Home Distiller

So, I'm new somewhat to this. Have a friend with a reflux keg still and plenty of other friends who brew their own beer.

I've decided to make my first batch of what I'm calling Breakfast Whisky - sort of a cross between AppleJack, Oat Whisky and Rum.

My Recipe (currently fermenting) is as follows:

22 cans of frozen Apple Juice Concentrate (12 oz each, so a total of 2gal concentrate) - No cider available yet here
3lb steel cut irish oats
1lb raisins
5lb dark brown sugar
1 banana (as yeast nutrient)
water
1 pkg Lavalin LC-1118 Yeast

In a stockpot - add water to cover the oats, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer (adding water as necessary to stay wet). Simmer 10 minutes, add raisins. Simmer 20 minutes more, move to fermenter (in my case a 5-gallon construction site water cooler).

In a saucepan - mash the banana and boil until mostly dissolved. Add to fermenter

In the stockpot from the oats - add 2c boiling water to 5lb dark brown sugar, stir over low heat until dissolved, add to fermenter

Add all Apple juice concentrate to fermenter

Top off with water to between 4.5 and 5.0 gallons (depending on how brave you are with the bubbling to come), or more as your fermenter allows.

Rehydrate yeast per instructions, pitch to fermenter.



So that's where i am now. Started this Saturday afternoon and i've been watching the internal temp (70degF) and stirrring twice a day to make sure everything stays wet and equally in contact with the bugs (hope that's OK). Getting lots of little bubbles, especially when i stir.

My initial brix should be sufficient for maxing out the LC1118 at 18% abv assuming 75% attenuation of sugars. Can there be TOO much sugar in there? I plan on fermenting until dry (any ideas how long that will be?) and cooking off to between 65% and 80% ABV, cutting with spring water to 57.5% and aging on alligator char oak.

If my math is correct i should get about 1.25gal of finished spirit.

I'm looking for stones to be thrown, advice to be given, etc.

Happy cooking to all.

Sounds good, except for a little high on the total sugar. That recipie should be 17-18%abv at 5 gal, you'll probably find things taste better at 14% or less. Yeast get their food through their cell walls and can't push away from the table, so if you give them too much food, they eat it anyway, usually with bad results. EC-1118 should be good for 18-20%, but the alcohol tolerance just means how much the yeast can take, not what will produce good tasting product. Good luck.

Thanks HC. It's my fault (of course) for having the overall sugar content too high. Initially i planned on doing this in a 10-gallon cooler, but choked on the $45 that Home Depot wanted for it. Opted for the 5 gal instead. I have enough room to add another 0.5 gal of water if that would help substantially. Also, based on my current temps, wonder if i need to add some 100+deg water to warm the whole batch up (0.25gal @ 165F added to my 4.5gal @ 70F should bring the whole batch to 75F leaving 3 deg for the yeast to cook up to the LC1118 optimum of 77F) or is it better to start it cool and let the yeasties cook it up?

Any idea how long this should ferment before i can run it? I have limited times that I can get on the still.

Might take 2 weeks or so at 70degF and that concentration. Dilution would speed it up. An old fashioned light bulb between the buckets will add 5degF to my 6 gallon batches, that'll speed up EC-1118 too, but could increase the off flavors if it gets warm too soon. If you leave it for a few days after the bubbles stop, it should clear up really nicely.

Thanks again.

160deg water going in tonight, unless i hear votes against before i leave work. I'd love to get this fermented out by Saturday.

You need to slow down this isn't a hurry type hobby.Way I read your recipe it should make around a 12 gallon wash .

What is your opinion of an optimal ABV for a wash? Obviously not 18%.

Also, it's not that I'm in so much of a hurry. I can run it this weekend or 4 weeks from now, just not entirely sure what to do with the beer if i have to wait a month to run it.

Way I read it was 8 gallons total using concentrate. 2 1/2 gallons for sugar .2 more for the oats.

Isn't all whiskey for breakfast?

Coyote

I should have left out the 33qts remark. For teh apple component it's just the 22 cans of concentrate - 12oz each, so right at 2gal of concentrate. Only added enough water to bring up to a total of 4.5gal (was worried about foaming over).

Coyote wrote:Isn't all whiskey for breakfast?

Coyote

Yes, but with this recipe, it MIGHT lower your cholesterol, or at least lower how much you care about it.

onecrazyredneck wrote:What is your opinion of an optimal ABV for a wash? Obviously not 18%.

Also, it's not that I'm in so much of a hurry. I can run it this weekend or 4 weeks from now, just not entirely sure what to do with the beer if i have to wait a month to run it.

4 weeks from now would be better. Cool room temp and an airlock should do it. It should already have enough alcohol in it to keep fresh.

Most around here will only recommend 10 to 12% ABV for a wash. 14% being the max.

Also leave it alone. Leave the top on it and sit on your hands. Every time you stir it. You are giving the bad stuffs a chance to jump in and take over.

What PP said. I've left fermented wash for 2 months and it ran nicely.

OK, so 5 minutes ago will be the last time i stir it. I love seeing all those bubbles though - i know what they're leaving behind! I'll put in for still time in a few weeks instead of this weekend. Topping up with nice warm water to give everybody more room in the pool, then i'll just look in once a day to see how we're coming along.

Thanks everyone for your help and I'll update this thread as we progress.

What part of leave the top on it and sit on your hands did you not get? There should be no need to add water to it? Just let it do its thing. Quit fudging with it.

I had someone earlier say it was a bit thick with sugars:water, so...

I promise, on Popcorn's grave, not to touch it again until it's dry.

onecrazyredneck wrote:I had someone earlier say it was a bit thick with sugars:water, so...

I promise, on Popcorn's grave, not to touch it again until it's dry.

If you do add water. Make sure it is the same temp as the ferment. If the temp difference is to great. You could throw the yeasties into shock.

Added the water - still bubbling this morning, so now i just wait.

The raisins are all floating - hope that isn;t a problem, since i'm NOT stirring anymore.

onecrazyredneck, if you hadn't already done so I would have suggested that you do so in an effort to reduce the potential %ABV of the wash... Your yeast colony will appreciate the reduction in stress and will, hopefully, be able to complete the fermentation... While it may be fun to mess around with recipes, most here wouldn't recommend doing so until you have a good grasp of how your still runs using Tried and True recipes... You're headed into virgin territory and aside from telling you that the potential %ABV is too high there is little else we can do to help if something goes awry...

Those whole raisins aren't doing much so just let them float...

Another point regarding high gravity washes is that for every percentage point above a yeasts comfort zone can add 1 - 3 days onto the time required to ferment to dry... If the yeast colony doesn't get stressed and die before then, that is... So and extra 3% ABV can add 3 - 9 days to the ferment... The added stress throughout the ferment can also add other problems like osmotic stress, autolysis, and off tastes and smells due to ruptured cell walls...

Thanks Rad. I've run my buddies still plenty of times with his tried and true wash - 5gal water, 5lbs sugar 5lbs cracked corn, 1118, so have a good idea on the production side - Just wanted to do something crazy. I appreciate the advice i've gotten so far and do believe that if this goes straight to hell I may try again in a 10-gal wash - will probably do that anyway, just means i've got to run two batches in the still - at least for stripping, guess i can combine them for spirit run. Got a group of friends headed to the woods in June, so my goal is to have a week's worth of liquor for 10 guys by then.

It's got a real pleasant smell as it's fermenting currently, so i'm hopeful. The raisins were cooked with the oats, so maybe i got some of their sugar out - maybe it's better in the long run if i didnt. If nothing else, this is making one hell of a cider.

Well, thermometer says 82F tonight. I took the insulated lid off and replaced with saran wrap with a slit. 78F is the posted top end for 1118. I'm guessing having less sugars would have made out heart up less?

Assuming this doesnt taste like slightly potent ass, I've worked up a label. Comments?
I've made labels for my buddies corn liquor too. Happy to help others - just ask.

Thought I'd add some pictures - who doesn't like pictures.

i felt that the ferment had stopped due to being over sugared and under watered, so i moved to a bigger fermenter, watered with temp-matched water repitched EC-1118 (starting in warmed wash), added more nutrient and this morning we're belching nicely again.

Might want to get a few food grade plain plastic buckets, it'll be better for keeping your ferments cooler during the summer.
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=752" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
There's $20 buckets available at brewing supplies, these are $10 plus shipping.
Hope it turns out good.

What you can do right now is get a second 5 gallon fermenting bucket, and split your wash, then top both buckets with fresh water. That'll take the SG down, where it will ferment a LOT faster and much, much cleaner. And you'll still get the same alky when done.

I always stay well below 10% potential. The few times I went over that were disappointing.

Barney, thanks, i dilulted last night from 5gal to 13 and it already seems a LOT happier (new yeast and nutrient didnt hurt).

onecrazyredneck wrote:I should have left out the 33qts remark. For teh apple component it's just the 22 cans of concentrate - 12oz each, so right at 2gal of concentrate. Only added enough water to bring up to a total of 4.5gal (was worried about foaming over).

I know this is a little late considering how far along this thread is, but you do know that ALL the sugar that would be in those two gallons is still in those 22 cans, right? That's a LOT of sugar right there. Have you done any other washes before this?