testing some theroies

[Pepper0715]

so what do you do when you dont really find all the answers you are seeking. you test all three.

goal = trying to id what a suger bit tastes like

here is the high lights (not step by step) from left to right-

10g tap water, 14lb of ground cracked corn, lowered ph from 7.9 to 5-6, boiled water, added/poured over corn off the heat, strained (all corn removed) after cooling and added malted barley. add yeast nutrient with 14lb of suger. basicly a big tub of liquid, no large solids in the mash no head has developed just surface bubbles. creation time was about 12hrs from start to finish.

10g water 10g tap water, 14lb of ground cracked corn, lowered from 7.9 ph 5-6, corned added to 165 degree water, removed from heat cooled to 150 added malted barley. did not strain off the corn, add yeast nutrient with 4 lb of suger, alot of solids left in the mash.has a thick head. creation time was about 12hrs from start to finish.

10g spring water staright from the mouth of a mountian, 14lb of ground cracked corn, lowered ph from 9-10 to 5-6, boiled water, added/poured over corn of the heat, re heated 5 gallons of the corn slurry to 185 and readded it, did not strain off the corn, added amalazye enzyme, blended with a paint mixer, about 12hrs from start to finish then rested over night for another 12 hrs. add yeast nutrient, no suger added. basicly another tub of liquid water with some solids. the mixer really minced up the corn.

[Sporacle]

Did you take any gravitys?

[Kareltje]

I translated your goal as finding out what sugar bite tastes like. That is: sugar seems to cause a sharp taste (so called bite) in the finished product.
Your starting point (do tests!) I support, but I do not see how you can derive conclusions from your experiment. For not only the amount of sugar is different, but all kinds of variables are different. So you can not know what causes the difference in taste of your product.

[Pepper0715]

good points. in my mind one has alot of suger, one has very little and one has none. im hoping that there is a stark difference bewtween one or two of them. plus these wash mixes came from othhers that i found. hoping to taste the difference between wash types or wondering why some choose one of these over the others. aka im just playing around.

[Laredo7mm]

I have done sugar and tomato paste washes (pink vomit…lol), all grain mashes, and my go to mash/wash has been 2:1 cane sugar to DME. I have never tasted any “sugar bite.” Maybe because I don’t have a very good sense of taste or smell. I can taste the grain in my distillate and I know that aging it on oak takes away most of that grain flavor. But that is as sophisticated as I get. I doubt you will ever hear me talk about the notes of caramel, toffee, coffee, tobacco, raisin, etc…that all the “experts” talk about. I reckon I am just a swill drinker. Lol.

My go to sugar and DME wash starts at 1.088 OG, add a tablespoon of Fermax yeast nutrient, PH it to 5.3 to 5.4, rehydrate 15g of DADY, pitch it into the 86F wort, ferment at 86F, and 3 days later, like clock work, she is at 0.096. Since my plate still is new, I have only run a stripping run on the DME wash once. When using my pot still set up, I would slowly collect the fores/heads, then turn up the power and collect 3 ish gallons at the rate of one gallon for every 2 hours. Consistently comes out to about an average of 110 proof. This is my main sipping white whiskey and I detect no bite.

I have made all corn mashes with enzymes and also three grain AG mashes with malted grains. I don’t detect any kind of bite in those either. I equate the “bite” to a pins and needles feeling on the tongue and lips. Maybe I am interpreting what “bite” is incorrectly. The only time I had the pins and needles as 20+ years ago when I built my first still and did a sugar wash. But I didn’t do any cleaning runs and tossed out what I made after a few small tastes.

I am interested in hearing how your test results turn out.