Home Distiller

Thanks WW, something to consider!

I know quite a few (most?) don't clear before running but to those that do/did is it worth it and will the wash remains plus 75% fresh water be OK for 3-4 days before backset and sugar gets added?

my second wash of this i left for 4 days before adding backset and sugar due to having to stop mid run. When i did get to add back in it fired up and was happily bubbling away in a few hours.

Same here. I was unable to run my first UJSSM through the still for four days. I racked to another container and after four days there was very little additional clearing and very thin layer of yeast on the bottom. I immediately added about 50% of well aerated fresh water to the primary fermenter and when I added the sugar and backset four days later it took right off.

Thanks guys.

I've racked my wash and will run tomorrow.

I haven't removed any corn but from the side of the fermenter, I can clearly see the whitish parts on top with a much more yellow gradient as it drops to the base. Smells pretty darn sour too!

Appreciate the responses.

The taste aint good for the first run... about to distill the second run. the taste is weird... hard to discribe....

Maby one of the problem is the yeast still in the mixture when distilling sinse I am not using active charcole after fermentation... wich is hard since it's in fermentation tank and we whant to keeep for other runs... what would be best to get a nice taste and not someting with a major back taste...

Thanks

Wow. Finally tasting my 2 day old 4th generation. How does anyone keep enough of this lying around to age? I blended the 1st 3 generations and they've "aged" a bit and that's insanely drinkable.

I'm going to have to significantly ramp up production. Going to have to move from the 30 litre fermenter to the 80 litre.

Fujoubou wrote:The taste aint good for the first run... about to distill the second run. the taste is weird... hard to discribe....

Same here for my first. Got 25% backset in the second run and things are going nuts so will save my judgement till after this run. Everything else has gone to script so still confident in the results.

How is your second run?

Mulitpleg wrote:Wow. Finally tasting my 2 day old 4th generation. How does anyone keep enough of this lying around to age? I blended the 1st 3 generations and they've "aged" a bit and that's insanely drinkable.
.

Have any of your generations being aged on oak or are they all white dog?

I currently have 14lts in an oak barrel, been in there for 2 weeks got a lovely colour, and there is a real oaky taste developing but not to heavy, I will keep an eye on it as I don't want it to over power this whisky as it shoild be in there for anything from 90-120 day's if I am correct it is 55% abv so I will be tasting it every week to monitor the colour and taste

Been aging some of my UJSSM on oak since April.
It has a veeeeeerrrrryyyyy slight taste of corn as well as the oak flavours coming through.

Still haven't cracked the good corn flavour but will keep at it.

Have saved up 22 ltre for my oak barrel when I get it next year.
If I can wait that long.

TAF

clacker wrote:

Mulitpleg wrote:Wow. Finally tasting my 2 day old 4th generation. How does anyone keep enough of this lying around to age? I blended the 1st 3 generations and they've "aged" a bit and that's insanely drinkable.
.

Have any of your generations being aged on oak or are they all white dog?

White Dog so far. Going to starting playing with aging and oaking in the near future.

I've got two sour mashes going right now, one just exactly to UJ's recipe with cracked corn and the other is 2# cracked corn, 2# wheat, and 6# barley. My plan was to run them seperately and blend the hearts together. But after throwing my barley mix together I see I'm only going to get about 2 gallons of liquid out of the fermenter. Should I try tio blend them before distilling and run together? Or rack off till I have enough barley mash? How ami going tio remove spent grains from that barley mash? Just scoop whats on top off? Also let me know what you think of the blending the finished product, I would think it should have a decent bourbon flavor.

Hey Greenrvshine
Sounds like you need to split the second batch into two.
Then you can run the one UJSSM and the two other ferments at the same time.

The spent grain is usually just scraped off the top and replaced with equal amount.

As for blending after...... try it and see.
Could be something real nice.

What type/size still are you running?

TAF

Yeah, I need tio get another fermentee, so I could split this up. I'm running a 5 gal pot with a 24"x 2" column with a liebig. Its been a great outfit for retaining flavor and still keeping my abv% decent on the first run (75%+). I always add my feints from my last run back in with the UJSM, that also helps to make it one run, and I end up with about 1/2 gal of 60% after cuts/blending/watering back.

Titus-a-fishus wrote:Been aging some of my UJSSM on oak since April.
It has a veeeeeerrrrryyyyy slight taste of corn as well as the oak flavours coming through.

Still haven't cracked the good corn flavour but will keep at it.

Have saved up 22 ltre for my oak barrel when I get it next year.
If I can wait that long.

TAF

TAF.
You getting corn flavor yet? It might be your corn as suggested before but I doubt it. I have gotten good corn flavor before using cooked corn meal but it would not go past two generations because of lack of nutrients. Did you try cooking some of your corn?
What kind of still are you running?


My UJSSM has so much corn flavor that I think I am chewing on a cob. I blended UJSSM with my dad yesterday. I am reminded how much of the corn flavor is in the tails. His did not have as much flavor as mine. It was a second generation batch. Mine is about seven or eight generation backset. My new flute pulls more tails through with the hearts as well. Tasty stuff.

It might be your corn, (cook it some) Your still stripping flavor, (run it faster at lower ABV) Your backset flavor. (use more and generations will improve) Use calcium carbonate (Tums) so you dont build up salts.

If you have any white dog sitting around try force aging a quart with full immersion in Jack Daniels chips (equal amounts) for two weeks and let me know what you think. It will mellow the heads faster than you think.
MR

Use calcium carbonate (Tums) so you dont build up salts.

Please explain.

I got some SLOW-ass UJSSM ferments going on! One's been going for more than 14days. That's too slow. Still bubbling. It's not a temperature thing - local temp is 30 C (unless being too hot can slow things down).

I have increased the pH from about 3.2, to 4.2. It's still ticking along.

Any other tips to speed it up? What's this about building up salts?

el-zonko wrote:

Use calcium carbonate (Tums) so you dont build up salts.

Please explain.

I got some SLOW-ass UJSSM ferments going on! One's been going for more than 14days. That's too slow. Still bubbling. It's not a temperature thing - local temp is 30 C (unless being too hot can slow things down).

I have increased the pH from about 3.2, to 4.2. It's still ticking along.

Any other tips to speed it up? What's this about building up salts?

4.2 is still too low. Too much acid. Get it up into the 5 range and it will work off much faster. It likes warm weather.

Baking soda will work but it is sodium carbonate and will biuld up salts over time creating other problems if you use it each time to adjust the PH of your backset.

Calcium carbonate is available at pool supply stores or online brew suppliers.

In a pinch grab the "Tums" antacid from your medicine cabinet. It is Calcium carbonate. More expensive that way but it does work.
MR

mash rookie wrote: TAF.
You getting corn flavor yet? It might be your corn as suggested before but I doubt it. I have gotten good corn flavor before using cooked corn meal but it would not go past two generations because of lack of nutrients. Did you try cooking some of your corn?
What kind of still are you running?
I ain't got squat, I'm running a 2 5/8th pot still on a 50ltr keg and using a propane three ring burner

My UJSSM has so much corn flavor that I think I am chewing on a cob.
Now you're just bragging
I blended UJSSM with my dad yesterday. I am reminded how much of the corn flavor is in the tails. His did not have as much flavor as mine. It was a second generation batch. Mine is about seven or eight generation backset. My new flute pulls more tails through with the hearts as well. Tasty stuff.

It might be your corn, (cook it some)
Bought sweet corn and baked it until it smelt beautiful.... no flavour carried over to the end product
Your still stripping flavor, (run it faster at lower ABV)
Did stripping runs until it huffed.
Your backset flavor. (use more and generations will improve) Use calcium carbonate (Tums) so you dont build up salts.

If you have any white dog sitting around try force aging a quart with full immersion in Jack Daniels chips (equal amounts) for two weeks and let me know what you think. It will mellow the heads faster than you think.
MR
I've aged some white dog with oak chips and gotten a veeeeery slight corn flavour out of it.
Quite a nice undertone to the spirit.
Aged for about 3 months

My experiments to get flavour are coming to an end for the moment
As I have about 30ltre of neutral .... enough for years at the rate I drink it.
Was aiming for an oak barrel but after reading about the size barrels most recommend 20ltrs plus
It would mean that to use the barrel well (at least three times) I would have over 60ltre of spirit.
That's way too much for me. I wouldn't drink that much in a decade.
Plus the amount of time I've been spending each weekend distilling is far too much.

This weekend will be the last distilling I'm doing for awhile.

Was going to buy a ph meter and start down that road, to see if the ph had anything to do with the lack of flavour.
Strangely enough the only time I did get nice corn flavour was the very first time I distilled UJSSM, first generation using the same corn I have been using all the time.
Go figure

Thanks for the interest MR.
Will probably tackle the missing corn flavour issue this summer.... that's Jan/Feb down under

TAF

Your killing me TAF. You better plan on doing an AG corn wash or find some new taste buds!!
Good luck amigo.

Thanks Mash Rookie!

Hi guys,

I am just trying my first batches of UJSSM. Using now a third generation back set, and taste is good, but somehow, some corn is missing. After some re reading, I found out, I did not quite understand the terms being used (not being of native English speaking decent) and thought cracked corn was just the corn taken out of the - sh*t whats the name - and only now understood it has to be chopped up into smaller pieces! So that is what I did right now, and I expect corn taste to improve.

Now a question. Some Hungarian friends of mine told me I should have used a different approach on how to use my corn. Instead of cracking it and adding it to the UJSSM, I should have also roasted it before. That would give a more smokey taste like Jim Beam, they told me. Now, they do know everything about schnapps making in Hungary, but ... corn whiskey? Anyhow, I decided to give it a start and tried to sort of bake cracked corn in a pan without oil. Gave of a nice smell and now I am puting it in my mash. Anyone any experience with this? Any advice?

Odin.

Pre-roasting (or even toasting) the corn gives a VERY different flavor profile. It is more of a nutty flavor, while I find the raw, dry cracked corn version of UJSM (the original recipe) to be a sweeter, corny flavor. I find the roasting/toasting loses some of the cornyness, but opens up a different, unique set of flavors. I find it more complex.

Try them both, pick the one you like.

For me, very few distilled drinks beat the old fashion 'moon shine', which is what UJSM really is. Corn flavored sugar head. I just love it, in white form. Sweet, smooth, and damn good. The corny flavor rises up from the drink, and is not overpowered by oak, which I think often happens in many aged whiskey's.

To each, his own. H.

Husker,

Thank you for the feed back! Yes, a nutty smell would discribe what happened to it. Right now, I am, I guess, making an in between version. I put in cracked corn in stead of the whole kernels and added a tablespoon of mildly roasted kernels per 4 litres of UJSSM''s. I am waiting to see what will get out and plan to make my next batch back to basics, so without roasting. Just to make sure I get the taste of real moonshine / UJSSM before starting to experiment with other flavours or additions.

Curious though as to how the sour mashing works. I mean, I read the texts and add backset, but I am interested in how this actually affects the mash making. Is it that in distilling, you boil your (future) backset and so cook the yeast and nutricients present? Thus giving the next generation of mash a really tasty / rich start? Or is it so that by adding backset you change the ph so much that yeast has to work harder / different and by that gives of other flavours? Or is it the taste of the spend mash that somehow enhances the taste in your new mash? Like when you add some mash to your 2 distillation run, to get over some extra taste?

Hope there are some answers around!

Regards, Odin.

Odin,
Yes, the backset (what is left in your boiler after you distill) is used in your next wash for the flavor it gives. Each time the backset is recycled into your next wash it gets stronger and adds more flavor.

It does become more acidic each time but there are some guys that use 100% backset quite successfully.

It is important to keep the PH of your backset up into the five range or your ferment time will slow. Calcium carbonate can be used to balance it.

I buy cracked corn that is sold as chicken feed. A $10 bag lasts a long time.

My 8th generation of UJSSM is now running. This is really an amazing recipe.

I started with some leftover All Bran trub and added 2 kgs of cracked corn (used a meat grinder) and 4.5 kgs of inverted sugar. Added one sachet of whisky yeast on a total bucket contents of almost 25 liters. Been using all my backset each time (about 12 liters), inverted the same amount of sugar in it and each time it ferments out in a week. I have not added corn, yeast or anything but some cold water to top the bucket up. It just keeps going. After siphoning off the wash, there is about 7 liters of trub (yeast, all bran and corn) left for the next fermentation.

I distill twice in a basic potstill. After much sampling, I fount my hearts to be between 79% and 55% abv. This 8th generation I try single distilling for the first time. If unsuccessful I run it a second time in the smaller still I use for low wines runs.

Because my distilling can hardly keep up with my drinking, aging the hearts (each time about 4.5 liters when diluted to 63% abv) with 15 grams of medium toasted French oak chips lasts for between three and six weeks. But anyhow, this sour mash spirit (wouldn't call it whiskey when aged so short) is heaven to drink! It's soft and sweet an has a nice vanilla tone.

Now and then when I go out I try a glass of industrial American Whiskey to compare. These whiskies have a much stronger and sweeter smell than mine, but the taste is downright awful, harsh, I would say, compared to my own liquor. Incredible. Thanks Uncle Jesse!

The only thing in the original recipe that I don't understand, is the 'spent corn' that is supposed to float on top and that you have to replace. I only have a few small things floating, perhaps the germs of the corn, but nothing else. Perhaps it's time to add new corn and take out some of the old?

Spent corn will sink if not removed soon after it floats. After siphoning my wash I remove the top layer of darker corn. (redish)

Of my spent lees, a layer of 4", there is a top layer of 2" of yeast an other fine stuff, the 2" layer of corn is underneath, so that would require filtering off the fine material to get to the corn. Do you separate the fine material from the corn?

WeeStiller wrote:Of my spent lees, a layer of 4", there is a top layer of 2" of yeast an other fine stuff, the 2" layer of corn is underneath, so that would require filtering off the fine material to get to the corn. Do you separate the fine material from the corn?

I always take 20% (I scrape it from the top of the trub) of the trub from my FB, then add 20% new corn back in.
Any yeast being taken from the 20% I have dumped will be replenished in no time one they get to work...

WeeStiller wrote:Of my spent lees, a layer of 4", there is a top layer of 2" of yeast an other fine stuff, the 2" layer of corn is underneath, so that would require filtering off the fine material to get to the corn. Do you separate the fine material from the corn?

Interesting. That might be the all bran. Typically with cracked corn the yeast bed is beneath the cracked corn on the bottom of my fermenter. Even if you do not remove and replace spent corn you can get several ferment cycles 7-8? before the corn has been depleted of nutrients. If you replace the corn you can continue almost indefinitely. I think I have heard there is a point where the yeast mutates and it is good to start fresh. I always keep a few gallons of backset in a refrigerator just in case something happens to my wash. That is the key to being able to start a fresh ferment cycle. With fresh corn and fresh yeast, you pick up where you left off making good stuff.