whiskey wash...

[fredytee]

i just recently ordered some new homebrew stuff and am currently looking at 2 tins of brupaks premium grade pale malt extract, alcotec single strain whisky yeast, 2 packs of essencia bourbon chunks, a pack of juniper berrys, 1kg crushed rye(not sure why i got this lol), a bottle of mellow oak extract and a sachet of finest reserve scotch whiskey essence...

i have 5gal of vodkastar that will be ready to go soon enough, il probably mess around with some of the essences, berries and or chunks with that when its 40%,

but after that i intend on making a different kind of wash. was thinking of using 1 or both cans of malt extract combined with the single strain whiskey yeast to make a new wash, but am i right in thinking this will still be basically flavorless when distilled?

anybody with any advice on what would be the best way to go about it? i only have half a clue what im at to be honest haha

[fredytee]

aye im looking forward to experimenting a bit with things for sure. actually planted a small orchard yesterday to make cider and hopfully some plum potcheen in years to come haha.

i have already had a good read over the 2nd link and i think the 1st link is still a bit advanced for me! i am definatly interested in getting some of the jd chips if i can find em online for the right price but till then im thinking of putting a pack of the chunks in 2ltr of 40% with a few mls of the oak extract and doing another 2 liters without the extract and seeing how they turn out. gonna just bung the sachet in a liter of 40% and see how thatgoes too..

forgive me for being a simpleton, so if i make a decent mash will it still hold some flavor after going through an airstill?

what do you think would be the best way to go about using the crushed grain and malt extract to make a decent mash? i was thinking of doing a mash with the cans and a mash with the grain.

these are the ones i went for...

http://www.goodlifehomebrew.com/brupaks ... e-15kg.php
http://www.goodlifehomebrew.com/crystal ... r-kilo.php

[fredytee]

forgot to mention, after making the whiskey mash i intend on ageing it in essencia or jd chips :-)

[fredytee]

Thanks for the advice aidan! I think im just going to dabble a wee bit with the essencia chips I got for now... Have a bucket of vodka star im going to de gas tonight, and I think im going to double distill that this time, still reading over mozrs instructions tho lol. That pic looks usefull but I cant view it properly on me phone. So if I was getting 6 bottles of 40% from a single distilled wash, how many should I expect from double distilling? 5 or so? As soon as I get this wash started distilling im going to put another 2 vodka star washes on the go so il have plenty to mess about with!

[Capt-Cudellez]

I've had some good results with a no-mash rye sugar wash -

A long boil of the rye in my boiler (90-120mins) then filter out the rye, and use the rye flavoured water to melt your sugar - I prefer raw sugar for flavoured washes, and keep the potential ABV on the low side - I use 5Kg raw sugar per 25ltr wash, and some nutrients.

for the strip - when racking the wash into the boiler, i scoop a pint jar off the yeast cake from the bottom of the fermenter - this is my starter for the next wash. After the strip I boil more rye in some of the backset, and repeat the wash. (I'm reusing the yeast so don't use any clearing agents, I just degas, wait 3 days and strip)

I will do 3 or 4 back to back ferments, for the spirit run I'll keep 4-5 lts of wash from the final ferment to add to the strip, I also add a few liters of backset (from the final strip) to the boiler too - to push the flavour.

I aim to have the still charge on the spirit run, just under 30% so that the hearts averages close to the ABV for aging - meaning I don't have to add too much water - again this it to retain flavour.
Heads go straight to the heads keg for a running as neutral at a later date - all the other spirit that doesn't make the cut I store and will add to the spirit run, next time I do this wash.

I have some that is 3 months aged on a med toast oak that is very nice- its very drinkable right off the still too.

[fredytee]

Right, im definatly going to try this double distilling with the wash I have on at the min! if im just running one 25 ltr wash for now, will I have to wait to distill the next few washes to get the full 5.1ltr 40% alcohol?

capt, that sounds like a very well thought out method! Would love to understand it enough to give it a try! What kind of nutrient do u use? And how many kg of rye?

[Capt-Cudellez]

capt, that sounds like a very well thought out method! Would love to understand it enough to give it a try! What kind of nutrient do u use? And how many kg of rye?

Just fumbling my way round about it - it is heavily based on the death wish wheat germ (DWWG) recipe.
The rye I use is the flaked stuff for breakfast cereal - I add around 750g per 25l wash - its just for flavour - no conversion.
With both the wheat germ and the rye, the boil gets an oilyness to it after about 90 min, then it's done.

With the first lot, I add some citric acid - the secondary ferments don't get any due to the backset being very acidic.
I use the same nutrient mix for rum, neutral and most other things. Boiled yeast, B-Vit, pinch of epsom salt and a nitrogen fertilser. This recipe doesn't seem to need as much as my neutral, I only add about half as much (I think the cereal adds some nuits)
I've been using youngs ale yeast for this one.

[Admiral Toad]

God almighty C'pn that sounds far more complicated than an Average distillery I feel humbled stick to wot I'm doing I'm doin I think

[Capt-Cudellez]

Admiral, it looks more complicated written down that it is in reality. The flavour is good, the troosers is a whisky drinker, and she likes it a lot.
The long boil is time consuming, but needs little attention once its a rolling boil- I use the T500 boiler with a power controller, and no lid.

At the end of the day its just a flavoured sugar wash - I've been fortunate enough to taste some all grain single malt that another hobbyist did, it has a much richer flavour, and I think is beyond what could ever be achieved using this method - it was really top notch.

I'm not sure I could live with the low returns of AG brewing - but maybe a grain mash with the ABV nudged slightly with a modest amount of sugar would be a good compromise - its on the cards for me during 2012.

I'm not that good at whisky - I drink very little of it outside of bothies - and don't really know what I'm looking for, and have trouble with the cuts.
Gin and Rum is where my head is right now, and I have been working hard to get that as good as I can - I'm very happy with the results so far.
Recently I've been drinking a lot of silver rum (kept in the white) as the flavour was so good just aged a week.

[optic]

I am a keen AG beer brewer and have been toying with the idea of doing a mash and running it,the only thing that is putting me off is as far as I can make out,to do it properly it will need me to ferment perhaps 3 or 4 washes strip them and then do a spirit run.So was thinking about doing just one wash mashing about 6 KG of pale malt,just sparging until I have 25 ltrs which should give me an OG around 1.050 ish then adding sugar to bring the OG up around 1.080, then running it through the super reflux just once with a few saddles in the column just to create a little bit of reflux.Should carry over a bit of flavour and still make it worth a try,anyone reckon its worth a shot?

[Capt-Cudellez]

Optic - that's exactly what I'm looking to do later this year, a grain mash with a little sugar to push the ABV from 6-7 to closer to 10-11.

The only bit I'm not sure about is the refluxing - its a lot of effort to get that flavour, and your going to strip a fair bit out of it - with a power controller of some sort, I'm sure it could be tuned into a wee pot still.

I've done a few faux whisky sugar washes - running on the pot gives a good flavour - I've ran the same washes on the VM, and got nice vodka - I was hoping some of the grain flavour would carry over, but alas, just a vodka that took more effort to make.

Maybe the mash will carry the flavour over better, worth a try, but personally I would be looking to pot still anything I was going to that effort with.
Whatever way you go, let us know how it works out.

[optic]

Capt-Cudellez
Right I have a super reflux so I can swap the hoses around and run it as a pot still,last time that I run a sugar wash in pot mode checking my records I got 4.8ltrs at 58%ABV after dumping the first 200mls,so do you reckon it would be worth just one pot still run,say keeping the output from 75% down to 50%ABV ?

[Capt-Cudellez]

Without power control it may be running a bit quick for clean cuts - as for what portion to keep, I've found each recipe is different.

With my wheat germ hearts is down to 55%, rye gets tailsey in the low 60's. just collect in small jars and taste it after a days airing, I find early tails really make a whiskey - I find it being too tailsey smooths right out after a few weeks on oak, if its a nice drink going on the the oak - it can be a bit lacking a month down the line.
I wouldn't consider trying to make my cuts off the output, till I'd ran a wash a few times, and I know what I'm looking for.

I'm still quite new to pot stilling, still finding my feet, its much harder for me to make the cuts, I find you need to be a bit braver and let the oak round it out - even without oak, if you can put it away for a bit, leaving it in glass with a bit of head space makes a difference.

[optic]

Will give it a go in the near future I have a couple more AG ales to brew to fill my casks up again so there is a constant supply of beer in condition to drink,my fermenting fridge will then be free to try an AG mash,just needs me to go into Maplins and by a wattage meter,already got a controller so should be able to slow the run down.