Pros and cons

[Thirsty Bob]

I'm not really sure where this question should go, so feel free to rant if I'm out of bounds. I've been studying still design and made some good headway, but the whole thing about ferments has me a bit confused.

After the cooking/mashing/ferment there seems to be many ways to treat the beer/wash/mash/ferment yada yada.

For example, I have seen many posts with wildly different ways. I'm not sayin' one is better than the other, I just want to learn.

Washes:

- Why rack and not just bung the whole thing into the boiler, (unless you want to save the lees for the next ferment) or does it just make for easier boiler cleaning?
- Is there any point in filtering a wash before doing a run?

Mashes:

- If you throw the porridge into the boiler, you get everything, no ethyl left behind.
- Does anyone sparge the mash, like with beer making?
- I can see the problem of burning if the mix is thick or viscous, but does keeping everything add to the flavour? It would seem to me that anything you want is already in the liquid.

My guess is that just boiling a pure liquid would be better suited to a neutral run, and going "all in" would be for the flavoured runs like bourbon, rum etc.

So, what I'm asking is;
Which method do you use and why?

Feel free to tell me that I'm talking shite, and any links to correct my ways would be appreciated.

[minime]

Some guys distill on the grain for flavor and their rigs can do it without burning anything. Guys with internal elements generally clear first. Why don't you get get your hands dirty, do a little distilling and find out what works for you.
You can talk about it all day but, until you taste your product you can't know what you're going to like.

[big worm]

yes your talking shit! all of the above here ,you got to try it to figure it out for your self so do as much as you can. then just do what suits you. this board is like a cook book if you don't try you'll never know.

[rad14701]

Ditto and Ditto...

One thing to point out is that with some yeasts if you were to dump it into your boiler and heat it along with the wash you could end up with potential off tastes and flavors... Getting rid of the off tastes and flavors can be far more difficult than simply racking, clearing and settling, and re-racking... This isn't even taking an internal electric element into consideration...

I spend the extra time in an effort to eliminate the possibility of surprise and have never had bad tasting final product...

[Hack]

I know I prefer letting my wash/mash clear. I make whiskey and my yeast is labled Distillers Yeast(not very informative). If I don't let it clear, settle, and leave the dunder in the fermenter I get more nasty flavors in my spirits.

I'm with the others. Go for it, make yourself some mistakes, come tell us what you learned from them, ask us questions about them. We might learn something then, and/or be able to help you.

[Fourway]

- Why rack and not just bung the whole thing into the boiler, (unless you want to save the lees for the next ferment) or does it just make for easier boiler cleaning?
- Is there any point in filtering a wash before doing a run?

Some people try to reduce the yeast nose in the output by racking and filtering.
Other people want some of that in their flavor.
Mashes:

- If you throw the porridge into the boiler, you get everything, no ethyl left behind.

right. but it really shouldn't be all that porridgy any more. in the SMOP method the goal is to get pretty much all of the starch turned into alcohol... It's expected to have suspended solids because you should be causing whole soft grains to essentially dissolve... but the ideal is that the gluey poster paste consistency should give way to something thinner by the end.

- Does anyone sparge the mash, like with beer making?

Absolutely. most barley malt whisky is done from a sparged wort.

- I can see the problem of burning if the mix is thick or viscous, but does keeping everything add to the flavour? It would seem to me that anything you want is already in the liquid.

As I said above, id at all possible you want to try to mitigate "viscous"... but yes keeping everything adds flavor... it just might not be the flavor you are looking for.

My guess is that just boiling a pure liquid would be better suited to a neutral run, and going "all in" would be for the flavoured runs like bourbon, rum etc.

That's a vaguely correct idea except that it's just not as cut and dried as you are making it sound. Everything you add to the stuff fermenting, whether you wind up throwing it the boiler or not effects the flavor of the end product. Everything you throw in the boiler instead of straining out effects flavor.
The question isn't which is right for neutral and which is good for bourbon.... the question is which is right for you. Which of those flavors do you want in your end product and which do you want out.
And of course nobody can tell you what any of those additions or omissions taste like. Even if they could they could only tell you what their own ingredients in their own process with their equipment taste like... and of course your milage will vary.

So, what I'm asking is;
Which method do you use and why?

Try em all.
It's the only way to find out what works for you.

[Husker]

So, what I'm asking is;
Which method do you use and why?

Try em all.
It's the only way to find out what works for you.

Exactly. And one of the great things about this being a "non-commercial" hobby, is that when you get something you do not like, you can always re-distill into something, even a neutral. Thus, even things you do not like will NOT be wasted, AND you get experience of knowing something NOT to do again, but in the same line, also frequently find things you REALLY like, much more than any commercial crap you have ever had.

Have fun, H.