Stillhouse Bourbon - experimental recipe

[Steve Broady]

A little background: On September 27, 1903, Southern Railway train #97 derailed in Danville, Virginia, on Stillhouse Trestle. Engineer Steve Broady and 10 other people died in the wreck, and it became the inspiration for a popular folk/country song.

If you care to know more, this would be as good a place as any to start reading. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreck_of_the_Old_97

The wreck is interesting to me for several reasons, and is the inspiration for the name I use here. That, plus the name of the trestle inspired the name for this, my first serious attempt at a good bourbon recipe.

I make no claims to great wisdom or insight or skill in creating a recipe. This is a direct result of a recent visit to a homebrew store where I bought a few things that seemed interesting to me, including buying him out of all the locally produced 2 row malt that he had in stock. I’ll attempt to explain my thoughts for everything as I go.

The first section (to use some railroad terminology):
50 lbs of cracked corn
16 lbs of 2 row barley malt
5 lbs of Breiss 120L caramel malt
5 lbs of flaked rye
5 lbs of toasted rolled oats
45 gallons of water

All of the above divided into 10 equal portions, to fit into my 6 gallon fermentation buckets. On all but the first batch, replace 1/2 gallon of water with backset from a previous run. Standard mashing procedure, bring the water to 190 F, add the corn and high temperature enzymes and hold. Bring down to 150 F and add the rest of the grain, along with some extra liquid enzymes and beta glucanase to help break down the rye and oats. When cool enough, pitch yeast (I have Lallemand Distillamax XP, which is what I’ll likely use. Also have DADY and Red Star baker’s yeast, which are options).

Hopefully all the ingredients are pretty common, in case anyone else is interested in trying the recipe, and to prevent me from being locked into a single supplier if this turns out good enough that I want to keep making it.

The corn is obviously there because it’s bourbon, and because corn is cheap and readily available.

The barley is also standard, for both flavor and enzymes. Carolina Malt House claims to have won awards with their Carolina Gold 2 row, so hopefully I have a decent product.

The caramel malt is supposed to give sweetness and fruity, raisin notes. I’m hoping that will provide balance and complexity to the finished spirit.

The rye is there for a little spice and complexity, and just because I like rye.

The toasted oatmeal will hopefully give some nice oatmeal cookie notes and improve the mouthfeel of the spirit.

Ferment on the grain, and either steam strip or squeeze and then strip off the grain. Collect the low wines and run through a pot still, making fairly wide cuts for aging. Save the heads for a neutral, recycle the tails into the next spirit run. Blend and age on new charred and toasted oak.

The second section:
Reserve 1/2 gallon of backset from the stripping run, to go into the next mash. If necessary, add calcium carbonate to raise the pH, though I’ve read that it’s generally not needed for the second generation. Add 8 lbs of white sugar to the rest of the backset and the grain (if you stripped off the grain, put it back in). Add a tablespoon of yeast nutrient, half a teaspoon of DSP, and a pinch of Epsom salt. 2-3 tablespoon of oyster shells can’t hurt, though I’m not sure if they’re needed with all the spent grain still present. Add water to get back to the original volume.
When cool, pitch more yeast and ferment again.

There’s more sugar than in the original AG recipe, to make up for the fact that you’re going to make narrower cuts and treat this more like moonshine than bourbon. I’ve done some research and found a few references to success using 100% of the backset in a sugar head, so it’s all in there in order to get the most flavor. With a little luck, this stuff might age well and at least be competitive with some of the more average bourbons on the market, but I see it more as something to sip on right away, or blend into flavored moonshine concoctions.

Distill same as before, including recycling the tails. Make narrower cuts, since the sugar head is probably better suited to drinking white.