"First post (other than introductions...) I'd been looking for a whiskey recipe that I could pull off, and was inspired by some of the other recipes here an on another forum (I originally wanted to do corn (with flaked maize and b/c I'm southern) but was discouraged based on the fact that I wanted to run a recipe that I could lauter and apparently flaked anything is a mess from what I gather).

So, I have started an all-grain rye and 2-row pale malt mash in the fermentor going that has been going well for a few days. I used 7lb rye and 6lb 2-row pale malt for my grain bill (which works out to 53% rye to meet the definition of a rye whiskey, >51% rye). Grain was double roller milled, added pH stabilizer to strike water, 60 min mash in at 151oF and fly sparged at 170oF during the lauter to reach my collected volume (4.5 gal strike water, followed by about 2.5-3 gal of sparge water). I collected about 5.5gal of wort. Cooled to 80oF, aerated and pitched 2 packets of US-05. Fermenting at 65 to 68oF nicely. I'll leave it there for 2 weeks and rack it to help clarify. OG was 1.071 (corrected to 60oF). At this point, this is where my experience abandons me.

I have purchased a PSII 2"" and installed a 5500W 240V element running on 110V, controlled with a variac. Pot and column insulated with a couple of wraps of Reflextex. I have a old batch of wine that has oxidized that i will run for my sacrificial batch before I make a go of my first real run. I have my fingers crossed. I am geek for this stuff...

I know the post title is a little presumptuous, by naming a recipe that I haven't even tried yet. So bear with me...apparently I'm a legend in my own mind. I welcome any suggestions on the recipe part and would like to tweak it as I go (especially depending on the taste of the juice).

I'll post back with updates, experiences, questions, screw ups and successes (if any).

Great place, thanks for having me..."

Ahh who is so wise in the ways of science? (sorry I had to throw out the obligatory Monty Python quote).

JB, thanks for the well studied reply. I will try a little lower temp for longer duration on the second mash.

As for yeast, I would think that the flavor profile is influenced by the type of yeast and I didn't want to choose a strain that wouldn't produce some of those nice aromatics and was just a gas bag (all co2 and etoh). Have you ever tried a yeast blend, say US-05 and EC1118? The US-05 ale yeast for it's characteristic esters and the EC1118 for it's dry finish...

I had planned on using the PSII in pot mode (just the upper portion of the column). Do you pack the upper portion in this configuration (full, partial or none)?

I'm not so certain that with 1350 watts, I could do a stripping run and I don't think that I would try just yet, but that's how I'd like to run if I could/can.

Overall, I'm more interested in quality over quantity, so that will drive my decision making.

Thanks for the warm welcome and Cheers!

CUF

Greetings....

Packing ones column is a personal matter Now, that being said, I prefer three layers that I roll loosely, then fold over end o'er end to bind them agin the column walls. I then use a 3' stainless rod to pack 1 agin the reflux tubes, another just below and the third below that. I give the column a light tap to make sure they are not going to fall out and they are bound in there pretty good. I then use a flashlight to peer thru the mesh wads and see how much light I am seeing... If'n I see NONE, they's packed too tightly.. I should see at least some bouncing thru or shadows...

...makes me think of a line in a song "I take a little powder, take a little salt, put it in my shotgun, I go walkin' out..."

What is at play here? The copper provides some catalytic reduction of sulfur present in the wash/mash and also providing surface area for cooling vapor to fall back into the vapor stream/pot, correct? I know lager yeast strains can produce quite a bit of sulfur, and thus require longer storage at colder temps to eliminate it (no one here uses this I'm sure). All yeast produce some sulfur compounds through the fermentation process, some more than others; so, it depends on what your pitching. So the question is, how much sulfur is present to reduce? Wouldn't it make sense to suspend a perforated copper plate (pretty big) above the liquid level that would accomplish this without causing too much reflux in the column (if you were wanting to avoid eliminating some of those flavor-type substances during a stripping run?). Makes me think of that thing I used to see on TV to take the tarnish off you silverware.

Packing for surface area on the other hand, the more surface area the more stratification or fractionation of substances with different boiling points. This can be accomplished
using other non-copper materials though like raschid (sp) rings.

I take the 1 roll in the top section with no water to the column cooling lines for the win, Alex.

Based on taste, the spirit run may require more copper/surface area...but for the stripping run..


As for yeast, I think that next time I will make a starter with US-05 and EC1118 and some DME to pitch. Then I might try pitching US-05 at first and then follow with a EC1118 starter (active cells) a few days later to get a higher attenuation with ale like flavors and see how the two compare (%ABV, mash flavor, etc.).

I'm prolly geeking out a little so bear with me, I've had a few.

CUF

Well I racked from the fermenter to the carboy a few days ago. The fermented mash has some spicy notes, and a little citrus-type flavor to it. Also, it's still very cloudy which I think may be due to not boiling the wort after lautering. Hot break will end up falling out in the pot I suspect and I would be disappointed if it burned. I read somewhere that someone did a 20 minute boil to get the hot break to drop out. I may try that if the proteins burn to the element this go around.

I plan to try a spirit run this week.

Heeler, correct you are. However, I was thinking that boiling after lautering and sparging the grain bed but before fermenting would create a clearer fermented mash. I'd never boil a fermented mash unless it was in my apparatus.

I am attaching a temp run up chart for my 5500W 220V element. At 5500W 220V = 25A. Therefore there is 8.8ohms in the element. So when running at 60V (110V 15A circuit regulated down with a variac) I'm pulling 6.8A which translated to about 750W. (I'm doing the math for my benefit) Being the first time to burn in the element, I didn't want to go hog wild. I'm sure I will bump the temperature up for the sacrifical run. I used an extech SD200 temp data logger (from work, thanks!) to collect temperature readings at the pot, mid column and top of column. I ran cooling water to the liebig the entire time, but not the column. The temperatures are external to the column using a bead thermocouple taped to the outside at the three locations. It'd be nice to have internal temps, but at least everything is insulated with reflectex.

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So I finally ran the rye.

It was an interesting experience for my first time. I've officially lost my hooch-ginity! It took about 6.5 hours start to finish. The mash was awful sour smelling when I racked it into the pot. And it took around 1.5 to 2 hours to come up to temp with my low wattage system (1350W). I figure a picture is worth a thousand words so I'm attaching my spreadsheet and temperature graph (go ahead and make fun of the nerd). I hope the brain trust here will take a look at these and make some suggestions.

I collected in 4oz jars in "micro" fractions between 60 and 80 ml each. I collected 18 jars for an uncut total of 1.65 quarts at around 170 proof. It worked out, I figured my mash was 6.4% abv so it wouldn't be a huge number of tiny jars. In the future I can see doing larger jars with a higher abv mash and knowing where the cuts will fall. I'll stick to this for a time or two before I change it up.

I ended doing a spirit run, instead of a stripping run. Knowing my setup a little better, I'm not sure I have the power to do a strip. I'll have to jump to 240V for that, I'm afraid.

I really like the smell of what I think are the hearts, even though at 170 proof taste and smell are overpowered by alcohol. The rye really has a nice spicy note to it as I'd expect. I'm considering going to 100% rye to see how that compares as a single malt (to borrow a phrase from scotch producers). I'll have to figure if there's enough distatic (sp) power in the rye without the 2 row before I head off in that direction.

I put paper towels over the tops and screwed the rings down to let it all breathe as I have read others doing the same prior to diluting and making cuts. I'm a little nervous about this step since this has such a large impact on the final result.

Anyway, I have friends coming in town this weekend that I'm looking forward to trying this out on.

I'll post the taste test results.

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