Home Distiller

spiritsx wrote:I Used Turbo yeast (too much of it) my first run.

Do Not Use Trubo Yeast With This Recipe...

In fact, don't use it with anything but sugar and water... Better yet, don't use it at all...

Buy bakers yeast in bulk... Many here buy 2 - 1 pound vacuum bricks for under $5 at Sam's Club, Costco, etc... Use as much as you want... I use 1 Tablespoon per gallon most of the time...

Started my first Sweet Feed wash today, wish I had a bigger fermenter free, its hard to get a 20L wash out of a bucket by the time you add your feed and such to the bucket. SG started out at 1.080..
After reading alot of labels at Tractor Supply I ended up using their " Producer's Pride All Grain with molasses. Its a COB (corn, oats,barley) blend with molasses added. Their standard 12% sweet feed had all kinds of crap in it like peanut hulls along with all the added minerals and nutrients.

Martin

southern traditions wrote:Started my first Sweet Feed wash today, wish I had a bigger fermenter free, its hard to get a 20L wash out of a bucket by the time you add your feed and such to the bucket. SG started out at 1.080..
After reading alot of labels at Tractor Supply I ended up using their " Producer's Pride All Grain with molasses. Its a COB (corn, oats,barley) blend with molasses added. Their standard 12% sweet feed had all kinds of crap in it like peanut hulls along with all the added minerals and nutrients.

Martin

That's what I use, works great.

Bushman wrote: That's what I use, works great.

Good to hear that, its bubbling away nicely tonight which is a good sign. I'm thinking of starting a 2nd larger ferment. I had to dump a 5th gen UJSSM ferment that ended up getting a bunch of flying nasties in it tonight and didn't want to take a chance on it so that freed up my 60L fermenter. My plans are to run it thru my pot still and thumper doing a single run saving the hearts down to 50-55%, saving the rest into a feints jar and then re-running the feints when I get a decent amount saved up.

Thanks for the recipe

Martin

just skim flying nasties off the top...

I second the duck.....

Well, I'm doing a run of this right now as I type (yes I can see the still lol) question. his is the first time ever for me. and what is coming out smells alot like nail polish remover even after a full pint. It is also kind of bitter on the toungue, (licked a finger). what is this supposed to taste like? would it be safe after a full pint? btw it a 5 gall still with a 4 gallons of wash in it.

ethyl acetate is what you are tasting. It will turn to phenol after aging on oak for a few months. That taste will go away later in your run. Just keep pulling it off into collection jars and then decide your cuts.

DuckofDeath wrote:ethyl acetate is what you are tasting. It will turn to phenol after aging on oak for a few months. That taste will go away later in your run. Just keep pulling it off into collection jars and then decide your cuts.

thanks
I did notice some where in the first pint it started to get a little sweet and kind of linger on the tongue. so far i've got 3 full pints. I know I'm not keeping the first one as it really smells bad. when i burn anything after that it burns faint blue. so i'm guessing it's still prety high proof

I have a question that hasn't been asked yet. I have just got my still built and ran my vinegar cleaning run. I have a 25 gallon boiler with thumper and my question is, I didn't want to have to buy any alcohol for my sacrificial run due to 1 a gallon of box wine in my boiler is a joke and 2 this is (sweetfeed) what I want to start with. So I started a batch of my first ferment tonight 18 gallons that was bubbling pretty darn quick I might add. I know I WILL NOT keep any alcohol from this wash I will repeat I WILL NOT keep any alcohol to consume(I will keep for future cleaning runs) from this run but I really want to use my back set to start the second gen for the run I can keep. Would there be any problem to use this back set seems like a win win to me as everybody has stated the 2nd gen on gets so much better and I can kill 2 birds with one stone. I like the idea of getting my feet wet with no stress on the first ferment outcome as far as ABV and taste, clean my still, learn how its going to run and get a head start on my generations. Thanks for the input



jbird

jbird IMO the backset from your cleaning run needs to be discarded also as you do get a little passive reflux falling back into the boiler and will contaminate the liquid in there most of us do a birdwatchers for a cleaning run its cheaper than buying wine

Well shoot I kinda figured that might be the case. If it makes any difference I have no flux or soft solder in my boiler its all 15% silver brazing. Thanks for the fast response

Jbird.. how about running half the wash for cleaning and the other half for keeps. still get enough backset that way.

Andy Capp wrote:Jbird.. how about running half the wash for cleaning and the other half for keeps. still get enough backset that way.

That"s a fine idea. I got so wrapped up in the whole thing didn't even think of splitting it.

MAD AL wrote:I started making sweet feed whisky 18 months ago and have now done about 40 washes I couldn't get sweet feed here in the UK so made up my own using corn oats barley an molasses, Iv now got 9 gallons of a very nice whisky, I soak mine on JD wood chips for about a month be for adding 50ml of maple syrup.
Alan

50ml of maple syrup???? does it give the whiskey a sweet almost syrupy taste or does it just sweeten the flavor???

Dyce51 wrote:

MAD AL wrote:I started making sweet feed whisky 18 months ago and have now done about 40 washes I couldn't get sweet feed here in the UK so made up my own using corn oats barley an molasses, Iv now got 9 gallons of a very nice whisky, I soak mine on JD wood chips for about a month be for adding 50ml of maple syrup.
Alan

50ml of maple syrup???? does it give the whiskey a sweet almost syrupy taste or does it just sweeten the flavor???

It adds a slight buttery sweetness to the finished whisky
alan

Someone ( I forgot to quote the poster ) mentioned how chlorine in tap water ruins the taste of a wash. Just wanted to point out that there is no need to fear nor avoid chlorinated water. Simply run some tap water into buckets and let it sit. That's it. You can stir it to speed up the process, but chlorine will off-gas by itself. If you're in a hurry, you can boil it lightly. Or even add salt (though this might produce other unwanted off-flavors, not sure).

Chloramine is a different animal, good advice can be found here: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... chloramine

I was just wondering what kind of oak most people round here age their sweet feed with? i.e untoasted, medium toast, or what? I don't have a barrel so I will be using oak chips. I saw a recent post from MAD AL and he said he uses JD oak chips which may be good, but Jack isn't necessarily my choice for whiskey and I don't know that I would want to impart some of that flavor in my likker. I know it's just a matter of personal taste, but I was just wondering...

MAD AL wrote:

Dyce51 wrote:

MAD AL wrote:I started making sweet feed whisky 18 months ago and have now done about 40 washes I couldn't get sweet feed here in the UK so made up my own using corn oats barley an molasses, Iv now got 9 gallons of a very nice whisky, I soak mine on JD wood chips for about a month be for adding 50ml of maple syrup.
Alan

50ml of maple syrup???? does it give the whiskey a sweet almost syrupy taste or does it just sweeten the flavor???

It adds a slight buttery sweetness to the finished whisky
alan

sounds like a great Breakfast drink, corn oats barley and maple syrple..... dang me!

Kindred Soul:
Had the day off, so I finally made it over to Tractor Supply this morning. The closest store is 40 minutes away, so I had a nice ride. I grabbed a bag of Producers Prides all grain, a gallon of molasses for another project, and a couple of new buckets and lids, headed to the cash register. Before I could get there I had to pass this older looking fellow straight off the farm. He looks me in the eye, nods his head and gives me a friendly half smile as I am walking past. He looks down in my basket, looks back up at me gives me an even bigger smile and winks as he walks on past me. Busted, that ol boy knew exactly what I was up too!

I can't count how many times they ask me what I'm doing with the molasses at the feed store. Those deer love molasses on their sweet feed I tell them....

Stainless dude wrote:I can't count how many times they ask me what I'm doing with the molasses at the feed store. Those deer love molasses on their sweet feed I tell them....

Don't you know that you aren't supposed to feed the animals?

tell them its treats for good goats

Stainless dude wrote:I can't count how many times they ask me what I'm doing with the molasses at the feed store. Those deer love molasses on their sweet feed I tell them....

Same here Stainless, but its more with the sugar I buy at Sam's Club or the cases of pint & quart mason jars at Wally World. The people at Sam's think I have a cotton candy machine and the cashiers at Wally World think I'm canning vegetables..

First 20l ferment of Sweet Feed is almost ready to run, started it Saturday and its right on schedule to finish in 7 days with no xtra heat starting SG was 1.080 and its down in the 1.00-1.01 range .

What surprised me more is the 2nd 40L ferment. I started it Tuesday night, starting SG of 1.080. I checked it just a little while ago and its between 99.00 and 1.00. The difference, in the 20L ferment I used bakers yeast with no added heat, in the 40L batch I used distillers yeast and wrapped it with a electric blanket..

Now if they'll finish up I can run both this weekend..

Martin

Hi Martin, this recipe makes a nice tasty drink. Cheers have fun
SD

Ran this tempered with only water in the thump and got good results 50-35% extremely smooth whiskey. Kept backins 30% to put back in thump for next run so we get higher proof. Great taste for first run.

Just had a question about re-distilling. I have done quite a few runs of this whishy now and put some of the hearts on oak. Over time it really mellows out and looses some of its bite. What I'm wondering is if I was to just re-distill everything I have, not the oaked stuff but the plain will it speed up the process of getting a smoother whisky? I have jars ranging from 75%-45%, is it ok to just dump then into the still and go for it or should I dilute first with water or my next wash? Any help would be geat. Thanks.

The oak chemically reacts with the ethanol. Produces phenol vanalin etc so no, there is no substitute for long oak aging.

Super Matt wrote:Just had a question about re-distilling. I have done quite a few runs of this whishy now and put some of the hearts on oak. Over time it really mellows out and looses some of its bite. What I'm wondering is if I was to just re-distill everything I have, not the oaked stuff but the plain will it speed up the process of getting a smoother whisky? I have jars ranging from 75%-45%, is it ok to just dump then into the still and go for it or should I dilute first with water or my next wash? Any help would be geat. Thanks.

If you made good cuts just oak the hearts and your set. Save your feints and
Make a separate feint run or add some feints to each run. The sweet feed recipe is really smooth with just a short amount of time on oak, in my humble opinion. Have fun..