Making Whisky

[PieOPah]

To make whisky, is it simply a case of aging your neutral on wood chippings/dominos or is there more to it than that?

Can I take a neutral spirit from a sugar wash, add wood chips and end up with anything decent?

I would love to do an all grain mash, but time currently won't allow.

Thanks.

[Anavrin]

Hi PieOPah

I've not made one myself but it's a little more complicated than that, ideally you should use grain, or at least a mixture of grain/sugar, more importantly you can't get away with using a neutral, a spirit for whisky will include some portion of the late heads and early tails, during the aging process, it's the higher alcohols in the heads portion and the fusel oils present from the tails that will react with the charred oak to form other congers and mellow out, giving a whisky its unique and aged flavour.

Every whisky is different, so just have some fun, go with your instincts and see what you get.

Others on here like Easydrinker are far more knolwedgeable than me on this but that's about the extent of my understanding of whisky.

[PieOPah]

I have been sat here (at work) umming and ahhing about what I can do.
I looked into Malt Extract, but that looks like it may be far too expensive unless I buy in bulk (and 25kg of LME is a little too much for my requirements at present).

I have been thinking of just taking the day off work and doing an all grain - or getting up early one weekend and brewing first thing. After all, it shouldn't take me as long as it does for a beer as I don't need the hop additions!

I guess I can always add sugar to increase the SG and get a better yield as well...

[Capt-Cudellez]

You can make really good whisky just using LME for sugar. Best to age it on long grain wood like oak dominos rather than those chip.

I've just bottled some that was 18 months on wood, and its rather tasty.

[PieOPah]

I've just bought some grains to mash.

Plan is to make a stout style. After it has fermented, I'll add cherries to the secondary.

Maybe a little adventurous for a first attempt at a grain wash, but it should be a fun experiment.

Looking forward to seeing what the outcome is.

Would I still filter the end product or would that strip the flavour?

[Easydrinker]

I'm no expert,but I'm with the Capt. here.
Either bite the bullet and have any easy expensive day with LME,or a very long and tedious one with grain.
I haven't yet got the maths sorted as to which is best for me.
In my experience,the more granulated sugar that you use,the more it will taste like your all sugar neutral.
An investment in good kit like AT's would lighten the load,but I don't know what you already have.
I am personally leaning to another AG,using a cheaper malt,and peat smoking it myself.
The Malt Miller's prices have gone ballistic on heavily peated,last time I looked.
Peat sits in abundance at the top of the hills here.
HTH
Robert.

[Fil]

lots of folk make sugar based whiskeys just adding grain for flavour and not to supply the bulk of the fermentables. i think the term is a sugarhead wash. the bourbon stillers use cracked corn, maize meal and even cornflakes, perhaps barley flakes from a health food shop would also work, the two sugarheads i have read about that stick in my mind are UJSM and Odins cornflake whiskey both very popular and replicated by many stillers...

myself as a stilling newbie still gearing up for real runs, as i brew ag beers i have both the kit and a little experience with mashing barley so think its the way to go, My own plans involve a simple 5:1 of marris otter and smoked barley with 5 x 5 gallon batches to strip befor running slowly with a pot head for a spirit run.

if aging on burn oak i wouldnt filter through carbon, the burnt oak and long steep should have the same effect as the activated charcoal in the filter.

i am no expert however just a newbie that has given the subject a little thought..

[Easydrinker]

Hey,I am not a know-it-all,and always ready to be corrected.
Sugar heads for Bourbon may be a totally different beast to the same wash for a "Scotch Single Malt" type whisky.
And personal taste has to come in to play with this.
Your intended brew sounds spot on to me.
And to put that flavour in and then carbon filter really is a no no!
Wishing you well with it.

A slight edit before posting.
I think that I have already posted on here that 150 years ago,"Virgin/freshly distilled" scotch was exported to England,to be turned into Gin.
So,how whisky was that stuff?
My latest reading suggests that up to 70% of the taste/flavour of a Scottish single malt comes from the aging process.
The chunks/barrels we use could be the most important part of the process,assuming that we haven't messed up earlier in the process.

Sorry to be a pedant,it is a drink that I have a great affiliation with!
Robert.

[chill]

Yes, it is interesting that until fairly recently Gin was a grain based drink. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever#Old_and_young

I'd definitely agree that at least 70% of the flavour comes from the aging process and wood selection and treatment (toasting, charring, re-used sherry barrels etc).

Chuck

[RumJohn]

@Pie:
"To make whisky, is it simply a case of aging your neutral on wood chippings/dominos or is there more to it than that?"

The quick answer is yes - but it is not a real whisky. (Needs a grain bill) China is full of fake booze. Commercially produced neutral, colour and flavor added, then bottled and labled in an exact replica of, say, a Johnny Walker bottle. Then sold in stores or night clubs as the real thing. Chinese have asked me if my rum is fake. They can't believe I would go to the trouble and expense of making real rum

If you start with a neutral, you have removed the desired characteristics that distinguishes the real thing from a fake. I feel the same about adding essence to a neutral. Why bother.

[chill]

I use a microwave oven, neutral, and JD chips to make a faux bourbon. It is drinkable enough (well, according to my thirst), and has echoes of the real thing, but bourbon it is not. While most of the character comes from the wood and aging, the grain bill and mashing has a noticeable effect.

Chuck