Irish whiskey/barley wine

[rubberduck71]

So I stripped my first batch of Irish whiskey yesterday, and damn if it didn't smell & taste delightful!!!

Here's the recipe:
2/3 of grain bill malted barley (I used Golden Promise)
1/3 of grain bill unmalted barley
Add 10% of above total grain bill weight corn meal (just for some added flavor)

Can't wait for the spirit run.

I recently finished watching all available seasons of "The Last Kingdom" on NetFlix. They often are drinking barley wine. Anyone ever made this? I imagine this would be the equivalent to our washes...

Duck

[pablosky]

Hello friend, could you provide more information about what aging method you use, and how long aging? so it has a real Irish flavor .... thank you very much

[shadylane]

Others may or may not agree with me.
I consider Irish whiskey to be the Holy Grail of distilled grain spirits.

[rubberduck71]

Hello friend, could you provide more information about what aging method you use, and how long aging? so it has a real Irish flavor .... thank you very much

Pab, I actually haven't started aging it yet... This was just the stripping run, but I will likely use some oak cubes or spirals. However, I may experiment with those soaked in sherry. I enjoy Tullamore Dew, and I see on their label they use sherry casks as part of the finishing.

Duck

[Setsumi]

barley wine is a recognised BJCP style. it may work as base to distill from but although it has a high OG it usually it finish on the sweet side. if you want to brew it to drink check the BJCP guide for style tips.

[WithOrWithoutU2]

I am playing around with the following grain bill in pursuit of a good Irish whiskey:

50% Malted Barley - (using pale ale right now. Planning on trying others too).
33% Raw Barley (2 Row - Genesis)
12% Corn
5% Oat
I am grinding super fine, maybe too fine as it takes for every to clear.

It puked horribly the first time I ran it. The second time I tried a good protein rest and it still tried to puke but I did not let it get out of control. I am working on my third batch now. I am letting it clear super well. Taking a long time even in my unfinished basement were it is about 60f.

Still trying to work out the "triple distilled". But so far on my stripping I am using pretty deep. After I have all my stripping runs done, I plan to heat up slow and take of heads slowly. Then I will run hard again for a second strip. The third distillation will be the spirit run. That is not the "traditional triple distillation, but I hope it will keep it light and flavorful. I am also using as much copper as possible. I am using my taller column I usually use for Neutral (or course no reflux) and copper scrubbers. I've read the primary reason they triple distill is they want the copper to do its thing multiple times.

For aging I bought some used bourbon barrels staves as Irish Whiskey calls for used whiskey barrels.

[brewmaster2014]

Others may or may not agree with me.
I consider Irish whiskey to be the Holy Grail of distilled grain spirits.

I'm either of this here,keeping open mind but I was just wondering why is it hey grail gor you? The process? Flavor? Difficulty?
Really just curious because I never made one ,and I do enjoy Jamieson. Cheers.

[bluc]

I have read the unmalted whiskey needs to be toasted not raw

[bitter]

I do
50 percent malted
50 percent feed barley

Its great!
B

[Ben]

x. They often are drinking barley wine. Anyone ever made this?
Duck

Its a high abv (for beer) malty beer. It is lowly hopped (for the amount of malt). I wouldn't distill it, I don't care for distilled hops. But if you like sweet, heavy drinks give it a shot.

You might try a double brew from a single grist. Set up your mash bill, pull the first however many gallons you want for the barley wine, put it in your boil kettle, add hops, boil. Sparge off the rest of the sugary goodness for your whiskey wash. That will give you your high ABV barley wine, and a suitable OG for your whiskey wash.

[pigroaster]

When I toured Jamieson Distillery I asked the tour guide about ratio of malted to unmalted barley. He admitted 55 % malted to 45 % unmalted was very close to their mash bill. Mid shelf drop but great when you get a good aged bottle from a older keg!

[hawkwing]

I had thought they would use just enough malted barley to get sufficient enzymes and to avoid the tax. Unmalted is really cheap too. I wonder how much of a flavor difference there is if triple distilled.

[bitter]

I had thought they would use just enough malted barley to get sufficient enzymes and to avoid the tax. Unmalted is really cheap too. I wonder how much of a flavor difference there is if triple distilled.

Best I can say is make a 100% Malted (different malts will have different taste so I malted the same barley as used unmalted when I did this) and then a %100 unmalted using enzymes . Was close to 20 years ago now and I'm getting old so don't remember it all now but in general I took the mix of both and arrived at 50% of each being my favourite.

The Unmalted barley has more grain flavor. And straight malted has more flowery notes and matiness. Also was a nice mouth feel with the unmalted. over the years I moved to a Good PA or MO malt mixed with the unmalted at 50/50 as the PA/MO malts added additional complexity.

B