Honey Bear Bourbon

[Shiny Coke]

I've read ice is not a recommended way to cool the mash as there are a lot of bacteria etc floating around freezers and probably even more in commercially supplied jeopardising sanitation efforts. Sounds like you've been doing this for some time MC so I'm sure it works but wonder if you've ever had an infection stemming from this method?

[MichiganCornhusker]

What??? The bag says "Healthier Than Homemade" right on it!
Yeah, a wort chiller is probably a better option, but I think I probably have a better chance of infection from my bulk malted grains.
I've had a few lacto infections, but never anything worse, and I don't know that I can blame the ice for those.

[JoeyZR1]

Hello! I have been following this topic and this bourbon has really got my attention. I don't want to be spoonfed but I would like some feedback. I ordered 3lb of honey malt, 5lb each of the other malts. Gonna use 35 to 40lb of corn. Planning on making 25 to 30 gallon wash. Just to be safe, my ratios should be fine?? I am debating using steam injection to mash in. Or just following normal protocol with propane burner. By using steam , do you have any opinions as to which method would be best? Also I like to use bakers yeast as well. But here in Alabama, it's been hot !!! I have used DADY in the past also. But not having an efficient method of keeping the mash cool, would y'all wait until the temps drop some before i mash in?


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[jedneck]

for cooking corn you cant beat steam. no ifs and or butts. its stupid easy and quick cookin with steam. far as ratio im to deep in the cups to do the math

[JoeyZR1]

for cooking corn you cant beat steam. no ifs and or butts. its stupid easy and quick cookin with steam. far as ratio im to deep in the cups to do the math

i am in the same boat as you, in the cup to much also!! My only concern about the steam would be addition of the honey malt. The more I sit here thinking about the steam, I don't see any problems using my steam rig. I am also on the "fence" about adding a little seb htl in the beginning with the corn. I know the temp will denature the honey malt but it seems to help the corn from what I read in the first post on this recipe.


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[jedneck]

corn+malt+enzymes=lotsa booze

[JoeyZR1]

corn+malt+enzymes=lotsa booze

thats all I needed , just that little nudge to help me make my decision. Thanks


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[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

Jed is a smart man. You're smart to take his advice.

As far as the process, the honey malt is only in there for flavor. I don't think it has any enzymes, or at least I don't calculate for any. I treat all specialty malts like an adjunct. Use the triple malt (red, white, and barley) for all your conversion.

Your ratios look fine, btw . You're gonna like it! Good luck!

[BoomTown]

Read this thread with interest because the basic recipe is so close to ours. We opted out of using Red Winter Wheat in favor of softer, White Wheat - the red wheat contributed too much of a 'peppery ' finish to the drink. We've also evolved towards using a finer ground corn from a 'medium' crack. The finer ground corn simply works better with our gear, and seems to yield a higher percentage to the beer run. Thanks to MCH, we are now recovering alcohol by steaming the grains after we drain away the beer.

I am intreagued buy this 'honey' malt. What exactly is that?


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[JoeyZR1]

Honey Malt is a unique malt produced by the Gambrinus Malting Corporation, a small malting company in Armstrong, British Columbia, Canada. It is made using a special process that develops distinctive flavors. The unique process puts Honey malt in the same family as German ‘brumalt’, and melanoidin malt. The result is an intense malt sweetness free from roasted or astringent flavors, with a characteristic honey-like flavor and golden color. It really doesn’t compare to any other malt. It’s unique qualities and sweet maltiness make it a perfect specialty malt in many styles. It can be used for up to 10% of the grist but the flavor can become assertive at higher usage rates. 20-30°L


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[FMJ]

Multiple Recepies at the same time.

When making this recipe using boiling water, 6 gallons, can I add the boiling water in lesser quantities until I get to the required 6 gallons? I can't boil that much water at a time. Can I double or triple the recipe by adding boiling water over a period of time, as quickly as I can get the water to boil. Would the delay effect the overall outcome?

With this same question in mind I read recipes where the grains are heated for a period of time also up to 90 minutes. If I used this method could I make multi mashes and combine them as they completed. For a triple recipe that could be as long as 4 1/2 hours before all is added to the fermenter. FMJ

[BoomTown]

Just got back fro a visit to George Washington' rebuilt distillery. Interesting enough but staffed by people who aren't steeped in knowledge. And of course everything in the gift shop is way over priced


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[MichiganCornhusker]

Don't feed the bears, they're wild!
As part of my ever evolving experimental process, I'm brewing up a second batch of this to compare.

First batch I ferment on grain with liquid enzymes, second batch I mashed with malts only, and ferment off grain.

But when I went to pitch my yeast starter on the second batch it was already bubbling away with a big yellow foam on top.
Happened quick, only a couple hours after I strained the mash.
I went ahead an pitched my US05 anyway, but not sure what's gonna be going on in the fermenter this time.

So much for the experiment. Now the second batch has too many variables to know anything if they taste different.

[MichiganCornhusker]

...but the single foot head to hearts transition will have you lapping it off the spout!

Confirmed! Stripped my first batch of this whiskey, very encouraging.

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

...but the single foot head to hearts transition will have you lapping it off the spout!

Confirmed! Stripped my first batch of this whiskey, very encouraging.

Ahhh. You're drinking it fresh off the spout, me, 7 months aged and oaked.

It's the circle of freakin' life, man .

Sweet. And cheers.

Oh, and as far as whatever you are feeding my bears...I do not claim any of that yellow funk. Perhaps you invoked the Jed-i nfection master far that one!

[Shiny Coke]

Well I got around to trying this recipe yesterday but put my own spin on it (on purpose and not so much) . I doubled the recipe for a 12 gal batch hoping to get around 9-10 gals of strained beer to run. Swapped the cracked corn for my last14lbs of flaked maize (haven't sourced a decent corona mill yet). Couldn't source red wheat malt anywhere in BC so figured on doubling the white.
Sounds like so far so good right?
Well as the water is coming to 170F I started grinding my honey malt and my barley mill shits the bed. I start scrambling playing with the spacing but for some reason I just can't get the rollers to bite nicely and really had to open up the gap and mill them a few times. In the meantime fighting with my mill the water over shot and is now at 180 so transferred to my mash tun (big blue cooler) and add the maize and honey malt. Let 'er sit and fight more with the mill to grind the wheat and barley. When the honey and flaked miaze hit I 152F I added the wheat malt and the barley malt and temp dropped to 149-150F. I'm still frustrated over the barley mill as I'm doing a nut brown ale right after and you know when stuff just doesn't work out it compounds everything, you start dropping stuff and tripping over other stuff. Well I shortly realize I screwed up my math on the wheat and doubled my doubled count so instead of adding 4 lbs of white wheat I ended up adding 8lbs.
Oh well, cooled the mash down via my immersion chiller and adding couple gals of cold water and pitched the yeast. Guess we'll see how she turns out.

[Oldvine Zin]

Wow I grind and have all the ingredients ready before I turn on the water, but maybe fresher is better?? - sounds like you recovered and maybe an interesting twist ?

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

But when I went to pitch my yeast starter on the second batch it was already bubbling away with a big yellow foam on top.

Ok, funny enough.

Yesterday I brewed up a big stout, og 1.106. I decided to get 'second Running's', a second collection of 1.04 or so. So, I said hell, through in some sugar to get to1.06, pitched bakers, and decided to make a sister whiskey!

So, I think the first pack was bad. Expired years ago, yeast just floated. The another one in before bed, nothing in the morning. Thought maybe I pitched too hot, or another old pack.

So, while getting ready for work, threw together a vit B, dollop of tomatoes paste, handful of oyster shells, and broke off a bit of a fresh bakers yeast block I have that is fresh. Figure hit it from all angles.

My ramblings are this. When I opened the lid after 16 hours of sitting, I saw some yellow foamy stuff at the top. Not much, but a little. Made me think of you.

So, I figure it's the malt nasties. Get em before they get you. May turn out nice. Maybe not. Ehh. It is an experiment, anyways

[MichiganCornhusker]

May turn out nice. Maybe not. Ehh. It is an experiment, anyways

Ha, yes, I half think I should have just let the wild ferment go, but my yeast starter was already foamed up and ready to roll so in it went.

I ground up my corn and malts more than I ever have before, and then strained out to ferment off grain. Started off at OG 1.065.

Without the grain in there, no cap, just delicious Golden Bear Krausen!

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

So, while getting ready for work, threw together a vit B, dollop of tomatoes paste, handful of oyster shells, and broke off a bit of a fresh bakers yeast block I have that is fresh. Figure hit it from all angles.

I'm an idiot. And still learning. Or remembering. I don't know.

So, I got home, went to the garage, and no activity from the airlock. What a huge nut crusher. But, I know that the airlock is not the end all, so I once again peeked inside. Lots of fizzing, hmm. Close the lid, push on the top, airlock doesn't move. Then I noticed. The airlock was only half full with sanitizer! Duh. So, put some sanitizer in the right level, bam! Machine gun.

We're all rookies, just at a different Mile Marker along the same highway of spirits.

[Shiny Coke]

Wow I grind and have all the ingredients ready before I turn on the water, but maybe fresher is better?? - sounds like you recovered and maybe an interesting twist ?

He he yeah. I usually have down time while the water is heating so thats when I crush the grain. No sitting around waiting watching a pot boil.

[Shiny Coke]

So my Wally World has been sent a ton of corn, way to much to sell so they 're selling at 10cents a cob. Can't remember last time I saw that price in Canada. I can't see why this process of adding boiling water to crn wouldn't wrk for fresh corn vs. cracked. Thinking of taking the kernels off the cob and food processing them before the boiling water is added. Waddyall think?

[still_stirrin]

...for fresh corn vs. cracked. Thinking of taking the kernels off the cob and food processing them before the boiling water is added. Waddyall think?

You'll still need to get the starch ready for saccharification, and that will require gelatinization. Sure, using fresh "eared" corn is mostly still hydrated, but you'll have to peel them, strip the kernals from the ears and boil, turning it into a thick corn soup. If you use high temperature enzymes, that'll help thin the mash. But you'll still need to mash the corn in order to convert the starch to fermentable sugars.

A deal sometimes isn't such a deal...unless you're willing to add the labor necessary.

Good luck.
ss

[Shiny Coke]

Yeah its what I'm thinking too. I've shied away from actual corn because of the cooking process and SOCD's process here has me intrigued to the viability of adding boiling water to corn in a mash tun, sealing it up and holding temp for a few hours before adding malt. Don't have a corona mill and figured fresh corn would be a bit more work but would allow me to try this process.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Happiness is....

First gallon of Honey Bear aging on oak! (tastes damn good white, too)

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

Happiness is....

First gallon of Honey Bear aging on oak! (tastes damn good white, too)

Damn, you now have more Honey Bear than me. Been drinking it straight through the month. Need to get back on it

[Oldvine Zin]

I just picked up the ingredients for a try at honey bear bourbon, waiting for one part to finish my steam rig and hopefully start a ferment this weekend

[Oldvine Zin]

25 lbs of corn
3 lbs of honey malt
5 lbs red wheat
5 lbs white wheat
5 lbs pale

planning on doing a booners with the corn then adding the malts at a lower temp and using both enzymes

[MichiganCornhusker]

Triple Happiness.

I've wrapped up my Honey Bear experiment and I now have almost 3 gallons @ 120p on wood.

I did one batch on-grain and a second batch off-grain.
Then I combined the trub from both runs, steam stripped it, and ran that separately as a third run.

I wound up with 1 gallon on-grain, 1 gallon off-grain, and just under 1 gallon trub run.
After toasting the wood, I put it in the freezer before charring.
I've got a couple jars on maple, a couple jars on cherry, the rest on white oak.

I'll be sure to get some of these samples to you SCD, so you can help me sort out any differences between the runs.
Thanks for the recipe!

Triple happiness.

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

Well, thank you for trying the different styles, and giving this a go. Glad you thought so highly of it.

I'm cleaning my new full keg still now. After a Rum run, and some other experiments (candy apple anyone?), I'm going to get a barrel and do Honey Bear justice.

Green looks good on you, btw.