White Wheat Whiskey

[still_stirrin]

... I need to come up with something to help oxygenate these larger batches…

Getcha’ one of these: https://www.northernbrewer.com/products ... gJYI_D_BwE

And a couple of these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Worthington-Cy ... lsrc=aw.ds
ss

[BlueSasquatch]

... I need to come up with something to help oxygenate these larger batches…

Getcha’ one of these: https://www.northernbrewer.com/products ... gJYI_D_BwE

And a couple of these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Worthington-Cy ... lsrc=aw.ds
ss

Hot dog Stirrin, that'll be my cheapest upgrade for this hobby yet. Oxygen bottle is pretty clever, I was looking at some sort of fish tank pump but wasn't crazy about the idea, I ferment on grain so it's always got plenty of solids.

[Twisted Brick]

I didn't see the grain lbs/gal you used, but 25lbs of malt in 12.5 gal (water/backset/starter) consistently yields 1.065-1.068. Curious to find out how the M-1 yeast works out for you.

[BlueSasquatch]

I didn't see the grain lbs/gal you used, but 25lbs of malt in 12.5 gal (water/backset/starter) consistently yields 1.065-1.068. Curious to find out how the M-1 yeast works out for you.

20#/10 Gallons, I stick with the 2:1 ratio so far anyways.

[BlueSasquatch]

Hmm so was gonna strain my grain today, popped the cloth cover off and saw a good amount of bubbles still going, measured the SG at 1.01 which ain't bad but it's clearly still working. I think the Temps in the house are on the low side right now, so that's likely a part of it. Been two weeks now. I've never had a wash not finish at 1.0 so I'm tempted to give it another week. What does the brain trust think?

Been what 2 weeks now, probably 70 degrees. I smell no infection and things taste good. Been left alone until now when I measured it.

[Twisted Brick]

Let it ride. Your taste buds gonna thank you later on.

I believe the care taken in conducting the mash, ferment and clearing/'aging' of the wash prior to distillation pays huge dividends, becoming apparent when the whiskey matures. Let the ferment finish and then some. Squeeze to a primary, let rest, and rack off of the custard/yeast into the boiler. Long, cold ferments and extended clearing rewards the patient distiller in spades.

Just my $.02.

[still_stirrin]

…
I believe the care taken in conducting the mash, ferment and clearing/'aging' of the wash prior to distillation pays huge dividends, becoming apparent when the whiskey matures.
…

+1.

I like your thinkin’, TB.

[Deplorable]

…
I believe the care taken in conducting the mash, ferment and clearing/'aging' of the wash prior to distillation pays huge dividends, becoming apparent when the whiskey matures.
…

+1.

I like your thinkin’, TB.

+2
It was 6 weeks+ from pitching yeast to stripping on my last ferment. I think it sat a week and a half, maybe two after it finished dry before I racked and squeezed, then it sat in sealed buckets until this weekend. I pitched yeast on 9/11. Stripped the first charge last night and the 2nd this morning. Damn it was flavorful good in the middle of the striping runs. Now it'll sit in the still until I get to it (hopefully next weekend), and I'll add 5.5L of fresh wash for the spirit run.
Ive been taking a few queues from TB, and not rushing to get it in the still. I'll get to it when I get to it. Seems to be paying off in good flavor.

[BlueSasquatch]

Mash was on 10/17

On 10/31 the SG was at 1.01 so I let it lie, I had removed and tested only 1 of the two containers, figuring that they are near identical, to leave the 2nd one be. The only difference is: Ratio of Red-White Wheat, one of them took a bit longer to cool down and had to be re-heated to achieve better conversion. The last difference, is the cloth used across the top of them, during fermentation. The one I checked, I just use a BIAB over the top, clamped in place. The 2nd one, I used geo-tech fabric which some on this forum use to strain grain on things like 55-gallon batches. I've folded this large cloth over about 3-4 times and clamped it in-place.

11/6 I opened the lid of one of the containers, to see that it was still bubbling along, I did not measure SG, since it is clear that it's still finishing, am I correct in this assumption?



GIF of the bubbles in action



Now I've started to notice the smells between the two barrels are not the same, and having not looked in the 2nd one yet, I decided to pull the cover from it. I'm not sure why there would be a difference at all, perhaps the Krausen (?) has not dropped yet, at first I thought it to be moldy, but upon watching it, the areas that look most like mold, are thin spots, where a bubble comes through.

Should I be concerned about this? Skim the solids off the top? Let sleeping dogs lie?



GIF of the bubbles in action, harder to see





This is easily the longest ferment that I've done for Distilling, I'm okay with taking time, just want to be aware of what is occurring during the wait. Temp tape on the barrels read 68-71 degrees, Its my first time using SafSpirit M-1: https://fermentis.com/en/product/safspirit-m-1/ 5-Gallon batches fit better in a closet, stays warmer in there, but my 3D printer is in there as well and the humidity from fermenting wrecks havoc on the printer, so I've started keeping them in a different room, overall cooler temperatures then.



Twisted Brick, I hope you don't mind my thread hijacking here.

[Deplorable]

Looks like ferment is complete. Take a hydrometer reading. The bubbling could be indicative of absorbed gasses escaping.
The 2nd barrel has lacto. Interesting you don't have it in both.

[Twisted Brick]

What Deplorable said. Cool GIF's.

[BlueSasquatch]

So cooked the wheat on 10/17 and didn't distill until 12/30 which is the longest I've let anything ferment outside of maybe mead. At one point about halfway through, I pulled the solids, tossed things back in said barrels and sealed them shut. Up until then, they were open-top with just a cloth covering.

The white wheat maintained a strong infection smell (think nail polish remover) the whole time, it didn't really get worse, just constant. With the solids out, the two barrels looked pretty similar in the end. Not sure the volume of the wash, but each barrel took 2 stripping runs. The stripping runs were pretty slow, I've got a 6 gallon still, and since updating the burner housing, I think we made it a hair too efficient, I can hardly get my dial low enough on the burner to not cause a puke, it's a 50,000 btu unit. I've got it near full-bore on cooking days, so Im going to look at another burner to swap out or something.

Yield from the stripping run was about 1 gallon each time, so I had about 2 gallons of red and 2 gallons of white. The red got a spirit run on it, but ran out of time with the white (infection one) and it's sitting in some jars waiting for later this month. The infection hits you like a freight train on the foreshots and first few head jars but disappears when you get into the good stuff, which is reassuring to know. Nail polish smell is about the only way to put it, and tastes like what I would imagine nail polish to taste like too.

Ran the strips down lower than I've done in the past, I lacked a collection vessel (ran the still in a new location, parents new farm in Missouri, so I just grabbed what I typically use) large enough to hold all of the distillate, I was shooting for 20% total ABV but ended up at about 30% ABV and in the past, I've had to water down for the spirit run, this time I did not. (I've got concerns that I leave to much flavor behind during the strips) The spirit run gave me 0.56 gallons of finished product after cuts.

Sidebar, I've been filling my 1/2 pint jars right up to the bottom of the threads, due to not pouring well if they are all the way full to the brim. Well I decided to check how much volume that really is, so I poured it into a measuring glass and turns out my 0.5 pint jars are only filled to 0.4 which has been throwing my calcs off the last few years.

So the red wheat is finished and it does carry more flavor than previous distillings, but I can't say its a huge jump in flavor. I'm wanting to do another all-corn and see if that flavor knocks me on my ass. Tossed some oak cubes in the jars and they seem to have made quite the improvement in a short amount of time.

[Stonecutter]

Going to try a small batch which will be a first for me working with Malted wheat. Thanks for the inspiration Twisted!
6 gallons Water
5lbs-Flaked Maize
3.5lbs-Golden Promise
2lbs-Malted Rye
2.5lbs-Malted American White Wheat

Picked up the adjuncts today. Local HBS stated that they regularly stock red and unmalted wheat as well. Looking to eventually try my hand at malting as more than one of you gents have explained the apparent simplicity of it all

[Twisted Brick]

Well, your grain bill is a true 4-grain whiskey and will make a good drop. You gonna run it on your 4-plater?

[Stonecutter]

Well, your grain bill is a true 4-grain whiskey and will make a good drop. You gonna run it on your 4-plater?

Thank you Sir!
There’s a backstory to this AG and big plans to go along with it.
The Irish Single Pot strip that I did last weekend didn’t net as much as I hoped it would, long story short, I need about a gallon or so more of low wines to fill my 8 gallon pot the way I want.
I’m going to mash the above recipe and ferment off the grain using the mashed grains for my first sugar head.
So sugar head will have 13 lbs of grain mixed in with Shady’s SS I’ll add 4 pounds of sugar and bring the total volume of ferment up to 24 gallons.
Going to throw a small/simple yeast bomb in there as well. Though maybe just oyster shells and some DAP

So to get on with it and answer your question.
The plan IS a one and done through the 4-plater with the sugar head, adding whatever excess there may be from the 4-grain Whiskey strip into the boiler to boost that abv just a touch and hopefully get the plater to run a little smoother.
Like I said, big big plans. We’ll see how it goes. There’s sure to be something to drink by the end of it all

Edit: I had kicked around the idea of going for the obvious peated Whiskey to back up the Irish Single Pot low wines but I didn’t want a smoky sugar head.