New guy and AG

[eiscaer]

Well I've degassed it as much as I can and thrown a bit over 2 litres in with some boil enhancers and distilling conditioner. Now we play the waiting game.

[eiscaer]

So far so good. Collection indicates a good amount of ethanol. Smells awful though. I suspect the infection has created acetic acid which has combined with the ethanol to create ethyl acetate. Smells like sickly sweet pineapple and wet cardboard. Didn't run for too long though because there was only two litres in the still. I'll increase it next lot.

I think double distilling will make this work.

[chill]

There will be ethyl acetate in every wash and the wet cardboard is tails. Removing these components is why we double distill. The first distillation is just to get rid of excess water and other undesirable components. The second is where it gets refined and split into components to discard, recycle, and most importantly, to drink!

[eiscaer]

I'm trying to run the rest tonight for the stripping run. The stuff I caught off the still last night has mellowed a lot in the 20 hours since I ran it. I have read that sodium bicarbonate can help clean up various esters before the second distillation so I may try that. Apparently this will strip flavor from the original wash but given the infection had probably done that anyway, I'll just put it down to learning a new thing and making mistakes.

AG for my first wash was probably the difficult way to do it but I've learned more than I ever could have from reading alone. Next time I will ferment off the grain and crash chill before pitching yeast. I think that those two aspects made any potential for infection worse. Sterilisation was very thorough so I can only assume that the bacteria came in on the grains, most likely the malted barley as it was put in at a cooler temperature to ensure enzymes were not damaged. Perhaps using enzymes from a packet would minimise the risk, but I rather prefer the authenticity of making corn based whisky the right way.

I'll keep everyone posted on the final results when I do the second distillation.

[eiscaer]

Well I've completed the stripping run and had the stuff airing for a few days with a little sodium bicarbonate in it. Smells faintly of methylated spirit or denatured alcohol depending on where you're from. I'm going to run it again shortly and make the cuts.

In the meantime I've found a place selling cracked corn at half the price I paid. Now if I could find a cheaper source of malted barley I'll be set.

[Easydrinker]

eiscaer,
I am loving your tenacity.
May I just throw into the ring for your consideration a couple of points?
I was frightened away from cracked/flaked maize washes in my early stilling days by the talk of the gelatinous/gloupey washes that resulted.
The only Corn washes that I have done,I used frozen sweetcorn,super sweetcorn,that has converted most starch to sugar already(4 times the sugar compared to maize grown for animal fodder), before being picked, I had buckets of sunshine staring me in the face.
I did add a little Amylase enzyme to try and convert any remaining starch.
It gave a decent product, after a double distillation, and there I left it, deciding that corn washes were really for people going down the sour mash route.
You have awakened an interest, and so I am interested to hear of your results.


Robert.

[eiscaer]

Cheers Robert. My method of using cracked corn comes down to cost and authenticity. Also the desire to do a sour mash at some point. Given the infection that hit the last one I discarded the backset. Not because of the risk of reinfection (I'm pretty sure boiling it would have taken care of that) but because of the smell. The backset from this wash smelled terrible and I'm not sure I could have kept it around.

I am trying another wash tonight. At this stage with the same recipe but I'm undecided about whether to ferment on the grain again or whether to sparge it and run a cleaner mash. Either way I am crash chilling to make sure the temp drops quicker as I'm sure this will help things. It'll also get the yeast into it quicker.

[packapoo]

Haven't been able to shake the feeling right from reading your first post that you had something pretty special there, then let it drain away....

[eiscaer]

Do you mean the backset?

[packapoo]

Yes.

[eiscaer]

You may be right. I don't have any way to test ph levels so I'm going to acquire something this week to allow for that. Sour mashing was always the eventual aim but the smell of this backset was truly diabolical and made me doubt it's value.

[eiscaer]

I've started distilling the second mash that I did. Pretty much an identical smelling ferment with a distinct sourness to it, but the distillate also smells sour. The first batch I did wasn't like that so I'm not sure why it has done it this time. I'm not worried about it though because I'm really only collecting volume for the second run anyway. At first I thought it might be the head of the air still having collected some traces of the last batch but I've cleaned it out as instructed and it has made no difference. I'll keep some backset from this one. Not sure how much I should use in the next batch but I'm thinking two litres in a total ferment of about 25 litres should be OK.

I'll do my second distillation this week and toast some oak for it.

My next project will be the same thing but with some rye added for extra spice.

[eiscaer]

I've run 4 litres of low wines now and made cuts. Collected about 50ml of foreshots, 280ml of heads, about 1 litre of hearts and about 700ml of tails. I kept the tails in 100ml jars as I ran it amd managed to add the first one to the hearts, but the rest were just too bitter even after airing for 24 hours.

I've still got some low wines to run but not quite enough to fill the still so I'm thinking about adding the feints to it for the volume.

The hearts are smooth and warming. I suspect the exercise has been quite successful. Toasting oak tomorrow and then leaving it for a few months.

[eiscaer]

Well I've managed to get my process up to third gen sour mash. The quality of the ferment is improving, and so is the distillate. Still sour smelling but not unpleasant. I'm currently running a grain bill of 80 corn to 20 malted rye. The yield seems less and I suspect that the rye has less enzymatic power than the barley I've used previously but the output is still reasonable.

One thing I'm not sure of though. I actually have no idea what unaged corn based whisky is supposed to taste like. It seems a bit tart, almost sour, but with a lingering warmth on the tongue. Not much of a corn flavor per se, but it tastes like something. I just can't work out what that is yet

The stuff I have on oak is developing flavor nicely. Smells great too, although not like bourbon yet. I'm aging at 65% abv and will water down to 55% after a few months. I have two jars aging now, and the younger of the two seems to be improving quicker. This may be because there is more head room in the jar and therefore more oxygen. This is also the first sour mash with about 20% backset so that may have helped too.

The airstill has its limits which I can certainly see. But as a learning tool it has been thus far incredibly useful. I certainly don't get large output from it but for the 20kg of corn I've used I'll have around 3.5 litres at 65%, not including what I get from the feints when I run them again. Very pleased so far. I can see why some people don't want to do the all grain thing with such a small still. It is more work for sure. But I enjoy having such a big involvement in the production of my own bourbon. If I could grow the corn myself, I would.

[chill]

Nice progress! I don't recall the distillate having a tart/sour taste but that might be your interpretation vs mine. Rye will give it a sharp/angular taste and bite beyond the ethanol. The taste of the unaged distillate is very mild. I perceive it as grainy and very slightly sweet. Most of the taste of a bourbon (or whiskey or whisky) comes from the oak. The grain is more to provide the alcohol base than a strong taste.

Chuck