Maris Otter Mash

[Opus 27]

Just finished our first attempt at a true malt wash.

8.5 Kg Maris Otter
Drawn off 45 Litres
SG 1.052 (1.051 at 28 C)
2 Sachets Alcotec Single Strain Whisky Yeast.

Now the wait and watch bit.

Opus

[Anavrin]

Hi Opus

I've got 4-5kgs of maris otter lying around, I'm gonna be doing something similar soon, take it your planning on making a whiskey, and I have a little question, when running a spirit run for a whiskey, do you allow a little of the heads and some of the tails in with the hearts collection to give it a bit more flavour?

[Opus 27]

Hi Anavrin,
Simple answer is yes but what I do is a bit more convoluted.

I take all my spirit run in 250 ml. flasks, heads, hearts and tails.

I then work out from the middle left and right ie. towards heads and tails.

I check nose and taste on each one until I get to one that adds nothing or is just unpleasant.

I then start adding each one to the centre and sampling the blend as I go.

Providing I'm happy with it I check final ABV and cut back if necessary to 60% .

Then it goes onto my oak.

Opus

[Easydrinker]

I recently did a full 25Kg sack of heavily peated malt,the results are posted here,search "Robert's malt whisky"
TBH,it was a lot of work,and while tasting good,came in at about £3.60 a bottle.
I know cost is not everything,but it was a smack in the face.
I am currently using the same process with LME.-seeking an easier produced product,at a lower cost.
This comes in at about half the price,and doesn't taste bad,at a very young aging,I don't expect miracles.
And is accomplished using the traditional methods of pot distilling whisky.
Robert.

[Opus 27]

Easydrinker, read your malt whisky post with interest.
Must admit didn't quite gather how many times you actually distilled it but considerably more than triple distilling.

I acknowledge there's a cost penalty using all grain mashing (processing cost) but we're influenced by two factors;
first we do a lot of all grain brewing for beer and love the different flavours we can get from different grains, second we've tried the ME wash and weren't very impressed and grain is cheaper than ME.

Have to wait and see how it turns out before I get too confident though.

Opus

[Easydrinker]

Maybe my post wasn't clear.
I stripped 5 washes.
Re-distilled the first strip,took no fores,saved heads and tails.Hearts saved.All done on %,not tasting.
Second strip re-distilled with previous heads and tails.
And so for 5 spirit runs.
Ended with 5 lots of hearts which were combined.
And 5 litres of heads and tails,which seem to magically take the next strip from 22% to 28% every time.
As I understand Malt distilleries maintain,I seem to have stumbled upon the happy balance between strips and spirit runs,using the feints.
Hope that is clearer.
Robert.

[Opus 27]

Thanks Easydrinker, now I understand and it all makes sense. I should of cottoned on before if I'd thought about the size of the batch, that would be an impressive size still.

Opus

[Opus 27]

Heres how my first Maris Otter wash went.
14th August
Stripping run
15 litres @ 23% ABV

Spirit run,
250 ml of foreshots thrown
10 flasks of 250 ml saved.
ABV started at 92% for flask 1 and finished at 48% for flask 10 (9 was @ 60%)

3 flasks of 100 ml (11 to 13) smelt awful so were thrown.

Left to breath for 24 hours.

15th August

Opus

Blended flasks 4 through to 9 after nosing and tasting
Cut to 50% ABV and put with 2 X Oloroso, 2 X Charred and 4 X Toasted Oak Dominoes (10 X25 X 75mm)
Total volume of cut 2.4 litres

Flasks 1,2,3 and 10 saved for putting back in next run.

[Easydrinker]

That all sounds good.
Now it is just a matter of waiting and anticipating!
Robert.

[Opus 27]

Update.
Transferred into a new charred oak cask today (18th)
Just need another 12 Litres to fill it now.

Opus

[Benoit]

Hope this turned out well for you, I was given 3kg of maris otter a couple of weeks ago & just made the wash this morning. Got my water to 70° in a cool box then added the malt, that brought the temp down to 65°ish then the lid went on it was put near a radiator & covered in blankets.
Then I got a call from her indoors that I needed to go out so its sat there all day, just checked & it was still at 50° with an SG of 1.058. I've tipped the whole lot into a fermentation bucket, added some cold water to get it to 20l which brought the SG down to 1.05 & luckily also the wash temp down enough to add yeast! 2 packs of wilko ale yeast have gone in & I've left it in the bath...I'm a bit worried this will froth!
Is the long break between the cool box & the bucket going to hurt anything? It tasted slightly sweet, made the kitchen stink though so I'm in the doghouse for that

Benoit

[Anavrin]

I'm sure it'll be fine, I've mashed one day and boiled the next in the past while making beers.

So long as it stays clear of any critters that might infect it, it'll be good enough :-)

[Mash]

+1 Get the yeast going and it will be fine

[Benoit]

It all seems fine, got a little weetabix mush looking krausen on it today & a little fizzy sound track to go with it. Fingers crossed for a dandy single malt
Got to say though, it absolutely reeks! I've had to move it out into the garage from the spare room I couldn't listen to her any longer!

Benoit