StillSmart

Sunshine wrote: People want to believe, what they believe obviously.

I find it amazing that we're all after the same ends....we all want to do & make our best drink...(whatever it is).
When I started off I took on board what I read on the forums...these were folks who, as far as I was concerned knew what they were talking about. Now one as to question what we do read...the person who says "this is how you do it" does this guy/gal know what their on about??.

When I read this book (the O/P) it was an eye opener, here's this guy telling me that 3 days is enough for a corn wash. Then he tells you about the two part fermentation, now I think to myself...I already know this part , so this guy must know what he's on about..therefore he has to be correct about the 3 day rule.

Does this apply to the sugar wash??? I'm sure as hell I don't know at the present time...I'm questioning everything I've read and been told over the last 4 years, but I intend to find out.

One last question Sunshine as you've done a course, when I start this corn wash will you please look over my shoulder??

That is what I treasure about this forum - people are willing to question everything, even themselves.

I wish such a seminar what I and my husband attended would be available in English. We want to arrange something similar for our customers, but frankly, with our business there was no time this year to get it going. Maybe this year, who knows.

Our teachers were professional distillers, professional tasters and marketing people. It was really interesting but the best part of it was meeting our colleges.
Most of the people who were sitting with us in that school were distillers for all their lives and did it for a living. And most of them found sooner or later out, that their production habits, they learned from their fathers and grandfathers were flawed. So much for traditions. Not all of them are good.

BTW, as I said, my own corn whisky turned out not as good as I imagined. So far, it was my least impressive spirit. No need for shoulder looking here

Sunshine....I would like you're thoughts, as we're on the subject, of a sugar wash. What would or what do the big boy's think??. Will I gain anything from say letting one run for 3 or 4 days and then running it?? It's got me thinking now.

chill wrote:That is what I treasure about this forum - people are willing to question everything, even themselves.

Chuck I agree 100%, if I'm doing something incorrectly then I want to know so I can do better.

Sugar washes are forbidden for professional distillers in Austria or Germany. So mainly I have no idea, what the pro's would say.

I let my washes sit until they stop bubbling. Which is mostly in 2 weeks. (I don't know how others get that done in a few days.) Best wash I have ever made was sugar/applejuice, made a perfect apple vodka.

Icefever wrote:Sunshine....I would like you're thoughts, as we're on the subject, of a sugar wash. What would or what do the big boy's think??. Will I gain anything from say letting one run for 3 or 4 days and then running it?? It's got me thinking now.

I personally think you will be a very low yield.

Mash wrote: I personally think you will be a very low yield.

I think you've hit the nail Mash..with off the top of my head about a 4%/5% wash going into the still.

The proof is in the .. fat lady singing.

I'm quite excited by this idea, my eternal struggle is to rid my booze of heads or any trace of them, if the book is suggesting most of my heads are produced in the second half of my ferments, after the yeasties have used all the easy to ferment sugars, and now changed their motabalisum in an attemp to stay alive and ferment more difficult sugars, maybe the yeild from distilling your wash early gives a similar or slightly less amount of hearts but much less heads!

My corns arrived




I bought the ebay one, I'm guessing it's knibbled corn, looks like it's been dried out and munched up into tiny little broken bits.

I obviously wasn't paying attention and bought the more expensive one, never mind, you live and learn.

Mine came today...20 kgs of kibbeled maze.

Anavrin wrote: if the book is suggesting most of my heads are produced in the second half of my ferments, after the yeasties have used all the easy to ferment sugars, and now changed their motabalisum in an attemp to stay alive and ferment more difficult sugars, maybe the yeild from distilling your wash early gives a similar or slightly less amount of hearts but much less heads!

This is the way it reads to me A...if it's correct when it comes to corn wash's the only way we are going to find out is have a go...now what recipe to try??

The plot thinkens me thinks...just like a corn mash pun intended ..after more surfing and the odd chat with fellow stillers, it seems a little like the blind leading the blind.

I've spent the odd hour here & there on you tube with guys telling me, "this is how to do a corn mash" you see one guy use kibbled corn...another puts it thought a hand grinder down to small crack. Then you have someone else using a corn meal fecking hell it's obviously all these methods work, it's down to me to try and find out which one is best for me.

I suppose try all 3..over a series of test runs???