StillSmart

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1 kilogram of Cornflakes
5 kilograms of Sugar
60 grams (1/2 tin) Allinsons Dried Active Yeast
Water to make 23 Litre.

Method

Dissolved the sugar in boiling water and added it to the fermenter.

Crushed the cornflakes and boiled them in water for around 20 minutes. When I was boiling up the cornflakes they became very gelatinous, which made me think that if I make this again I will have some enzymes ready to convert the starch. Added the boiled cornflakes and liquid to the fermenter.

Topped up with cold water to the 23 litre mark.

The temperature was 46 Deg C, let it cool till it was 38 Deg C and pitched the yeast.

Within 30 minutes it has a lovely head of foam and the shed smells wonderful.

Starting gravity 1.090
Target Gravity 0.995
Target ABV = 12.2%

To Be Continued

Wait till you distill it its even better...

I know it's almost twice the price, but I do prefer using unrefined sugar instead of white for faux whiskies type recipes.
Also for the next batch boil the flakes in 5l of the backset from the stripping run. It really bumps the flavour.

Attn. YHB: Point of clarification. I have not used cornflakes, but was under the impression they already had all the cooking they needed.

1) What therefore is the point in cooking, and

2) Is an enzyme necessary for starch conversion. Perhaps the heat has taken care of that?

Cooking is probably not needed but does help to make them come to pieces might aid in flavour extraction. Heat alone won't convert starch into sugar.

I've never bothered cooking them. I just dump hot water on the sugar and crushed flakes, add some refrigerated backset, then pitch the yeast when it's cooled enough. Seems to work fine. I've done rye, wheat, oat and barley sugarheads the same way too.

RumJohn wrote:Attn. YHB: Point of clarification. I have not used cornflakes, but was under the impression they already had all the cooking they needed.

1) What therefore is the point in cooking, and

2) Is an enzyme necessary for starch conversion. Perhaps the heat has taken care of that?

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I was following a recipe that said boil it so I did. It is the same method that I use for the Allbran and Weetabix stuff that I make. When it is cooking the smell is really yummy, if some of that smell / taste ends up in the hooch it is worth doing.

When it was finished cooking it had the consistency of very thick wallpaper paste and was very similar to the potato mash that I tried. Both were caused by the starch, with the potatoes I added enzymes to thin the wash and make the sugar. I am assuming that enzymes in the cornflakes would do the same things.

My main problem is that I have never tried Corn Whisky / Bourbon, so I do not know what it is supposed to taste like. Maybe that is a good thing.

Toodlepip

Using an AirStill, I would have to say it does not taste much like bourbon. Corn Flakes contains other things besides corn. It tasted more like breakfast cereal than Bourbon. Which is not to suggest that I did not like it and make it several times.

I would expect that enzymes would break the soup down just fine. I can't recall if I tried that or not. It would be interesting to compare two batches, one with and one without the enzymes.

Well Chill stop using an airstill .... make your whiskey taste like whiskey...

My all grain whiskey does. I need to get plumbing put in before I can upgrade to a better still. And before that I need to get .... and before that ... It is a long, convoluted story that was supposed to be done before last Xmas! In the mean time, the AirStill keeps ticking along.

Mine kept me going for two years before I took on building my own still.

The Airstill may be a very basic version of a pot still but, with a few tweaks and a few tricks picked up from friends here plus experience, and you can get decent spirits from it

AM

This stopped fermenting last night.

Starting gravity 1.090
Finished Gravity 0.990
ABV = 12.9%

8 Days from start to finish with no trauma.

The wash looks very thick and milky. I giving Bentonite a try as a clearing agent with this wash to see how it works.

I'll be interested to know how well the Bentonite works as it's as cheap as chips.

The trick with Bentonite is to dissolve it well in quite warm water and make a thin slurry which you then stir into the wash.

I've been told that if you add Bentonite to the wash at the beginning it will circulate in the wash with the movement of the yeast cells and clear the wash as the ferment progresses. The wash is supposed to be clear on finishing fermentation, but I' not tried this method yet

AM

Bentonite works really well,when making up the solution put 1.5 tbls of bentonite into a jug or mixing bowl then add half pint of boiling water and stick blend it to a thin watery paste then leave it to stand for at least 2 hrs longer if possible then stir again,add 3 tbls of this solution per gallon of finished wash and stir the solution in, then stir the wash every hour for the first few hours then leave to stand overnight or as long as required
cheers