NChooch's Carolina Bourbon

[fatman]

I think i might be ready to screw up some all grain mash!

Can i substitute the malted barley with Amylase A & B? Or do i need to add something else to my corn with the enymes too? Or am i chasing a bad idea?

An all grain wash seem s to be real different than the AllbBran i have been doing. All the sugar based recipes call for a broad range of nutrients, mator paste, orange juice conc., epson salt, fertilizer, multi vitamins, lemon juice..........

So im having trouble wrapping my pea brain around the all grain wash and the uncle jims? They make no mention of adding any of the nutrients? Even after reading the pages of this post and uncle jims im still lost.

And lastly has anyone done a price comparison against this bourbon recipe and uncle jims? I think there would be more alcohol in uncle jims to distill than the bourbon recipe? Just wondering!

[rad14701]

I think i might be ready to screw up some all grain mash!

Can i substitute the malted barley with Amylase A & B? Or do i need to add something else to my corn with the enymes too? Or am i chasing a bad idea?

An all grain wash seem s to be real different than the AllbBran i have been doing. All the sugar based recipes call for a broad range of nutrients, mator paste, orange juice conc., epson salt, fertilizer, multi vitamins, lemon juice..........

So im having trouble wrapping my pea brain around the all grain wash and the uncle jims? They make no mention of adding any of the nutrients? Even after reading the pages of this post and uncle jims im still lost.

And lastly has anyone done a price comparison against this bourbon recipe and uncle jims? I think there would be more alcohol in uncle jims to distill than the bourbon recipe? Just wondering!

Are you referring to "Uncle Jesses Simple Sour Mash" recipe...??? Never heard of Uncle Jims anything...

Grains mashes, for the most part, contain all the nutrients they need within the grain itself so nutrient fortifications are rarely required... Sugar, on the other hand, requires nutrient fortification as it does not contain any after processing... Molasses has some of the nutrients required but not all...

[NcHooch]

I think i might be ready to screw up some all grain mash!

Can i substitute the malted barley with Amylase A & B? Or do i need to add something else to my corn with the enymes too? Or am i chasing a bad idea?

you could swap out the malt for enzymes, but then it would be a 100% corn recipe, and not carolina bourbon. Wouldn't it be just as easy to get malt?

And lastly has anyone done a price comparison against this bourbon recipe and uncle jims? I think there would be more alcohol in uncle jims to distill than the bourbon recipe? Just wondering!

I haven't , but as a rough estimate, it's likely to be the a little more expensive to make the bourbon,
*you don't re-use the corn in the bourbon recipe the way you do in the Uncle Jesse recipe.
*you need to cook the corn in the bourbon recipe.
If it wasn't for those two points, I think the cost would be pretty similar.

In reality, it shouldn't matter what the cost difference is, because they're two totally different recipes, and the bourbon recipe should produce a considerably better product. I think most folks that have made this bourbon would agree.

[Rivver]

Could a man use flaked maize in place of the corn? If you could, what changes would you make? I'm only asking because I have about 10 lbs of maize that I was wanting to use up in a good bourbon recipe.

[fatman]

NCHOOCH I figured it would come down to flavor and character that the distiller prefered!

I was trying to decide what will make the best sippin likker as cheap as possible. And i thought the Amylase was cheaper than 2 row malt?

I think for now and simplicity i might try Uncle Jesses recipe, [ i don't know why i called it uncle Jims, my bad].

Or i may take up my search for a decent sweet feed? thanks.

[fatman]

RAD can the corn in Uncle Jesses compare to the nutrients of the AllBran? Or is it that im just using so much more of the corn in the recipe? It seems that the sugar content of both recipes are pretty close to the same amount +/-.

I just know i never feed straight corn to the calves with out adding protien and free choice vitamin/minerals, etc. Been a long time since i seen a break down on all of whats in corn?

[rad14701]

RAD can the corn in Uncle Jesses compare to the nutrients of the AllBran? Or is it that im just using so much more of the corn in the recipe? It seems that the sugar content of both recipes are pretty close to the same amount +/-.

I just know i never feed straight corn to the calves with out adding protien and free choice vitamin/minerals, etc. Been a long time since i seen a break down on all of whats in corn?

Corn has more than enough nutrients to feed a sugar wash over several generations... All Bran, like most US cereals, is fortified with vitamins and minerals... Used in volume it will also provide nutrients over multiple generations...

[fatman]

Thanks Rad, im going to give the uncle Jesses a go this weekend.

If i don't like it i know what i'll go back to, AllBran!

I also found some steamed oats with molasses on them today too. Said was parishable, so no preserves.
Are steamed oats okay to use? I could mix them with some chopped corn and wheat for a sweetfeed that didn't contain pellets?

[NcHooch]

Could a man use flaked maize in place of the corn? If you could, what changes would you make? I'm only asking because I have about 10 lbs of maize that I was wanting to use up in a good bourbon recipe.

Rivver,
Sure, you wouldn't be the first . No changes are required for the grain bill , but typically flaked maize is pre-gelled so you can just to a single infusion mash with the barley at 146F (+/- 2)

[bentstick]

In reality, it shouldn't matter what the cost difference is, because they're two totally different recipes, and the bourbon recipe should produce a considerably better product. I think most folks that have made this bourbon would agree.

No comparision between the 2,Imo all grain hands down! More work but well worth the effort

[Rivver]

Thanks Hooch, I've been working up to an AG mash in the near future, but I want to get all my facts straight before I try it.

[NcHooch]

Cracked open a 2YO jar of this today ...as RD would say, it's stupid good.

Click on it and it should display properly.

Wish yall could taste this

[Rivver]

Man that looks good Hooch, nice color and cool bottle too. I really want to try this recipe, but I've got a few more tweeks I want to try before I tackle this one. Want to try and get it right from the start. Could you send me a bottle of that?

[danmiz]

im aging my all grain bourbon and i added a couple to many peppercorns and now it has a peppery taste. its been on oak for a little over a month now and im wondering how can i cut he peppercoen taste down a bit. should i just let it sit in my gallon jar it will smooth out or should i take the pppercorns out or add something to make it have less bite. its good but peppery.

[NcHooch]

lol , oops.
I suspect all the pepper taste has already been extracted from the peppercorns by now, but just to be on the safe side, I'd prolly try and fish 'em out and let it stand until the taste mellows. It'll prolly come around just fine.

[danmiz]

yep. lesson learned. i took them out and now ill just let it age. gives me a good reason not to drink it to soon. thanks nchooch.

[BamaDave]

Well NChooch, I am a first time distiller and I wanted to say thanks for the recipe. I made my first wash last night using your recipe and it looks like everything went fine. I have been making all grain beer for about 10 years so I knew what to expect with everything except for the time it took to mash that damn corn. Holy hell is my arm tired and I rubbed a damn blister on my middle finger before I knew it. I gotta get me a rubber handled spoon! I mashed everything last night, let it set overnight and put it into the fermenter about an hour ago. I was at 1.050 last night, tonight at 1.046. Don't know how that happened but whatever. I plan on making another one tomorrow to put with it so hopefully I end up with about 10 liquid gallons of ~6-8% wash. I plan on using a little more corn and barley tomorrow to try to get the SG up some. I will update when I run it but right now it smells damn fine. Hopefully it stills the same way! Thanks again for the recipe.

[NcHooch]

Very welcome Bama
best of luck on the next steps.

[Hectorious]

So I've done a couple of batches of this of this recipe, and it tastes great. Now I'm wanting to try a grain bill closer to commercial bourbon. Here's my plan:

5.5 lbs cracked corn
2 lbs malted rye
2.5 lbs malted barley

Cook corn for 90 min in 4 gallons of water.
Dump into insulated cooler and cool to 150 F
Add rye and barley, and mash for 90 min, stirring every 15 min.
Transfer to fermenter, cool to yeast pitching temp, and add a healthy starter of 1118 yeast.

What do you think? I've got the corn and grains ready to go. I just need to finish a few chores around the house to keep the Mrs happy, and I'll be ready to go. Any advice?

[NcHooch]

So I've done a couple of batches of this of this recipe, and it tastes great. Now I'm wanting to try a grain bill closer to commercial bourbon. Here's my plan:

5.5 lbs cracked corn
2 lbs malted rye
2.5 lbs malted barley

Cook corn for 90 min in 4 gallons of water.
Dump into insulated cooler and cool to 150 F
Add rye and barley, and mash for 90 min, stirring every 15 min.
Transfer to fermenter, cool to yeast pitching temp, and add a healthy starter of 1118 yeast.

What do you think? I've got the corn and grains ready to go. I just need to finish a few chores around the house to keep the Mrs happy, and I'll be ready to go.
Any advice?

Advice? .....OK, Make sure and send me some after a year on oak.

actually, I'm pretty sure I mentioned it somewhere in the thread that adding a pound of rye malt improved the complexity of the flavors, and I'm a fan of high-rye bourbons .....so git r done Hectorious!

[Hectorious]

I'm pretty sure I mentioned it somewhere in the thread that adding a pound of rye malt improved the complexity of the flavors, and I'm a fan of high-rye bourbons .....so git r done Hectorious!

Rats! I see it now after I did a HD Google search. Sorry - I should have done that first.

By the way, how many batches can you run through a single 5 gallon barrel. I know for authentic bourbon, it's supposed to be aged on new oak, but I can't help but wonder what happens to all those 3rd and 4th generation oak barrels out there. There doesn't seem to be much of a supply of used ones.

[mbz250sl]

So I've been playing around with this hobbie for 18 months now and for the first time I have some "aged" product of this fine recipe - well 4 months is aged for me at this time and I can't believe how good this is thanks NC Hooch and everyone else for the great posts and info sharing - I need to get new batch going - just made 4 gallons of grappa - so will be sure to put some age on as much as possible. patience is tough, but worth the wait

[NcHooch]

So I've been playing around with this hobbie for 18 months now and for the first time I have some "aged" product of this fine recipe - well 4 months is aged for me at this time and I can't believe how good this is thanks NC Hooch and everyone else for the great posts and info sharing - I need to get new batch going - just made 4 gallons of grappa - so will be sure to put some age on as much as possible. patience is tough, but worth the wait

Wait til you have some 2 Year !
....all this talk about bourbon makes me want some ... too bad it's 9:30 am
Glad you're enjoying it too

[Sudzie]

When putting "on oak" you split the wood, do you want to use more of the center wood or more out by the bark? This is taking into account that I have split the log of seasoned oak. Using 6 to 8 inch long 1 inch wide pieces that will see the flame and heavy char. Thank you-

[Durace11]

You want to use the heart wood. I believe the wood "grade" from inside to outside goes something like this:

Heartwood
Sapwood
Bark

Do not use sapwood or bark

[BoomTown]

". The distillate came out with an incredible corn flavor that you could taste thru the icky stuff. "

Now I'm so new at this there is still a 'wet paint' sign on my stilling shed...but...I was having a similar problem until i started 'clearing' my mash before loading it into my still. I attribute the 'excesive' tastes to having cooked the suspended matter in the wash. Since I've started taking more care to use 'clear' washes, I've been able to keep the biggest part of the 'corn' flavor and loose the overpowing other flavors...

good luck.

boom

[unknown]

Planning on making this wash this weekend, but i bought 2 row barley instead of 6..... Drats, how will this affect my mash? from my research it seams as if 6 row has more enzymes? but hopefully someone will be able to shed some light on this

Thanks NChooch!

[NcHooch]

Planning on making this wash this weekend, but i bought 2 row barley instead of 6..... Drats, how will this affect my mash? from my research it seams as if 6 row has more enzymes? but hopefully someone will be able to shed some light on this

Thanks NChooch!

Yep, 6-row malt has more diastic power (enzyme strength) , that's why we use it. But you can definitely use 2-row, and most 2-row has a DP of about 150 which is strong enough to use as a direct replacement.

[GingerTop]

Can I buy the right grind of corn at a feed store?

Yessir! Just ask for "cracked corn" and there ya have it. It's more common than whole corn. Another way to cook the corn is in a BOP, in the oven at 200F for a few hours(usually, the lowest possible setting on the oven, and you may have to wedge the oven door open an inch or so to prevent it getting too hot), or overnight. No scorching, ever.

I like this idea to. Was figuring the prices for flaked corn, and decided it's worth the extra effort to just process cracked corn. Now when you put it in the oven, are you just putting the corn in dry at 200 degrees? I was assuming you meant with water, but I have I didn't want to be makin any assumptions on this one.

[Durace11]

Yes, in a pot of water so you can maintain the temp without burning the corn on the bottom like you would on a stove top where all the heat is only at the bottom of the pot.