Home Distiller

Honest_Liberty wrote:Greetings everyone.

I'm wondering if any of you have thought about the following, which is now the protocol I follow:

.... With grains removed, throw into compost. leave 1" bed with yeast. Toss in 10% backset (1.2 gallons) after you are done to start next batch. This is my method from research. It is more work but it isn't a ton of work. After approximately 6 strips you will have enough to spirit run 12 gallons and end up with 5 gallons finished sipping moonshine at 45%. That is how it has worked for me

Here is something you might want to consider from Jimbo's Bourbon Gumball Head Recipe
Note that he is starting with an AG mash, but the principle should still be the same.

"Instead of dumping that pile of squeezed out spent grain (and goo from the bottom of the settling buckets) in the compost (like I used to do! ugh) cook up 16 lbs of sugar with 2 gallons of the backset from the stripper run above and 10 gallons water. Cool and pour over the spent grain. There's plenty yeast embedded in the grain so no need for more yeast. This baby will start up quick and ferment out fast, 1.061 to 1.000 in 4 days. Squeeze it out like above, let it settle and run it twice, all same as above. You could pull a couple quarts of hearts out of the first run for a sweeter tasting shine"

"Instead of dumping that pile of squeezed out spent grain (and goo from the bottom of the settling buckets) in the compost (like I used to do! ugh) cook up 16 lbs of sugar with 2 gallons of the backset from the stripper run above and 10 gallons water. Cool and pour over the spent grain. There's plenty yeast embedded in the grain so no need for more yeast. This baby will start up quick and ferment out fast, 1.061 to 1.000 in 4 days. Squeeze it out like above, let it settle and run it twice, all same as above. You could pull a couple quarts of hearts out of the first run for a sweeter tasting shine"

[/quote]

Thank you sir for the suggestion. I will consider this for sure.

flavor of SF:
well, I spent about 30 minutes smelling at 72 and 40 %. apparently X'd out of the wrong window. ARGH!

Heavy Vanilla/Marshmallow
Creme Brulee/molasses
raisin
slight dry oak back end.

lingering bread smell after glencairn dries. I highly suggest to avoid bread yeast. I can pick it up in all my spirits without question. DADY distillers for now until I dive more into yeast.

Edit:
I poured another glass of my sweetfeed whiskey in a Glencairn... Very rich dark/ripe fruit with subtle dark chocolate notes on the back end... It's turning out amazing after resting for 8 months unoaked

Today I'm going to tackle a more involved take on this:
10 gallon batch
15 pounds cracked corn
10 pounds sweetfeed
I'm thinking of mixing all the grains after grinding and milling (12.5 pounds total each) into two Home Depot coolers, with 6.25 gallons of water each, boiled, plus high temp alpha amalyze at 180F.
When it gets about 140F I'll add Gluco amalyze, let rest overnight. I'm interested to see what the starting gravity is, I'm guessing about 5.5 - 6%.
I'm also interested to see if this already wonderfully tasty spirit can become smoother.

No one really seems interested in this process, maybe because of the time but it should be even cheaper than sugar and yield a much smoother spirit

Honest_Liberty wrote:Edit:
I poured another glass of my sweetfeed whiskey in a Glencairn... Very rich dark/ripe fruit with subtle dark chocolate notes on the back end... It's turning out amazing after resting for 8 months unoaked

Today I'm going to tackle a more involved take on this:
10 gallon batch
15 pounds cracked corn
10 pounds sweetfeed
I'm thinking of mixing all the grains after grinding and milling (12.5 pounds total each) into two Home Depot coolers, with 6.25 gallons of water each, boiled, plus high temp alpha amalyze at 180F.
When it gets about 140F I'll add Gluco amalyze, let rest overnight. I'm interested to see what the starting gravity is, I'm guessing about 5.5 - 6%.
I'm also interested to see if this already wonderfully tasty spirit can become smoother.

No one really seems interested in this process, maybe because of the time but it should be even cheaper than sugar and yield a much smoother spirit

I’m interested in hearing your process. Sweetfeed whiskey has been one of my favorite recipes. If by chance it could be any smoother I’d would be a liquid candy. Make sure to keep us updated.

Thanks for the positive response. I am about to hit up Murdoch's to pick up another 50lb sack of cracked corn and start this process today. I am going to post all photos, with all equipment, all raw materials and ingredients, for a full walkthrough. I won't know the final product quality for at least 4-5 months as we are under contract to move to a new home December 20th-28th (great timing!), which basically leaves me weeknights to do strips and hopefully get one good spirit run early January/February.

My first run turned out pretty good. I didn't stray from the recipe except the type of sugar. I got a 1.069 OG and .996 finish. I must say it was messy as hell not using any type of separation with the feed in the bucket. I just started my second mash and rinsed the feed and put it in cheese cloth. I'm not sure what this will give me at the end but hey I'm learning so might as well experiment. This time I had a 1.050 OG with a 6.9 PH. Its definitely not bubbling as hard as the first one. The first one bubbled like my vent was boiling. This time I pulled the feed out after the water cooled then added the cold water to bring it to 6 gal. I'm guessing this brought my OG down compared to my first run due to having more water. I thought the flavor of my first distillation was ok but I hope I get my cuts a little better the second time around. Not knowing what it should smell like is kind of a bitch but i guess I will learn soon enough.

well folks... like everything in life it seems, you can either skimp on effort or pay the price for convenience.
The work to do this all grain is extensive... I have 3 hours in this process today (to be fair I F'd around but total work time was just under 3 hours- 15 minutes to weigh grains, 45 minutes to run to passes through .25 grinder, then another 1.5 hours milling on my wife's kitchenaide, plus about another 30 minutes tending to mixing, adding HT Alpha, (burning my left hand with boiling water), and then covering before I go to bed. I started this today at approximately 3pm but I was watching NOTRE DAME WRECK SYRACUSE!!!! and some other BS, a few mimosa's in the snowy weather. you know, good times. I took a bunch of photos of every step of the process and will post everything when recipe is finished and double distillation complete with tight cuts. All in all I think this cheaper recipe combined with corn engine rather than table sugar will make a superb drop.

15 pounds corn
10 pounds sweetfeed (3-way corn oats barley + molasses)
9.5 gallons Reverse Osmosis water
3 gallons tap

I'll check back in the a.m. before the range to fill yinz in on the process.

Honest_Liberty wrote:well folks... like everything in life it seems, you can either skimp on effort or pay the price for convenience.
The work to do this all grain is extensive... I have 3 hours in this process today (to be fair I F'd around but total work time was just under 3 hours- 15 minutes to weigh grains, 45 minutes to run to passes through .25 grinder, then another 1.5 hours milling on my wife's kitchenaide, plus about another 30 minutes tending to mixing, adding HT Alpha, (burning my left hand with boiling water), and then covering before I go to bed. I started this today at approximately 3pm but I was watching NOTRE DAME WRECK SYRACUSE!!!! and some other BS, a few mimosa's in the snowy weather. you know, good times. I took a bunch of photos of every step of the process and will post everything when recipe is finished and double distillation complete with tight cuts. All in all I think this cheaper recipe combined with corn engine rather than table sugar will make a superb drop.

15 pounds corn
10 pounds sweetfeed (3-way corn oats barley + molasses)
9.5 gallons Reverse Osmosis water
3 gallons tap

I'll check back in the a.m. before the range to fill yinz in on the process.

This may be a stupid question or statement, I'm guessing your taking this basic recipe to a higher level rather than the simple way it was originally written ?

Yes sir. This is basically an experiment to see if I can make this already wonderful drop just a tad smoother by not using sugar. The original recipe is honestly fantastic. It is my favorite white sipper, but there is still a sharpness from the sugarhead.

I'm hoping corn for the engine rounds the edges and enhances the flavor even more.

Update, iodine test showed clear, but I still added Gluco at 140F this morning. Hopefully after the range and race today it'll be ready to pitch

Honest_Liberty wrote:Yes sir. This is basically an experiment to see if I can make this already wonderful drop just a tad smoother by not using sugar. The original recipe is honestly fantastic. It is my favorite white sipper, but there is still a sharpness from the sugarhead.

I'm hoping corn for the engine rounds the edges and enhances the flavor even more.

Update, iodine test showed clear, but I still added Gluco at 140F this morning. Hopefully after the range and race today it'll be ready to pitch

Sweet I hope it turns out as expected.

I was curious if the larger amount of yeast is to get a reaction of a turbo yeast? I've been reading on the Parent sight and one of the articles mentioned it but i wasn't sure if I was understanding it correctly.

Greetings everyone,
Update:
This process has resulted in starting gravity just under 1.060, it appeared to be 1.058 and that looks to me to be 7.25% potential alcohol, and it tastes wonderful. I'll likely run this strip Friday evening after my son goes to bed

Hello friends, I’ tried to do a variant of this, I’ve scaled it up quite a bit. Here’s what I tried- 25 lbs wrangler sweet 10 sweet feed
-5 lbs corn meal
- 5 lbs distillers malt
20 gal rain water
I boiled water and added sweet feed and corn meal. Let steep all night, once down to 150f I added malt n let steep. Once cooled I opened barrel lid and checked sg- it was 1.01- literally no conversion or sugar
I thought the molasses alone and a little starch conversion from corn would help this- but I guess not. I can add sugar to get where I want but my question is this- this smells kinda off- like salty and not like any grain mash I ever done before.. is this normal? It jus doesn’t smell like anything I ever done before..

Bavis54 wrote:Hello friends, I’ tried to do a variant of this, I’ve scaled it up quite a bit. Here’s what I tried- 25 lbs wrangler sweet 10 sweet feed
I boiled water and added sweet feed and corn meal. Let steep all night, once down to 150f I added malt n let steep. Once cooled I opened barrel lid and checked sg- it was 1.01- literally no conversion or sugar
I thought the molasses alone and a little starch conversion from corn would help this- but I guess not. I can add sugar to get where I want but my question is this- this smells kinda off- like salty and not like any grain mash I ever done before.. is this normal? It jus doesn’t smell like anything I ever done before..

I have about 30 pounds of Tractor Supply sweetfeed left. I could certainly be wrong but I've decided it's better to buy and mash separately.

Did you add enzymes and do you think everything converted?

short answer: yes. I used enzymes.

Long answer below, because well..I'm a talker.

I grinded, milled, all grains to approximately corn meal consistency, maybe 1/3rd larger than corn meal in size. I added High Temp Sebstar Alpha Amalayse to the mash after I added boiled water to the 25 pounds of grain, split between two buckets. when it cooled to 140 I added gluco amalayse. This stuff is super cheap if you buy in bulk and both are used at .36ml/lb of grains. I think its approximately 10 ml of both HT alpha and Gluco for 25 pounds of grain.

The wash has been ready for maybe 2 days now but I've had my son 4 nights in a row and just stripped my high rye C.O.B. bourbon tuesday (holy moly what a recipe and what a difference! much drier hearts). I'm moving December 20 to a new house, which means I'll be busy getting ready to move. However, I'm going to hit it hard January. I plan on stripping every 3-4 nights and running each spirit run late february early march. Both batches will be sour mash (adding 10% backset/dunder at gluco rest). I'll keep you updated on the flavor comparison.

Last thing and I'll leave this until my strip tomorrow: The Tried and True recipe is FAILPROOF! as far as I can tell, there is no need to change it. It is delicious, wonderful, smooth, cheap. I'm just trying to see if I can smooth out the edges and save some money (although spending considerably more of my time). the T&T takes a fraction of the time.

No to using enzymes- I have them, and love them but I did not use them on this.
Using wife’s kitchen aid mixer and mill I ran the sweet feed thru grist mill, along with the corn, and malts.
I only had 5 lbs distillers malt to use(I cleaned out stores), so it’s not so much that I’m surprised I didn’t achieve great conversion, it’s jus that I thought sweet feed would have enough sugar from molasses in it to at least get 1.03 or so, on its own... that’s y I added some corn meal n malts to try n up that sg some.
But this had literally none in it- sg was 1.01... I can fix this with cane sugar before I pitch yeast, but it’s the smell that I wonder about- it’s not like any kind of grain mash I ever done, it has a salty smell, and strong cardboardey smell. It doesn’t smell like anything I’d wanna drink. Maybe this is normal, that y I ask you guys. I do corn, bourbon, all kinds of ag/ fruit mashes but this is first for sweet feed.
The feed I got was wrangler brand sweet10 sweet feed- dark brown mix with some corn n oats in it. When I milked it it turned like dark brown corn meal.
Does it smell like that when u guys make it?

Bavis54 wrote: The feed I got was wrangler brand sweet10 sweet feed- dark brown mix with some corn n oats in it. When I milked it it turned like dark brown corn meal.
Does it smell like that when u guys make it?

Here's a closeup of the COB I bought at Tractor Supply The feed has no smell at all.

I mashed it with corn and 2 row - forgot to take an OG and it stalled at 1.05 for a couple of weeks.
Very little smell at all.

Thank you, mine looked exactly same after milling , but some of it was in small pellets before I milled

Hmm, I see I misunderstood who was being addressed. My bad

I'll update anyway:
Ran my first strip last night, finally. The wash cleared to a nice weak coffee hue, and I used the mop wringer to get all the rest. My initial impression of the hearts sample:
Clean, significantly less sweet than the tried and true. However, as I expected, smoother around the edges, softer, but also less of the sugar+molasses raisin-y sweetness from the original recipe. Again, to be expected. I'm actually surprised how dry the corn alcohol tastes in comparison to the sugar, and they say corn leaves a sweet taste! All grain is the way to go, and with enzymes, why wouldn't you? It makes everything so simple. A ton more work though for sure

what a huge difference in flavor! wow. the oats come in really strong when doing corn as a base, and the molasses/sweetness is extremely muted. A very dry, much more whiskey flavored drink.. Very, very smooth. I'm quite impressed.

I'll probably still do the original recipe for white sipping, but this is definitely going to be worthy of oak.

Honest_Liberty wrote:what a huge difference in flavor! wow. the oats come in really strong when doing corn as a base, and the molasses/sweetness is extremely muted. A very dry, much more whiskey flavored drink.. Very, very smooth. I'm quite impressed.

I'll probably still do the original recipe for white sipping, but this is definitely going to be worthy of oak.

Sounds like a great result. Thanks for taking the time to share the experience. If you do throw it on some oak be sure to let us know how to turns out.

[quote=I'll probably still do the original recipe for white sipping, but this is definitely going to be worthy of oak.[/quote]

Sounds like a great result. Thanks for taking the time to share the experience. If you do throw it on some oak be sure to let us know how to turns out.[/quote]

Thanks, I hope I haven't butchered your quotes in my attempt to respond.

1. I have at least 7 more strips...so late february, early march, i'll be running my spirit run.
2.My plans for aging are as follows:
1 gallon at 45% white
1 gallon at 60% toasted oak fingers at 395F (could change I have more reading) in appropriate amount
1 gallon at 60% medium charred oak fingers
1 gallon at 60 % split even toasted fingers and charred oak fingers
anything leftover, I dunno.

3. I'm starting to wonder whether pressing the grains (and some of the yeast bed) in my mop wringer (leaving a very cloudy wash) is contributing to a yeasty note that I don't pick up in bourbons. It is unmistakable, although slight. THis makes me think I need to set up a proper HERMS system and strip when clear. I haven't read enough on the topic.

I am constructing a unit this winter and was looking ahead at what I may want to run. The Sweet feed recipe seems easy and many find it tasty so it and UJSSM are at the top of my choices. I went to the local store and they have 2 sweet feed bags and a bag with grains.

1. Which sweet feed is appropriate, sweet feed 1, or sweet feed 2?
2. Should I keep looking or is this the product?
3. Would the grain tag 3 product produce anything worthwhile?
4. Any other advice you want to throw in is welcome.

Nozzleman wrote:

grain tag 2a.JPG

grain tag 1a.JPG

grain tag 3a.JPG

I am constructing a unit this winter and was looking ahead.....
1. Which sweet feed is appropriate, sweet feed 1, or sweet feed 2?
2. Should I keep looking or is this the product?
3. Would the grain tag 3 product produce anything worthwhile?
4. Any other advice you want to throw in is welcome.

You need “producers pride All Grain”. The sweet feeds you listed have extruded pellets. The third, might make something, just not sure what. Never tried to brew Milo before.

I bought this for the sweet feed.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/C-O-B-With-M ... b/10449501


Do you think it will work?

Looks like it. You want ingredients to be:
Corn oats barley molasses

Is this a misprint 8 tablespoon of yeast that seems like alot to me but I don't know???? Thanks
As I did some reading through the threat am I safe to say so much yeast so you can keep reusing the grains for more generations?? Just guessing trying to learn by reading and not asking. Thanks

So I read several times in this thread that the Producer's Pride 12% sold at Tractor Supply was not in pellet form. Well, there are pellets in it.

What happens if I use this anyway to create a sweatfeed mash?

Will I have a mushy mess?

vex wrote:So I read several times in this thread that the Producer's Pride 12% sold at Tractor Supply was not in pellet form. Well, there are pellets in it.

What happens if I use this anyway to create a sweatfeed mash?

Will I have a mushy mess?

The pellets have alfalfa and a filler in them. It gives a terrible flavor to the mash. You need the Producers Pride All grain.

Will alfalfa be on the label or is it something they add to make the pellets? I'll check label when I get home.
They didn't have one that said 'all grain'

Yes, alfalfa should be in the ingredients. All grain is getting expensive, 15, 16 bucks a bag. They don’t sell much anymore so it does not get stacked. Ask if they could order some.