Say Yes to Sugarheads

[subbrew]

There has been some back and forth on this forum about sugarheads. (for the novice reading, a sugarhead is when you take the used grain from an all grain fermentation and add sugar to it, re-ferment, and get a second batch.)

The two main camps are sugar heads are an easy and cheap way to get extra whiskey. The other is once you have had an all grain whiskey you can't go back to sugarheads.

My two cents is that sugar heads can provide an everyday sipper to keep you out of the good stuff, while being a good drink in itself. My goal is let my spirits age from 4 to 6 years. As this is only my 4th year really into the hobby and the first year was just experimenting and the second was getting down process, I still don't have any 4 year old drinks. That last two years I have been trying for 4 or 5 large batches per year, 35 to 40 gallon batches. But for part of that to stick around for 6 years I need to keep my lips off it. That is where the sugarhead comes in. Given the cost of sugar it is no longer much cheaper than a corn and barley batch but it is a lot easier as no grinding, boiling or enzymes. But if I do one 35 gallon batch a year it will provide enough afternoon sipper for almost a year at my present consumption rate. The key is to do narrow cuts on the sugarhead. That way there is very little to age out. In 9 to 12 months in a jar on some charred sticks you can have a decent drink. With narrow cuts it is not a complex drink but it is very smooth and easy to drink. That allows me to use wider cuts on my all grain because I can leave it in a jar or badmo clone for 4 to 6 years.

Perhaps in three or 4 more years when, I have 4 or 5 badmo clones per year coming of age, I will no longer have a need for sugarheads but I may continue as I don't always want a complex drink. I just want that short shot I can enjoy in a couple of swallows while I am doing chores in the afternoon. Sugarhead seems to really fill that spot.

[jonnys_spirit]

+1 on this and/or add some molasses/panela for a rat-bastard rumski if you don't want a straight sugarhead. Read up on the rye-bread whisky too and throw a few loaves in or some specialty malt if rum isn't your flavor.

Cheers,
jonny

[Steve Broady]

I also like a sugarhead as a way to keep me from being too upset at the horrendous waste of not squeezing every last drop out of wet grain. And if you don’t want to drink the product as a whiskey (though I’ve made some darn tasty ones), I intend to use the sugarhead to make vodka or neutral as well.

[Oldvine Zin]

I use my sugarheads to make a almost neutral that I use to make my gin and other liquors, first grain press is for aged bourbon.

[NZChris]

There aren't a lot of products that I make that are not followed up by a sugar head. Many products benefit from a hint of grain or grape in the base spirit, gin is one.

For more flavor, I add the feints and backset to sugar heads before pot distilling.

For less flavor, there are a lot of tricks that have already been posted by myself and others.

[Swedish Pride]

Personally it's hard for me to get past the sugar bite.

I do em every now and again, mainly to keep herself in vodka stock

[MooseMan]

I use my sugarheads to make a almost neutral that I use to make my gin and other liquors, first grain press is for aged bourbon.

Yes I'm also in this camp.

I also often give half or more of the grain to a friend for him to do sugarheads with.

[Stump Lake]

I'm also in the Sugarhead camp. I have been putting my All Grains up on oak and not touching them. The Sugarhead does not compare to the All Grain in the complexity of flavors, but it is a good everyday drink. I also run the Sugarhead through my Gin still for a 3rd distillation and it makes a Great OEG.

[higgins]

Personally it's hard for me to get past the sugar bite.
...

I'm in the same camp as you, SP - I don't like the sugar bite I got from the 2 sugar neutrals I've made (although gin covers it up well), so I've never made a sugarhead. I still buy enough commercial whiskey/rum (1-2 bottles a month, mainly for my biweekly BLAST gatherings) to keep me in sipping whiskey, so I don't need to raid my stash for something to drink. It wont' be much longer before I start taking my aged stuff (nearly 4 yrs old) to BLAST and won't need to buy much commercial any more.

I have switched to AG wheat for my neutrals. 50 lb coarse ground soft white wheat, 20 gal 100F water, 115g YLAY. I let it go for a month or more, then strip it (2 normal strips, 1 with steam) and run it thru my 2" VM to get a very mildly flavored neutral with no bite. It is almost as easy as SSS.

[Stump Lake]

As I'm reading through the opinions I'm wondering if the opinions are relative to how long someone has been in the hobby. It takes a few years before you can start drinking 4 year old whiskey.
Maybe I would only drink 4 year old whiskey if I had any.

[Homebrewer11777]

I've been doing sugarheads off my bourbon all grain batches as well as my all grain beer brews. The beer mashes are really good and so easy to strain after fermenting on the grain. Last batch I capped the spent beer mash with a few pounds of fresh grains--roasted barley, chocolate malt and crystal malt-- in the fermenter and got impressive flavors coming through on the stripping run.

[LWTCS]

I feel some what of a hypocrite after reading. Past few years I've become super snobby about whiskey.
I still of course do maintain that AGs are always going to be better.
But I have absolutely have had very respectable sugar heads.

MoonBreath absolutely made good ones with several of his sugar head recipes. Sugar heads are how I started my journey.

[Bushman]

I feel some what of a hypocrite after reading. Past few years I've become super snobby about whiskey.
I still of course do maintain that AGs are always going to be better.
But I have absolutely have had very respectable sugar heads.

MoonBreath absolutely made good ones with several of his sugar head recipes. Sugar heads are how I started my journey.

Ditto!

[Deplorable]

Personally I'm not a fan of sugarheads. Like Larry, I've had a few samples of respectable sugarheads but they're easy to pick out. They do keep you out of the good stuff while it ages.
I made my share in the first year of this hobby. And encourage others to do the same while learning the craft.
For those who make sugarheads to turn into near-neutral for gin base or "vodka", what do you do with your AG feints? All of my whiskey feints are collected to make my "vodka" after diluting and running through my reflux column. 5 gallons of feints, usually yields me a little over 2 gallons of 94-95% that gets cut down for a really good all grain vodka.
I feel like for the cost of bulk sugar in the US, I'd rather just pay the extra few cents a pound for grains.
YMMV

[Stump Lake]

I'm not sure if it was the right thing to do but I mixed my AG & SH feints together and distilled them through a packed reflux column still. It was distilled again XXXX when I made my gin. The mixture was not taestless lika a vodka. It had it's on slight taste. Very smooth, very slight taste of the CROW recipe. I was very happy with it. My wife even likes it.

[Swedish Pride]

I have switched to AG wheat for my neutrals. 50 lb coarse ground soft white wheat, 20 gal 100F water, 115g YLAY. I let it go for a month or more, then strip it (2 normal strips, 1 with steam) and run it thru my 2" VM to get a very mildly flavored neutral with no bite. It is almost as easy as SSS.

Try rice, to me the best AG neutral there is

[Swedish Pride]

I feel some what of a hypocrite after reading. Past few years I've become super snobby about whiskey.
I still of course do maintain that AGs are always going to be better.
But I have absolutely have had very respectable sugar heads.

MoonBreath absolutely made good ones with several of his sugar head recipes. Sugar heads are how I started my journey.

Ditto!

I think we all started with sugar heads.

Never did it for me though, the bite was always there, almost had me throwing in the towel until I tried AG.

As I improved so did the sugar heads but the bite is still there.
I think some people are just more sensitive to it, I'm a sugar bite whimp

[sadie33]

I'm also in the Sugarhead camp. I have been putting my All Grains up on oak and not touching them. The Sugarhead does not compare to the All Grain in the complexity of flavors, but it is a good everyday drink. I also run the Sugarhead through my Gin still for a 3rd distillation and it makes a Great OEG.

what is OEG?
I've never done a sugar head. When y'all talk about the sugar bite, what exactly does that mean? It's one of the reasons I haven't tried it, but then I don't fully understand what the sugar bite is, so maybe I would like it. I usually give my spent grains to my chickens, so nothing wasted.

[Steve Broady]

what is OEG?

Odin’s Easy Gin. Good stuff, easy to make, and a great introduction to making gin. It’s not the most complex, but more than good enough. I suspect there are even some commercial gins out there using the same recipe.

I've never done a sugar head. When y'all talk about the sugar bite, what exactly does that mean?

For me, sugar tastes almost acidic. Open a container of sugar and take a good sniff. Eat a little spoonful of it. That’s the sugar bite.

For me, it’s less prominent on something like a strongly flavored bourbon sugarhead than it is on something like UJSSM. I also suspect that letting a wash sit and clean up for a few weeks helps, but I can’t prove that one.

But if you think about it, nobody is complaining about the sugar bite in rum, so I don’t think it’s the sucrose that’s the problem. I think it has more to do with trying to rush since it’s “just a sugarhead.” I take my time with them, just like everything else, and I’ve been happy with the results. As others have said, they aren’t the most complex, but they’re pretty decent and they make me feel better about what I’m doing at the moment. I’d recommend trying it for yourself. Worst case, you don’t like it and move on.

[Saltbush Bill]

OEG = Odin's Easy Gin.
Sugar washes tend to have a bite/ burn to them when drunk,
Think heads burn type bite.
AG doesn't have the same burn or bite.

[Stags]

I agree with this. I have been successful keeping out of my 10 gal Gibbs barrel of honeybear by using another 5 gallon barrel solera style for sugarheads

[NZChris]

But if you think about it, nobody is complaining about the sugar bite in rum, so I don’t think it’s the sucrose that’s the problem.

I suspect that 'sugar bite' is a lack of congeners that mask the bite, and not from the sugar itself, which would explain why rum isn't notorious for sugar bite.

Personally, I don't drink my sugar wash neutrals as they are when they come off the still. Nobody around here is interested in drinking vodka or neutral and it is all made with other uses in mind. By the time it gets bottled it's loaded with flavors from fruit and/or botanicals, and sometimes meat or bones. I don't notice bite in the finished products.

[Soft batch]

I've always followed up an AG run with a sugarhead - usually only one though as sugar has doubled in price in the past could years. I make tight cuts and age on chunks for 6-12 months for the daily drinking. All the feints then get saved for a neutral run. Why waste good flavor!

[zach]

I feel like for the cost of bulk sugar in the US, I'd rather just pay the extra few cents a pound for grains.
YMMV

I make flour washes at a lower cost than sugar in US. With YLAY it is not much more difficult than a sugar head.