Cornflake Wash

[Opus 27]

Just read a snippet in the"Whisky Opus" that says;

Upto 75% of flavour comes from the oak.

Opus

[packapoo]

10% loss of volume to the trub is quite acceptable?

AM

On the other hand....
For the cornflake wash - 20 litres water input. Sugar bumped up the volume somewhat..Voila, 18 litres out.

Then there's googes goo...
A 17.5 litre wash. !7.5 litres water input. Sugar bumped up the volume....19 to 19.5 litres out.
I didn't measure the volume into the boiler, level was noticeably higher.

And the trub? A thin layer of basically yeast over the bottom of the fermenter.
Quite a contrast all round.
Purely FWIW.

[Almanac]

And the trub? A thin layer of basically yeast over the bottom of the fermenter.

What I was referring to as Trub, in this case, was the Cornflakes, the volume of which occupied a goodly amount of space at the bottom of your fermenter and had absorbed and held onto an amount of liquid from your wash - the 10% loss I referred to was on the basis of understanding that the wash total volume was 20Lt which would be acceptable if it was 20Lt of water plus sugar then something's gone seriously wrong

AM

[packapoo]

That's okay AM, I wasn't having a shot, just wanted to highlight if anyone is interested, the difference in initial output wash v. wash
The volume occupied after absorption by the cornflakes took me by surprise.

Have to thank you and Opus for your sage comments on my cornflake run; have taken them on board.
Also took Odin's lead and kept 5 litres backset for future use.

[Easydrinker]

When it comes to making Whisky I'm not a fan of the White Dog and even from All Grain I find the spirit taste is lacking in depth or interest. It's only after some time on Oak that the spirit starts to take on any Whisky characteristics and the longer it spends there the better it gets - sorry, I know that's a bit obvious

My point is that once you've made your cuts, decided on the blend of Heads, Hearts and Tails to make up your spirit, you shouldn't really expect too much in the flavour department but rather, character or hint of the background compared to clean ethanol.

Once you've done your best you have to let the magic happen in the wood

I also found that letting my low wines sit for a couple of weeks before the final spirit run seems to improve the final output but I am fortunate to have had the storage space to do this in the past.

While making Whisky I did find that bringing the White Dog up to 55oC before adding it to the Oak did speed things up quite a bit. It's an adaptation of the Nuking practice and I know some purists will scoff but it actually does work to shorten maturation times. (I expect I'll get a dig over that admission and will accept my punishment like a man )

AM

p.s. Just realised I've inadvertently strayed off topic and into the subject of Ageing & Flavouring, sorry about that

Not one of your clearest posts Aidan,but you seem to have hit the nail on the head.
We make a wash from a chosen material,using a chosen water supply,ferment it and distill it.
Then we do the do.(Ageing)
150-175 years ago the Scottish distilleries were exporting "raw" scotch whisky to England,to be made into gin.
Makes you wonder what the stuff tasted like,no?
Myself,I believe that a whole chunk of the whisky taste experience comes from ageing in wood,and have had some happy results from using a micro-wave when in a hurry.
To try and get back on topic,while not yet trying a cornflake wash,my attempts with sweetcorn washes produced an awful lot of rubbish in the bottom of the fermenters,which I simply tipped out for the chickens.
Is it waste,or is it eggs?

Robert.

[Opus 27]

I commented somewhere on the fact we were trying a cornflake and ryvita wash but can't remember what thread I was on.

Anyway we completed it and had the same problem with the huge volume of sludge left in the fermenter. Decided it wasn't worth the effort to try and get all the wash out of it so probably wasted a lot ended up with about 30 litres which we put through a stripping run.

Collected down to 25% Abv. Did the spirit run and collected in 250ml flasks. Tasted each flask. finaly settled for the hearts plus some of the heads and just 250 ml of tails. Mixed it all to a total of 2900 ml at 63% ABV.

Had it sat on some Oak Dominoes now for a couple of weeks. Pulled a drop out with my mini whisky thief occasionally and tasted. At a point now where I would call it drinkable but still a bit too much cereal. The nose is quite good though.

Perhaps another couple of months will improve it.

Opus

[Almanac]

Sounds very promising, any chance you'd attach a little taster to this thread as a "lickitandsee" file

AM

[Opus 27]

As requested taster file below insert tongue in glass



Enjoy responsibly
Opus

[Almanac]

Niiiiiice You're right, it is good already but it will definitely benefit from a few
months in the jar.

[Easydrinker]

I can't attempt a Phil Lynot riff with this keyboard,but there is whiskey in the jar.....
Robert.

[Opus 27]

OK had a glass of the cornflake/ryvita last night, WOW! It's definately bourbon style and that's after less than a month on the oak. Definately a vast improvement on the bourbon essence and sugar wash.

We'll let it age for a while now, perhaps be nice in time for Christmas.

Still doing Maris Otter mashing/fermenting at the moment but when thats done we'll be doing some more cornflake/ryvita mash. Next time we'll try mashing and sparging the flake and not fermenting on the flakes.

Opus

[Almanac]

...... we'll be doing some more cornflake/ryvita mash. Next time we'll try mashing and sparging the flake and not fermenting on the flakes.

Opus

Sounds like a cunning plan - nice Christmas pressie for self

I found a giant salad spinner very useful when using Flaked Maize. Works like a centrifuge once it wasn't overloaded

AM

[Opus 27]

I gave a salad spinner to a bring and buy sale last week, oh buggar!

Opus

[Almanac]

I read about a guy in AUS who bought a new counter top mini spin dryer and changed all the tubes for food grade silicone and used that to sparge his Corn The things some people think of

AM

[Opus 27]

It's no good, I'm going to have to speak to "Son of Opus". He's the brains of the operation.

Opus