Chocolate rye recipe seems to have a low yield.
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 2:18 pm
Going to post my procedures and process for a batch of whiskey I made recently using some speciality grains. I started my first of 3 stripping runs today but seemed to get a low yield. I just want to check to make sure it is low and I'm not going crazy and if anybody has any answers as to why?
Recipe:
3 packs bread yeast
30 Gallons of water
20 lbs Corn
20 lbs Barley
10 Pounds Rye flakes
5 lbs 2 Row
5 lbs chocolate Rye malt
I mashed in coolers in 4 separate batches adding my malts in at 150 degrees after steeping the grains for at least 2 hours. I mixed all regular grain together and mixed my malts together as well (separately), so each of my four batches would be the same mix of grains. Let cool over night and had a potential alcohol of 6.5%. Started my yeast and pitched it in.
All fermented well for about a week when it slowed down. I tasted it and it was not sweet at all and pretty sour so I squeezed my grains out leaving me with about 26/30 gallons. Left it to clear overnight and started my first stripping run today. I pulled roughly 6 gallons off the top of my fermentor to start. I was getting into sediment that hadn't settled yet plus I wanted to do smaller batches since there is rye in this recipe.
My still is a 13 gallon keg so with 6 gallons I have plenty of head space. Fired up with a couple cool downs to let any potential foam settle out. My run started fine and it didn't puke at all. I pulled a pint for fores (which looking back was a little much) and continued my run smelling and tasting along the way. After about a half hour I pulled a half gallon of keeps and noticed it was starting to smell and taste tailsy. I checked my ABV and it was at about 25%. It seemed a little early to me for it to be that low so I checked my FG of the mash which i hadn't done yet since it tasted good and sour. I got a bit of sediment in my graduated cylinder so I'm sure it was a little off but Fg came in showing about 1% potential alcohol.
Now I'm thinking my ferment could have stalled a little near the end or not quite gone totally dry but I'm also thinking the reading is a little off because of the sediment. I continued my run into deep tails and ended up with a half gallon of keeps plus a pint discarded out of a 6 gallon strip. This is only my third run on my recently upgraded still so I'm not totally used to these bigger runs but to me I think I should have got more out of the run. I threw in a couple more packs of yeast to see if the wort will ferment out any further.
Any input is greatly appreciated.
Recipe:
3 packs bread yeast
30 Gallons of water
20 lbs Corn
20 lbs Barley
10 Pounds Rye flakes
5 lbs 2 Row
5 lbs chocolate Rye malt
I mashed in coolers in 4 separate batches adding my malts in at 150 degrees after steeping the grains for at least 2 hours. I mixed all regular grain together and mixed my malts together as well (separately), so each of my four batches would be the same mix of grains. Let cool over night and had a potential alcohol of 6.5%. Started my yeast and pitched it in.
All fermented well for about a week when it slowed down. I tasted it and it was not sweet at all and pretty sour so I squeezed my grains out leaving me with about 26/30 gallons. Left it to clear overnight and started my first stripping run today. I pulled roughly 6 gallons off the top of my fermentor to start. I was getting into sediment that hadn't settled yet plus I wanted to do smaller batches since there is rye in this recipe.
My still is a 13 gallon keg so with 6 gallons I have plenty of head space. Fired up with a couple cool downs to let any potential foam settle out. My run started fine and it didn't puke at all. I pulled a pint for fores (which looking back was a little much) and continued my run smelling and tasting along the way. After about a half hour I pulled a half gallon of keeps and noticed it was starting to smell and taste tailsy. I checked my ABV and it was at about 25%. It seemed a little early to me for it to be that low so I checked my FG of the mash which i hadn't done yet since it tasted good and sour. I got a bit of sediment in my graduated cylinder so I'm sure it was a little off but Fg came in showing about 1% potential alcohol.
Now I'm thinking my ferment could have stalled a little near the end or not quite gone totally dry but I'm also thinking the reading is a little off because of the sediment. I continued my run into deep tails and ended up with a half gallon of keeps plus a pint discarded out of a 6 gallon strip. This is only my third run on my recently upgraded still so I'm not totally used to these bigger runs but to me I think I should have got more out of the run. I threw in a couple more packs of yeast to see if the wort will ferment out any further.
Any input is greatly appreciated.