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qball wrote:I snuck some off one of the jugs and diluted to 86 proof.
A little over 3 months on heavy toast hungarian oak cubes.
Tastes darn good

Really good looking color on that one & great little bottle too.

Great looking likker! I think collecting/filling the bottles is a big part of the fun of this hobby!

Sorry another newbie question. I'm going to try this on my next wash. Do i really need to do a stripping run and what are the steps in doing one? I use a 8 gallon kettle from brewhaus so i can run relux as well as pot. I want to do this one the right way and I have learned to ditch the turbo and went with reg distillers yeast. Thanks for any help.

Strip in pot still mode.

Odin.

then do i just empty the kettle and then pour that in there and then use the reflux?

outdoor_cookin wrote:then do i just empty the kettle and then pour that in there and then use the reflux?

You might find that several strip runs and diluting to a 40% (or so ) boiler charge will be a better volume to charge your boiler with...

You can reflux your 10% (or so ) charge, but you will get better behavior (if you are looking to make vodka) with a 35-40% boiler charge..
Most around here would prefer that you kept your boiler charge below 40%,,,,specially if you are firing with an open flame.

im using a 1500w hot plate.

A stripping run is usually done on a pot still. You don't generally want/need to run multiple times on a reflux still when you're making a whiskey. It's just a way to get a stronger product out of a pot still without using a thumper.
With the sweet feed, I run several batches of wash as hard/fast as my still can knock down all the vapor. The only cuts I make is tossing out the foreshots to make sure I get rid of everything toxic. I run it down to between 20&30% before shutting down. These are called "low wines." Once I have enough low wines to fill my boiler, I do a slower "flavor run" where I make my cuts between the heads/hearts/tails. You never want your boiler to be filled with anything over 40% abv or you risk a serious explosion.

outdoor_cookin wrote:then do i just empty the kettle and then pour that in there and then use the reflux?

Everyone is avoiding the obvious which is the fact that you need to do more research before proceeding... If you don't know the difference between a stripping and a spirit run I am left wondering what else you don't know that you really need to know... This is not a hobby to be taken lightly and rushed into... We consider independent research to be mandatory, like it or not... You wouldn't start refining crude oil into gasoline without knowing everything you need to know, would you...??? Slow down and make sure you really know what you think you know and I'm sure you'll find that there are a whole lot of answers you didn't even know you had questions for... Tough love like this is how "we" keep "you" safe, and that's part of why you're here, right...???

Question from a newbie here. What brand of "Sweetfeed" do you like? I'd like to try this recipe but all I can find in my area is pellet type sweetfeed at the hardware store. Any particlular brand work better than others. Any thoughts on this appreciated.

bentleyss wrote:Question from a newbie here. What brand of "Sweetfeed" do you like? I'd like to try this recipe but all I can find in my area is pellet type sweetfeed at the hardware store. Any particlular brand work better than others. Any thoughts on this appreciated.

Producer's Pride® All Grain Feed, 50 lb.

5021132

I was reading this recipe ... not sure if im reading it right ..but do you ferment this wash with the grain inside the fermenting container ?

Deep In The Woods wrote:I was reading this recipe ... not sure if im reading it right ..but do you ferment this wash with the grain inside the fermenting container ?

Yes.

Deep In The Woods wrote:I was reading this recipe ... not sure if im reading it right ..but do you ferment this wash with the grain inside the fermenting container ?

Yes, commonly refered to as "fermenting on the grain".

Fermenting on the grain in a glass carboy would suck with this recipe, most use 5 gallon brewpails.
What ya got to ferment in Deep??

6 1/2 gallon bucket

Try watching this video it helped me its the one I found "AFTER" I pleaded for help in the forums.. http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/pla ... =11v4pkgam" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

You pleaded for help? Really? The one question you asked got answered. And it doesn't get much simpler then the recipe in the first post of this thread. So why would you need a video? This thread has all the information you need in it. And the video you linked to is boiling the sweet feed? For conversion? Really? Added steps that will not give you any more sugar. This is not a good video for making sweetfeed. This thread is all one needs. If you don't want to read it. That's your problem.

Has anyone used brown sugar in this wash? Did you think it affected the flavor?

Thoughts?

Swiftly

Swifty wrote:Has anyone used brown sugar in this wash? Did you think it affected the flavor?

Thoughts?

Swiftly

It won't make much difference. The sweet feed already has molasses in it. So it will just give you a little more rum flavor. Not much more because the molasses is blackstrap to begin with.

Hi,

Quick question..currently harvesting my first "sour mash" run at 170 proof. Should I cut it back to get more flavor from the wash?

thanks Ron

I cut all my liqueur to 100-110 proof for consumption, Still too high for many people here tho.
I leave mine uncut for storage to save on space and jars.

This isnt a sour mash recipe and getting 170 proof without a second spirit run is hard with a pot still setup. I only do spirit runs now with liquor that taste a bit off or cloudy and tails.
I just added a thumper i pre charge with most stuff id usually double distill, It levels out the flavors and consistency.
My last 10 gallons of mash was a record for me netting 2 gallons of all drinkable liquor from 145 down too 80 proof and the tails kicked in. I still got another .5 gallon of 40% of tails to charge my thumper next run. I didnt drop below 120 proof until 1.5 gallons were extracted.

Now as to the recipe, I find it a starting point.
Once i had it down i started experimenting, Only my still design held back my output from the mashes. Now i have the pot still and thumper almost perfected ive been able to push this recipe further.
But only in more output and better consistency and higher proofs out of the coil.

Until you perfect the still, Stay true to the recipe so you know whats bonafide working 100% on a new still and a new distiller.

Now close your eyes and hit the back button if you dont want to see what how ive enhanced the recipe to my liking.
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I use 6" of sweetfeed in the bottom of a 5 gallon pail to measure my sweetfeed.
I add 3 cups of fine ground malted barley to the feed to convert starches as they can be extracted with a long cook time of 90 minutes.
3 tablespoons of brewers yeast for active yeast nutrients.
Then i add 5 gallons of spring water into my cooking pot/keg and bring to a boil for 90 minutes to release starches. It will expand like crazy and more than double in solids that need strained.
I then hand strain and add everything into my fermenter so 95% is all wash, I wash the mash before discarding also with cold water and discard all the mash except 4 cups each of solids from the bottom of my cooker into each 5 gallon bucket.
I use two 5 gallon pails to ferment in.
My yeast is kept as setback as i never pour solids into my still pot. Then start the next batch off of that.
I then add another 2 tablespoons of bakers yeast after i sugar the mash.
I put in 6lbs of white cane sugar in each bucket.
I also add 1lb of RAW Demur brown crystal sugar in each bucket.
2 onces of molasses are then blended into the fermenter also.

This is kept in a proofing box we keep at 80F for 4 days, If its 1.0 on my succrometer at that point i add 1 pound of white sugar to each bucket.
Day 6 its about done, Let rest until day 7 while still holding 80F.
Pre charging a thumper with old tails and a few quarts of fresh wash will help the run in higher proof and consistency.
Yes, Thats 8lbs of sugar per 5 gallons of wash total in the end.

Once under way i throw in 2 hand fulls of sweetfeed back on top of my old lees i left in the bottom of the bucket to keep it fed and alive and make my run.
Yes, I know im pushing the yeast to the breaking point. But ive not gotten any off tastes from doing this.
Being its almost all wash, Even the hydrometer will read the alcohol proof before firing up the still. My last batch was at 19-20% out of the fermenter.

One thing i didn't like about the original recipe was the amount of solids in the fermenter took up too much space and you can easily boil out all the nutrients needed while cooking it and washing it.
You easily loose 2 gallons of wash if not strained before putting it in the fermenter as all those solids take up space.

But this recipe would be useless until i almost have my still perfected physically.
Id suggest no one do my off-shoot recipe unless your skill and still is beyond noobish.
It took me 3 months of trial and error with the mash and the still to get to a point i loved this recipe.
With such higher alcohol proofed mash you have less sugars to taste in the finished products, IE its not as sweet tasting. But more flavorful on the palate imo.

FYI, on my 5th generation now, and have found that orange juice and a bit of cranberry tastes really good with some aged SF. Sometimes a bit of pineapple juice too. Very good recipe thanks!!!

After 5 days on oak and applewood sticks; based on pigroasters profile, applewood definetly more complex, the oak being very woody. hopefully will let it age somemore and not drink it all.

I was wondering if it would be a bad idea to mix a batch if Wineos sugar wash with a breach if sweet feed wash in my still and distill it? Has anybody ever tried mixing two washes together?

It's not going to hurt much but flavor. Won't get nearly the flavor you would with just the sweetfeed.

It's just cause I I have one bucket of sugar wash and two buckets of sweet feed wash sitting. I was thinking combine them or run em seperate

I think it is a bad idea, because with both recipees you are looking for someting completely different. Wineos is for neutral. Sweet feed for taste. Combine them and you will get ... not a neutral and neither the most taste rich product you are after.

But if you feel like it, do it! Nothing against it. Just doesn't make complete sense.

Odin.

+1 that's what I was thinking.