Grain Chest: Emmer Bourbon

[PalCabral]

What is Grain Chest?

In my thread from July 2025 called “Unusual grains in Bourbon”, viewtopic.php?t=94869, I discussed making a series of simple bourbon recipes where each of the selected “unusual” grains, or seeds, are given a center stage from a flavor perspective. I am interested to find out what these grains would taste like in a Bourbon, what they would add to the flavor profile, along with the corn and possibly other classic Bourbon grains. I have decided to go ahead with this idea and I’m calling the project Grain Chest.

Caveat, I am not seeking to pioneer new grounds, nor do I want to make scientifically perfect side-by-side comparisons of different grains. My goal is simply to produce a good Bourbon, where the “unusual” grain gets to influence the product flavor-wise in the best possible way.

However, if you want to contribute with your experiments with unusual grains/seeds/weeds, please reuse the "Grain Chest" label or use the #grainchest tag. I'd love for you to share your experiences with small grains.

What is Emmer?

Emmer is the forefather of the wheat we grow today and together with Einkorn and Barley it’s considered a cereal founder crop, being one of the first crops to be domesticated by man. Emmer wheat was cultivated in the Middle-east in the so called Fertile Crescent region and found its’ way to Europe where it became popular a crop in the Mediterranean area. Emmer is very hardy in poor soils, a survivor, and popular to grow in high terrains where the top layer soil is thin. Eventually, it was replaced by durum wheat and but remains being grown in certain regions of Italy, where it is known as Farro Medio. In Italy, it’s used for pasta and bread dough in the central parts of the country.

The bread wheat species we grow today are genetically modified to enhance yield. They are a far cry from the original wheat varieties that were cultivated thousands of years ago when it comes to flavor. Emmer is said to have a strong nutty flavor and offers a flour with much more impression than traditional bread wheat flour. Personally, I have never, to my knowledge, eaten anything with Emmer in it, so I am very excited to taste the Emmer flavored Bourbon, but to be honest I don’t know what to expect.

The Latin name for Emmer is Triticum dicoccum.

The recipe: Emmer Bourbon

Initially I planned to make a Bourbon of 75% corn and 25% Emmer. My thinking was that Emmer seemed to have enough own flavor to carry the flavor of a Bourbon alone. I first looked for Emmer malt and found that Castle Malting from Belgium makes Emmer malt. I contacted my LHBS and was told that I had to buy a full 25 kilo bag, at 75 bucks, if I wanted it. Not a big seller, apparently. So, I decided to go with Emmer flour instead. It was easy for me to find several local mills selling Emmer flour.

As it were, after the first stripping run I found that the flavor of the low wines from the 75-25 recipe was unbalanced. It took me some time analyzing what was missing but then I realized the missing factor was barley malt. Malt may not be a center stage grain in Bourbon, but when it’s not there, something is missing, IMHO. Maybe if the recipe had contained other grains, e.g. Rye, the void would have been plugged, but with only Emmer and Corn, the Barley malt was surely missing. Thus, the recipe I am sharing is my second take, where I have used 70% Corn, 20% Emmer, and 10% Munich Malt. My reasoning is that the high malty profile of Munich Malt will add the “je ne sais quoi” that I was missing from my first batch.

This recipe is for 45L / 12g:
- 7kg/15.5lb Corn – 70%
- 2kg/4.5lb Emmer flour – 20%
- 1kg/2lb Munich malt – 10%

- 50grams/1.8oz Yellow Label Angel Yeast
- 45L/12g water

In my recipes the corn addition is a mix of flaked corn, coarse ground cracked corn, and coarse ground polenta. The Munich malt I am using comes from Weyermann and is their Munich malt II, i.e. a fairly toasted Munich malt. The Emmer flour comes from a local Swedish mill and is grown within 200km from where I live.