uncle jesse's simple sour mash method

[Black Eye]

I was thinking the same thing Jimbo. There was a good post here somewhere here it was like 55% ins 65% one was more Carmel and one was more vanilla. Wish I subscribed to that cause it was pretty informative.

I was reading the same thing about the aging in barrels too.

I read all these questions about cuts but personally I think there are so many more issues and variables to worry about with good solid aging. Especially since it takes a hell of a lot longer to get it done.

[frozenthunderbolt]

I was thinking the same thing Jimbo. There was a good post here somewhere here it was like 55% ins 65% one was more Carmel and one was more vanilla. Wish I subscribed to that cause it was pretty informative.

Basic graphic is here:
http://homedistiller.org/aging/aging/wood

[AlaskaHooch]

I saw a post about heating up the shine with an oak stick in the jar .... get this...in the microwave , That scares the crap out of me . Even if it is just for 2 minuets. Think I will stay with the slow method. At any rate I have my alcohol meter in the mail and will be able to do it right then. I still have my 4th run to do then let it age for a bit first so I have some time.


Thanks guys
AlaskaHooch

[varocketry]

Punkin:

Question about your early comment:

If you're looking for more of the flavour to come through Husker, try using tween ten and twenty percent fresh wash mixed into your strip before running a spirit run. ......
Works on all washes, on valuable ones like allgrains or allfruits i use tween seventy and eighty percent wash to strip and on my mollasses base washes i'm getting into now i plan on using tween forty and fifty percent wash/low wines ratio to keep the flavour up.

Should I understand that to mean that after you finish the stripping run, you add 10%-20% new fermented wash into the Low Wines mix for the spirit run? And a much higher percentage of new fermented wash (70-80%) for allgrains/allfruits mixed with stripped(low wines) into the Spirit tun?

First time I've read something like this, wanted to make sure I understood it correctly. Thanks.

[Odin]

Van,

This is what I call "Distilling 1.5". Not distilling a fast strip (no. 1) and then a spirit run (no. 2), but stripping a wash (no. 1) and adding a fresh wash to that. And doing a spirit run on that.

The thing you want to aim for is abv. Do you want to drink it white? Shoot for 50%, so add a lot of fresh wash. Maybe 2 on 1 low wines. That way your hearts, after the spirit run, will need as little water as possible for dilution to drinking strength. Do you want to age on wood? Shoot for 60% hearts after the strip. This means you will have to add less fresh wash to keep the total abv a bit higher to start from.

Now go get that perfect UJ!

Regards, Odin.

[AlaskaHooch]

WARNING... if you are not a seasoned drinker (like myself) DO NOT slam a shot of UJSM.... it will hit your stomach and your mouth will salivate like your about to toss your cookies (because it is on its way back up). I am glad I had a glass of water close by. I could not speak or breath for about five minuets. I thought because it smelled so good and I have been testing for smell and flavor that I would be ok.... This I have found out the hard way, is for sippin only....at least for me. Oh and BTW. I didnt have any problems sleeping that night either...On my #4 run now and I am totally stoked. Thank You Uncle Jesse.

AlaskaHooch

[Fastill]

WARNING... if you are not a seasoned drinker (like myself) DO NOT slam a shot of UJSM.... it will hit your stomach and your mouth will salivate like your about to toss your cookies (because it is on its way back up). I am glad I had a glass of water close by. I could not speak or breath for about five minuets. I thought because it smelled so good and I have been testing for smell and flavor that I would be ok.... This I have found out the hard way, is for sippin only....at least for me. Oh and BTW. I didnt have any problems sleeping that night either...On my #4 run now and I am totally stoked. Thank You Uncle Jesse.

AlaskaHooch

You just need to proof it down a bit!! UJ is very smooth at PROPER drinking strength. (if distilled properly )

[AlaskaHooch]

Rodger that Fastill,
I have an alcohol meter on its way. I will be able to temper it then. Have a full gallon of hearts awaiting testing. I love the taste fresh out of the worm so I got the idea a bigger taste would be better. Not only am I novice at makin shine but at drinking too Let the lessons begin

AlaskaHooch

[SailorJerry]

Recently I ran into a problem! A great one to have but cant figure out how to redo what Ive done. Hers the deal... I ran my first 40 gal batch of ujssm. One 50# bag o corn 40# sugar. Did my first string run of the first 10gal and the 3rd half gal jug tested at 110 proof but had a wonderful aroma of peaches apples flowers n such. I pulled this jug and have it in the hiding for special ocassions like a nip or two for me and my buds right before my wedding a few weeks ago. Everyone who has had the privalige of sampling this fine jug has asked for some and if I could make more. Ive tried and tried and I cant figure out how to make it again! If I could produce this exact product everytime and for the whole run I would be onto something! Any suggestions ? Anyone ?

[Jimbo]

The corn and sugar part are easy to duplicate. Use the exact same yeast and ferment at exactly the same temperature. Yeast has a huge impact on flavor. Pull that jug then try running the rest a second time after bringing it down to 40%. It will clean it up and you should get close to the flavor of 3 on some again. Those sweet fruity esters you like come over early so make tighter (smaller) cuts on the heads and squeeze what you can out of them.

[HoBo Bill]

Your first distillation run will be a "sweet" run since you will not have any backset to use for sour mashing. I recommend using the spirits you collect in your first run as feints for the next run. Yes, all of them. Your second run will produce your first batch of sour mash, which will be good, but in truth the flavour and consistency will not start to reach their peak until the third or fourth run in my experience.

Are you out of your mind? What the hell did you just say?

[Jbidlack]

Hi everyone. I have been reading this post for weeks. Have a few questions. I run 3 gallon batches. Just ran my first stripping run. I ran my reflux unpacked in pot still mode. I'm planning on doing 4 stripping runs then one slow spirit run. For the spirit run should I run it in reflux to get it nice and pure? I'm only halfway thru on this thread. I just ran it to one quart is this fine for a 3 gallon stripping run or should I run more than that?

[copperhead46]

I've run 9 or 10 of the ujssm and love it. The last batch is cooking now and it isn't right, I tasted the beer and it taste like corn syurp, the mash worked for a couple of weeks, but really slow, did I need to add more yeast? I am going to cook off what I can get out of this and start again, should I pour off some of the corn and ad more yeast or maybe just a yeast nutrient?
This is just the second gen of this batch, so I wouldn't think it had used up the corn, but I sure don't know what happened, unless the back set was too hot and I killed some of my yeast, help please.........

[AlaskaHooch]

I've run 9 or 10 of the ujssm and love it. The last batch is cooking now and it isn't right,

Check your ph.... it needs to be close to 5

AlaskaHooch

[copperhead46]

The only test strips I have are for my salt water tank, and it shows ph below 6.5, don't know if that's a true reading or not. I put 1 1/4 gal of backset in the carboy, with 7 lbs of sugar dissolved in it, added a pkt of 1118 and a couple tsps. of yeast nutrient. I realized that with the corn, I can only add 4 gals of liquid, but that shouldn't make it not go to work, cuz that's what I 've used all along. It's been 14 hours and it's barely bubbling, worried that it won't start. I made sure the backset and sugar were between 80 and 90 degrees, but the temp of the mash this morning is almost 100, the temp in the room is 80. Anyone got any suggestions???

[Prairiepiss]

Place a wet towel over it. And a fan blowing on it.

[copperhead46]

Ok, wet towel, fan and sitting in front of the ac, the temp has finally dropped to 95. Now, do I pitch more yeast or wait and see if this will start to work??
this has been another lesson in whiskey making, I never paid any attention to the temp of the mash, just made sure the back set wasn't too hot, never occurred to me that the mash would be that hot, it's sitting in my kitchen, big open area , room temp stays about 80. this might explain why the sweet feed wasn't working like I thought it should, it was always too sweet, with a low yield. Ill start pay more attention to the temp......arrggggggg,

[Braz]

For the spirit run should I run it in reflux to get it nice and pure?

No. If you do that you will remove all that good sour mash corny flavor you have worked so hard to get.

[copperhead46]

After reading till my eyes have crossed, I have decided to add two tsps. of Epsom salts and a tsp of citric acid, if that doesn't get it to working, I'm just going to toss it, unless anyone has another idea. The mash is all quiet, but if you shake the carboy it foams for about a minute then settles back to no movmemt, I'm stumped.

[Dnderhead]

if using "back set" then you dont want to add citric acid both lower the PH.
your strips will work as your looking for a PH above 5,,below this the ferment will slow..bread yeast will work at/over 100f .
ok you say if you shake it ,it foams? if you repeat and it foams again then it must be working or you would not git a build up of Co2 (just slooooow)
best way to check if working is a SG reading,,take one now,,another in a day or so,,if different then its still working ,if not then for whatever reason it has stopped.

[goblin]

maybe you have a leak around your airlock. sounds like it is still working.
good luck copperhead

[Jbidlack]

For the spirit run should I run it in reflux to get it nice and pure?

No. If you do that you will remove all that good sour mash corny flavor you have worked so hard to get.

What if I run the column without any packing? I thought that was posted in the origional thread.

[copperhead46]

if using "back set" then you dont want to add citric acid both lower the PH.
your strips will work as your looking for a PH above 5,,below this the ferment will slow..bread yeast will work at/over 100f .
ok you say if you shake it ,it foams? if you repeat and it foams again then it must be working or you would not git a build up of Co2 (just slooooow)
best way to check if working is a SG reading,,take one now,,another in a day or so,,if different then its still working ,if not then for whatever reason it has stopped.

Dnder, thanks for the heads up about the backset lowering the ph, I'll remember that for sure. The Epsom salts seems to have done the trick, it's bubbling away right now, been going for about 24 hrs, so fingers crossed. I want to thank you for getting in and helping me with this, I do appreciate it. I took the sg reading and it's 1.010, but the mash temp is 76, so I've got to figure the reading taking into account the temp, so I'm gonna call it 1.035, I'll check it again tomarrow.
so much to learn.

[Demonic]

Please excuse if this has been covered I could not read anymore without going blind.. I usually do sweetfeed and wanted to try USJM.

At the very start of the first ferment... Is corn, water and sugar all added COLD? Ujsm instructions just says add ingredients. Sweetfeed instructions starts with BOILING HOT WATER sugar and sweetfeed..stir for 15 minutes then let cool for yeast. Wondering if there is a reason not to heat the corn or was that step just left out?

Thanks in advance and hope I am not looking to much into this

[F6Hawk]

Boiling the sugar and water has its place. Sugar dissolves easier in hot water for one. For two, if you boil your sugar for 15-20 minutes with some acid (citric, or lemon juice, for example), you are then inverting the sugar, or making it easier for the yeasties to eat it.

Is it NECESSARY? No. As long as you don't shock your yeast (hydrate it at 110° then pitch it at 60° for example), and your sugar dissolves, you are good. 8-10 lbs of sugar dissolve fairly well in 5 gallons of cold water. The same amount of sugar will dissolve easily in 2 gals of hot water. And... the terms "cold" and "hot" are relative. My tap water is about 37~38° right now, but in the winter, gets down to 34~35°. So I always heat mine up to around 70~75° either with heat or by sitting in the bucket overnight. I also hydrate my yeast around 100~115°, then let it cool to room temp before i pitch it to avoid that "shock" I mentioned. Adding a little water from the bucket 4-5 times helps to bring the temps closer together.

[Jmcdaniel0]

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. I have spent the last week or so reading over this thread, and as of last night I started my second generation with no problems.

[AlaskaHooch]

Hello fellow HD'rs,
I have to stop my fermentation for a few weeks, 3 maybe 4 weeks because we will be out of town. My Beloved cleared out the top shelf of the fridge so I could put 2 gallons of backset and a large SS bowl of corn that I want to save until we return. (Eat your hearts out fellas ). My question is, will my stash be ok in the fridge for this long or do I need to freeze it instead?

Thanks in advance for your recommendations,
AlaskaHooch

[NZChris]

You can put down a batch before you go. As long as it is airlocked it'll be ok.

[Rclark12]

So this is a new one for me, currently double distilling as I always do, and this spirit run is coming off hot, tastes like cinnamon or big red or something. I've never even had this issue with the heads and now Im just about into the hearts. Maybe running this batch back threw with some ujssm mash will help it out? Ill let it sit only covered by cheesecloth and see if it mellows but if not I guess throwing it back in with wash is best choice?

[Odin]

I'd freeze the backset in plastic bottles. Use fresh corn/yeast on staring up again.

Odin