uncle jesse's simple sour mash method

[NormandieStill]

OK. I AM reading through this thread but it IS 154 pages long. I'm on my third batch but it went a lot longer than I planned (cleared and settled) but the taste isn't too bad. However, my new batch of sour mash isn't firing off yet but it's only been 12 hours. The last batch was bubbling away in about 5 hours. Did I let it go too long? Will it eventually start up? Should I pitch a little bit of yeast to it?
Thanks

If you poured your new batch over the old trub while it was still hot then you may have cooked your yeast.

Put your ear to the fermenter and you'll be able to hear if the yeast are doing their thing (The rice crispies sound if you're from a country where that reference makes sense!).

[NZChris]

I'm just doing my first distillation. Even the first run tastes an awful lot like whiskey but I'm getting a slightly stale flavour. This is more present in the heads but it seems to Linger right through the hearts portion. I did use feed corn not sure if oaking and or aging balances the flavour.

SI=SO. If you used stale or moldy grain, you can expect those flavors to appear in your likker.

If it is a stripping run using a simple pot still, the spirit run makes a big difference.

[Brewfiend]

I'm just doing my first distillation. Even the first run tastes an awful lot like whiskey but I'm getting a slightly stale flavour. This is more present in the heads but it seems to Linger right through the hearts portion. I did use feed corn not sure if oaking and or aging balances the flavour.

SI=SO. If you used stale or moldy grain, you can expect those flavors to appear in your likker.

If it is a stripping run using a simple pot still, the spirit run makes a big difference.

I used a 70cm bokakob with 2 ss scrubbers inserted. corn was not moldy - all dry smelled very nice when I added it. The stale flavour seems to have dissapeared amongst the boquet. Yes first distillation, I will likely distill it again with the second generation wash

[NZChris]

I've had a Bokakob for many years, but never tried to use it to make a drinkable UJSSM out of wash.

All of my UJSSM has been double distilled using a simple pot still and the results are well liked by anyone that appreciates a simple white dog corn likker.

It ages well too, and I have plenty that has had many years on oak.

[Brewfiend]

what i have is ok but has the harsh stringency of a sugar wash. I might take cuts again and remove some bitterness, im sure when added to the second and 3rd generation it will taste different. I see Uncle jesse reccomends soaking on chared oak, may tame what I have. I thought I read somewhere uncle jesse used a reflux still. I thought it would be ok

[Brewfiend]

i guess within a few days it will have tamed down considerably as you can well imagine

[Saltbush Bill]

I thought I read somewhere uncle jesse used a reflux still. I thought it would be ok

What you thought you read and what you did read , if you read the entire thread was this, an entirely different thing.

I believe that Uncle Jesse uses a de-tuned reflux still, ie he has removed some or most of the column packing.
I do the same with mine and the end product ends up what you would expect from doing 2 runs or so through a pot still. It all depends on how long your column is and how much reflux you get when you remove your packing.

I do the same thing on my spirit run. I run full column, with no packing. It still has a bit more relux then a pot still, but comes up with a good product.

I use a fractionating column. It's not as efficient as a true reflux and will not produce neutral spirits for me unless I do multiple distillations.

"Thought, thought that his feet were sticking out of the bed , so he got out to have a look."

[NZChris]

Get the cut right for how soon you want to drink it.

You don't have to only choose one cut from a run.

I often choose a nice White Dog cut that is ready to drink in a week, and another cut that is to be aged on wood that I don't expect to be yummy likker for a few years.

[Brewfiend]

After proofing to 40% it's pretty darn good for a single distillation I'm sure I will get more of a chance to tweak it

[Brewfiend]

I added it to some medium toast french oak and American oak chips I had soaking in whiskey I had made formerly using malt extract and added some neutral to lower the bitterness. Now to my mind seems like a good whiskey of some kind... Even though it isn't. Can't wait to try the sour mash as it gets into the later generations. I'm going to start a large soaking jar with toasted French oak American oak and add each subsequent generation

[Brewfiend]

Just started my second ferment. Let the backset cool first, added sugar. Added a small amount of yeast nutrient and it has started bubbling again.

[Sporacle]

Just started my second ferment. Let the backset cool first, added sugar. Added a small amount of yeast nutrient and it has started bubbling again.

Why did you add yeast nutrients?

[Brewfiend]

It doesn't seem to affect it adversely. Just to get the yeast in the mood

[JustinNZ]

It is tempting to add yeast nutrient, but I think the new corn addition and the correct temperature should keep the old yeasty beasties happy. My second generation went mental last night a couple of hour after topping up. I suspect not disturbing the trub and murky wash where the yeast calls home is more important than I thought with regards to the vigour of the next generation. Will see.

[Brewfiend]

It is tempting to add yeast nutrient, but I think the new corn addition and the correct temperature should keep the old yeasty beasties happy. My second generation went mental last night a couple of hour after topping up. I suspect not disturbing the trub and murky wash where the yeast calls home is more important than I thought with regards to the vigour of the next generation. Will see.

Damn I suspected that disturbing the trub was a bad idea... For the sake of a little extra flavour I disturbed it. Next time I shall leave it be

[Brewfiend]

The sediment that fell to the bottom of the boiler smelled good so I added that back in with the backset... The mash... Or wash smells really sweet now with the heads and tails added

[Saltbush Bill]

Its a tried and true recipe for a reason, it doesn't need extra nutrients added, the crushed / ground grain supplies all of the nutrients needed.
Why F#@& with what is a perfectly bomb proof Tried &True recipe ?

[NZChris]

It is tempting to add yeast nutrient, but I think the new corn addition and the correct temperature should keep the old yeasty beasties happy. My second generation went mental last night a couple of hour after topping up. I suspect not disturbing the trub and murky wash where the yeast calls home is more important than I thought with regards to the vigour of the next generation. Will see.

Haha. I drain mine as much as I can, stir up the grain bed, trub and all, remove a third, top it up with a third of the grain bill, etc.. I've never added any nutrients, I've never had a problem.

To look after the yeast, I add a handful of sugar and enough water that it isn't sitting dry and hungry, meanwhile, aerate the makeup water, dump the needed backset onto the sugar in a separate vessel, top it up with enough water to get close enough to the temperature and SG ideal for the yeast, dump it into the fermenter, stir the bejeesus out of it to get everything into suspension, then make any adjustments, which are usually minor. I do chuck a couple of large shells in if the pH has dropped too low for my liking in the first day or two. There is no excuse for most of us Kiwi stillers to buy chook grit from a farm store.

[JustinNZ]

I enthusiastically stirred 1.5kg of sugar into my freshened-up grain bed with some lukewarm water to keep everyone happy while I ran the still. The feedback was positive. I do 45L washes, all inclusive, for the record. Gonna do five strips then get spiritual.

[NZChris]

Be careful doing that. The yeast only needs enough sugar to keep it alive, not so much that you suck the water out of it's cells.

[Brewfiend]

I upscale the recipe to allow a 10l buffer. This to my mind seems better than removing the wash completely, you can easily suck the clean wash from the Lees and the yeast won't dry out... Probably a few teaspoons of sugar added before I distill might help

[Brewfiend]

Its a tried and true recipe for a reason, it doesn't need extra nutrients added, the crushed / ground grain supplies all of the nutrients needed.
Why F#@& with what is a perfectly bomb proof Tried &True recipe ?

LOL people don't like to do what they're told salty.

[Brewfiend]

Besides corn doesn't contain the broad spectrum trace minerals found in yeast nutrient. If I was to alter this recipe again I would add a micronutrients source

[NZChris]

Each generation easily creates enough trub and backset for a 3x sized next generation. Rather than doing seemingly never-ending single ferments and strips to get enough for pot stilled spirit runs, I get my UJSSM series over and done with by quickly up-sizing to fermenters that can produce three stripping runs worth of wash.

After the first couple of ferments and strips, each strip produces enough backset and trub that I can put down the next generation while the second strip is running. The next generation is already bubbling while I'm doing the third stripping run. To save on time and heating costs, the hot water from the condenser can be used in the make-up water. I also run a Charentiase style preheater to save on stripping time and costs and that is covered in other threads.

[Saltbush Bill]

LOL people don't like to do what they're told salty.

In the world I live in, that area is reserved for recalcitrant children , not adult hobby forums.....but anyway you please your self........ for now.
People here don't like T&T recipes being polluted with half arsed ideas like using Yellow label yeast just to see what happens.
If you want to take that path start your own thread and your own recipe in Recipe Development or a similar area of the forum.

[Brewfiend]

Each generation easily creates enough trub and backset for a 3x sized next generation. Rather than doing seemingly never-ending single ferments and strips to get enough for pot stilled spirit runs, I get my UJSSM series over and done with by quickly up-sizing to fermenters that can produce three stripping runs worth of wash.

After the first couple of ferments and strips, each strip produces enough backset and trub that I can put down the next generation while the second strip is running. The next generation is already bubbling while I'm doing the third stripping run. To save on time and heating costs, the hot water from the condenser can be used in the make-up water. I also run a Charentiase style preheater to save on stripping time and costs and that is covered in other threads.

Yeah. You can almost quadruple in size eich time. I didn't get a lot of feints off this last run though. Anyway mine is large enough that I have 40l to strip each time. I'm assuming the flavour profile changes with time and I'm going to blend all 7 generations

[Brewfiend]

LOL people don't like to do what they're told salty.

People here also dont like T&T recipes being polluted with half arsed ideas like using Yellow label yeast just to see what happens.
If you want to take that path start your own thread and your own recipe in Recipe Development or a similar area of the forum.

I will thanks salty. Lol

[Saltbush Bill]

Another little hint Brew, its not about doing as your told, its about having some respect for a recipe that has made it to the T&T section of the forum for a reason , and also having some respect for the owner of that recipe , who by the way is the fella who owns this forum........your in his house now..... so play nice.

[Brewfiend]

what you interpret as a lack of respect is curiosity.

[JustinNZ]

Be careful doing that. The yeast only needs enough sugar to keep it alive, not so much that you suck the water out of it's cells.

Thanks Chris. Good tip.