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Ok got a question........ It says it should take 4-5 days but my mash is still bubbling like crazy and this is day 7..... should I just let it go until it slows way down? I have it in a sealed 5 gallon bucket with a air lock I have not opened the whole time...... I have it in a closet by the Furness so it is staying 72 F or above..... Any help would be helpful, I want a great tasting liquor I'm in no rush.....

Just let it continue to ferment. It gives you extra alcohol and more esters.

Odin.

What is the average number of times you can use the grain in the bucket until you should pitch it all and start fresh? I add a cup of cracked corn everytime, but just wanted to know when it would be wise to pitch the entire bucket of corn and place a brand new 4 inches of corn. Thank you

MOOSE1504 wrote:Ok got a question........ It says it should take 4-5 days but my mash is still bubbling like crazy and this is day 7..... should I just let it go until it slows way down? I have it in a sealed 5 gallon bucket with a air lock I have not opened the whole time...... I have it in a closet by the Furness so it is staying 72 F or above..... Any help would be helpful, I want a great tasting liquor I'm in no rush.....

mine just went for almost 10 days - as long as it has an airlock on it you can just kick it until fermentation is done.

Stillallday,

about 4 to 5 times without replacements.

Odin.

Stillallday wrote:What is the average number of times you can use the grain in the bucket until you should pitch it all and start fresh? I add a cup of cracked corn everytime, but just wanted to know when it would be wise to pitch the entire bucket of corn and place a brand new 4 inches of corn. Thank you

Remove your "spent" grain (that which is an off color from the rest), and replace it with new corn every time you rack off your wash. I personally have not run this yet, as I am doing several runs of SF first, but I have read in this long thread that many get over 5 generations, and some go as much as 10. As long as you mind your Ph (if you are adding backset each time, it gets more acidic) and don't kill your yeast, I'd say keep going until you were unhappy with the flavor.

I know there is a TON to absorb here, but read, read, read. I have a buddy who got me into this hobby, he got a recipe, got a still, made a mash, and started drinking his first output with no sacrificial run. He tells me I am WAY over-thinking by all the reading I do here, but I prefer to learn from others mistakes, and I really want my output to be the best that it can. And the great thing about this hobby is you CAN use a tried and true recipe (recommend it for learning), but you don't HAVE to use one, develop your own. Make your cuts when the flavor is good for YOU, not based on what you read here. I have read some folks prefer more tails, some more heads, and some hearts only. SO MANY VARIABLES go into making a brew that pleases your own taste buds.

Have fun, I know I am!!

I thank of heads and tales like making a sweet and sour sauce some is ok but to much of one or the other spoils the brew.so you shift one way or the other from center, depending what your making and where the flavor is.this is rather simple if you use the "jar method". as you gain experience you can cut down on the number of jars.if drinking in the "white" probably less ,if aging then a bit more.

Thank you Odon and F6Hawk. Duly noted! Shine on!

Thanks for all the extremely useful information it has been a huge help!

I am up to my 5th gen and things have slowed right down. 20l fermenter at 1.040sg after a week starting at 1.065. I thought the PH may be a bit low so have added some sodium Bicarb and it has taken off again so hopefully this speeds things up.

I have been doing stripping runs and then did a spirit run with gen 2-4 2 days ago. I have attempted to do cuts after collecting in small jars and allowing to air for 24 hours. I think i did an okay job.

I now have it bottled in 5 1l bottles at 65% some with toasted oak and some with charred oak.

Do you guys have the lids on the bottles during ageing? or should i leave them off to allow any of the volatile alcohols I missed in making my cuts to evaporate?

Hey guys, I tried this recipe out tonight and I have a few questions for the wise ones... I followed the recipe exactly but ended up with a SG of 1.095. I added water to lower the sg, but was only able to lower it to 1.085 before my fermenter was getting full (making a 10 gallon batch but ended up with like 12 after adding extra water). I was worried that my yeast would stall due to the high sg so I aerated the wash for 30 minutes and added the recommended amount of DAP and wyeast nutrient. I rehydrated 5 packs of EC-1118 and pitched...I will lower the amount of sugar I use next time, but for this batch, do you think it will be salvageable with such a high sg?

Hi guys. I have a question. I've been running sweet feed for a while and I want to start running ujssm. What do you think of using sweet feed dunder for my first fermintation of ujssm??
I have read where some have mixed sweet feed and ujssm after distilling with good results, so I thought using the dunder might work out ok...Thanks for your help.
SD

bowhunter wrote:Hey guys, I tried this recipe out tonight and I have a few questions for the wise ones... I followed the recipe exactly but ended up with a SG of 1.095. I added water to lower the sg, but was only able to lower it to 1.085 before my fermenter was getting full (making a 10 gallon batch but ended up with like 12 after adding extra water). I was worried that my yeast would stall due to the high sg so I aerated the wash for 30 minutes and added the recommended amount of DAP and wyeast nutrient. I rehydrated 5 packs of EC-1118 and pitched...I will lower the amount of sugar I use next time, but for this batch, do you think it will be salvageable with such a high sg?

It should be fine... That SG equates to a potential of ~12.25% - ~14.5%, depending on the FG... Just monitor it to make sure it doesn't get too hot as that's the biggest problem with high gravity washes...

1118 is a wine yeast with a pretty high alc tolerance, 18% max, so the range youre in has some margin, and with the nutes you added, yeasties should stay happy.

"Can be used in a wide range of wines including late harvest version where the alcohol tolerance is a perfect fit. Ferments from 45 to 95 degrees with an alcohol tolerance of 18%."

Stainless dude wrote:Hi guys. I have a question. I've been running sweet feed for a while and I want to start running ujssm. What do you think of using sweet feed dunder for my first fermintation of ujssm??
I have read where some have mixed sweet feed and ujssm after distilling with good results, so I thought using the dunder might work out ok...Thanks for your help.
SD

I wouldn't do it. The UJSSM is where the corn shines. The dark dunder would over power that subtle corn taste. My UJ clears out to lemonaide, unlike my SFW which stays a dark brown.

Made it to page 179, what a great amount of information. Thanks to everyone for contributing.

I am interested in making scotch (barley) as opposed to bourbon (corn). Does anyone have experience using the UJSSM method with Barley instead of corn? What results have you gotten?

Just thought I would update progress... After four days the sg has dropped to 1.045. The krausen has started to subside. Airlock is bubbling once every 2-3 seconds.. Hoping it'll finish out. If the yeast peters out before it finishes, What would be the maximum finishing gravity that you could run without scorching the remaining sugars? Thanks guys. Happy Easter!

If it's still bubbling every 2-3 seconds don't keep checking the SG, leave it alone your not going to scorch the sugar it can set for quite a while after it has finished fermenting before you have to run it.

Hi, i have not successfully made this recipe, the first time was because I "tasted" all the first run, i am on my second run and after the first distillation i put the backwash in with the corn and added 7lbs of sugar, i am not seeing any fermentation, is the alcohol content too high for the yeast?
btw the five gallon received 9 pints of backwash (130 proof to about 50) and no it was not hot when i put it in.

any suggestions?

Johnben wrote:btw the five gallon received 9 pints of backwash (130 proof to about 50) and no it was not hot when i put it in.

any suggestions?

JB, I think you meant backset, not backwash. Backset is that wash which is left over in the still after distillation ends. Mix this with sugar, let it cool to approx your ongoing ferment is, and fill up with water. This backset contributes acidity to the ferment, which help the yeast thrive.

I think what you are describing is your tails/feints, which will be high in alcohol. THIS can be saved (along with heads, if you so desire), watered down to 40% ABV or less, and added to the next run thru your still. Putting 65% alcohol in a mix with yeast, which can't live above 12~18% ABV, is probably going to near kill your yeast culture, or at least stress it greatly, depending on your resultant SG in the ferment bucket.

I've read alot of pages here, but haven't really seen if experience says that the best ujssm is an all low wine run with whiskey dilluted by water or if people perfer dilluting the whiskey down with a wash? Thanks to this recipe Im finally dipping my toes into true sour mashing and my first time actually double distilling my spirits. I am about 2 runs away from having enough shine to run it all back threw the still. Just not sure what I should dillute to a lower abv with. Can't wait to try it and see how its different(both the older generations and also a double distilled ujssm) Thanks guys!

Rclark12 wrote:I've read alot of pages here, but haven't really seen if experience says that the best ujssm is an all low wine run with whiskey dilluted by water or if people perfer dilluting the whiskey down with a wash? Thanks to this recipe Im finally dipping my toes into true sour mashing and my first time actually double distilling my spirits. I am about 2 runs away from having enough shine to run it all back threw the still. Just not sure what I should dillute to a lower abv with. Can't wait to try it and see how its different(both the older generations and also a double distilled ujssm) Thanks guys!

if you want more flavor use wash or backset if you want less flavor use water

Makes sense thanks, I guess in due time Ill give both ways a shot.

I think I left my wash go too long before distilling. I had to put it off for two weeks and this week I was going to distill it and there was a layer of what looked like some kind of mold. The smell was off, it smelt moldy and sour. Can a wash go bad?

Oh yes, a wash can go bad. Some molds are harmless tho. Scoop it aside and grab a shotglass of the liquid. If it tastes good, a little sour is normal. It will still out. If it tastes funky, off, putrid, youre done. Pitch it. Sterilize the hell out of everything and start over.

Thanks jim

The wash tasted ok and it distilled out nicely at 70%

tony2k35 wrote:The wash tasted ok and it distilled out nicely at 70%

Excellent.

This is a total newbie question, but I've got a problem and I need some help understanding something.

I followed this recipe pretty closely and my first batch the ferment measured about 12% ABV in a 5 gallon wash. This distilled nicely into about four or five quarts ranging from 60% ABV down to about 30% ABV. I then took about 2 gallons of backset, added it to 3 fresh gallons of water and the old corn in the fermenter and I added 48 hour turbo yeast. I let this sit for about a week and when I measured the second batch, it was 10% ABV. I distilled that (and threw in the entire five quarts from the first distillation as per the instructions). This rendered about the same as the first batch more or less - that is, about 5 quarts of good whiskey ranging from 60% ABV to about 30% ABV. On to batch three. I used about 2.5 gallons of backset along with fresh corn, water, 8 lbs of sugar and another 48 hour turbo yeast. This time, after about 10 days, I measured and the ABV was down to 8%. I thought this was weird, but I distilled it anyway and this time I only got 3 quarts ranging from 55% ABV down to 26% ABV. I figured I'd done something wrong, and continued to use the backset for batch four. I thought maybe I hadn't distilled all the alcohol out of the wash and that the alcohol killed the yeast, or maybe I didn't use enough sugar. So this time I checked the backset and it registered 0% ABV. I used 2.5 gallons of it along with fresh corn, water, and 10 lbs of sugar. To that I added another 48 hour turbo yeast. After four days I checked the wash and it registered 2% ABV. I waited another day and it was the same. There was no more bubbling and everything had settled. What went wrong? Should I throw this out and start again or is there a way to save it. According to the recipe, the whiskey gets better the more times you re-use the sour mash backset so I'd like to save it if I can. Your advice is appreciated.

VegasTK

Really....Turbo yeast???

You had your turbo yeast recipe wrong. You pour turbo yeast in the trash and then use bakers yeast. Read around here you will see this site isn't very bg on turbo yeast because it produces off flavors and higher abv washes produce lower quality drinks. Read around you'll figure it all out. You also dont need to pitch yeast everytime, there is already yeast in the grain bed