All Grain Wheat Whisky

[Bushy]

Early stages of the all grain journey for me and for no good reason i have decided that Wheat whisky will be my first five or so mashes.
I got the basic grain bill and temps straight out of the book "From Harvest to Moonshine". If you don't have it, get it. Bloody well written, keeps it simple and he's put everything from Absinthe to white rum in there.

I have used a fair bit of malt.
5kg wheat malt
5kg pale barley malt
15kg wheat
All run through the malt muncher then stirred into 70 litres of 70 degree water.
The temp dropped down to 66 and I kept it there for two hours. Iodine test showed no starches present so transferred to clean fermenter. 48 litres of sweet mash with an OG of 1055.
Crash cooled in the kids pool and then pitched a whisky yeast. Bubbling away nicely.
After draining the mash I added 40 litres of hot water to the grain. Gave it all a good stir and ran the spray bar for a little while, then drained this thin wort off. Emptied out and cleaned the mash tun then used this thin wort to start again. Same grain bill, temp and times. Kept the thin wort again in a couple of water jerries with all the air out. Thanks to the Doc for that trick. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I have run one lot of this through the bubbler already. Early impressions are favourable. The spirit is somehow different than the sugarheads I have been making. The actual volume of alcohol is certainly different than a sugarhead. Don't go into all grain expecting a shitload of cheap whisky guys. In a months time i'll water down a measure and see how it's going.
Ciao

[Brendan]

Loving it Bushy! Keep the write ups coming :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I'm hoping to run a few all grain batches myself next week.

You mention about a lower yield from your all grain runs...but what was the ABV of the wash? I mean I was running 8%ABV sugarheads, and have calculated my all grain for the same yield...I mean 8% is 8% right...

[bt1]

Nice one bushy,

Got some earlier posts for wheat whiskeys...got a sampler in to try ...very nice drop it was.

With the quality and quantity we have of wheat and wheat malts it would be a first choice for mine.

Look forward to hearing more on how this one ages.

cheers
bt1

[Kimbo]

Thanks for the write up Bushy :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I am hoping to venture into all grain territory soon, that helps heaps :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bt1]

Yum,

Yes please :D

http://www.montanawhiskey.com/whiskey/products/spring-wheat-whiskey/

bt1

[SBB]

Bushy Ill be really interested to see how this goes. I tried a home distilled wheat whisky a while back and it was the pick of a few that I tried that day. Mixed with coke it had a honey taste to it. A few others who tried it made the same comment. It was bloody nice stuff.
I believe the one I tried was made as a full grain using red wheat.
Just had a squizz at the link BT put up and they mention similar flavours.

"Tasting Notes
A soft hint of vanilla, honeycomb, and light butterscotch permeate the nose. The soft touches on the nose continue on the palate, with more pronounced butterscotch and honeycomb. It rounds out with a sweet spicy finish from "

[Bushy]

Loving it Bushy! Keep the write ups coming :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I'm hoping to run a few all grain batches myself next week.

You mention about a lower yield from your all grain runs...but what was the ABV of the wash? I mean I was running 8%ABV sugarheads, and have calculated my all grain for the same yield...I mean 8% is 8% right...

The thing is though, the wash is finishing at 1005. Giving me an abv of a bit over 6%. Is this the norm with all grain or am i finishing a bit short here?

[Brendan]

Loving it Bushy! Keep the write ups coming :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I'm hoping to run a few all grain batches myself next week.

You mention about a lower yield from your all grain runs...but what was the ABV of the wash? I mean I was running 8%ABV sugarheads, and have calculated my all grain for the same yield...I mean 8% is 8% right...

The thing is though, the wash is finishing at 1005. Giving me an abv of a bit over 6%. Is this the norm with all grain or am i finishing a bit short here?

I would say anywhere between 6-8% is the 'norm', but others might do things differently. Can you increase your amount of grain slightly?

[Ryno]

Hi Bushy,

I ended up adding a bit of sugar to my all grain wash. It helps boost the ABV%. I haven't noticed any difference in the product taste. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

cheers
ryno

[Bushy]

Just done a couple more runs of the wheat whisky. This time I've changed things around a bit.

Heated 75l water up to 88 degrees and stirred in 15kg of well crushed wheat. Closed the lid and left it for a few hours.
Came back to this mess.

IMG_0184.jpg

At this stage I thought I was in trouble and I could see the chooks lickin their lips already. Soldierin on, I stirred it a few times until the temp was below 70. Added the two malts, stirred well and shut the lid. An hour later I could not believe my eyes. I was too excited to take a photo but the porridge was gone and replaced by a nice recirculatable slurry. Slowly cracked the pump and away she went. Once the iodine was showing full conversion, pumped into fermenter and crash cool in the kids pool.
Heres the kicker, OG 1090. Watered it down a bit and pitched yeast and a little DAP and a little amylase. Bubbling away nicely.
Same result next run.
Amazing what the extra heat has done to the grain. Thinking now that corn is do-able in the Bushy version of a Macs Mega Hilly Mash Tun. I may do a stove top experiment first just to see if corn goes goopy at 88.
So, whats next. I would like to try and raise an Irish. A well known member was kind enough to send me a bottle of his Irish Whisky. Beautiful it was. And I would like to return the gesture.
The grain bill is half the equation and I like the look of this one
Irish Whiskey - 10 parts malted Barley, 7 parts fresh barley grain, 1 part fresh Oats, 1 part fresh Rye, 1 part fresh Wheat. Grist & proceed.
Any comments and input appreciated.

[MacStill]

Good luck with the corn Bushy, keep us well informed please :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I'm changing my mash tun a little, will be posting some pics up soon :D

[Bushy]

Thanks Mac. Your mash tun has certainly opened up a whole new side to the hobby. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
The trick with the false bottom seems to be, make sure you get all the unmalted porridge away from the false bottom. Get the malt down in there and mixed up with the goop. Then once it's thinned out, try the pump. The beauty of the three way valve is that if it's stuck I can just turn off the pump and blow back down the outlet tube. Clears all the little holes and away you go. If you know what I mean.
Can't wait to see MMMM 2 :-D

[Brendan]

I may do a stove top experiment first just to see if corn goes goopy at 88.

It will, but requires some time held at that temperature.

If you mill it to a flour, it will gelatinise faster, but can be harder to distill on an internal element. If you use cracked corn, you'll want to pre soak it and hold it at those higher temps for a good few hours and agitate it periodically :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bt1]

Howdy,

I've had a fair few cracks at using fresh/plain un malted barley and not really impressed. Once it starts to approach the 20% mark it adds a sharpness to the spirit that takes a long time to diminish. Almost heady/bitey is how I could best describe it.
Had thought at the time it was the grain quality, so invested in 25Kg sack offresh new season stuff from local SA grain vendor. it made no difference and the same distinct bite to the spirit was present.
ok so not grain perhaps crush ferment issues ...tried several finer/coarse grinds, several temp ranges, 3 i recall different yeasts including a dedicated (Nottingham i think)beer yeast so it finished higher FG and not so dry but same bite resulted.

Smaller percentages of fresh grain seemed to help but in the end still was not happy and have not used fresh barley since as a result.
True oats and good malted grain assist but it's still there for mine.

If you where to allow the spirit to sit and age for years like the commercials do i guess it would eventually round off and mellow, but that's a long wait in anyone's book.

I'm not convinced fresh barley is the main stay for starches these days. if you look at a couple of Irish commercials a lot have swapped to corn. Corn's good yielding, softer in flavour, ages quickly and has no nasty long term tastes. A few corn / malt grain bills I've done are nice drinks and enjoy the flavours especially if a caramalt is added just for flavours into grain bill.

The humble potato, dry skin - non waxy, plain white skin is the go. It yields like a demon, converts with BB Galaxy malt really well and is very soft flavoured spirit..almost verging on what I'd call "less lively"...my first choice for this drink type and have a few done this way and very happy with results. Done as sugarhead for yield.
the wash is heavily influenced by fairly small amounts of a cara or crystal malt in addition to the Galaxy as the DP/conversion grunt engine.

well worth a try imho.

bt1

[Ryno]

Thanks for that BT1,

I was toying with the idea of using some unmalted barley in my next run. Will stick to malted I think :auto-sportbike:

I had also heard about the humble spud. I was planning on giving this ago for a vodka run. Might have to do a little more research on this.

[bt1]

Bushy,

How's this Wheat wash going be bout ready for a still run?

Kepp us updated keen hear how you go.

cheers
bt1

[bayshine]

should be about ready for a taste test yer, nudge nudge wink wink :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Bushy]

All five planned washes have been run and done.
Sampling the first one last night has shown some surprising results. The texture of this stuff surpasses any drink in memory. The spirit is different, silkier than any sugar wash. It sticks to the side of the tumbler like a port. The taste is sensational, I won't ramble on about vanillins and toffee, It just tastes bloody nice. I am immediately going to remove half the oak from all the wheat whisky. I don't use much oak but this needs less and I could see it being overpowered.

[bt1]

Ah bout what I thought...

Bushy's cracked a killer drop, enters the International Whisky Competition later this year and cleans up!

Best get that commercial looking label ready cos them judges are commercially focused.

So that's at least two bottles heading over to the comps this year I take it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bt1

[Smbjk]

Great to hear bushy. How much yield you get from your 5 runs