Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

[Jimbo]

BTW if you add non malted grains to an otherwise all malt recipe, like I did below, just follow the bourbon protocol (see in my sig). Bring water to a boil, put it over the non malted grain and stir well periodically while the temp slowly drops to strike temp for the malt. Here's a calculator for strike temp https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow WARNING: Be careful not to overshoot tho! These strike calculators assume you have a cold mash tun. If youre measuring the temperature of a partial mash already in the mash tun the calculators dont work well. For example I added malt at 157 and hit 150. The strike calculator above says the strike temp should be 164. If I added the malt at 164 I would have overshot my target by a good bit.

[Juniper]

The first time I do this recipe with the safale US-05 yeast. First I made a yeast starter since I only had one sachet of it for 60 liters total.

So I milled the malt and added water of 71C to it which resulted in a temperature of 64C (water + malt). Then I let it sit for 3 hours with heat insulation,cool down and added yeast at 21C.
After one day I say a decent amount of bubbling but then it slowed down a lot.
Now after 5 days it doesn't seem to do much more. Temperature is 18C and pH 3.8 which seems rather low.
Sugestions to get it going again?

[Expat]

The first time I do this recipe with the safale US-05 yeast. First I made a yeast starter since I only had one sachet of it for 60 liters total.

So I milled the malt and added water of 71C to it which resulted in a temperature of 64C (water + malt). Then I let it sit for 3 hours with heat insulation,cool down and added yeast at 21C.
After one day I say a decent amount of bubbling but then it slowed down a lot.
Now after 5 days it doesn't seem to do much more. Temperature is 18C and pH 3.8 which seems rather low.
Sugestions to get it going again?

Hard to say without knowing the grain bill. Is there anything left to ferment? What was the SG and what is it currently?

Temp looks okay given that you're using a beer yeast. PH is definitely low, assuming there are sugars left for them to eat, correct the pH and see what happens. You may repitch if the yeast don't respond.

[Jimbo]

3.8 pH is not out of the ordinary.

Whats the gravity?

[Juniper]

After 8 days, SG is 0.999 and pH dropped to 3.5. Temp is 19C (66F).
So should I wait a couple of days more or distill it as it is?

[Juniper]

Just distilled the first out of 4 batches. Results are good, yield is slightly lower then the expected yield.
After I'm done distilling I will put it on a 5 liter French oak cask at 65 ABV for the big sleep.

[Juniper]

Anyone suggestions for when to make the tails cut? I did it at 45 % ABV when I was slightly in to the tails. I`ve read that you need to go further into tails to get more complexity when the spirit ages on oak.

[jonnys_spirit]

I ran Jimbo's Single Malt (Red Wheat) just over year ago and it's almost gone now but tasting really very good - 60# made me 2.5g @ 130pf cut.... Next time I make it I'll do at least 100# maybe 150# and a dedicated oak 5g barrel with some extra for top-up. Will totally be worth it. I'll mash in at the desired temp and just ferment on grain too..

Cheers!
-jonny

[J0hnni3]

Juniper, you do the cut by taste. Don’t do it by a hard number

Start with only what tastes good to you. See what that does after aging. Next time, take 1 jar in, then see what that does. Alternatively, you can age jars below the obvious cut separately, and add them to the Mix later if you feel they aged in a way that is beneficial

[Nzmade]

After a couple of trials of whiskey with dextrose I made an attempt at this recipe. Barreled for 6months in an ex sherry cask of mine. Thanks for the recipe Jimbo! I would post a photo but I'm technologically challenged and can't make the photos small enough.

[Jimbo]

Juniper, that's a fantastic ferment, all the way dry. Congrats. The big sleep will be worth it, leave your mitts off it. 5L wont be able to handle 'big' sleep tho so be careful. Taste at 6 months, might be ready to move to glass. 5g (20L) bbls are generally done in a year. 10g in 2 years. 5L may over oak on ya if you forget about it for a year.

jonnys_spirit, Really happy to hear you enjoyed the fruits of this one. Congrats on your fine beverage, wish we could cheers a couple glasses.

Nzmade, youll be happy with grain over dextrose. Hope it all went well, and enjoy.

[Juniper]

Thanks for the advice Jimbo.
Do you know if this method, more specifically the step (ferment on the grain) where you do not seperate the wort from the draff right before fermentation results in higher amounts of methanol or off-flavors in your final product?
Just wondered because single malt distilleries in scotland filter out the solids before fermentation.

[StuNY]

Had great luck with this using Malted Barley. Started the ferment at 1.060 sg, and was complete in 5 days. I just got some malted red wheat to try next and ran mostly the same process yesterday per the directions. All seemed to go fine, and looked right. But when I checked the sg after pitching the yeast it was down at 1.030 so seems I didn't convert enough sugars.

Would that indicate I didn't leave the grains soaking at 148f long enough? I kept the bucket covered in towels for two hours, stirring every 20min. The only difference in process was I went for a bigger batch, so 8 gallons of water and 16lb of malted wheat. I mashed with 5 gallons of strike water to manage easier in the boiler, used the calculator to make sure it would sit at 148 and verified that it did. Then two hours later I added the remaining 3 gallons. Once chilled down to 80f about a half hour later I pitched the distillers yeast. Within an hour it was bubbling away so fermenting fine.

Only thing I can guess at is:
1) the 5 gallons of strike water was not enough?
2) the malted wheat requires a different temperature to extract the sugars?
3) something wrong with my wheat? (Malt - Briess - Red Wheat)
4) I ground the wheat on a slightly finer setting than the barley (on coarsest setting) since I saw a couple pass through without breaking

Appreciate any advice, just getting started with AG (a three week veteran of distilling haha!)
Thanks!

[Jimbo]

Had great luck with this using Malted Barley. Started the ferment at 1.060 sg, and was complete in 5 days. I just got some malted red wheat to try next and ran mostly the same process yesterday per the directions. All seemed to go fine, and looked right. But when I checked the sg after pitching the yeast it was down at 1.030 so seems I didn't convert enough sugars.

Would that indicate I didn't leave the grains soaking at 148f long enough? I kept the bucket covered in towels for two hours, stirring every 20min. The only difference in process was I went for a bigger batch, so 8 gallons of water and 16lb of malted wheat. I mashed with 5 gallons of strike water to manage easier in the boiler, used the calculator to make sure it would sit at 148 and verified that it did. Then two hours later I added the remaining 3 gallons. Once chilled down to 80f about a half hour later I pitched the distillers yeast. Within an hour it was bubbling away so fermenting fine.

Only thing I can guess at is:
1) the 5 gallons of strike water was not enough?
2) the malted wheat requires a different temperature to extract the sugars?
3) something wrong with my wheat? (Malt - Briess - Red Wheat)
4) I ground the wheat on a slightly finer setting than the barley (on coarsest setting) since I saw a couple pass through without breaking

Appreciate any advice, just getting started with AG (a three week veteran of distilling haha!)
Thanks!

1) 5 gal on 16 lbs is fine, I do up some beers with about the same mash at 3 lbs/g, no problem.
2) nope, same enzymes. 148 is a great temp
3) possibly, everything else in your process looks perfect.
4) that should help, not hinder.

Was it wrapped up to hold the heat, if you dropped pretty quick into the 130's I can see the enzymes slowing way down. Otherwise, its amystery. Wheat malt has more enzymes een than barley malt. Should have ripped up the starches.

[StuNY]

1) 5 gal on 16 lbs is fine, I do up some beers with about the same mash at 3 lbs/g, no problem.
2) nope, same enzymes. 148 is a great temp
3) possibly, everything else in your process looks perfect.
4) that should help, not hinder.

Was it wrapped up to hold the heat, if you dropped pretty quick into the 130's I can see the enzymes slowing way down. Otherwise, its amystery. Wheat malt has more enzymes een than barley malt. Should have ripped up the starches.

Thanks Jimbo- I think it is my wheat after all. I did another batch that is in the fermenter now- This time half wheat and half rye. I picked up some iodine though so I could keep an eye on it. It took a good 2 to 2 1/2 hours before I had a clear test with no starches. Ended up with 1.052sg though so at least I can work with it. I am using an igloo cooler now and it is holding the temp well so not going too low (My wife was not happy with me using her blankets haha!) When I run my straight barley malt it clears the starch test in about an hour with same setup.
The wheat and rye sure smells good in the fermenter- can't wait to distill it this weekend!
Thanks for the recipe!
Stu

[Jimbo]

Youre welcome.

Go to the salvation army and pick up an old wool blanket or quilt. Marital harmony is not over rated.

[StuNY]

Well, I have quite a few batches complete now and on oak. I have a four batches of single malt heavy peated barley, one all red wheat, and one 50/50 rye red wheat. I did a tasting of everything between 1 and 2 months old and was a little surprised. The "Scotch" has just the right amount of peat smoke/sea scent (was going for Islay) and the flavors are developing nicely. Getting something similar to my favorite Bowmore but maybe not as complex a flavor and a little more burn. I think I will be able to wait for 6 months on oak on this one. BUT, the 50/50 rye/wheat is never going to make it! After just one month it is pretty much perfect for my taste- spicy character, nice balance of the wheat flavors coming through. Poured myself a glass- then another haha! I know it would only get better with time but I may never find out

[jonnys_spirit]

I converted 60lbs of red wheat to likker and felt the same. It’s all gone and I have a list of stuff to make

Cheers,
Jonny

[Down_Home52]

Ran a small batch of 12# 2 row and 12 # peated to go with a batch of stripped scotch that I am shooting for 20% peated to fill a 10 liter barrel. This small batch was just to try and get the 5 peated up a little on what I already have ran. I brew in a bag and don't ferment on the grain. I used 10 gallons of water doing two 5 gallon batches. I run my first 5 gallons and pour the wash in my fermenter. I take my next five gallons of water cold and dunk the first bag of grain in it to rinse any left over sugars. Heat that 5 gallons and run the second batch. At that point i am left with a bag of grain that might have some sugars left but I don't have any sparge water to rinse it as I have used all the recipe calls for. I ended up with 1.064 SG and just squeezed as much liquid as I could out of the last bag of grain. With that small of a batch am I really losing that much by not having a tun set up with re-circulating wash for sparging? I like things as simple as I can get them.
I have had the good fortune of a great supply of muscadines and blueberries the last year. I have been making wines and brandy. Forgot how delicate the wash works in an AG barley wash. Man it smells great today.

[GCB3]

Hey Jimbo. I started my AG journey with this recipe a year ago but life got in the way. I finally got enough barley mash stripped to do a spirit run. Just finished blending the cuts and it’s the best thing I’ve made so far. It’s waiting in glass for my Gibbs barrels to arrive.

Thanks so much for your support during my early “trials”. This is a great recipe!

[StuNY]

About 8 months into this recipe/process and it is my favorite for sure! I have made about 30 batches now. Batch size used to be 5 gal, then 10 gal now settled into 28 gallons in a nice 32 gallon pail! Couple of observations if anyone is interested:

Batch size- it really is true that a big batch doesn't take much more time than a small batch and gives much more product to put away for aging.

Endless varieties possible- my main batches are now single malt barley and then a rye/wheat split. I have run different barley types- heavily peated, maris otter, and now golden promise. My favorite sipping "scotch" that I make most of the time now is a 1/3 heavily peated and a 2/3 maris otter (may be replacing with the golden promise depending on how my current batch turns out). I like Islay scotches and this seems to be the right amount of peat for me. The 100% heavily peated batches I did in the past are still pretty good and very drinkable but I really like the flavors that come through with the maris otter in combination and toning down the peat a bit.

Aging- Followed Jimbo's advice here too and do the charred stick from an old JD cask stave in 2 qt mason jars. Product is drinkable in a month, but the magic seems to happen at 6 months! Gets unbelievably smooth and flavors much more complex. I also found that the perfect place for aging in my house is the attic. The temperature swings are greater day to day and this seems to have made a much better product than when I was aging in my basement.

Ease of making- this is really much easier than most people think. My other spirit recipe I make is Bourbon and this is way less time consuming- even with the "no cook" approach. This recipe also works every time all the time. No stuck batches, partial fermentations and always about the same og- 1.058. Fermentations kick off quick and batches are done in 6-10 days. I switched from distillers yeast to US-05 a while back and found a much better/more complex taste with the US-05 so use that with everything now. I ferment in the 70's (f). The only tricky part in this all grain recipe is crushing the grain. I used my kitchen aid mill attachment with great success until I moved up to the big batches last month. It took and hour and 20 minutes to grind 42lbs of barley! I built a malt crusher powered by my drill last month and now it only takes a few minutes.

Distilling- Tried this with my original reflux column- was not happy with the flavors (or lack of) even when managing the level of reflux. Built a simple pot still and use it for everything now. Stripping runs saved up, then spirit run with full boiler. Collecting deep into the tails is key with a good scotch. Now I am getting more confident with the late heads as well. I used to only keep from hearts to tails, which is great for drinking with less aging. But now I am drinking some aged 5 months or so with more heads and really notice the difference. The earlier versions almost got too smooth with age- the heads keep it more lively on the tongue after settling down a bit with time. I followed Jimbo's thread on making an electric boiler with a keg a couple months back so got my operation out of wife's kitchen- this has created marital bliss for sure!

Tasting- It is a great feeling to be making single malt scotch's that are as good as anything I was buying before. I haven't bought a whisky now in over 5 months. Reviews from friends always include "... you could be selling this stuff" haha- but I am sure people will say anything to get free whisky!

Thanks Jimbo for sharing such a great and simple recipe and all the support you provide here! I strongly encourage anyone thinking about doing all grain to start here. Frustration free all grain for sure!

[Twisted Brick]

Enjoyable write up, Stu! I've been dragging my feet on putting up a good scotch (my fav) due to all the bourbon gyrations I've been testing for filling a barrel, but keep drinking the results of my efforts. Maybe I'll just add a dram or two of bourbon to a volume of scotch newmake and barrel it like that. Your post has definitely been a source of inspiration.

[StuNY]

Great to pass along the inspiration TB!
I like doing the aging with the oak sticks in 2qt mason jars for the flexibility they provide. I put the first jar (63% abv) away in the "do not drink- like ever" storage area, then a few jars in the "wait 6 months to drink" area, then a few jars for the reality factor of knowing I want to try it after a couple months! I, like you am also dabbling in bourbons, vodkas and now a tequila so easier to put something away to age without waiting to fill a barrel- i guess I have a short attention span haha!

Now that I have some as old as 8 months though, I am wondering if I should take the sticks out. They have taken on a really dark, rich amber/red color and taste really smooth but I imagine there will be a point where they are "overoaked"?

[Twisted Brick]

Yes, but I honestly don't know how long that is. I have bourbons on sticks in glass handles that are anywhere from 1mo to 6mos to 18mos old. There are times that I think the oak is overpowering, then later on it seems to smoothen out. I do know that opening the bottle, shaking the crap out of it and leaving it open for a few minutes helps dramatically. I'm guessing this simulates the breathability of a barrel to a degree, but still falls short of the true effectiveness of a barrel. Without an opportunity for the unwanted volatiles to escape glass, they simply embed themselves in your spirit.

I would make sure to test your older stuff every month. I know I do, and one month I swear I was drinking an expensive top shelf spirit. I should have bottled it then, but got greedy and stowed it to 'get even better'. Now it's not as tasty as that previous test, or maybe I was just a smidge tipsy at the time.

[StuNY]

Yes, but I honestly don't know how long that is. I have bourbons on sticks in glass handles that are anywhere from 1mo to 6mos to 18mos old. There are times that I think the oak is overpowering, then later on it seems to smoothen out. I do know that opening the bottle, shaking the crap out of it and leaving it open for a few minutes helps dramatically. I'm guessing this simulates the breathability of a barrel to a degree, but still falls short of the true effectiveness of a barrel. Without an opportunity for the unwanted volatiles to escape glass, they simply embed themselves in your spirit.

I would make sure to test your older stuff every month. I know I do, and one month I swear I was drinking an expensive top shelf spirit. I should have bottled it then, but got greedy and stowed it to 'get even better'. Now it's not as tasty as that previous test, or maybe I was just a smidge tipsy at the time.

Took your advice and went back to my oldest aging batches and found a surprise waiting for me! I had a jar of wheat single malt that has been aging about 10 months and actually got the "over oak" taste I have heard so much about but never experienced. I had assumed I would just leave the oak stick in all my aging jars but now will watch closely and remove the oak when it gets to a point that I like. I am drinking a lot of my 6 mo scotches and bourbons now and these seem pretty much ideal. 6-8 months may be ideal aging in my house- although I'll bet that will change with the seasons. Attic temp swings pretty widely in the summer but not so much in winter.

[6 Row Joe]

Thanks for the quick response. I have a couple friends that I could give some "too much peat" to and they would really enjoy it. (if it was too much for me) I think I'll start with 50/50 and see how that goes. I can adjust the percentages from there. Thanks again.

[nsgibson]

So I have followed this recipe pretty closely, it’s not my first AG but is my first scotch, using 100% barley malt. I have been fermenting the past 2 weeks and one bucket developed a white skin along the top and definitely has a sharp odor but not a sickening odor, while the other smells and looks normal. From doing reading on other posts it’s most likely a lacto infection. However is the batch lost? Can I skim the top of the mash and run it or should I not bother? The cap dropped about 5 days ago while the other still has it; I guess I should have put it in the fridge until I could run it? Has anyone run a scotch after lacto infection and what impact on flavor? Thanks
https://imgur.com/a/sUPuZ2X

[StuNY]

That happens to mine from time to time- I think it is coming in with some of the grains. No worries though, the three or four times I have run with it the taste is great. Can't honestly say whether it improves it or not but definitely doesn't hurt. Don't bother skimming, just run it.

[Durhommer]

very violent ferments usually 3 to 4 days this is a great recipe/method

[cayars]

very violent ferments usually 3 to 4 days this is a great recipe/method

How much yeast are you adding for it to be violent?

Are you sticking with the traditional 1.5 grams per gallon or 7 gram packet of yeast per 5 gallon batch?