StillSmart

Today i got stuck into mashing my second wash of c/corn/rye/barley/chateaux
whisky malt. man "i just love the smell of malts mashing" I used to do the
coolerbox method, untill my daughter asked me what i would like for xmas.
The price of a grainfather was a little out of her budget, so a compromise
was made. She bought me a 30ltr burco boiler "happy days". With a little
bit of thinking i got myself a very good mash tun in operation.

With an upturned 10" kitchen collander and a 13" cake cooler grid with the
little lugs bent over it sits snugly on top and to the sides of the boiler.
It sits just above the tap vent. a mash bag inserted and the jobs a goodun.
When i get the temp correct i just dial the knob back to 2.5 and it holds
the mash at a constant 63%c.

Unlike some of you guys, i'm not a seasoned A/G brewer, but i think i'm
doing a reasonable job with the tools at hand.


Iv'e posted somewhere else on the board my methods of making nuetral with
my t500 its down to an art now, the kids are happy. so i decided its time
to devote my time to making what i like to drink all grain bourbon/whisky.

I'm not going to post recipe and methods here, i'll post in the recipe
section, that way i might get some insight and feedback as to what i'm
doing right or wrong.

cheers B_D

Nice one B_D.
My WG brewing is similar to yours,I get by with what I have,and I achieve a result.
It could be easier,it possibly could NOT be much cheaper,and takes a little more effort than some others here use.
But I can do it while watching TV or listening to music.
It is one area of my operation that I am not wanting to change.

Robert.

Stripped 50 litres of golden syrup cachaca and put 6 litres of it away on light oak

So today I mashed the middle third of the sack of Minch Malt bought almost a year ago.
I had thought that my primitive and labour intensive methods were wasteful,
Oh no!
Careful monitoring has shown that I am dragging just over 75% sugar from the Barley.
Even better, it seems to be breaking down to ferment-able sugars, as the OG's and Fg's seem to prove.
Whoopy doos.

Robert

Easydrinker wrote:So today I mashed the middle third of the sack of Minch Malt bought almost a year ago.
I had thought that my primitive and labour intensive methods were wasteful,
Oh no!
Careful monitoring has shown that I am dragging just over 75% sugar from the Barley.
Even better, it seems to be breaking down to ferment-able sugars, as the OG's and Fg's seem to prove.
Whoopy doos.

Robert

Nice one. Part of why I've never bothered with whiskies or all grain beers, is all the fannying around with mashing, malts, enzymes, etc (which is over and above not having the space for it).

Wines, meads and hobby stilling are "compact" enough for me to have a play. Whereas I have it in my head that the lower strength of beers doesn't justify the use of limited room......

I might be full of shit in that respect but all power to you getting good conversion levels.......

Phantom.. I absolutely agree with you it does take up a lot of room.

Alternativey I do know a chap selling a braumeister, if you want to add to your collection of stainless.

I know that by the forum clock that it is actually 'Tomorrow'

But in the last 12 hours I have watched a wash with an SG/OG drop from 1.062 to 1.014.
This has to be my fastest, and being a whisky, I don't give a fig about stressed yeasties.
Bring on the phenols...

I am feeling Rocky Horror Picture Show..
So many use-able quotes..

Robert.

Today I made a mash, it was a Monster Mash! Sorry, couldn't help myself!
For a while I've had an odd fantasy to see what fermented sugar puffs tastes like so today I did it, the box says "20% more honey" so I topped 2 boxes of them off with another 4 jars & soaked it all in 5 litres of boiling water for about 45mins. After a quick tickle over a calculator I realised the SG would be a tad pathetic so 2(ish)kg of sugar went it whilst it was still hot along with my patented nutribomb (handful of chopped raisins & tablespoon of yeast soaked in 1 litre boiling water).
The honey residue in the jars was used to make a quick starter & while that got going I aerated the bucket by dumping cold water into it until the temp was under 30°c, gave it a quick whisk to be sure then tipped in the bubbling jars that were by then sat gurgling into the sink.
Sucked out some juice & it gave me an SG of 1.063 in 23 litres total liquid, I was then quickly out of the kitchen before I got "the look" & the bucket goes into a black bin bag, into the magical cupboard at the top of the stairs.
I wouldn't say it's going like a train but it is definitely going, although I think I've realised over the last week I seem to ferment a lot cooler than most here so I'm not worried.
I'm off now to get ferrules welded to my fusti (stupidly excited about this!)

I was then quickly out of the kitchen before I got "the look" & the bucket goes into a black bin bag, into the magical cupboard at the top of the stairs.............
..... I think I've realised over the last week I seem to ferment a lot cooler than most here so I'm not worried.

LOL

I know that look!

..and that cupboard and that temp. I only ferment red grapes hot and then very controlled, everythng else is 18-20c.

The cupboard used to have the boiler in, now it just has the pipes running through it but it seems to hold an air temp of 21°c all the time regardless of whether the heating is on or what the weather is doing so it's perfect. Most things finish in 10 days to a fortnight & with a shelf in there I could get 4 buckets on the go if I really wanted, life is hectic so I'm never waiting for it to finish!
It's nice having something I can just pop to check on when I get 5!

I use the same system. No rushing here.

... And so do our better half's it seems

I have my bigger still running almost every evening, stuff just seems to stop fermenting and needs dealing with.
It was a plain lentil wash today, tomorrow will see the first of the last two Minch Malt strips,and then I can crack on with the spirit runs of those.
Eagerly anticipated I can promise.

Robert.

Found time for the first Spirit run of these last night, as I am into the first hour and a bit of a new today.
But I have just switched the gubins off and can go to bed when I post this.
Tomorrow, or today depending upon the way that you view time, I face two hours in a dentists chair, ho hum.
I cannot wait to wake up tomorrow, or today.

Robert

At work reading all the wonderful posts on this site.........

Haha productive day then S4BB?!
Today I placed my first order with SDEurope, so far I'm impressed! Less than an hour after I placed it there was a barrage of emails to say it was already on its way so I have my fingers crossed for a speedy delivery. Next on to geterbrewed for some malt rye & peated malt, it's whiskey time!