 Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 5/3/2010(UTC)
Posts: 9
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"I did my 1st batch of corn whiskey last night and I need to know if I'm close with my results. Started with 12lbs cracked corn 2lbs crushed barley malt,10lbscane sugar and one packet of whiskey yeast w/ag'
I love the taste of the whikey, it has a real corn flavor and a nice kick.
I'm aging it now with some charred white oak.
what I'm questioning is that I only got about 3/4 quart out of the wash. Is that close or should I have gotten more? It was a 5 gallon ferment and I let it go until it was completely done bubbling. Iended up with a little less in the pot than I do with a sugar wash but the alcohol conten was good. (12%)"
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 Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/22/2005(UTC)
Posts: 817
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" Originally Posted by: Buck36  I did my 1st batch of corn whiskey last night and I need to know if I'm close with my results. Started with 12lbs cracked corn 2lbs crushed barley malt,10lbscane sugar and one packet of whiskey yeast w/ag'
I love the taste of the whikey, it has a real corn flavor and a nice kick.
I'm aging it now with some charred white oak.
what I'm questioning is that I only got about 3/4 quart out of the wash. Is that close or should I have gotten more? It was a 5 gallon ferment and I let it go until it was completely done bubbling. Iended up with a little less in the pot than I do with a sugar wash but the alcohol conten was good. (12%) Hi Buck, My guess, a stuck ferment. Why? 14# of grain is going to take up close to a gallon of volume. So only 4 gal. of water to mix with 10# sugar which also displaces water and then the grains soak a lot of water up. Did you test useing a hydrometer? You original gravity should have been out the roof. Way more than 12%. Then whiskey yeast is not a high ABV type yeast and will likely die at some point in fermention due to stress. Did you take a final grav. reading, or even a taste test to see if totally dry? Also, how much was your total run including heads and tails? For a 5 gal. run, 8 or 9# grain and 8# sugar is more in line. Just my best guess."
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 5/3/2010(UTC)
Posts: 9
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"I did not take a final reading because the hydrometer wouldn't drop through the grain but I did wait till it was done. I was going to take a reading after I strained it but I got too excited about running it. I will try it again using less grain like you said, that makes alot of sense now. I did taste the wash and it was still alittle on the sweet side but not thick or sticky.I'm running a sugar wash right now that turned out excellent so far. I'm only up to 192 and I've got a quart and a hlf out of it.
'Thanks for the advice again, it's so very valuable."
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/22/2005(UTC)
Posts: 817
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" Originally Posted by: Buck36 I did not take a final reading because the hydrometer wouldn't drop through the grain but I did wait till it was done. I was going to take a reading after I strained it but I got too excited about running it. I will try it again using less grain like you said, that makes alot of sense now. I did taste the wash and it was still alittle on the sweet side but not thick or sticky.I'm running a sugar wash right now that turned out excellent so far. I'm only up to 192 and I've got a quart and a hlf out of it.
'Thanks for the advice again, it's so very valuable. Buck, If the cap is still floating it probably wasn't complete. You could have ised a turkey baster to draw off some clear product for testing, though it wil still be skewed to the high side. with a bit of experiance tast tells all. But the OG is critacal depending on what yeast to use. anything above 12 to 14% I would use a champagne yeast like ec 1118 Even though you did not do a mash with your run the AG will have converted some of the starches to even more sugar as well as the added malt, though slower than a regular mash. Whiskey yeast cannot handle that. Also, dilutes the flavors of the grain tast, as an OG of around 1080 is best. 8 to 10% tops for ABV for the wash or mash. Best idea, do a super fast stripping run of 3 washes or mashes. collect everything with no cuts. then do the normal spirit run with good cuts. what you think is good now is probably in relation to store bought spirits. When you get really proficient, you will never enjoy a store bought again. By your temps. I do assume you are running in pot still mode, which you should be. Haveing fun yet?"
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 3/9/2010(UTC)
Posts: 3
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" Originally Posted by: Buck36 I did my 1st batch of corn whiskey last night and I need to know if I'm close with my results. Started with 12lbs cracked corn 2lbs crushed barley malt,10lbscane sugar and one packet of whiskey yeast w/ag'
I love the taste of the whikey, it has a real corn flavor and a nice kick.
I'm aging it now with some charred white oak.
what I'm questioning is that I only got about 3/4 quart out of the wash. Is that close or should I have gotten more? It was a 5 gallon ferment and I let it go until it was completely done bubbling. Iended up with a little less in the pot than I do with a sugar wash but the alcohol conten was good. (12%) i think you are using to much as well. i use 7lbs corn, 7lbs sugar, 1 tbsp yeast, and fill a 5 gallon bucket with water. with that i usually get about 1 1/2 jars of good product, between 140 and 170."
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 5/3/2010(UTC)
Posts: 9
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"Thanks again, I'm on my way to get more sugar to try again. Mtn Walker. Where do you order your yeast from?
Buck"
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/22/2005(UTC)
Posts: 817
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" Originally Posted by: Buck36 Thanks again, I'm on my way to get more sugar to try again. Mtn Walker. Where do you order your yeast from?
Buck I'm a cheap ole buzzard, but I am willing to pay for what works for me. Doing grain washes like you are talking about, I use the whiskey yeast with AG for the first run (sweet run) re use the yeast and what grains are still good, after disposing of the off color grains AND adding same volume back of fresh grains. I use 25% of back slops, stillage or sour mash, whatever you want to call it. I do it immediatly while hot over the new sugar to convert it. Need gloves for this. Chill it to below 90 F add it to the fermenter with all the leftovers, top up and add a packet of the 3 in 1 enzyme. Extracts more grain flavor and sugars from the grains. There are other methods, but this works well for me. Have done repetative runs at least 10 times without issue. Each one gets a bit better, though the ferment gets a bit slower. Think it has to do with the acid content. If you are going to do corn, sour mashing is the way to go."
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 5/3/2010(UTC)
Posts: 9
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Just tried my 1st batch after spoof aging for a week. It is fantastic, I could only describe it as some of the best whiskey I have ever drank.I want to learn more about re using the grains or sour mashing. I cut my whiskey to 40 percent and it has a great corn flavor, my neighbor says it's smooth and he loves good whiskey. I just want to learn more, maybe I got lucky with this batch but if they all turn out like this I will be very happy.
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/22/2005(UTC)
Posts: 817
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" Originally Posted by: Buck36 Just tried my 1st batch after spoof aging for a week. It is fantastic, I could only describe it as some of the best whiskey I have ever drank.I want to learn more about re using the grains or sour mashing. I cut my whiskey to 40 percent and it has a great corn flavor, my neighbor says it's smooth and he loves good whiskey. I just want to learn more, maybe I got lucky with this batch but if they all turn out like this I will be very happy. Ha! I can believe your enjoyement. But wait till you have enough made to age a month , 3 months, 6 months. Every run will get better with lessons learned, barring the occasional boo boo. And seriously, you will feel so much better the next day. But what is spoof ageing?"
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 5/3/2010(UTC)
Posts: 9
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Iread about it somewhere, it"s putting the jar full in the fridge at night and out in the sun during the day for a few days. I don't know if it really does anything but it seemed to help.
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