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qball wrote:I'm down to 1.000 on the ferment. I "may" run the low wines tonight!

I need to free up the conical fermenter for a Dry Porter I'm brewing on Sunday!

what is the % abv? get it all, go down to 1%.

7.4% is estimated based on SG.

I ran it and got about 1.35 gallons.

I had an issue with some foaming at first which I corrected with lowering the heat a few notches. I didn't experience that with my Sweetfeed washed, but read this can happen with all grain ferments.

Lesson learned.

King Of Hearts wrote:I thought I made some good single malt, then I drink the real stuff and get blown away, lol.

Haha. How is it different? I have a theory that for single malt they actually make the cuts so that there's a fair amount of rough stuff. It's not the most approachable spirit after all.

King Of Hearts wrote: I used sticks from Oak Solutions Group from my bourbon and a new charred one, and 150 ml of Olorosso Sherry in 3/4 gal of single malt from Marris Otter pale ale.

You put actual sherry in your whisky?

qball wrote:I ran it and got about 1.35 gallons.

I had an issue with some foaming at first which I corrected with lowering the heat a few notches. I didn't experience that with my Sweetfeed washed, but read this can happen with all grain ferments.

Lesson learned.

I had that on my last low wines run. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't filter it enough or because my still was a bit full.

Whenever I drink store bought scotch, I never taste or even sense the barrel/wood per se. It always the other stuff, and malt barley if I'm lucky Mind you, I'm no expert or anything. Just my limited experience talking. It's like it's aged in malty air.

Try a light scotch. Try Glenmorangie - that's almost ALL wood, but it certainly has finesse!

peanutaxis wrote:

King Of Hearts wrote:I thought I made some good single malt, then I drink the real stuff and get blown away, lol.

Haha. How is it different? I have a theory that for single malt they actually make the cuts so that there's a fair amount of rough stuff. It's not the most approachable spirit after all.

King Of Hearts wrote: I used sticks from Oak Solutions Group from my bourbon and a new charred one, and 150 ml of Olorosso Sherry in 3/4 gal of single malt from Marris Otter pale ale.

You put actual sherry in your whisky?

Yes, they use sherry butts too, so I'm sure some of that gets in the whisky, it gives it a spiceiness and of course sherry notes.

Listen to a Master Distillery of 35 years explain cuts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcAjnvAn6MY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Interesting, especially the blue bloom part from 2:50 - cutting from 70% down to 35% creates a blue bloom.

Amazing how they lock down their output. Great story about the bolt!

blind drunk wrote:Interesting, especially the blue bloom part from 2:50 - cutting from 70% down to 35% creates a blue bloom.

Yes, that's what made me post it, Too bad I have nothing on hand to try it, next time.

King Of Hearts wrote:Listen to a Master Distillery of 35 years explain cuts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcAjnvAn6MY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Wow, that's a great find. Listen to this part, he says they don't even rest the mash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nscCh2GO ... u#t=02m35s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Love the (small) scale nature of the distillery - hand and eye

peanutaxis wrote:

King Of Hearts wrote:Listen to a Master Distillery of 35 years explain cuts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcAjnvAn6MY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Wow, that's a great find. Listen to this part, he says they don't even rest the mash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nscCh2GO ... u#t=02m35s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

That's because it takes so long to fill and its 90% converted in 15 mins.

Ah, I see. Of course.

Oh my gosh.

It looks like they actually HAVE sat down with a gas chromatograph, chemicals, and their noses and worked out which chemical compounds produce which flavours!

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=e ... -1ur48aE-A" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Another thing is at Edradour they age in used American bourbon barrels, plain barrels and only finish in sherry butts up to two years. Which you have to be diligent and not over do it as some other's are. I over sherried some but it's still good, next time I'll know, great video.

To my knowledge they all do that. i.e. no-one ages for the full term in anything non-bourbon, they all only 'finish' them in sherry, port, sauternes...

Sippin some now, I changed my mind, I really like it today. I added more plain to it so 100 ml sherry in 3/4 gal.

Haha. How long has it been so far? And it already tastes good?

peanutaxis wrote:Haha. How long has it been so far? And it already tastes good?

Bout 2 months. It tasted good right off the run. Aging with used bourbon sticks and 1 new charred stick. My un-sherried also, both are good just a bit different.

Nice. I need to get my a into g and blend my first [micro-]product.

Has anyone found a source to purchase cubes/sticks that have already been used for bourbon by a distillery? I understand that a lot of the harshness and tannins from the oak have already been removed from the first use.

I guess I could take some new toasted oak cubes and soak them in some Maker's Mark or something...

Since I am new I don't have a steady supply of already used sticks.

qball wrote:Has anyone found a source to purchase cubes/sticks that have already been used for bourbon by a distillery? I understand that a lot of the harshness and tannins from the oak have already been removed from the first use.

I guess I could take some new toasted oak cubes and soak them in some Maker's Mark or something...

Since I am new I don't have a steady supply of already used sticks.

You could use some Jack Daniels BBQ chips, from their barrels. I use these, 34 sticks, 8” x 1.25” x 3/8” pieces. $50 delivered to your door, last year anyway. Will last you awhile too. So make some bourbon.

http://oaksolutionsgroup.com/pages/prod ... gstix.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Are those Oak Solutions sticks NEW oak? Or are the from a previously used bourbon barrel?

I'd like to find sticks made from a previously used bourbon barrel (and not chips).

qball wrote:Are those Oak Solutions sticks NEW oak? Or are the from a previously used bourbon barrel?

I'd like to find sticks made from a previously used bourbon barrel (and not chips).

New, toasted. Then you would have to buy a barrel from a micro possible.

King Of Hearts wrote: You could use some Jack Daniels BBQ chips, from their barrels.

That's what I'm going to use, except In a barrel the liquor is only really exposed to the side-grain of the wood, not the xylem and phloem (end grain). It seems to me that putting chunks in will expose the liquor to a large volume of untoasted oak via the liquor flowing through all of those capillaries. So I'm going to slice them real thin and toast them.

peanutaxis wrote:Oh my gosh.

It looks like they actually HAVE sat down with a gas chromatograph, chemicals, and their noses and worked out which chemical compounds produce which flavours!

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=e ... -1ur48aE-A" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

This is one that I posted in a thread I started. You might enjoy another couple reads in it.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 3#p6979453

peanutaxis wrote:

King Of Hearts wrote: You could use some Jack Daniels BBQ chips, from their barrels.

That's what I'm going to use, except In a barrel the liquor is only really exposed to the side-grain of the wood, not the xylem and phloem (end grain). It seems to me that putting chunks in will expose the liquor to a large volume of untoasted oak via the liquor flowing through all of those capillaries. So I'm going to slice them real thin and toast them.

They also use plain barrels untoasted, try a small amount in a jar and see what happens in a week.