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Last weekend, I finished my spirit run for my first batch of pure corn whiskey from Ian Smiley's book. This was my first AG batch, and I was pleased at how everything turned out except the final product from the stripping run. I have previously distilled a potato/sugar wash, which actually turned out pretty good. The mash process for the Smiley recipe went well (I used flaked maize and 6-row barley malt) -- I passed the iodine test for starch conversion and started fermenting at 1.059. I pitched with Prestige WD and let ferment for 102 hours (6 hours past Smiley's recommended 96 hour maximum fermentation). I keep my house cooler, and 70 degrees is the maximum temp at any given time, so I felt that I would be OK going to that time. The final wash ended at about 7.7% ABV. I did my beer stripping run, and ended up with about 4-5 liters of wash for my stripping run. I put this in my 5-gallon copper whiskey still, and although I knew it was less than 1/3 full, I decided to run it anywyay without topping off with water (perhaps a no-no). I used a combination of Smiley's estimate for hearts run volume from his book, as well as this site's "Novice Guide to Cuts," where I started collecting my hearts (after the estimate for heads volume from Smiley text) 300ml at a time in Mason jars. In addition, I practiced tasting the output regularly with a spoon to get familiar with the tastes during the different phases.

I ended up mixing 2-300ml jars as my final product, (1) ABV was in the 70% range and (2) was in the 60% range. (Smiley says to stop the hearts at 65% ABV). I then proofed this to 100 proof with distilled water to get about 1 L of final product. Day one and two, the final product tasted OK - very grainy, but really smooth for 100 proof hooch. I have never drank 100% corn whiskey, so I thought maybe that was how it was supposed to taste. I shared it at a Super Bowl party and my buddies liked it. As it has aged over the past week, there is a strong flavor of tails to me. I remember tasting the tails in my sugar wash run, and continuing to sample them with this run. I am wondering if the 2nd 300ml jar I used at 60% went too deep into the tails (assume the final drips in this were in the 50%+ range). Or, did I get some off-flavors from fermenting too long?

Any thoughts or did I get it right and simply don't know what i am tasting?

I have another batch of the same mash fermenting right now. I think I am going to do a couple of batches and collect at least 2-beer runs, so that I have greater volume for my stripping run.

If you're interested in my opinion, I'd say it wasn't fermented long enough. What was your final gravity reading

Absolutely, BB - thanks for your input. The final gravity was 1.002

AG corn is often a little rough at first, at least if I'm making it. More in your boiler on your spirit run, put a little wood in your jars at ~ 160 proof and leave them alone for a month or so, then taste different mixtures of your jars at the proof you're looking for. That might be really good stuff that's just a little young.

I just finished my first all grain spirit run this past weekend. It took me about five stripping runs of low wines to get enough to do a good spirit run. My low wines were about 25% ABV and running slow through a pot still with a worm condenser they started at about 72% ABV. Smoothest whiskey I've tried yet.

Take all this with a grain of salt as I've only been doing it four or five months and this was my first all grain. Sounds to me like you just need more volume before you start your spirit run so that you'll have more hearts available to you.

I was having a similar problem last week. I remedied the problem by: 1....diluting my spirit run to 40 apv, 2: ....turning my heat source to "on" rather than a specific temp setting and 3:...fraction the run in more, smaller portions. IE...doubling my taster/sniff portions from 4 to 9(I know it's a little more than double). I ended up keeping 3-8 of 9,ended the run at about 195 vapor temp, and came out with a product far superior to anything else I'd done previously. I repeated this the next day with my heads and tails I've collected over time an once again came out with good results.

Heartcut, UJ and fowlmouth,

Thanks very much for the input. It looks like I need to get more volume in the boiler for the spirit run with some additional mashing and beer runs in order to have a better opportunity to collect the hearts. I also have some feints from my last spirit run that I will throw in. In addition, I will also collect smaller volumes of the distillate in order to have a better opportuinity to test and sample hearts before blending.

I knew that I was pushing it with a very small stripping run, but didn't realize the impact on me being able to make the appropriate heart cuts.

I've got 30L of AG corn whiskey fermenting now. I need to get more fermentation buckets so that I can have more product in the pipeline for my beer runs.

Thanks again, guys!

The whiskey has been aged for about two weeks now, and I sampled a scosh last night while I was doing a stripping run for my next batch of AG pure corn whiskey. It is starting to smooth out rather nicely and loose what I thought was the "tails" taste. Hard to believe that it is 100 proof. I have a 5-gallon copper whiskey still (alembic type), so I am going to do a couple of more mashes and stripping runs before the next spirit run. I am starting to realize that you need a lot more volume in the mashing steps to yield meaningful quantity from the stripping run. Stove top mashing is time consuming. Going to start looking at the equipment section on the parent site for ideas on building larger mashing equipment.

Couple of points: You didn't mention a fore-shot cut in either your stripping run nor the spirit run. hope you are ditching the fore-shots. You didn't say what the low wine ABV was, but, IMHO, diluting down to 35-40% makes a big difference in the spirit run. You also didn't mention letting your spirit run air out for a day or so before bending; that can also make a big difference. I can't see your problem as "tails" with a 120 proof run. You may have better results by putting the 120 proof run on some charred oak for a while. I think you touched on a big point; you will have much more control if your save up several low wine runs and make a larger a spirit run.

Good luck
BG

I got a 32 qt 3 ply bottom stainless steel stockpot for Christmas that works great for cooking large batches on the stove top without scorching. A bit pricey around $90 on Amazon but it works way better than a turkey fryer over a flame.

I even did a double batch 14 lbs corn and 6 lbs 2row barley (after gelling and boiling the corn) . It was really thick and I had to cook it longer to soften the corn since it would start bubbling and popping out of the pot around 180 F where half that amount of corn I'd usually get around 195-205 F without popping out and burning me. I then split it between 2 five gallon buckets after mashing in my malt and topped them off with sparge water from a previous batch.

Something I'm curious about now is cooking corn in mason jars in a pressure cooker (canning) after reading about it in another thread.

BG,

Thanks for the input and comments. I am glad to hear that tails shouldn't be the problem then. Here's the info that you brought up:

- foreshots - definitely getting rid of a fairly liberal quantity at the beginning of both stripping and spirit runs
- ABV of low wines before last spirit run - 30% from my notes - this was only about 4-5l fom the stripping run
- I did not let let the spirit run air out before bending. Good point for my next run.

Thanks again!

SB

UJ,

For mashing, I am using a 52l tamale cooker that I got at a Mexican grocery store for about $30. The quality is OK and it seems to get the job done for me well. This easily accomodates a 30l mash, which I then put into a 10 gal fermentation bucket. After straining, that gives me about a 23L wash which fits perfectly into my 5 gal whiskey still. What I probably need to do is simply get another 10 gal fermentation bucket, so that I can have 2-fermentations going at once, which will provide me 2 stripping runs for my still.

Thanks for the feedback.

SB

While life has seemed to get in the way of my distilling goals since this last post, I was able to bang out another batch of AG corn whiskey and it was a dramatic improvement over the first batch that I posted about here. The improvement was based on the feedback that I received from you guys on this forum -- so thanks a bunch! I just blended the purest of the hearts for a 100 proof corn whiskey, and wow is it tasty!

Uncle Jemima, Heartcut and Boda Getta -- took your advice and I did increase the volume in my boiler - I saved up the low wines from 3 stripping runs plus some corn feints from my first run so I had more hearts to collect
Fowlmouth -- took your advice and I also used the Novice Guide to Making cuts from this site to increase the number of collectors to better taste and blend

I was very deliberate in my heart cuts. While I collected about 1500 ml of hearts over 5-jars, I only used jars 2 through 4 and will use 1 and 5 in with my tails for corn feints for next run.

Thanks to all for the great feedback!

SB

not knocking now one 100% corn whiskey u have to use malted corn and not barley hints the name. but I think 8% is really good from what I read I got one at 12% or so I thought then all I found I did was miss read no telling what it really was. I have only done 1 ag and but In my thought I would do 2 mashs. strip both then do a spirit run. just my 2 cents

try some of that corn likker after airing out make a drink with code red mt dew

Corn and Barley do not a 100% corn likker make. Got to malt your corn, a great process once you get it down. Sounds like you are on the path to AG liberation. Good job.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =3&t=36449
Good how to malt corn read

Yeah - I agree on the "First 100% Corn Whiskey" error. I had left out the "Grain" between 100% and Corn when I posted this last February. Sorry about the screw-up.