by unsub » Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:24 am
Well I have finally managed to get one wash fermented and run. It was the mashed nutri-grain with American Whiskey yeast and it took about 3 weeks to ferment out and settle. I have not had a chance to do the standard recipe due to my other fermenter being taken up by a stalled rum wash but will be doing it this week.
I used majority nutri-grain and a small amount of coles brand equivalent. I don't know exactly why it took so long to ferment but I'm guessing it might be due to preservatives in the cereal because the PH was fine, it was oxygenated and had nutrients. One thing that I did not expect and was slightly troubling was at the end of the ferment a red/orange oil formed around the edge of the fermenter on top of the fermented wash. The wash smelled good and finished dry, just with an oil slick on top!
I siphoned the wash without any of the oil getting in the boiler (I think) and ran it though 4 plates. It turned out really nice and with the expected yield for the amount of sugar I used so I'm guessing that my efficiency was no good or mashing the cereal did not contribute much at all to the SG (I forgot to take the SG reading even though it behaved like a normal mash in that it was thick until I added the enzymes and then thinned right out.
I'm happy with the result, it smells grainy and sweet and is quite nice white but I have it aging with some medium toasted American oak and will probably finish it with some sherry soaked French oak to try and get an Irish style whiskey. The nutri-grain ingredients are similar to what goes into an Irish whiskey, barley, corn and oats so it might be a winner.
I'll report back the differences (if any) when I have done the tried and proven recipe.
cheers