Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

MacStill wrote:Crow has suggested the use of low carb beer enzymes a few times, if I ever get time I'll be trying this with a single rest at 63-64c for an hour, followed by a protein rest due to all the problems I had with puking last time.

This is the enzyme I've used...it's the green packet in the picture in this thread, and it's only alpha amylase...

I think I'll stick to following a similar schedule as Crow suggested...whiskey should be far simpler than beer, so not over complicating it should be the emphasis :D

well i have done another batch using the no boil reverse step mash
this time I've had the corn super fine ground aswell, and used bb galaxy malt for conversion and left it over night.
the results look to be exactly the same as last time with a lot of clear sugars on top and a lot of unconverted starches(ungeletated)starches in the rest :handgestures-thumbdown:
i would definitely say brendan is right on the money with keeping the temp above 90 deg for 90 mins in the geletation phase :handgestures-thumbupleft:
i also think that my corn to water ratio of 10kg corn to 45lt of boiling water might need more water as maybe there just isn't enough fluids to soak into the starches :think:
anyway an emersion chiller/heater and a pump is on the drawing board and will have to go to my 120lt rectangle esky and some sort of stirring devices :think:
you gotta love this hobby :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Are you looking at the stuff that looks like "brains", as that could just be the protein. Easy to do a starch test to find out.


Starch test.
I use a white plate for the test as I find the white background helps.
Get some iodine, I use betadine with a dropper.
Place a small sample of flour in a corner of the plate as a reference and put a drip of iodine on it, It will turn black instantly showing starch.
Put a second drip of iodine on the plate out of the way, this will stay red and it is the reference for no-starch.
Place a small wort sample (mix wort first) on the plate and put a drop of iodine in it. Give it a minute and check the color. Early samples will turn black, later will tend to stay red and have flecks of black. Once full conversion is completed you should have no flecks (a few small flecks is ok, but you could leave the wort a bit longer for more conversion).

starch test was fine kev :handgestures-thumbupleft:
i can just see I'm not geletizing enough or not keeping the mash hot enough for long enough
would hav to say its not bad tho with a 100lt of wort(with grains) @1065 :mrgreen:
probably my best mash yet :D
will definitely set up a emersion coil to keep the mash hotter for longer just like in this thread
cheers brendan :text-thankyoublue:

1.065 and you're not happy with it??

I don't think anyone in the whiskey industry would ever recommend going above 1.065...I'd say that's your maximum SG. You don't want more than 8% yield in your wash...typically 6-8%...

Yeah the coil is the go if you can do it...there's probably easier ways, I don't know if a gas burner under it would scorch or not but there are a lot of solids left on the bottom so I wouldn't be optimistic.

I've just run the figures again
12kgs of corn(cracked to meal)
1kg of pils malt
4kg of bb galaxy
4kg of plain white wheat flour
1065 @ 90lt total wort but hard to get accurate reading as a lot of solids
topped up to 120lt with 6 kg of inverted sugar and water giving a total 1070 or there abouts
this time i will srtain the finished mash and hopefully end up with about 80lt of wash :handgestures-thumbupleft:
and just checking the sg again and failed the bump test with my hydrometer :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

Bayshine, that sounded great until you mentioned adding inverted sugar :o

You had the perfect recipe for the all grain mash! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I guess once you can achieve that gelatinisation, that you'll be nailing it.

im not to worried about a little sugar as it will not affect taste to much :handgestures-thumbupleft:
but to achieve 100lt of wort after the grains are separated I'm gunna have to get a bigger mash tun :angry-banghead:
also need a emersion coil as its taken way to long to get down to pitching temps :handgestures-thumbdown:

just crunched the numbers and i would say that id gotten about 70persent out of my grains :think:

Hello Brendan

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, keep us informed (brilliant Presentation) & attention to detail. CHEERS :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Bit of an update...a few people were talking about the crack of the corn...I think this is one of the most crucial variables.

I mashed a batch of this yesterday, increased the amount of corn milling to achieve more flour, and hit a 1.082 :scared-eek:

That's a potential of above 10% alcohol, and although some home distillers would desire that, I always try to keep my whiskey mashes at or below 8% alcohol, so I watered it down a bit...it should help anyway as there will be slightly more liquid to solids in the mash and should help straining and get a bigger yield out of it. :D

well done mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I just changed the gap in the malt muncher rollers down to 0.75mm and put 13.5kg of corn through it, hopefully i will get better results with the SG.

waza wrote:I just changed the gap in the malt muncher rollers down to 0.75mm and put 13.5kg of corn through it, hopefully i will get better results with the SG.

I hope you go alright mate. I'm trying something new; got it cracked to 0.25mm at the HBS and it's not flour but just tiny little flaky bits...I'll see how well it breaks down...

Brendan wrote:

waza wrote:I just changed the gap in the malt muncher rollers down to 0.75mm and put 13.5kg of corn through it, hopefully i will get better results with the SG.

I hope you go alright mate. I'm trying something new; got it cracked to 0.25mm at the HBS and it's not flour but just tiny little flaky bits...I'll see how well it breaks down...

Are you going to upgrade your mill now?,

stretch69 wrote:Are you going to upgrade your mill now?,

Nope, will update with more info tomorrow, but i've got it down to an art now.

I get the HBS to mill the already cracked corn down to 0.25mm, and then I run it through my Corona mill to get it to flour :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Brendan wrote:

stretch69 wrote:Are you going to upgrade your mill now?,

Nope, will update with more info tomorrow, but i've got it down to an art now.

I get the HBS to mill the already cracked corn down to 0.25mm, and then I run it through my Corona mill to get it to flour :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Haha awesome,
I looked on eBay for corona mills after reading one of your earlier posts, they all look like hand ones not electric, is that what yours is? . I thought surely he's not doing all that corn by hand :think:

stretch69 wrote:Haha awesome,
I looked on eBay for corona mills after reading one of your earlier posts, they all look like hand ones not electric, is that what yours is? . I thought surely he's not doing all that corn by hand :think:

Yeah you don't buy them as electric mills, you convert them into electric using a power drill

The first batches I did were 3 hours entirely of hand cranking it :angry-banghead: The drill couldn't produce enough torque to mill cracked corn into flour, but once I get it milled into tiny flakes, the drill on corona mill handles it fine. To convert it, I got a bolt that fit the thread of the mill shaft, cut the head of it, and with the dremel filed three flat spots on the sides of one end to match the grips in the drill. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks for the great write up Brendan!

Another recipe for me to try.
I noticed a few peeps talk about milling/grinding, since I'm new to stilling with only a few sugar washes under my belt I don't have a mill/grinder as yet.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Cheers,

Mech.

TheMechwarrior wrote:Thanks for the great write up Brendan!

Another recipe for me to try.
I noticed a few peeps talk about milling/grinding, since I'm new to stilling with only a few sugar washes under my belt I don't have a mill/grinder as yet.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Cheers,

Mech.

Depends what you're after...I get all my grain (Barley, Wheat, Rye) milled at the HBS where I buy it.

Some do buy their own grain mill for at home, and there are a few to choose from but you wouldn't want to run corn through them. Look at MaltMuncher, Monster Mills, Krankenstein, Mashmaster Mini Milll (?)...there's heaps...

If you want corn into flour for bourbon, you will need a $50 corona mill to finish it off...