Pure acetone flavors are rare in yeast fermentation and might suggest contamination (e.g., from equipment cleaning solvents) or a misidentification of similar compounds like acetaldehyde (green apple, solvent-like) or isoamyl acetate (banana-like). Baker’s yeast doesn’t naturally produce acetone, so this could point to an external factor or sensory confusion. Could very well be sensory confusion, these four make my 20th - 23rd runs and first AG, I got a noobie nose. After all the info I've seen since, I'm betting on the ethyl acetate.
Most Likely Culprit
The dominant ethyl acetate flavor strongly suggests yeast stress, most likely from high fermentation temperatures or nutrient deficiency in the corn mash. Baker’s yeast is robust but not optimized for high-efficiency alcohol production (like distiller’s yeast), so it’s prone to off-flavors under suboptimal conditions. If acetone is genuinely present, I’d lean toward contamination or a sensory overlap with ethyl acetate’s solvent notes. Isn't bakers yeast the go to here? I wasn't looking for high output (high efficiency), I've had good luck with sugar and rum by keeping the abv low. I was just trying something new and hoping for a good outcome using the same basic principals.

How to Fix It
Lower fermentation temperature (keep it below 30°C). Check
Add yeast nutrients (FAN, vitamins, minerals) to the mash. Check
Ensure a clean, oxygen-limited fermentation environment. Check
Consider switching to a distiller’s yeast strain bred for cleaner ethanol production. OK, maybe, I have DADY & EC-1118.
Does this align with what you observed during the process? Any specific details (e.g., temperature, mash prep) you want to dive deeper into? Well...not really, I don't think I had most of the issues or conditions the article talked about except for using bakers yeast.

Rusty

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Duh! I completely forgot you were running a thumper. It makes sense that your fores/heads were diluted into your heating thumper charge and blending with higher boiling temp water.

Side note: I have always relied on the natural smearing of straight pot runs and stretching the spirit run out to help make cuts easier (it still takes practice). This practice has proved effective in cleaning up my all-grain newmake, and if you are on the trajectory to one day barrel-age your spirits (I believe you are ) you will be amazed at how effective charred oak is at conducting a final 'cleaning up', and absorbing bitter components, leaving a rich, polished grain spirit worthy of every day you spent aging it. Last note: by using a thumper you are conducting an extra distillation and thus raising the final ABV of your distillate. This in turn requires more (flavor-robbing) proofing water to bring down to drinking strength. The deeper you go into this hobby's rabbit holes, the more you lean towards obtaining a takeoff ABV as close to barrel strength as possible to minimize the amount of proofing water as much as possible. Hint: try your clean-up spirit run without the thumper and you'll see the difference first hand.

Thanks Twisted, that makes sense. I'm going to try it really low and slow, including the heat up, this weekend with just the pot and still. You are correct about the barrel aging at some point too.

Rusty

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Sometimes its corn oils, either natural or added, sometimes its something like soy oil added to help with shelf live, and some benefits to the animals. Is it possible you grabbed a bag with additives? I dont know what the bags look like where you get them but here all the bags look the same except for a few words. Ive grabbed the wrong bag and not known until too late.

Hey SW. What I grabbed had one ingredient listed on the bag, corn. It's Tractor Supply cracked corn for livestock feed. Now that said, they may be able to add something to livestock feed they don't list, I'm not sure. I wanted to stay cheap since there was a good chance I'd screw it up. This one was less than $20 for ingredients.

Rusty

[The Booze Pipe]

Just my two cents... I made a corn whiskey last year and it was delicious! I use food grade cornmeal, about $.80/pound which is still affordable. use 2-2.2 pounds per gallon. I fermented with Red Star DADY at 85f worked out great. Maybe just add some gypsum and a bit of citric acid and thats about it. My experience is that the all-grain ferments have a bit of oil to it. That's what distilleries are talking about chill filtering out. I would try a different corn product!

I'm not versed with thumpers, but it seems it would be more helpful to run it with the strip... that way the clear beer goes into boiler, and the grain/slop goes into thumper. Then spirit run!

[shadylane]

We ended up with about 18 gallons that we ran in three strips. We used my little 120v electric set up and ran it wide open for the strips, 1300 watts give or take. Right away we noticed acetone or ethyl acetate, but I thought it would clear up some, it did not. It was so bad all the way through the run that even the last jar would burn your nose and eyes just being close to it. It was like paint thinner poured over corn flakes. I assumed since I was running it balls to the wall; I had smeared the heads through the whole thing. We just gathered it all up and hoped the spirit run would clean it up. We pulled to about 15% abv and wound up with just over 4 gallons to use for the spirit run at about 60%. We added water to get below 40%, added in a 5-gallon thumper full of distilled water to the mix and fired her off.

Rusty

Where do I start.

When stripping, ditch a small forshots cut at the beginning of an all grain. There's often shit that will start dripping out the condenser before the mash is hot enough to start boiling. Ya don't want this in the lowines.
Strip long until the lowines are low proof and dilution isn't needed.
Don't fill the thumper with so much water all that's needed is just enough to cover the inlet tube.
You managed to smear an entire run waiting for vapor to heat up the thumper and the best of the corn character got tossed with the excess water when the thumper was drained.

[Stags]

One food for thought item- if you’re in a place like where I am and it gets hot as hell, imo bakers is suboptimal especially with working with larger ferments (think 55 gallon barrels). They can quickly run away with themselves and wind up in the 90° temp range especially when my garage is nearly that temp.

Enter omega dried lutra Kveik. I love it, it’s perfectly happy up to 100°f, and does great year round in my sugarhead and all grain mashes. Very violent ferments if you’re the type who likes to see activity. And I cut down on cost by saving trub from the last batch to start the next.

Using some heating pads and light insulation I can pretty easily maintain my 85° target temperature year round. Once the ferments really get going it’s not uncommon for them to end anywhere between 90-95°. No off flavors. Shits awesome.



<https://www.morebeer.com/products/oyl07 ... gJ2nvD_BwE>

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Where do I start.

When stripping, ditch a small forshots cut at the beginning of an all grain. There's often shit that will start dripping out the condenser before the mash is hot enough to start boiling. Ya don't want this in the lowines.
Strip long until the lowines are low proof and dilution isn't needed.
Don't fill the thumper with so much water all that's needed is just enough to cover the inlet tube.
You managed to smear an entire run waiting for vapor to heat up the thumper and the best of the corn character got tossed with the excess water when the thumper was drained.

Thanks for the tips Shady, I'm gonna try this again in a few weeks and see if I can have better luck. Let me clarify one point, it was a 5 gallon keg thumper with 1 1/2 gallons of water to start, not full. It only covers the thump tube outlet by a few inches. The striping runs did start to drip probably 10 minutes before the actual flow, slowly but steady. I'll make sure to pitch more next time.

Rusty

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

One food for thought item- if you’re in a place like where I am and it gets hot as hell, imo bakers is suboptimal especially with working with larger ferments (think 55 gallon barrels). They can quickly run away with themselves and wind up in the 90° temp range especially when my garage is nearly that temp.

Enter omega dried lutra Kveik. I love it, it’s perfectly happy up to 100°f, and does great year round in my sugarhead and all grain mashes. Very violent ferments if you’re the type who likes to see activity. And I cut down on cost by saving trub from the last batch to start the next.

Using some heating pads and light insulation I can pretty easily maintain my 85° target temperature year round. Once the ferments really get going it’s not uncommon for them to end anywhere between 90-95°. No off flavors. Shits awesome.



<https://www.morebeer.com/products/oyl07 ... gJ2nvD_BwE>

Thanks for the top Stags. I'll check it out, I'll add some to my next MoreBeer order and try it.

Rusty

[NZChris]

"We pulled to about 15% abv and wound up with just over 4 gallons to use for the spirit run at about 60%"

Unless you were talking Proof, not ABV%, that is very high for a pot still stripping run, a lot of good flavor and alcohol would have gone out with the backset.

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

"We pulled to about 15% abv and wound up with just over 4 gallons to use for the spirit run at about 60%"

Unless you were talking Proof, not ABV%, that is very high for a pot still stripping run, a lot of good flavor and alcohol would have gone out with the backset.

OK, thanks for the info Chris, it was 15% not proof. What would be a good number to stop keeping on an all grain? Pull it till there's none left?

Rusty

[higgins]

"We pulled to about 15% abv and wound up with just over 4 gallons to use for the spirit run at about 60%"

Unless you were talking Proof, not ABV%, that is very high for a pot still stripping run, a lot of good flavor and alcohol would have gone out with the backset.

OK, thanks for the info Chris, it was 15% not proof. What would be a good number to stop keeping on an all grain? Pull it till there's none left?

Rusty

ROB,
I think that Chris was pointing out that to get low wines at 60% ABV on a pot still stripping run you'd probably have to stop very early when it is still coming out at > 40%, and therefor would be leaving a lot of flavor behind in the backset.

I mostly make bourbons & single malts, and on an AG stripping run with my pot still I follow the advice often given here to stop taking off when the ABV of the total low wines is 25-30%. At that time the ABV at the takeoff is under 10%. I don't see how 60% low wines is possible if you collect down to 15% (not saying it isn't - just that I can't see how it would happen).

[The Booze Pipe]

"We pulled to about 15% abv and wound up with just over 4 gallons to use for the spirit run at about 60%"

Unless you were talking Proof, not ABV%, that is very high for a pot still stripping run, a lot of good flavor and alcohol would have gone out with the backset.

OK, thanks for the info Chris, it was 15% not proof. What would be a good number to stop keeping on an all grain? Pull it till there's none left?

Rusty

ROB,
stop taking off when the ABV of the total low wines is 25-30%. At that time the ABV at the takeoff is under 10%.

plus-one there! The distillate (during stripping) should taste like flavored water at the end. It would be difficult to discern any alcohol by tasting, you'll need a alcoholmeter to see it.

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

ROB,
I think that Chris was pointing out that to get low wines at 60% ABV on a pot still stripping run you'd probably have to stop very early when it is still coming out at > 40%, and therefor would be leaving a lot of flavor behind in the backset.

I mostly make bourbons & single malts, and on an AG stripping run with my pot still I follow the advice often given here to stop taking off when the ABV of the total low wines is 25-30%. At that time the ABV at the takeoff is under 10%. I don't see how 60% low wines is possible if you collect down to 15% (not saying it isn't - just that I can't see how it would happen).

Thanks for the input Higgins. Maybe we didn't go as deep as we thought. When we added the 4 gallons of low wines to the pot and floated an alcohol meter in it, it read just below 60%. We were stopping when we thought they got to the wet cardboard smell, but the ethyl acetate smell just overpowered everything in all three striping runs. We measured a few of the jars and the last one on the 3rd run was about 30 proof, I may have let it run longer than the others, I wasn't timing or testing the abv of every jar (we did test all the spirit runs jars as they came off). I think going forward for stripping runs I'll pull until it's water.

Wait, I'm an idiot, I miss read the alcohol meter I think. Now that I'm thinking about it, it may have been 60 proof instead of 60%. Proof is black on alcohol meter and % is red, I'm pretty sure I read the black number. I had been up till 2am running the strips and this was early Sunday morning and I was not thinking straight I bet...D'OH! We were probably ok without adding the extra water we did.

I screwed this one all up. I'm glad it was TSC cracked corn and not something really good.


Rusty

[utvol]

I am sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but I out of all the different all grains mashes i have made people like straight corn the least. I guess there is a reason bourbon only has to be 51% corn.

[SW_Shiner]

No need to get caught up in the smells and stuff like wet cardboard imo. That's spirit run talk. For stripping i just watch an alcometer that floats in low wines collection vessel until it says ~30%. Depending on required final volume i may stop at 35% or 25%.

[NZChris]

Removing a foreshot from every strip will cut down on the 'nail varnish' in the Low Wines and make the heads cut smaller on the spirit run. If the first off the strip is particularly solventy, slow down and take a larger than usual foreshot. I take about 150ml off a 6 gallon charge.

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

I am sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but I out of all the different all grains mashes i have made people like straight corn the least. I guess there is a reason bourbon only has to be 51% corn.

I've only ran sugar or panela rum prior to this batch, so this was a toe dip in the deep end of the pool with ultra cheap ingredients. I may run more plain corn as a learning tool, but probably not much longer than that, maybe one more run. I'd like to get it right once before I move on to the next learning step.

I like single malt and Canadian whiskey so that will eventually be the way I head more than likely.


Rusty

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

No need to get caught up in the smells and stuff like wet cardboard imo. That's spirit run talk. For stripping i just watch an alcometer that floats in low wines collection vessel until it says ~30%. Depending on required final volume i may stop at 35% or 25%.

Yeah, I probably should have just pulled much more off in the strips. Since the process smears anyway I may build a parrot for stripping runs. Strip straight into a 5 gallon keg.

Rusty

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Removing a foreshot from every strip will cut down on the 'nail varnish' in the Low Wines and make the heads cut smaller on the spirit run. If the first off the strip is particularly solventy, slow down and take a larger than usual foreshot. I take about 150ml off a 6 gallon charge.

Thanks Chris, noted.

Rusty