Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

[MichiganCornhusker]

Does all the grain float to the top on your guys ferment and if so, does it eventually drop?
Also, can I use my fruit press to squeeze the spent grain to get the residual "juice"?

The grain cap will float on top during ferment and drop when the fermentations starts to wrap up.
Lots of ways to squeeze your grain. Fruit press would work well, just line it with something like a nylon paint strainer bag first.
Some guys will then run the cloudy juice cloudy. I've done that myself with corn and barley and not had scorching problems, but lately I've been letting the strained beer sit in carboys until the derbis settles out of suspension and then I rack off the clear beer to strip.
You have a good recipe going, I think you will really like the spirit, good luck!

[piperdave]

Thanks MC. This my first AG so was a little unsure of what to expect. As always, still learning and appreciate the wisdom of those who have gone before.

[bburton]

The Glenmorangie link does not work anymore.

http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow ... =11&t=1062

Anyone have another way to get to it?

[Fart Vader]

Ok, I've got a few runs of UJ under my belt. Tried a Wineos sugar wash.
Then I decided to try Jimbo's recipe, it just sound delicious and looks pretty easy !

Followed the recipe to a T, It's been five days sitting in my 72F basement.
This morning i took the lid off to take a peek and found this...

It looks like something from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
I'm not a gambling man, but I would say that is a monster mold colony. Am I pooched ?

[Bushman]

No check the SG and when it's done run it!

[jedneck]

Looks like a nice, lovely lacto infection to me. I would let it finish and run it. If you don't wanna run it many here would take it to run, myself included.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =3&t=56303

[Fart Vader]

Phew, thanks for the replies. I feel better now.
It just looks so nasty!

Still surprising, considering I meticulously disinfected everything during the prep.
FV

[J0hnni3]

Hi Jimbo,

I brewed this in order to introduce myself to the flavor of wheat, and a couple of jars just crossed 6 months so I'm starting to taste them. I'm finding that I love the concentrated flavor of wheat when at barrel strength, but not quite so much once diluted to 80 proof, at that point it's almost a little thin. I was curious if you have happened on any tips on emphasizing that flavor so it carries through better to bottle dilution?

[Jimbo]

Thats a tough question since there's so many variables at play. I like having a little tails in the barrel, have found they turn into flavor and the wet dog completely dissipates. I also bottle at 90 proof and have found a single ice cube brings out the fruit and flavor of the wheat. Normally Im a neat drinker.

[Kegg_jam]

It looks like something from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
I'm not a gambling man, but I would say that is a monster mold colony. Am I pooched ?

I've gotten that a few times. What's it smell like?

[Swedish Pride]

I'm also a neat drinker, until I had a few, then I'm a messy drinker

[Fart Vader]

I've gotten that a few times. What's it smell like?

Hmm, hard to describe. Something like sweet smelling puke, if there is such a thing.

It was my first AG and it was (almost) a complete failure.
Monster lacto infection. Of the 30 gallon ferment, I siphoned off 20g, I didn't let the last 10 gallons settle before charging the boiler (lesson learned the hard way).
At least I had the foresight to swap out my container for the 3rd stripping run.
Major scorch! Ruined the last charge. Took me a week of oven cleaner and steel brush to clean my element.

I managed to salvage about 3L of keeps after cuts. Tried the nuclear aging thing on about 1L. Couldn't stand the taste and ended up dumping that liter down the drain.

I was about to dump the remainder when I thought to myself "Hey I've got nothing to lose" so I threw some oak in and let it sit for 8 weeks.
What can I say except for WOW Amazing stuff. Glad I kept it. Down to the last liter already.

I've been malting my own wheat (so far with great results), so I'll be trying this recipe again soon.

[dodgebrown]

So I made two batches of this, one in wheat and another with barley.
Wheat had sharp smell to it will see how it ages. I dunno that's probably wheat smell...
Barley had terrible tendency to boil over, first time it happened to me and it happened 3 times during stripping runs. Is it barley or did I do something wrong?

[Jimbo]

So I made two batches of this, one in wheat and another with barley.
Wheat had sharp smell to it will see how it ages. I dunno that's probably wheat smell...
Barley had terrible tendency to boil over, first time it happened to me and it happened 3 times during stripping runs. Is it barley or did I do something wrong?

hmmm, nuthin sharp about wheat. Quite the opposite. Boil over likely due to ferment not done and settled yet.

[dodgebrown]

Thanks, Jimbo. It's hard to operate under cover and in isolation, although looks like some the forumites do get to meet and taste the products
Indeed, barley wash wasn't clear, once it settled it didn't puke anymore. I probably should have put less in the boiler.
I made strawberry and lingonberry (separately) PD with wheat sugarhead and it tastes yammi.

[Jimbo]

strawberry and lingonberry sounds delicious.

Summer's been weird here ths year, I got a whole lot of nuthin so far. Garden's for shit. Apples look like shite. Even the cherry tree was having an off year. Oh well, that's what the barrels of bourbons and whiskeys are for eh....

[seabass]

Jimbo, are you using anti foam? How much if so?

[Jimbo]

Yes I use a little fermcap-s. Not much, 5ml/cc in a small syringe, maybe a couple teaspoons in 13 gal.

[Soulshine]

I have 70 lbs of barley on the way (although 30 lbs of that is for beer), including 30 lbs of heavy peated malt. Looking forward to get some single malts going. I'm probably going to use White Labs Super High Gravity ale yeast because it seems to attenuate better than any other ale yeast. Once I get a consistent process I might experiment with other yeasts.

I'm searching this forum for a single malt scotch type recipe which with all the parts of a phrase broken up isn't exactly easy. Looks like you may have found it. Would you mind please sharing what you did and how it turned out? I'm looking to do a 5 gallon batch in a reflux . PM is fine. Thank you.

[Bourbon_Greg]

My local package store just got a single barrel of a very tasty Single Malt American Whiskey (Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey). This got me wanting to try to make something similar. According to the owner of the package store when he originally tasted the barrel samples, he was also shown a grain sample representing the 4 types of barley used (roast levels). He said it was in a tube and the bottom level was a dark color and each level above was lighter.

I am thinking some combination of pale, chocolate, crystal and ??? Not sure of the ratio.

I know that this is not much to go on, but does anyone have a mash bill that resembles this?

[Bourbon_Greg]

Any thoughts on this mash bill...

25 50.00% 2 Row Malt
17 34.00% Pilsner Malt
3 6.00% Chocolate Malt
5 10.00% Crystal Malt 20L

[Fart Vader]

I'm thinking you should try it.

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

I am a huge proponent, if not the proponent for specialty malt. I think your grains are great, but you might find that that much specialty malt, especially dark, is a little overwhelming.

I have a bourbon recipe that is similar, Sundae Chocolate Bourbon. It taste like a stout in a whiskey glass. You could replace the corn with more base malt, and keep it this style, if you want all malt.

Not saying don't try it, just suggesting maybe start with a little lower ratio of specialty and work up. A little goes a long way. Chocolate malt takes a year in my experience to tame.

Good luck

[der wo]

I am a huge proponent, if not the proponent for specialty malt. I think your grains are great, but you might find that that much specialty malt, especially dark, is a little overwhelming.

Just sipping 100% weyerman Special W Malt Whisky, 9 months old. Great. Also 100% dark roasted malt tastes great. But it's not really Whisky. IMO you can use what you want. But if you want a normal Whisky don't use any speciality malts (except peated of course).

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

Different taste for different folks. In my experience, a little went along way. If I were to make something with 100% specialty malt, perhaps I would be hesitant to call it whiskey, too.

I was advising as to make a whiskey with special characteristics.

I disagree that you have to use plain barley in order to make a 'normal' whiskey. A little chocolate malt does add dark chocolate notes to a regular whiskey. Adding a little toasted malt adds a nutty toasted layer to your regular whiskey. This is much different than going overboard and expecting a regular whiskey.

Edit to add- BG this in no way was meant to discourage your plan. It is a fine recipe, and it is no where near the 100% type spirit that der was making. It will be strong, but may be right what your looking for. If you find that it is losing its whiskey characteristics, then you can always adjust to the level you like. Give it a shot and tell us how it goes

[Bourbon_Greg]

Thanks! This is jut the type of comments I was hoping for! In the Chocolate Sundae the chocolate and caramel seem to be 5% each of the total. I think I will start there on those two.

How about the pilsner vs the 2-row? What type of flavor difference do these offer?

[der wo]

How about the pilsner vs the 2-row? What type of flavor difference do these offer?

Pilsner is a 2-row too. Most malts are 2-row. Only the malt for Bourbon or Rye is 6-row normally.

[Jimbo]

How about the pilsner vs the 2-row? What type of flavor difference do these offer?

In a beer a pilsner malt is processed to be slighter lighter and crisper that a straight 2 row base malt. In a whiskey I dont think you'd notice the difference. More important is the source of malt. It's pretty widely accepted that English, Belgian and German malts are better, maltier than American counter parts. I find this to be true too. Im a fan of Weyerman and Castle malts (Germany, Belgium). In a beer Munich Malt gives a maltier backbone. Would probably notice this in a single malt whiskey as well, particularly if its a Weyerman Munich over an American Munich roasting. I wouldnt use it in a bourbon tho. Munich are roasted darker and the extra heat results in lower enzyme, so its not best when using it to convert a shitpile of corn. Here's a handy infograph on malts and their flavor profiles.

[jonnys_spirit]

I started an all wheat batch this weekend 60lbs for 30gallons wort. I ran it through a mash tun igloo cooler and used 6.5gal as my strike water @160F on 20lbs grain with 3.5gal for sparging. I divided 40# of the spent grain up into four paint strainer bags, tied them off and put them into the two fermenters. 20# went to the compost pile. 2x 20gal brutes are close to full with the grain and the wort. SG is about 1.070 and yeasties are rehydrated and pitched

With that much wheat I also mixed in 5lbs dried rice hulls fir some bulk and to prevent stuck lauter.

I'll see how the ferment goes and racking the wash a bit but probably will be able to do the stripping of three 10gallon charges in a couple weeks and rack off sediment to carboys in a week.

Plan to run it down to 0% for low wines. Might do that a second time too before spirit run for high wines.

I did this with a 40# barley and absolutely love it! I've gotton better with mash efficiency by letting it mash longer and reheating about 1gallon of wort to a boil then adding it back in to get it up closer to 150F as it rests. I prefer using the mash tun then bagging the grain so I can ferment on grain and have easier time separating the grain once AF is done. May make another 10gal mashtun cooler so this will be an easier mash-day process.

Cheers!
-j

[jonnys_spirit]

This turned out great and I got about 2.5 gallons of 130pf now aging on a combination of used oak sticks pulled from a merlot/cab sav blend, and new toasted oak.. In my 13 gallon pot still I ended up doing three distillation runs for a total of 6x times running the boiler... I experimented with adding backset to the washes and various low wines. Backset also developed infections which was fun... Anyway the wheat liquor tastes pretty good as it ages and develops... I'll need to do similar with some corn and barley now

Cheers!
-j