Home Distiller

Did my cuts yesterday, put some on oak, and left some white. Used 40lbs breiss red wheat malt.
Good one. Thanks Jimbo.

I just tried this recipe and all I can say wow it's easy!!
I used 50 lbs of Pilot Pale malted barley from Skagit Valley Malting
5 lbs of Peated Malt from Bairds malting
3 lbs of honey malt just because I had it already and was getting old

Mashed in 30 gals of 160°F water in two stages (heated with my keg boiler), Not sure if it was the pilot malt or something else ended up with a reading of 26 brix ( that's 1.1103 for all you non wine folks) added about 15 gals of cold water to bring it closer to 15 brix (1.0611)

Just pitched yeast Wish me luck

Stay safe
OVZ

I'm loving how fast this is fermenting. not sure if it has to do with a couple new methods that I'm doing or ...
First change to my normal is I'm treating the water with sodium ascorbate to reduce the chlorine the second is I'm starting with a lower SG.

48 hours in and I'm almost negative

Stay safe
OVZ

Well it turns out that it's not as fast fermenting as I thought it would of. Still going strong but hovering above negative, Ill just wait until it's finished.

Stay safe
OVZ

Three weeks in and still bubbling but smells great

Stay safe
OVZ

Three weeks is pretty long for this one, mine usually get most of the fermenting done in a few days, then finish off in another few days. If I get lazy and pitch the yeast around 100 degrees it usually starts/finishes very fast, 90 degrees and much more consistent fermentation. All depends how long I can manage to dangle my chiller in there before losing patience- those last few degrees take a long time! The flavor is supposed to be better with a more uniform fermentation- I haven't been able to verify this myself but shoot for it anyway. "Keep the yeast happy" and all.
Good luck with your batch!

Just finished squeezing the grains out of the big fermentor Stay safe
OVZ

What still are you going to run that on OVZ? Pot or plates?

OtisT wrote: ↑Tue May 17, 2022 4:57 pm What still are you going to run that on OVZ? Pot or plates?

Once it clears I'll run it pot all the way. Strip and spirit.

Stay safe
OVZ

I was in the middle of a 4 gallon single malt mash (Barley malted at home) SG 1.055 PH 5.3 fermenting nicly. It was at 1.015 PH 3.8 when I left home for five days. I was surprised to see that mash has turned into semi jelly. It has nice smell, covered with a white film, but it's not quite thin liquid as a mash should be. I am wondering what to do ? I am seeking for suggestions as I could not notice my mistake. I have another same mash in line. I want to know what went wrong before proceeding with next batch. Expert guidelines will be a great help.....

Thanks and regards
Anil63

Oldvine Zin wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 5:52 pm
Mashed in 30 gals of 160°F water in two stages (heated with my keg boiler), Not sure if it was the pilot malt or something else ended up with a reading of 26 brix ( that's 1.1103 for all you non wine folks) added about 15 gals of cold water to bring it closer to 15 brix (1.0611)

Stay safe
OVZ

Man, I would have left it up at the 15%ish range and exparamented with some hier alchol tolerant yeasts. well maybe drop it down to 12%

what do you use for your mashing?

Stircrazy wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 3:39 pm

Oldvine Zin wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 5:52 pm
Mashed in 30 gals of 160°F water in two stages (heated with my keg boiler), Not sure if it was the pilot malt or something else ended up with a reading of 26 brix ( that's 1.1103 for all you non wine folks) added about 15 gals of cold water to bring it closer to 15 brix (1.0611)

Stay safe
OVZ

Man, I would have left it up at the 15%ish range and exparamented with some hier alchol tolerant yeasts. well maybe drop it down to 12%

what do you use for your mashing?

You're braver than I am. I wouldn't even consider "experimenting" with a 30 gallon mash, and risk making a large batch of heads and tails and very little hearts cut.

Deplorable wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 5:53 pm

Stircrazy wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 3:39 pm

Oldvine Zin wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 5:52 pm
Mashed in 30 gals of 160°F water in two stages (heated with my keg boiler), Not sure if it was the pilot malt or something else ended up with a reading of 26 brix ( that's 1.1103 for all you non wine folks) added about 15 gals of cold water to bring it closer to 15 brix (1.0611)

Stay safe
OVZ

Man, I would have left it up at the 15%ish range and exparamented with some hier alchol tolerant yeasts. well maybe drop it down to 12%

what do you use for your mashing?

You're braver than I am. I wouldn't even consider "experimenting" with a 30 gallon mash, and risk making a large batch of heads and tails and very little hearts cut.

I shoot for 12% for my grain mashes. the yeasts I use (specialty beer yeasts are normaly tolerent up to 14 to 15% some as high as 17. but I am also trying to pick yeast strains to encourage the extra productions of fruity esters, and some times I stress them also to increase that. to me its a hobby and I want to see what I can make, if it doesnt turn out then it gets turned into nutral and Im not worried as it was only 50 to 70 bucks of grain. if I go out and buy a bottle of scotch to drink I'm spending 100 to 200 bucks anyways so big deal. I usaly do three 15 gal ferments at once and use 3 different yeasts to see what I'll get, then I try blending after also. I have narrowed it down to 5 different yeasts that I normaly use but I'll try a different one now and then now. next up is to try pitching different yeasts at different times in the same ferment. I want to try pitch a low alcahol yeast in a high SG mash and when it burns out pitch a high alcahol tolerent yeast to take over. its either going to be a utter failure or epic haha

I’m really excited about this recipe but I appear to have messed it up somehow. Have only done a few runs but have home brewed for years so didn’t think I would struggle with this mash. I did a slight variation I suppose.

1. Heated 20 gallons water to 170 and drained ten gallons into each of two 15 gallon fermenters. Added four teaspoons gypsum and four of acid blend into each. Let cool to strike temp of 160 F.
2. I have pH papers so not very exact but looked to be slight below pH of 6.
3. At 160 added 20 pounds crushed Briess two row pale malt. Stirred until no dough balls. Grain went into grain bags but plenty of room so no issues there.
4. Wrapped in blankets, temp settled nicely at 148. May have dropped to 146 towards end of 90 minute mash. Stirred every fifteen minutes.
5. Let cool inside overnight, was 80 degrees F next morning. OG 1.061 in both. Pitched two packets US-05 into each fermenter. I was lazy and didn’t rehydrate but I have sprinkled this yeast dry a hundred times without issues so that’s what I did.
6. Set each in a swamp cooler. Temps held nicely at about 68. Started bubbling within 12 hours and continued to do so for about 1.5 weeks.
7. Today is one day short of two week mark. Was planning to strip tomorrow. But both have final gravity of 1.025 or so. Temp corrected with hydrometer.

I posted about this in the fermentation board (sorry to double post, I’m frustrated and at a loss). Per advice there I took a small sample and put in fridge overnight. Strained through coffee filter and took reading with same result. It still looks like there’s yeast suspended to me so I’m hoping that’s contributing to high readings. But it’s been filtered and should have had plenty of time to clear. Also of note each fermenter had some mold from swamp cooler on the outside, absolutely no signs of infection, visual or smell, inside. Sample tastes quite dry to me. This is giving me abv of just under 5% so if that’s truly what I have I need to work on my process. Would welcome any thoughts.

Ok. I’m gonna toss out a hypothesis. Reading your process and outcome, I wonder if you didn’t mash in a little too hot. The good OG and high FG would seem like a high mash temp situation to me. 160 is at the upper end of temp, but enzymes denature quickly there so your hold may have been less effective as the enzymes were denatured.

Also what thermometer are you using and are you sure it’s calibrated? If you were reading a few degrees low, that could have bit you.

Just some thoughts.

Dougmatt wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 4:35 am Ok. I’m gonna toss out a hypothesis. Reading your process and outcome, I wonder if you didn’t mash in a little too hot. The good OG and high FG would seem like a high mash temp situation to me. 160 is at the upper end of temp, but enzymes denature quickly there so your hold may have been less effective as the enzymes were denatured.

Also what thermometer are you using and are you sure it’s calibrated? If you were reading a few degrees low, that could have bit you.

Just some thoughts.

Great thoughts and much appreciated. I know he said to use strike water temp of 156. I started this hobby years ago and did this mash recipe (had to move to a place I couldn’t distill so never really continued until now). My notes from that recipe said “156 was too low, temp went to 145 right away.” So I figured maybe my system just worked a little differently and turned to several online strike temp calculators, which ranged from 158-162. So I chose the nice, even number of 160.

Used temp probe built in kettle to get the 170, used an electric instant read cooking temp probe in the barrels to read the 160. Thanks so much for your thoughts.

My experience is those instant read cooking temperature probes are not accurate and are constantly stuffing up. I always go back to the old glass candy thermometers.

CoogeeBoy wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:42 pm My experience is those instant read cooking temperature probes are not accurate and are constantly stuffing up. I always go back to the old glass candy thermometers.

I was really hoping this was it, would love it to be something so simple. But that thermometer, my fancy meat thermometer, and the temperature strip on my hydrometer all read exactly 70 in a glass of water I just tested.

I just want it to be from suspended solids so bad. The sample looks cloudy. But everyone here seems to just take samples right off the top of their all grains, even when fermented on grain, and get nice low readings. My still was leaking today too and I can’t get the joint apart; this hobby is really telling me to give up lately.

Apologies for a noob to whiskey question here. I've done many neutral spirit runs before, I am an experienced homebrewer and know how to make 10-15 gallons of 1.055-1.060 sterile unhopped wort from grain. So I'm thinking why can't I ferment this like I would a beer then proceed with the stripping and spirit runs as per Jimbo's first post?

Fermenting with the grain inside seems messy and infection prone, yet it has to be the way forward otherwise it wouldnt be practiced. Or is it because the grain husks impart a necessary flavour that I'd miss out on if I just proceeded with fermented clear wort ?

There is no reason you can't ferment off grain. (I think that's what you're asking)
Just adjust your mashing process and give plenty of time for full conversion so it ferments dry. You have less problems with foaming and puking during your stripping runs.

Deplorable wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 10:17 am There is no reason you can't ferment off grain. (I think that's what you're asking)
Just adjust your mashing process and give plenty of time for full conversion so it ferments dry. You have less problems with foaming and puking during your stripping runs.

Thanks for that. Actually was just asking whether fermenting on the grain was a necessary approach vs off the grain (as in traditional beer making). Will give this a go soon.

Well I gave this a crack and brewed up 2 x 44 litres washes using S-33 yeast (off the grain because I have the beer kit) and after two stripping runs ended up with just under 18L of a 30% low wines. I distilled at 3 kw and collected down to below 20% ABV for these runs. I was quite chuffed by this since it seemed to emulate Jimbo’s numbers.

For the pot run, I sat at 1.5KW and collected 32 jars each at 250ml (ok way too many but those are all I could find) and collected down to about 15%. It was slow work, ie starting at about 5 mins to fill a 250 ml jar then increasing to around 12 mins at the end.

I took some measurements from my parrot though probably should have been more diligent as toward the end there was a clear difference between the start and the end of the filling of the jar.



The next part was choosing the cuts. Since my barrel is a new 5L oak I wanted to get 5L if possible of greater than 60% ABV if the quality of cuts afforded it. This was the tough part because I am not experienced in discerning the interfaces. I think the main problem is that the alcohol concentration of the heads an consequent heat distort the rest for me so it was hard to pick the heads/hearts interface. The tails seems a bit easier but again because the ABV begins to decline. I know the correct thing to do is dilute to 40% but that seemed it would waste more of my hard earned product than it was worth. So I superimposed the famous “Pot Run” graphic from the guide here and figured if this was right then based on Jimbo’s call on late heads and early tails I should choose 8-25. To be honest if I’d added 7 and 26 I probably would have not have been able to discern the difference.



Anyway I managed 4.5l at 70% + and diluted with 500ml+ water to get me to 62% of a blended hooch which I though tasted good. We shall see how 6 months in a new French oak barrel tastes.

I’m planning on filling a few 5L barrels and learning along the way. For this next run I plan to use a different yeast, as the S-33 does not ferment Maltriose and in doing so leaves behind significant sugars which I hope wont be a bad thing as a contributor to the flavours however because of this its attenuation is low (no more than 72%). So am tempted to try a brut yeast at the opposite end that is very high attenuating to see the difference.

Any comments or suggestions welcome.

Did you air the jars with paper towel covers or similar for a day or two before proofing?

Just non tightened lids overnight actually..... perhaps I could improve this step next time...

Going to be attempting this recipe in the next week or so. I'll be using it as inspiration rather than following the recipe exactly. I've been home brewing for many years now and have my home brew equipment set up for mashing grain.

Plan is to do two mashes of about 23L each as my brewing rig is limited to 40L although limited to the amount of grain it can hold. I'll get them both batches in the fermenter and most likely be using baker's yeast as that is the yeast I've had most success with to get down to low FGs of 1.000 or below.

Will be looking forward to seeing what I get out of this as I'm a keen Scotch drinker and my last Scotch (using liquid malt extract) has cost about the same as a sack of grain which I should be able to get about 3 or 4 batches from! So this is definitely a cost-cutting exercise as much as anything!

welly wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 7:02 am Going to be attempting this recipe in the next week or so. I'll be using it as inspiration rather than following the recipe exactly. I've been home brewing for many years now and have my home brew equipment set up for mashing grain.

Plan is to do two mashes of about 23L each as my brewing rig is limited to 40L although limited to the amount of grain it can hold. I'll get them both batches in the fermenter and most likely be using baker's yeast as that is the yeast I've had most success with to get down to low FGs of 1.000 or below.

Will be looking forward to seeing what I get out of this as I'm a keen Scotch drinker and my last Scotch (using liquid malt extract) has cost about the same as a sack of grain which I should be able to get about 3 or 4 batches from! So this is definitely a cost-cutting exercise as much as anything!

I filled a 5 gallon barrel following this as my first foray into AG mashing and it turned out fantastic after about 19 months in a 2nd use barrel. This fall, when the temps get cooler, I'll be repeating it and filling another barrel only this time I'll be fermenting off grain to be able to fill both of my 30 gallon fermenters at once and do what took me 4 months last time in about 4 weeks.

Deplorable wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 9:46 am

welly wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 7:02 am Going to be attempting this recipe in the next week or so. I'll be using it as inspiration rather than following the recipe exactly. I've been home brewing for many years now and have my home brew equipment set up for mashing grain.

Plan is to do two mashes of about 23L each as my brewing rig is limited to 40L although limited to the amount of grain it can hold. I'll get them both batches in the fermenter and most likely be using baker's yeast as that is the yeast I've had most success with to get down to low FGs of 1.000 or below.

Will be looking forward to seeing what I get out of this as I'm a keen Scotch drinker and my last Scotch (using liquid malt extract) has cost about the same as a sack of grain which I should be able to get about 3 or 4 batches from! So this is definitely a cost-cutting exercise as much as anything!

I filled a 5 gallon barrel following this as my first foray into AG mashing and it turned out fantastic after about 19 months in a 2nd use barrel. This fall, when the temps get cooler, I'll be repeating it and filling another barrel only this time I'll be fermenting off grain to be able to fill both of my 30 gallon fermenters at once and do what took me 4 months last time in about 4 weeks.

What are you using for a fermenter? I'm keen to start upping the volume - currently limited to about 50L which isn't bad but obviously the more alcohol you've got to work with the more end product you'll have and for all the effort of making 1 or 2 bottles of rum/whisky/something else, you might as well make 5 bottles if you can!

welly wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:53 am

Deplorable wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 9:46 am

welly wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 7:02 am Going to be attempting this recipe in the next week or so. I'll be using it as inspiration rather than following the recipe exactly. I've been home brewing for many years now and have my home brew equipment set up for mashing grain.

Plan is to do two mashes of about 23L each as my brewing rig is limited to 40L although limited to the amount of grain it can hold. I'll get them both batches in the fermenter and most likely be using baker's yeast as that is the yeast I've had most success with to get down to low FGs of 1.000 or below.

Will be looking forward to seeing what I get out of this as I'm a keen Scotch drinker and my last Scotch (using liquid malt extract) has cost about the same as a sack of grain which I should be able to get about 3 or 4 batches from! So this is definitely a cost-cutting exercise as much as anything!

I filled a 5 gallon barrel following this as my first foray into AG mashing and it turned out fantastic after about 19 months in a 2nd use barrel. This fall, when the temps get cooler, I'll be repeating it and filling another barrel only this time I'll be fermenting off grain to be able to fill both of my 30 gallon fermenters at once and do what took me 4 months last time in about 4 weeks.

What are you using for a fermenter? I'm keen to start upping the volume - currently limited to about 50L which isn't bad but obviously the more alcohol you've got to work with the more end product you'll have and for all the effort of making 1 or 2 bottles of rum/whisky/something else, you might as well make 5 bottles if you can!

I have two 30 gallon HPDE barrels with screw on lids. When fermenting on grain, I can fit 50 pounds of milled grains and 23 gallons of water with about 2 inches of head space. Most of the time, one of them just stores dent corn for milling.

I tried conditioning in 5l barrels (3 of them) but found I lost around 40% to the angels in 5 months, granted I am in a hot and humid climate. The product was great, but I think the loss far too great vs effort, so next time I plan to try oak staves bought from my local homebrew in sealed jars. I would be grateful for some tips please;

According to Jimbo on this thread: "1x1x5 sticks on the table saw, sand the grime off the outside, char them all 6 sides, soak for a couple hours in water, then use 1 per quart. Seems about right." This is about 22 sq inches per stick.

My staves are 1.80" x 1.05" x 0.35" which is 5.78 sq inches per stick so I figure if I use 4 per litre, it equates to about the same surface area, would I be right in this logic ?

Also, I know some whiskies are aged in spent red wine barrels, has anybody tried soaking the sticks/staves in red wine before throwing them into the jar ?

I did some experiments (which I need to publish the final results from) comparing end grain to side grain when ageing in jars. I was testing in water not alcohol and using saturation of colour and mass of the sticks (absorbtion) as my references. There was clearly a big difference in the speed at which end grain gave off it's colour (And so presumably, it's flavour). I try to lean towards thinner, longer and thus fewer sticks to reduce the end grain.

For the record, in a barrel there is next to no end grain.

Edit to add: That said I've not done a side-by-side with actual spirits and I don't have enough ageing stock to be considered anything other than a curious beginner at this point.