Home Distiller

I got the news that my older Brother proposed to his girlfriend on this new year and the wedding date is in July.

I'm reaching out to get Ideas on what recipe would be the best to make and give to just the two of them for their honeymoon.
We all live in Washington state and I was thinking of keeping with local grains, like wheat, corn, and aged on some toasted oak chips.
Thinking of making His 80 Proof and (Hers at 60 proof so it don't bite her)

Setup is with a 15.5 gallon keg and a 5 gallon thumper with a 3' liebing condenser flowing into a parrot.

Thanks in advance Much appreciated

Make enough so you can age the second to celebrate the divorce.. that's the bottle that's gonna matter.

Pesty wrote:Make enough so you can age the second to celebrate the divorce.. that's the bottle that's gonna matter.

lol

Since its a shorter aging time, maybe a malted wheat and oat whiskey? Aim for about 8% on the mash with a mash temp of about 148-149f. If they like rye maybe add 3-5% rye but that will increase the need for longer aging so I would leave it out. Use a nice mellow clean ale yeast and ferment at cooler temps.

Strip it all and make cuts on a spirit run.
Take narrow cuts to ensure its really nice by the wedding. About 35% the total. Depending on taste and smell. If you normally end up in the 50-55%... for me every batch is different.

So a 50g mash would give about .08 * 50 or 4g of potential alcohol.

So after cut would give about 2.24g of 62.6% for aging.. and about 3.5g when cut to 40%

If you can double it up or a little more you might be able to fill a 5g Gigs barrel. Just take off enough for them for the wedding and save the rest for a bit party at 20 years together. You will find you will want to take it off oak though based on taste. A guess would be 6-12 months.. Start tasting at 6 months.. for the wedding.. and continue every month tills its just slightly over oaked, then filter and store in glass with corks as the oak will mellow with age some.

B

I am also from Washington, when my son got married I took a vacation to California and bought all the booze and wine at the discount store near the California/Oregon border. If the wedding is to invite members other than family I would not risk using your own bottled alcohol.

Thanks Bitter for all the input.
I wish I had more time to get this done by...but oh well...LOL

AS for hiding it for the bride and groom I would give them is and hers flasks... will divert from the fact that its home made and still allow for a little nip. Bushman has a very valid concern about keeping things under the radar

B

Bitter-
I really like the idea of his and hers flasks.
I will be doing this for just the bride and groom, no one else will be getting any because I don't want to draw any attention to myself.

You only have six months to age anything you make, so you better have your all your ducks in a row.

NZChris wrote:You only have six months to age anything you make, so you better have your all your ducks in a row.

++++ to NZChris... getrdone. You shoudl get the mash going ASAP or already have it bubbling away. Strip it as soon as its done.

B

When my youngest son got married to a gal from Georgia, the bride's parents gave her a high falluting wedding reception at a big hi class country club.
A half gallon of fresh Shine mysteriously showed up and it was the hit of the party.
It wiped out a bunch of them city folks.

bitter wrote:AS for hiding it for the bride and groom I would give them is and hers flasks... will divert from the fact that its home made and still allow for a little nip. Bushman has a very valid concern about keeping things under the radar

B

I also thought of this for my son's wedding but because it was a large wedding and we had multiple choices of alcohol it would have been very difficult to keep filling the flasks to hide it at the reception. Just so many things to plan didn't want one more thing to think about and worry about.

I like all the ideas guys thanks and keep them coming!

I keep seeing this and thinking raspberry sparkling mead.
I know that's not a spirit, but it sure is good.

Maybe an all corn whiskey? Not my favorite but it seems to be what I have the best feedback from with friends who don't normally drink a lot of whiskey. Even tastes good white.

Bentstick has a recipe posted that looks like it would taste good in time, and SCD's Honey Bear Bourbon had very nice hearts right off the still.

Yeah I might go back to all corn whiskey, This time I'm trying, Rye, corn, oats, and barley at about 10 gallons batch to try it out.

Since this i my dads birthday I will share the recipe I made for him.
HARRY'S WHISKEY
Harry's recipe
20% malted red wheat
20% corn
20% oats
20% Irish lager malt
12% chery smoked malted barley
8% Malted Rye
For a 10 gallon ferment. Take 8 gallons water and bring to a boil add 5 pounds corn and stir vigorously until it is back to a boil then turn heat down low and continue to cook for 30 minuets. Turn off heat and cover to cool. At 190 degrees (about 2 hours) add 5 pounds of oats and 5 pounds of wheat stirring vigoursly for a few minuets then let set till down to 175 degrees stirring occasionally ( another 2 hours) . At 175 adjust PH (5.8 works well) and add high temp enzymes and stir let it set for 2 hours or more stirring occasionally. Heat up 4 gallons of water to 170 degrees put in a container then squeeze the existing mash and sparge the grains in the hot water squeezing them out also. This should give about 10 gallons of liquid. Then add all this back into the boiler and bring up to 151 degrees and pour into the fermenter. then add low temp enzymes and the malted grains stirring occasionally. After 2 hours cool down to 80 degrees and pitch 2 tablespoons bakers yeast into the mash ferment on the malted grains only. Starting gravity should be in the 1.065 range give or take a bit.

Corene1-
Thanks for the recipe I will have to get the red wheat, the Lager malt, and the cherry smoked malted barley, Where do you get these at??

Ghostpepperman wrote:Corene1-
Thanks for the recipe I will have to get the red wheat, the Lager malt, and the cherry smoked malted barley, Where do you get these at??

I get my grains at Morebeer. If you order more than $60 dollars worth the shipping is free except for 50 pound bags. I just order 5 of the 10 pound bags for the free shipping. Doesn't make sense but it works for me. They sell it in 1, 5 10 and 50 pound bags crushed or whole. I prefer to buy it whole then grind it myself.

Ok thanks I'll check them out and see what kinds of deals they have.