I currently make wheated Bourbon. Three mashes and strips, one spirit run. Sounds a bit boring, so I play with infections and a backset-pit.
Milled corn and water + a crumb yoghurt starter, stored closed with airlock at room temp.
After 36h it smelled a bit sour. After 3 days it was smelling sour and creamy. After 6 days I mashed it. After mashing, most of the creamy smell was gone. After fermentation and stripping I didn't see a difference to normal bourbon low wines.
But now I have backset for the pit:
I added much calcium carbonate and a crumb yoghurt starter. Stored at low temp (12-15°C) covered with a towel nothing happened. Because the backset lost the vomit smell, it smelled more like beer. But nothing new was growing. Also adding a bit of the sourdough from the next mash didn't change something. But after placing it at room temp, after 24h it had the typical white lacto-carpet and smelled a bit like Swiss cheese fondue (spicy, cheese and wine). When stirring the carpet down it smells a bit sweet-meaty.
The second mash (including 25% uninfected backset from the first mash) is bubbling since two days now. As expected the uninfected backset does not much affect the smell.
I plan to add some of the infected backset to the mash one day before stripping.
Generally I have a detailed plan, what to try out, but don't want to reveal too much, because I am more interested, what you would do.
So what do you think?
My infected wheated Bourbon
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My infected wheated Bourbon
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