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robe wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 5:35 pm I read on the angel site that 1% yeast to the total grain amount.

I've seen instructions several places on the web. This is the one I have bookmarked. https://en.angelyeast.com/products/dist ... label.html would you post a link to yours?

I use the section labeled - II) For fermentation of un-cooked grain
In the "recipe" it calls for 0.3-0.6 %, in the "method" it calls for 0.5-0.8 % I use the second range.

1% is a good bit more than either.

Thanks for that. I don't have a link for my 1% comment, I believe I read it on an Australian distiller site. In other words I'm blowing smoke.
So thanks to everyone's help and comments, 7.5KG at 0.7% = 52.5GR. So about 50 grams should do the trick. I hope to get this going this weekend, been busy. Life often gets in the way of having fun.
Thanks to this site and the good knowledgeable people on here, I am dialed in.

I have under pitched the recommendation by a lot and had no issues at all I used around 100 grams for the last 80Lb batch with no cooking and it worked fine.

squigglefunk wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 7:42 am did a batch of 60 lbs of rice, it smells much better coming off the still than the batch I did with corn? Maybe I ran the corn too soon, I let the rice sit for about a week longer in the fermenter. It also got a lacto infection like the corn one, and it had progressed more, completely covering the surface so that also changed the flavor some I'm sure.

I decided to give the corn another go with a twist, I took about 15 gallons of boiling hot rice back set, threw that into a 55 gallon fermenter on top of about 80lbs of fine cracked corn, stirred it up and let it sit overnight, then added warm water until it felt about the right pitching temp (couldn't find my thermometer) by the evening it was bubbling like mad with a strong Co2 smell. the next day I topped off the water to almost the top of the fermenter (about 25 more gallons I'd say) There were some doughballs at first but they broke up nicely when I was adding the final water and stirring.

ran my "sour mash" no cook ferment yesterday, let it go over a month and a half according to the previous post? lol wow longer than I thought.

the product off the still is actually pretty promising

Gotta ask why it took that long, was the wash kept at the correct temp the whole time?

Saltbush Bill wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 2:16 pm Gotta ask why it took that long, was the wash kept at the correct temp the whole time?

it was kept at room temp which surely varied a bit, no heat source or even a blanket to wrap it in. I did keep it off the cold floor.

well it might have been done sooner? I dunno as we know there's no specific gravity reading with this stuff. I really just wasn't keeping track of it.

this was not ground to flour as the "no cook" method recommends but "fine cracked corn" I get from the feed mill which is ground to very uniform pieces about 2mm. The hot soak in backset did nothing to really cook it so I was starting with little rock hard pieces of uncooked corn. This stuff does have a lot of corn flour dust mixed in too so that part took off fast it seemed but it kept bubbling along for weeks and weeks and I was in no rush as I know how hard corn can be to break down.

in the end I was impressed with how well the corn was broken down, the yellow husks of the shells remained but there was nothing much else left.

the longer ferment time did not hurt anything at all as far as the end product is concerned that I can tell. IT did have some serious lacto growth going on but so far every batch of this stuff has done that to me, this was the most advanced case and tasted the best so maybe it helps >>>> or maybe I will really always be a swill maker at heart.

Most interesting reading I've had in a while. Can't wait till my freaky yeast gets here. Hopefully it doesn't make you see red.... Ha ha. I'm going to feed 20kg of soybeans to it. And a sour mash

3 days off being 7 months old , 70%corn,20% malted barley, 10% malted rye, Angel Yeast Yellow.
Fores n heads milked off using 4 plates , then defleg water turned off for rest of run "pot still mode".
Oak --------One stick from a bourbon barrel stave donated by "Copper Head Road", One heavy toast American Oak Domino as supplied by" Still Dragon.
Thought it was time to sample this, I can report that it tastes nothing like a commercial Bourbon, but it tastes pretty damn good anyway , good enough that I'm going back for seconds. Then its going back to its shelf in the shed for another 6 or 7 months.

Saltbush Bill wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 3:55 am 3 days off being 7 months old , 70%corn,20% malted barley, 10% malted rye, Angel Yeast Yellow.
Fores n heads milked off using 4 plates , then defleg water turned off for rest of run "pot still mode".
Oak --------One stick from a bourbon barrel stave donated by "Copper Head Road", One heavy toast American Oak Domino as supplied by" Still Dragon.
Thought it was time to sample this, I can report that it tastes nothing like a commercial Bourbon, but it tastes pretty damn good anyway , good enough that I'm going back for seconds. Then its going back to its shelf in the shed for another 6 or 7 months.
20230520_172952.jpg

This might be an unpopular opinion but I've had much better homebrew in general than the commercial stuff I've been able to afford. I'm sure it tastes really interesting

Jeeezuz Bill now that's a sippin glass.

Saltbush Bill wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 3:55 am 3 days off being 7 months old , 70%corn,20% malted barley, 10% malted rye, Angel Yeast Yellow.
Fores n heads milked off using 4 plates , then defleg water turned off for rest of run "pot still mode".
Oak --------One stick from a bourbon barrel stave donated by "Copper Head Road", One heavy toast American Oak Domino as supplied by" Still Dragon.
Thought it was time to sample this, I can report that it tastes nothing like a commercial Bourbon, but it tastes pretty damn good anyway , good enough that I'm going back for seconds. Then its going back to its shelf in the shed for another 6 or 7 months.
20230520_172952.jpg

Looks great. Makes my mouth water. I bet it's so good. You should be proud. I know I would be.

Saltbush Bill wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 3:55 am Thought it was time to sample this, I can report that it tastes nothing like a commercial Bourbon

I agree

70%corn,20% malted barley, 10% malted rye, Angel Yeast Yellow.

I want to try something like this recipe next time I make some. My first go was about 15 lbs corn 2 of malted barley 30 litres water plus 50 gr Angel Yellow. I didn't grind anything up, dumped hot tap water over the corn and barley, cooled then added yeast, it took a month to finish. I did at least stir it every day for a week. Tastes good but nothing like what I would expect, reminds me of saki.

Next time no short cuts, I'll grind everything thing up to a course meal..

Stripped gen 3 of 100% rice

Beerswimmer wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 6:04 pm Stripped gen 3 of 100% rice

As in your third batch of rice or are you sourmashing your generations.

Rice is makes a lovely vodka, never thought of sourmashing it, might be fun

Swedish Pride wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 6:56 am

Beerswimmer wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 6:04 pm Stripped gen 3 of 100% rice

As in your third batch of rice or are you sourmashing your generations.

Rice is makes a lovely vodka, never thought of sourmashing it, might be fun

Yes, I am sour mashing!

Beerswimmer wrote: ↑Tue Jul 18, 2023 10:24 am Yes, I am sour mashing!

Sour mash rice whiskey, right? Not neutral. We've all obviously heard of the former, but I don't recall seeing anything about the latter.

I've done an all rice whiskey. It came out...interesting is the word I'll use. Not bad, just different than "standard" grains. Maybe slightly sweeter & "creamier" mouthfeel? Hard to explain...

rubberduck71 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 19, 2023 5:32 am

Beerswimmer wrote: ↑Tue Jul 18, 2023 10:24 am Yes, I am sour mashing!

Sour mash rice whiskey, right? Not neutral. We've all obviously heard of the former, but I don't recall seeing anything about the latter.

I've done an all rice whiskey. It came out...interesting is the word I'll use. Not bad, just different than "standard" grains. Maybe slightly sweeter & "creamier" mouthfeel? Hard to explain...

Yes, a rice whiskey. I had heard of it, but can't find any around me, so I thought I'd make a batch to see what it's like.

Old thread I know, but thought I'd bump it to see if anybody gets help from this. Will over at homebrewsake.com has a great resource of supplies and step by step videos and instructions for making traditional sake using the koji and Wyeast 4134 (old #9 sake yeast). I've run it several times and it's an amazing quality sake; and it stills to a great vodka as well.

Greg

Man, what and epic read... never been much of a whiskey guy but I feel like I've got to try this now.

I started another batch tonight.

12-13 kgs of ground mixed grain (barley and oats) [there is some scattered kernels of whole corn as well as this is from a feed mill]
40ish litres of water
70ish grams of Angel Yellow Label

I am using a new fermentation vessel which allows a batch this large. The downside is it is opaque and the opening while big enough to get my de-gasser in to stir it, it is not really big enough to see how well everything is mixed. I mixed for a long time, so hopefully there are not any huge dough balls in there. I am also using the freezer that used to me by keezer but died as the fermentation box keeping the temperature where I want it with my Inkbird. I have not run anything for a quite a while now, so hopefully this will work well. My Yellow Label has been open for a while. If it doesn't start fermenting, I have a new bag I can use. I will see by tomorrow or so. My biggest concern is for two weeks of so from now, namely getting the fermentation vessel out once it is done. It is extremely heavy. I put it in with only 20ish litres and the mixed grain, and it was pretty unwieldy. Then I added the other 20ish litres, so it will be even more difficult to lift. At some level this is an experiment, and I still have to fix the outside jacket of my liebig condenser after forgetting it outside in the winter where freezing water did what freezing water does. I am pretty sure it is only the outside jacket cracked, but I will test that out once I seal up the crack with JB-Weld. If the inside one is compromised, I guess I get to build a new one.

While I was concerned about whether the Angel Yellow Label that I have had sitting open (in a zip loc bag) would have lost its potency after probably a year like that, I was proved wrong. When I went to stir my mash this morning it was churning away like it was a bunch of new yeast. It seems this stores quite well. I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I have made it before with rolled mixed grains, but the texture was rather coarse even after I rolled them finer at home. The ground mixed grain is like coarse flour, so I am expecting much better efficiency this time around.

My bag of Yellow Label dates from a couple of years ago now. It's been sat in a plastic box in the back of the fridge. Still works as well as the first time I used it.

That's good to know.....2 full packs sitting in my fridge that have been there for more than a year.
To many projects at once, and not enough arms.

The batch I started on the 1st is still churning away. I still need to stir down the cap that forms a few times a day. I seem to remember it didn't form a cap this long last time. I am really hoping that it will eventually settle, but no sign yet. The old freezer with a small electric heater is working wonderfully to keep it at the correct temperature. So far my thoughts on it so far are that this is working wonderfully. I guess another week or so and I should be able to run it and find out how much it has produced.

I put a ferment together with Golden Graham malt, 272 chocolate malt and some rolled oats on 23-09-26 using YLY. The ferment is still chugging along. Temperature is at 22*c. I thought it was done a week ago and allowed it to cool off to settle out a bit. Came down to rack of some clear beer to save for a spirit run and it appears to be a pretty active ferment today. Maybe I should degas it with a drill and see what happens.

It's not at all unusual for my YLAY ferments to take 2 weeks +. They are faster at 31C than 27C but not all that much for me.

As with many of my ferments, they tend to be mix-and-forget. I stir them for the first three of four days, but they just sit in the house at ambient temperature (pretty close to 20C all year round) and then I get back to them some time later. The last ones had a good couple of months before I finally got around to running them. They had already settled nicely and I was able to rack off about 2/3 of the total volume without even getting close to the trub. The rest was steam stripped.

Has anyone tried using YLAY after an incomplete conversion with other enzymes and after pitching yeast?

I found several big chunks of dry cornmeal in the bottom of my mashing vessel after the temp had dropped. I had some conversion, but I got in a hurry and did not get every thing broke up with mixer on the drill as I was injecting steam. I did break it up when pitching yeast and added some Sebamyl GL, but the temp had dropped to 105 F. Some of the corn did not get gelatinized. It's fermenting, but was thinking it might be a good time to try the YLAL.

zach wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2023 9:30 am Has anyone tried using YLAY after an incomplete conversion with other enzymes and after pitching yeast?

I found several big chunks of dry cornmeal in the bottom of my mashing vessel after the temp had dropped. I had some conversion, but I got in a hurry and did not get every thing broke up with mixer on the drill as I was injecting steam. I did break it up when pitching yeast and added some Sebamyl GL, but the temp had dropped to 105 F. Some of the corn did not get gelatinized. It's fermenting, but was thinking it might be a good time to try the YLAL.

I have. It’s an interesting experiment but should not form the basis of your opinion of YLY.

Regardless of what happens you will likely form an opinion about YLY based upon the result. Not really an objective test for YLY and it won’t give you any useable data for future decisions.

Unfortunately a few have tried YLY without following the directions and then posted poor reviews.

Corn is pretty cheap. YLY is expensive.

I encourage you to do a new corn YLY ferment. I use hot tap water to “gelatinize” corn after grinding it. I use corn meal and let it soak in the hot tap water, then add cold water for a final temp of 32*c.