Honey Bear Bourbon

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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Deplorable »

I'm usually closer to 1.07 at the same ratio. My last mash, was 1.068, that is more of what I'm used to, between 1.064 and .074. Could have been low available sugar in the grain, could be the new hydrometer. My process is very standard and consistent, but I am human, and therefore inherently flawed, so I could have just fucked something up. Who knows?
It's sweet, tasty, and fermenting now, so I ain't gonna sweat it.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by TwoSheds »

Not to derail the topic, but when you say 2 lb per gallon, is that per gallon of water or per gallon of mash/wash?

Depending on the method I'm either at 2.3 or 1.9 lb per gallon and ended up at 1.060, but this was my first AG and suspect my process will improve somewhat.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by subbrew »

Be interesting if someone says differently but I have always assumed 2 lb per gallon of water. Using that ratio my numbers have always been close to the suggested.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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subbrew wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 9:15 pm Be interesting if someone says differently but I have always assumed 2 lb per gallon of water. Using that ratio my numbers have always been close to the suggested.
Yup, deplorable PMed me a response to not derail this thread, but for others that are wondering, it's:

pounds of grain / gallons of water

So for example: 10 gallons of water and 20 pounds of grains would be 2 lb/gallon, but the end results will be more like 12-13 gallons of mash.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by 8Ball »

Made some of this last summer. At six months on white oak, it is very good. Thanks for the recipe.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Deplorable »

ShineonCrazyDiamond wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 4:54 pm Late heads hold the honey.
I was curious where I'd find the honey flavor. The search feature worked, and led me to this post of yours.
I took a whiff and sip of reserved wash I set aside to check my new refractometer with. Having never used honey malt I wanted to see what I should be looking for. The wort smells like a jar of honey, just not as powerful. If that's what Im in for in the final spirit, I'll be in a hurry to make the 2nd mash.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

After a one year sleep in a 5gal barrel, I pulled off my honey bear bourbon and put it in jars and tempered down a few bottles worth to 45%. I actually didn’t lose too much to the angels either. Looks like I only lost .75 gallons and the proof only dropped 1.5% from 62.5%.

Boy it sure is good. Like really good. The richness of the flavor from the barrel is fantastic. After the contact with the wood, the spirit has taken on a maple syrup flavor. Delicious. It’s also got a good amount of body to it.

This is my first time making enough sprit to fill a barrel, but man was it worth it. Pretty wild I can make something so good in such a short period of time. Really excited to see how it develops with more time. Thanks again for the recipe SCD!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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I stripped my first mash of this today, and promptly cleaned out the boiler and started a 2nd mash (corn and honey malt are currently sitting at 183F). I'll run these two together in the spirit run, then add what doesn't make the cut into the 3rd stripping run to see if it gets me enough to fill a barrel. Then I'll decide if I want to put in as the 3rd fill in one of my Barrel Mill Barrels or put it in a new 5-gallon barrel.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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Deplorable wrote: Fri Mar 18, 2022 6:34 pm Then I'll decide if I want to put in as the 3rd fill in one of my Barrel Mill Barrels or put it in a new 5-gallon barrel.
I vote for the new barrel. If the spirit picks up a lot of oak really fast, you can finish it in your 3rd-fill barrel.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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Twisted Brick wrote: Fri Mar 18, 2022 6:44 pm
Deplorable wrote: Fri Mar 18, 2022 6:34 pm Then I'll decide if I want to put in as the 3rd fill in one of my Barrel Mill Barrels or put it in a new 5-gallon barrel.
I vote for the new barrel. If the spirit picks up a lot of oak really fast, you can finish it in your 3rd-fill barrel.
That means I need to make another single malt to refill that barrel when the current stuff comes out soon. :thumbup:
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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I let this 2nd mashing of corn, A Amylase and honey malt work off overnight (12.5 hours) wrapped up snug in Refectix and wool, and got up this morning to a deep pool of tea colored liquid at 150 degrees F. Ground my malted wheats and 2 row, and stirred it in. Let it work off for about 1h:40m and the iodine test showed a complete conversion, and 1.074 on the refractometer at 2.4 pound/gal. I topped up the fermenter to 21 gallons at 120F and pitched some Ferm Solutions gluco amylase and pulled the insulation off. My gravity is reading at 1.052 (1.056 temp corrected) at just under 2#/gal. I'm letting it fall a few more degrees before I force chill it and pitch a healthy yeast starter, but I thought with such a long gel on the corn Id have gotten more sugars. My last ferment finished at .996 so if this one does the same, I'll get about 7.74% at 1.97#/gal. I'm curious what others are getting for efficiency.

Minor edit for correcting refractometer for temperature.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Hey deplorable, just for data sake, I take the recipe and scale it to a 25gal batch and usually get between 1.060-1.064. They all usually finish at 0.996. This is at 1.7 pounds per gallon for the total grist to water. I use fine corn meal which makes it pretty darn easy with HTL and Glucoamylase enzymes. I do the overnight large batch technique as well.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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BrewinBrian44 wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:13 pm Hey deplorable, just for data sake, I take the recipe and scale it to a 25gal batch and usually get between 1.060-1.064. They all usually finish at 0.996. This is at 1.7 pounds per gallon for the total grist to water. I use fine corn meal which makes it pretty darn easy with HTL and Glucoamylase enzymes. I do the overnight large batch technique as well.
I never get that good of conversion at 2#/G. those are impressive numbers for sure. On the 1st mash I did 32.5 pounds of corn, (25# of BRM corn meal and 7.5# of TSC whole corn milled to flour) I got 1.062 or 064. finished at .996
On the 2nd mash I skipped the TSC corn and just ran the 25# of BRM, and the 17.5# of malts and ended up at 1.056 with 1.97#/G.
Both mashes were in 21.5 gallons of water using enzymes at the proper dosage and temperatures.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by fzbwfk9r »

BrewinBrian44 wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:13 pm Hey deplorable, just for data sake, I take the recipe and scale it to a 25gal batch and usually get between 1.060-1.064. They all usually finish at 0.996. This is at 1.7 pounds per gallon for the total grist to water. I use fine corn meal which makes it pretty darn easy with HTL and Glucoamylase enzymes. I do the overnight large batch technique as well.
What is your efficiency % using those numbers?
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Deplorable wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 5:10 pm
BrewinBrian44 wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:13 pm Hey deplorable, just for data sake, I take the recipe and scale it to a 25gal batch and usually get between 1.060-1.064. They all usually finish at 0.996. This is at 1.7 pounds per gallon for the total grist to water. I use fine corn meal which makes it pretty darn easy with HTL and Glucoamylase enzymes. I do the overnight large batch technique as well.
I never get that good of conversion at 2#/G. those are impressive numbers for sure. On the 1st mash I did 32.5 pounds of corn, (25# of BRM corn meal and 7.5# of TSC whole corn milled to flour) I got 1.062 or 064. finished at .996
On the 2nd mash I skipped the TSC corn and just ran the 25# of BRM, and the 17.5# of malts and ended up at 1.056 with 1.97#/G.
Both mashes were in 21.5 gallons of water using enzymes at the proper dosage and temperatures.
Maybe part of the reason for the good numbers is how long everything sits and the fact I always use the full volume of water right up front, giving me a thinner, more manageable mash. I also add corn to water in small increments to prevent any dough balls, which may also help a lot. Having a huge kettle makes this easy, rather than the incremental water additions using a keg boiler.

When I start a mash, I usually have my water at a boil around 10PM, add the corn/honey malt, let gel for a half hour, add HTL enzyme and wrap her up in a couple blankets. The next morning I’ll add my malts and gluco then head to work. By the time I’m home and chilling it down with my wort chiller, it’s about 21hrs of total time since the corn touched the water.

I shouldn’t have added in the 1.064, that was only one time and was probably a fluke or a mis-measurement from the home brew shop. Almost every time I hover between 1.060-1.062.
Last edited by BrewinBrian44 on Mon Mar 21, 2022 7:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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fzbwfk9r wrote: Mon Mar 21, 2022 6:20 am
BrewinBrian44 wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:13 pm Hey deplorable, just for data sake, I take the recipe and scale it to a 25gal batch and usually get between 1.060-1.064. They all usually finish at 0.996. This is at 1.7 pounds per gallon for the total grist to water. I use fine corn meal which makes it pretty darn easy with HTL and Glucoamylase enzymes. I do the overnight large batch technique as well.
What is your efficiency % using those numbers?
No idea, I’ve never manually calculated it for my distillation hobby. I suppose I’m decidedly “low-tech” in my approach here.

When I’m brewing beer, I use BeerSmith to do the work for me. The way that software works, you have to program your efficiency in BEFORE it calculates your estimated SG’s and yields. Most people start with the default, take notes, and tweak the number over time til you achieve accurate predictions.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by fzbwfk9r »

It is funny how sometimes you just get something tuned right, and it simply works!

I have read thicker mashes convert better, but I can’t wrap my brain around that.
Thinner makes more sense to me.
I always use my full volume of water.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by NormandieStill »

Just took a sample of my HBB after 3 months on oak. I wasn't expecting any miracles at this point being fairly solidly into what everyone seems to describe as the grumpy teenage years of ageing. All the tailsy funk that was masking some interesting fruity flavours seems to have gone, but there's an overbearing woody taste as well. Hoping that'll settle out with time.

My wife was thoroughly impressed by how smooth it was. Not particularly complex (although I think some of that will come back as the woodyness softens) but without the harshness of commercial offerings despite being at around 44%. Need to keep myself busy so I don't notice the next 3 months going by!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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NormandieStill wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 12:14 pm Just took a sample of my HBB after 3 months on oak. I wasn't expecting any miracles at this point being fairly solidly into what everyone seems to describe as the grumpy teenage years of ageing. All the tailsy funk that was masking some interesting fruity flavours seems to have gone, but there's an overbearing woody taste as well. Hoping that'll settle out with time.

My wife was thoroughly impressed by how smooth it was. Not particularly complex (although I think some of that will come back as the woodyness softens) but without the harshness of commercial offerings despite being at around 44%. Need to keep myself busy so I don't notice the next 3 months going by!
At the rate I am going yours will be 6 months old before I get mine in a barrel. I racked and squeezed my 2nd ferment yesterday. Plan to strip it next weekend and get mash #3 going.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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NormandieStill wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 12:14 pm ...but there's an overbearing woody taste as well. Hoping that'll settle out with time.

My wife was thoroughly impressed by how smooth it was. Not particularly complex (although I think some of that will come back as the woodiness softens) but without the harshness of commercial offerings despite being at around 44%. Need to keep myself busy so I don't notice the next 3 months going by!
Is there any chance the woody taste is the result of the low proof? I always thought spirits should go in or on wood at 62%-63%.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

The wood-y taste is normal in the early phase of aging. Those flavors transform into good bourbon flavors with more time and oxygen exposure. It’ll happen at any proof.

As an experiment, I have some jars of HBB aging at 54%, normally I do 60%-62.5%. It’s definitely pulling more sweet/mellow flavors from the wood and taking longer to get the deep color. At 3 months it also tasted a bit wood-y, but not as offensive as the higher proof jars.

There’s no rule about what proof to age at, it’s all about what you like in the final product. Lower proof gives more mild vanilla and caramel flavors, higher proof gives you those as well, but pulls more spice from the wood, sometimes even tobacco. Fine tuning your aging proof is part of dialing in your recipe.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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Skipper1953 wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 3:10 pm Is there any chance the woody taste is the result of the low proof? I always thought spirits should go in or on wood at 62%-63%.
I proofed down for tasting. It went on oak at 66%.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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Well, I guess that was not the problem.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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Well… I need a refill for my 5gal Gibbs barrel before I finish emptying my HBB. I pulled off a few bottles worth and god damn, it’s so good I’m making them disappear. You can’t buy anything like this from a liquor store. My friends are shocked at how good it is considering it’s only aged for a little over a year.

After much debate about what to refill with, I can’t help it, it needs to be another batch of HBB. It’s just too good to ever run out of. I started today with a successful mash of 25 gallons at 1.060. I did the variation with a pound of oats added to the grain bill. Gonna do back to back mash and strips/spirits until I’ve got enough keeper yield to refill. What’s in the barrel now was done with 4 plates in single runs, so I might try pot still this time around or 2 plates with low wines to see if I can amp up the flavor even more.

I created a different bourbon recipe with Rye, Oats and barley that I wanted to try out, but I think I’ll leave it on the back burner for now. I was also thinking about some CROW bourbon as a refill as well, but I can’t seem to get myself to do anything different than HBB. After I fill her up again, I’m thinking about getting a couple Badmo barrels for my other two ideas. I’ve also got a ton of barrel stave wood I can use with glass as well.

Thanks again SCD, I’m hooked.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

Hey, thanks for the follow up, Brian. Really glad it worked out for you. I've been stuck on chocolate bourbon for a while, but your review is making me thirsty. I don't think I have much honey bear in the attic, so I guess I need to do something about that, lol.

Enjoy it in good health!

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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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Yeah man, HBB is really something special.

I still need to make your chocolate bourbon recipe. Perhaps that’s the second Badmo fill!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by Deplorable »

I'm liking what I'm getting in late heads/ early hearts. Looking forward to making up a Glencairn of a few of the jars for sippin after the run is over.
Im almost 10L into the run and it still smells and taste promising off the spout.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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@SCD
Cheers!
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

I never found the good stuff in the early heads, probably because I compressed them with my plates.

I’ve always loved the super rich grain flavor at the early tails. When I ran this on my plated column, I’d turn the defleg flow way up and collect just drips to milk this last part out. There’s a very fine line between this excellent stuff and absolute nastiness.

I suppose a full low wines pot still charge would smear this good stuff right into the middle of the run. I still need to try it out.
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Re: Honey Bear Bourbon

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BrewinBrian44 wrote: Sun Apr 10, 2022 12:40 pm I never found the good stuff in the early heads, probably because I compressed them with my plates.

I’ve always loved the super rich grain flavor at the early tails. When I ran this on my plated column, I’d turn the defleg flow way up and collect just drips to milk this last part out. There’s a very fine line between this excellent stuff and absolute nastiness.

I suppose a full low wines pot still charge would smear this good stuff right into the middle of the run. I still need to try it out.
I ran incredibly slow for the first 600ml of a 40L spirit run, that compressed the heads pretty well. Jar 6 is crazy honey and 77%. By jar 5 I had increased my take off to a broken stream, and by jar 6 I was at a thin steady stream. Jar 6 seems to be the start of the honey pot.
I took 5ml from jars 6 though 21 and tempered it to 43% and its delicious. best white dog I've made right off the still. Tomorrows tasting of all jars will tell what the final blend and yield is, but I never found anything really nasty in any of the jars down to 57% when I started stripping the rest for adding to the next run.
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