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Just a quick update. Looks like aerating the wash helped a lot. So i had an inital reading of 1.080 on sunday. Now its reading about 1.01. So it looks like its a better conversion then my previous attempts. 2 things i did different was higher temperature on the stall (perhaps a little too high) and aerated the wash before pitching the yeast.
So after reading Palmers book turns out leaving it over night is probably not the best, so i will chill the wort next time and play with that. Anyway, looks like i will have something decent to put in the still. Just need to let it settle and then rack it.
With my other ferments i noticed the grain settling at the bottom which is what i would expect. However after 5 days on this ferment the grain is still sitting up the top. Is this a good indicator hat the yeast is still working?

Cheers

Also, if the FG is 1.01 does this mean there are still sugars present that didn't get converted and in turn make a sweeter whiskey?

Looks good Dave. I dont recommend leaving mashes overnight. Its a prime bacteria temperature, and too many hours to leave them buggers to their will. There's lotsofstray organisms on malt, and it doesnt get pasteurized at mashing temps. Mash for 90 min, crash cool with a wort chiller coil, aerate well and get a big yeast starter going and you will have consistently good results.

Cheers,

Jimbo

Dave, you have the experts helping you and looks like your processes are going lots better. Congrats on that!! Question do you take your grains off and squeeze them out when its got a couple of days left to be finished or do you leave them in the barrel and just take liquid off the top? I didn't see anywhere you mentioned anything about that.

Cheers guys.
Thanks for the tips Jimbo. Took 3 screwed up washes....then a bit more reading to get those 3 very simply aspects together. Hahaha it all sounds so simple!
@ Halfbaked. At the moment i have no means of squeezing the grain. I may attempt at making a press that i can screw down and squeeze out the last little drop. My previous 3 washes i have fermented on grain and then release the liquid via a tap at the bottom. This time i will rack off the top of the grain. I put in a little more water to compensate for the thirsty grain sucking up all my wort Im slowly refining my process.

can i expect the SG to drop a bit lower?

You can pick up a paint strainer for $3 or $4 or old pillow case and use your hands.

5 gal bucket size paint straining bags are 3 for 2.99 at Menards

Well looks like the FG will settle on 1.010. I have taken it off the grain to settle in a second fermenter. What is everyone's best method for racking? I can use a racking cane but obviously it needs to sit above the sediment
I was half thinking about using a water purifier/micro filter. Will this strip all of the good stuff out as well?

It doesn't have to be beer clear. Let it settle for 1-2 days and pour it off the trub.

Righto, cheers

Well i ran my whiskey today. Not totally disappointing. I collected around 1.75L @ 45%. So i think the yield is a bit low and leading me to believe that my yeast is just pretty shit. Anyway, thats the last of it, now i will carry on with bakers yeast until i get my system down pat and then i can re-experiment with different yeast. It has a pretty nice taste i must admit, nice and peaty. Its tastes like....well, a whiskey!. I've put 2 dominos in there so we'll see how it tastes over the coming months. Cheers for the help and advice