Just siphoned off my 1st

[Old Man]

I siphoned off my first run of corn mash today took forever to finish clear but I started with 1.070 & finished at 1.000 ! *** It is bitter and smells just great I put 1/2 gallon of malted corn that I malted & ground myself !! Im gonna run it tomorrow !!! My is I siphomed off & left about 1 1/2 inches or so on my lees is this about right ???? I dont want them to dry out & I dont want to disturb the lees dipping the remainder out & getting all the un clear stuff in my first wash !!?? Please help

[Usge]

Sounds like you did it right Old Man. Yes..leave your lees covered. You can always add a little water to cover them if you need to. If you aren't going to be cooking again for a while...sterilize a mason jar and scoop up a jar full of lees. Save it in the fridge till you get ready for next run. Set it out, let it come up to room temp on it's own. Then just dump it in to kick off the next round.

Congrats on your first corn mash (and malting your own corn!!).

[Old Man]

Usge ########### Thnks for the reply ! I plan on putting 2- 1/2 gallon Backset & 7-1/2 gal of h2o back on to start the second generation of this wash >>>Dont know what type of yield to expect tomorrow { 8 gal pot still / thumper I built myself from poplar} Plan to collect in pints as to not spoil hearts with heads or tails & air for a few days & blend the BEST & temper to 100 prf or so ****** BEST PART of this whole deal is ******** I Have a 85 yr old great friend Mentor who is going to help me run it off *********** We have been watching" THE LAST ONE " -Popcorn ***& "STILL MAKING MOONSHINE"Jim Tom & and LIGHTLY sipping some corn my friend brought over & just enjoying every minute ourselves ! Thanks again for the help!____________+++++ By the way I started my first batch of "UJSSM"last night & put in 1 gallon of malt instead of YEAST it was bubblin good this am I aerated by dipping & pouring for a while & in pm I aerated good & plan to put air lock on it tomorrow

[Usge]

Just my opinion, but I'd go easy on the backset ...it tends to slow things down. Could stall your ferment and/or stress your yeast if you use too much. I try to stay around 20% - 25% (1/4) of the total volume. For 7-1/2 gals that would be about 1-7/8 gal of backset. That's enough to add some flavor without pushing things too hard. 33% (2.5 gal of 7.5) is doable. Just remember to aerate everything really well (boiled backset doesn't have much oxygen left in it).

[blind drunk]

I try to stay around 20% - 25% (1/4) of the total volume.

Me too. It seems like the perfect amount for both flavor and the ph level of the wash.