whisky all grain

[Stonemaker1]

After you add grains to mash tun what do you use to stir with till you get it down to 64 degrees :think: hand held mixing drill like painter would use... :think:

[bluc]

I bought a stainless mash paddle like this

Mash_Paddle__86495.1452510236.500.750.jpg

[Stonemaker1]

Thanks mate, think me will invest in one :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sugardaddy]

Absolutely it can. My last all grain (choc scotch) failed but sugarheads were good :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sorry for off topic on your thread but has anyone got a recipe for chocolate malt sugarhead, can not seem to find it in recipe section. Or are you substituting another type of grain with chocolate malt on one of the 100% tried recipes :think:

[bluc]

See page one of this thread and see how I made it. Its a long way from tried and proven and is just an experiment.. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[EziTasting]

Just curious, what volume is everyone getting from their AGs?

On the Tried & Proven I estimate 10% and we collect that easily, but these AGs, I don’t know... 3 down and the best we’ve done is like 2-3% ... not sure if it’s us or AGs in general?

[Minpac]

Mine have started out pretty poorly. I've gone from about 2% on my first few, up to about 5% now. I'm hoping to get 7-8% on my next couple.

If you've got enough grain to contribute the right amount of sugar, next thing to check is whether your starch is fully converted (Iodine test). If not, check malt/enzyme quantities, mash temp and temp hold duration.

If you've fully converted and the quantities are good, then maybe the starch isn't coming out of the grain, so milling size and agitation during the initial mashing. If using corn, has it been gelatinised?

[markus]

Just curious, what volume is everyone getting from their AGs?

On the Tried & Proven I estimate 10% and we collect that easily, but these AGs, I don’t know... 3 down and the best we’ve done is like 2-3% ... not sure if it’s us or AGs in general?

What do you mean by volume?
% of the wash once fermented or what your collecting or keeping as hearts? :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bluc]

Just curious, what volume is everyone getting from their AGs?

On the Tried & Proven I estimate 10% and we collect that easily, but these AGs, I don’t know... 3 down and the best we’ve done is like 2-3% ... not sure if it’s us or AGs in general?

what abv are you getting ezi?

[EziTasting]

Just curious, what volume is everyone getting from their AGs?

On the Tried & Proven I estimate 10% and we collect that easily, but these AGs, I don’t know... 3 down and the best we’ve done is like 2-3% ... not sure if it’s us or AGs in general?

What do you mean by volume?
% of the wash once fermented or what your collecting or keeping as hearts? :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Volume of collected distillate...

what abv are you getting ezi?

We’re getting our usual 94-95% for the first 5 jars then it crepe itself and goes to 70s and dropping like s brick!

[bluc]

I mean abv of wash. Take gravity before yeast than take gravity when fermantation finishs punch details into this sites calculator..

[bluc]

I aim for 8% if your wash abv is low you need to up your grain or up your mashing effiency..either way will increase wash abv..

[bluc]

I got 67% effeciency which aint nothing to be proud of, basically extracted 67% of total theoritical sugar..
I got the abv i wanted by adding more grain then needed for end volume.
As my process get better my effeciency should increase and volume of grain needed should decrease. Make sense?

[TasSpirits]

What size wash Ezi? I generally hit at least 8-9% for a 22-23L wash, if doing a single run, I do back to back mashing and end up with 44L @ 8-9%. Usually I will collect at least 3.3L @ 92% then a jar or 2 of tails(250ml each) On a single run I collect quite slow, around 1.8L hr. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Stonemaker1]

I have been thinking about getting a mash tun and trying some all grain but thinking it would be very disappointing in regards to low yields as apposed to sugarheads. It seems the general consensus is you will end up with far less product or am I reading things wrongly... :think:
What are your thoughts @bluc as you have done many sugarheads before moving in the all grain direction...

[EziTasting]

Our Starting Gravity hasn’t exceeded 1.043 (2 x 1.040 & 1 x 1.043) and our Final Gravity has been around 1.010...
So that gives me a wash ABV of aroun 3%... so it’s quite pittyful! Hence the low numbers of jars...

It’s come from a local beer brewer and he’s been making beer of varying ABVs up to 8%. So we are not as efficient as he/you are...

2B05C36D-33D7-49F2-95B4-4243F75386EC.jpeg

These are some improvement suggestions he’s made - liquid and grain volumes to improve efficiency.

[TasSpirits]

Can you elaborate on the grain you are using? and the process? those calcs in the picture look good to me, even if you are fermenting out to 1.010. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[EziTasting]

Can you elaborate on the grain you are using? and the process? those calcs in the picture look good to me, even if you are fermenting out to 1.010. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

We have a few ‘base malts’ - Pale Ale, Pilsner and Munich type 1.
We have 2 ‘ mash tuns’, both are ex-urns converted, one has a false bottom and an agitator - volume ~ 15L capacity (could be 20 haven’t measured it), the second has a large sieve (instead of a false bottom), using BIAB - 25L capacity.

Grain Grind - 0.9mm (using feeler gauges).

Mashing in @ 70-72C
Holding mash @ 60-65C for 90 mins stirring every 15 mins.
Mash vol sml - 14L
Mash vol lge - 18L on 6KG, 21L on 7Kg

Checking starch conversion with iodine - yellow/brown on grain mash & liquid

Batch sparged with 4L in sml, 6L on lge mash tun...

This is all by memory... notes are @ bugburners House...

[bluc]

I kept 45l from 17kg grain as the main wort. I put the remainder 20 or so litres into my sugar head.. Maybe your not using enough grain or adding to much sparge water.

[bluc]

With that said i added more like 24l sparge water