Home Distiller

Mash master wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 1:11 pm I’ve been looking to do a sweet feed mash, I haven’t bought any yet, are there any undesirable ingredients that you need to stay clear off when buying the sweet feed?
UK

Its been discussed enough in this thread to make another subthread no less than two pages long.

1 gal of SFW on heavy char oak at 116 P. After 12 hr 36 hr update

Mine color up pretty fast too like that even tho none is sf I'm working in sugar right now for my wife I'd much rather be using barley and wheat

Sailman wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2020 8:21 am 1 gal of SFW on heavy char oak at 116 P.
20200830_173501.jpg
After 12 hr
IMG_20200831_083637.jpg

I noticed that mine started to color fairly quick as well, I had a new 1 or 2 liter (small) oak barrel that I took apart and charred the staves a bit and put #2 in a glass gallon jug, they're looking good...

Deplorable wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:51 pm Its been discussed enough in this thread to make another subthread no less than two pages long.

Yeah, the thread is 134 pages long. The All Bran recipe is even longer. After the first couple of pages, that's several hours of reading a lot of duplicate info to try and glean a few new tidbits of info.
This is the plight of being a newbie to an established forum.
Anyway...back to reading. I'm on page 47 of the All Bran...

desmo_2 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:34 pm

Deplorable wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:51 pm Its been discussed enough in this thread to make another subthread no less than two pages long.

Yeah, the thread is 134 pages long. The All Bran recipe is even longer. After the first couple of pages, that's several hours of reading a lot of duplicate info to try and glean a few new tidbits of info.
This is the plight of being a newbie to an established forum.
Anyway...back to reading. I'm on page 47 of the All Bran...

Try the "Search this Topic" search function at the top of the thread.

84 hr in on oak

Don't over oak it. You can't take that back.

Won't time mellow it out if you over oak it

Kentucky shinner wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2010 9:53 am day 8 and the 30 gallon ferment has finished at FG.099 SG was 1.06.

Alcohol gravity

The basic formula used by most homebrewers is pretty simple: ABV = (OG - FG) * 131.25.

ABV = alcohol by volume, OG = original gravity, and FG = final gravity. So, using this formula with a beer having an OG of 1.055 and a FG of 1.015, your ABV would be 5.25%.

I have tried to find someone with experience using this recipe and adding distillers malt instead of spiking it with cane sugar. Here is the sweet feed ingredients that I have on hand. My plan since I am new to this recipe is to brew up a 5 - 6 gallon batch and add 2 lbs. of distillers malt instead of the sugar. Any thoughts on this and guesses at what my OG could end up at? Sorry if the answer is in here but didn’t come across it in my browsing:

Resized_20200825_110848.jpg

Duro, I was hoping a more experienced distiller would chime in on the over-oaking. But from my reading on this site less oak for longer is better and it is difficult to remove the flavor.

dec, there are a ton of brewers calculators out there that will tell you what your OG will be.

Errant post.

dec3223 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2020 7:22 am I have tried to find someone with experience using this recipe and adding distillers malt instead of spiking it with cane sugar. Here is the sweet feed ingredients that I have on hand. My plan since I am new to this recipe is to brew up a 5 - 6 gallon batch and add 2 lbs. of distillers malt instead of the sugar. Any thoughts on this and guesses at what my OG could end up at? Sorry if the answer is in here but didn’t come across it in my browsing:

Resized_20200825_110848.jpg

Corene1 did a all grain version. I have her notes saved on my home computer to try it out for myself. I believe it was 50/20/30 and a qt of Molly for every 10 gal of water. Grains at 2.2#/gallon

Has anyone been able to find this in their local Tractor Supply recently? I'm in Eastern PA & it's nowhere to be found either @ the store or shipped to store.


the other option is this, but it doesn't have the barley component:

Plenty to be had at my store. But its be a few days drive for you.

This is how mine look after a week

Durhommer wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2020 6:52 am 20200911_094950.jpg

This is how mine look after a week

Hey, no drinking & driving!!!

That's another hobby of mine...no not drinking and driving lol good one tho

More sweet feed pictures. The one on the left has been on heavy toasted Oak chips since 8/31 at 116 proof. The one on the right I put it on a Jack Daniel's Barrel Stave cleaned, medium toast and charred to a medium Plus at 120 proof 10/4. The one on the left has just started to get some Oak characteristics on the back end

Well I must have done something correctly. I went to jeep club meeting / cookout yesterday and took some SFW and Peach. 9 pint's SFW and 3 of the Peach, I only came home with 1 SFW because this was my first and I couldn't let it go. Now the wait begins, the rest of the run has been put down for a long sleep.

Well, life got in the way

but after 6 months on the grain, I finally got around to it

all I can say is WOW.
My middle jar of what I think is hearts is about 56abv.
And it is soooo smooth and easy, it is like having some 40% stuff watered to half.
and the Flavour is very nice.

I'm not a big fan if bite and strong flavours, so this stuff is right up my alley.
I don't even think I'll water it down at all, once I put all my blending together, it should be between 45-50abv, right where I want it.

I put a bit on oak, and nuked it a few, and I dunno, but it doesn't seem to improve it much.
I don't think the center hearts need improving at all.

now, when I blend the outer jars, Ima gonna put them on some oak and let 'em sit for a bit.

Thanks Kentucky Shinner.
This one is a WINNER to me!

fzbwfk9r wrote: ↑Tue Dec 15, 2020 2:49 pm Well, life got in the way

but after 6 months on the grain, I finally got around to it

all I can say is WOW.
My middle jar of what I think is hearts is about 56abv.
And it is soooo smooth and easy, it is like having some 40% stuff watered to half.
and the Flavour is very nice.

I'm not a big fan if bite and strong flavours, so this stuff is right up my alley.
I don't even think I'll water it down at all, once I put all my blending together, it should be between 45-50abv, right where I want it.

I put a bit on oak, and nuked it a few, and I dunno, but it doesn't seem to improve it much.
I don't think the center hearts need improving at all.

now, when I blend the outer jars, Ima gonna put them on some oak and let 'em sit for a bit.

Thanks Kentucky Shinner.
This one is a WINNER to me!

IMO its better white. I have a few various jugs of it aging, and so far at 2.5 months, its not there yet. It was a smooth sipper white at 45%

I have also preferred it white.
Went through a gallon of it at our wedding with a few 65-hundred dollar bottles only half finished

so I've got 6 gallons at 75% double distilled. I think I'm going to keep this white for my regular sipping.

I haven't have much luck aging on oak because I think my cuts are too conservative and the flavor never really gets complex. I'm going to try this with enzymes and angels yeast. no sugar. I think the sugar washes need a few months to soften

Decided to taste this again after 6 weeks resting white.

Here are my tasting notes, which I hope are in the ballpark of what is expected. I wanted to share in case anyone is interested in what to expect:

I'm getting massive raisin notes in the nose and front end taste. A very subtle, clean vanilla just behind that.
It's vanilla, but there is a fresh clothes smell right after it's brought in from the fresh air, that accompanies it. It's definitely a "clean" note, if that makes sense.

When I put it down and pick it up a few minutes later, I'm picking up fruit notes that I can't pinpoint. Light, not tropical. Earthy, but light. Almost floral actually. Then of course comes a heavy grain profile. This has a wonderful long, heavy linger to the back end. Might be because my condenser is typically run at 55-60°F, if my understanding is correct on the influence of colder condenser water.

Five minutes after finishing the dram, the empty glass smells straight up like the raw sweetfeed. Five minutes later: vomit and rotten cardboard. That was my first indication I want conservative enough.

Here's something I'm interested in finding out from others who make this. It may be my process, the yeast, or what I suspect: the boiling water added to the grains combined with fermenting on the grains. What I'm picking up on the very back end is a faint chemical additive taste (or a dry cardboard taste) on the middle of my tongue. It's offensive and I'm assuming it's tannic residual from the feed oats and barley, interacting with boiling water and then being fermented on the grains.

Also, I don't let the wash settle. I strain and press it and run it cloudy through a copper scrubber packed 16 gallon stainless steel basic pot still from Brewhaus. Maybe I've gone too far in the tails but I'm quite conservative with my cuts on this recipe. Although maybe not as conservative as I interpreted.

No one else perceives it, but I have a very sensitive sense of smell. Can anyone comment on whether these tasting notes are consistent or whether that backend flavor is the result of too many tails?

Sounds like tails to me. Been a while since I tasted my white SF. All the white is gone and there's 2 gallons on oak at 4 months, and I'm still not happy with the level of oak influence, but its getting better.

I'd guess tails too. Tannic is, well, tannic and grain husky tasting and sort of dries your tongue. You wouldn't be the first around here to have the ability to taste small amounts of tails. I am not one of them naturally but since I have been using a heads and tails mixture for hand sanitizer for almost a year now I have trained myself to be able to smell the tails since my hands smell like it often.

stillanoob wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 11:10 am I'd guess tails too. Tannic is, well, tannic and grain husky tasting and sort of dries your tongue. You wouldn't be the first around here to have the ability to taste small amounts of tails. I am not one of them naturally but since I have been using a heads and tails mixture for hand sanitizer for almost a year now I have trained myself to be able to smell the tails since my hands smell like it often.

Thanks. This is such a wonderful recipe that I want to do it justice. The fine balance between just enough tails for complexity and depth, and just too much where the aftertaste leaves me disappointed in myself. I'm going to go even more conservative now on my white dog cuts. It's already such a heavy flavor profile that a little less might actually benefit it

I was trying to read through where I mentioned I had some that I gave to my buddy that sat for a year.

I was shocked at the rich vanilla and creme brulee profile. However I have to note, after further consideration and doing some testing with vanilla beans, I'm over 90% positive that I added a little bit of vanilla extract to it. Probably a half ounce per gallon if I remember correctly.

Just wanted that out there in case someone stumbled upon that description I provided, expecting those results. I don't think it's accurate because it didn't account for what I'm very positive was a slight vanilla extract addition.

What I can vouch for though is the claim that vanilla extract gets better with age: absolutely. Especially when it's on white sweet feed for a year, it contributes a wonderful natural tasting vanilla bouquet and flavor