Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

[MacStill]

It's real good kimbo, really good ;)

Just follow the recipe and you wont go wrong.

[Kimbo]

"I usually dump the lot into 20L boiling water to soften the grains and invert the sugar, leave it for a couple of hours"

A couple of questions:

1, do you keep the mash boiling for a couple of hours, or did you get to the boil the turn off the heat?
2, did you grind/mill the grain?
3, I assume in this case that the Barley doesn't need to be malted?

[MacStill]

Just tip into boiling water and turn heat off, I dont keep it boiling.

No grinding, just use cracked corn from the stock feed shop, and I dont do malting.

It just a variant of UJSSM ;)

[bradsgonetrekkin]

I'm looking forward to playing with the grain bills for this style of whiskey.
So far I've kept to the straight cracked corn aka Uncle Jessies Sour Mash recipe from HD (around $25 for a 20kg bag at the local stock feed place), with around 4kg of corn and 3.5kg raw sugar per fermenter to start and probably around 2.5kg of fresh cracked corn to replace the spent corn after each successive ferment.
I just made use of my 23 litre fermenters (I have 3) I use for my home brew, once you add the corn etc and fill up to the 23/24l mark you can generally get around 13 litres of 9-12% wash per fermenter to strip.
I got to 6 generations of stripped (I was getting around 7-8 litres from around 39 litres of wash), than ran out of storage space. With the final spirit run (all of the stripped runs into the still plus enough water to make alcohol strength in boiler 40%), I ended up getting around 6 X 5 litre demijohns at 65% (being very conservative with cuts) to age and oak.
I'm experimenting now with flavours from different styles / methods of oaking between american oak v french oak v toasted v toasted and charred sticks. So much good stuff to experiment with, and I'm keen do do the same with a mix of grains for next run once I get my new pot still head finished, fix up my heating element and get another keg to store my product in.....I have a 20kg bag of rolled barley in the shed now to mix with the corn, but the friggen rats have just found it!!!! Might have to get a sealable bin I think.
To anyone out there who likes bourbon, its worth doing this style rather than just adding the essence. It takes a bit longer, but its worth it. Instead of the "smell but no taste" you get from neutral plus essence, you get both with this type of recipe, and it just gets better with age! :D

[MacStill]

BGT,

I was talking to Buxton Bob the other day over a couple of beers and we both agreed that about 7 generations is about as far as you want to push this wash, we've both been doing a similar version and found that the ferments start to really slow right down after the 5th generation.

So, what I do now is save the hot slops from the boiler to use at about 20 to 25% of the total wash volume to restart a new wash, and find that your straight into decent flavor from generation 1.

Cheers.

[reknaw]

Good timing on that post I am up to Gen 6, shall restart with new grain on next wash. I have found this wash I am doing now has a real strong smell. Did you get that with yours? I take the lid off and it's like "wow, that smells strong......."

[MacStill]

Yes mate that's completely normal, you'll be surprised at how much flavor you'll get coming through the still with this wash.

Make sure you add all your tails from the previous wash's in now, this is the the happy run :mrgreen:

[reknaw]

Mixed in some tails with some stuff that fermented out a couple of weeks ago and ran it yesterday, a lot more "whiskey" smell to it this time (only second time I have done a spirit run with this stuff) Put some on oak and will blend some of it with the stuff from the first run that as been oaking for awhile. I am now actually into the "guts" of it now, should be getting some good stuff to bottle and put away :)

[Kimbo]

hi guys, I'm currently fermenting my 4th generation, when should it start to smell sour? should i be getting some sort of cap in the fermenter or just a few floaties? although I've used back set each time, it doesn't appear to be that much different from the first generation!
as this is my first time, i don't know what to expect. :D

[MacStill]

You should start to notice a big difference on the 4th gen when you distill it, the ferment will look and smell a bit funky by the 4th and it's normal to just have floaties and no real cap.

How much backset are you using in each generation?

[Kimbo]

thanks mate,
I'm using about 10L of backset in my 30L fermenter

[Kimbo]

Now on my 5th generation, smells a little "yeasty" in the kitchen at the moment, I was expecting more of a "stench" by now!
is this normal?, if not, could i make up a sour corn starter, ferment it, then add it to the pot still when i do my last stripping run?
Or will the oaking take care of the rest of the flavour?
i just want something that resembles Bourbon.

[MacStill]

Was this when running through the still or fermenting? not quite sure where your upto so cant really advise.

A lot of the bourbon flavor comes after it's been on oak for a long time, otherwise it'll be a bit sweet and corny tasting.

The distillate coming out of the still doesnt really give a good indication of what the aged product will taste like.

Are you going to be adding all generations back to the boiler @ 40% for your spirit run?

Need a little more info to help you out ;)

[Kimbo]

hi mate,
the smell I'm referring to is while its fermenting.
and yes once this 5th gen is ready, I'll strip, add all 5 strip runs together then do a spirit run.
Being a 'sour mash', i assumed it would smell quite sour or rotten while its fermenting. :)

[MacStill]

Nah it doesnt smell bad at all, it kind of smells like a half decent beer ;)

Your going to love that spirit run.

[reknaw]

I have a few (ok who am I kidding there are a lot) of weavels in mine one positive is they float to the top so they can be scraped off. Anyway back on topic, the spirit comes off with a very light smell, once on oak it starts to develop a bit more aroma.

[Kimbo]

Thanks Guys..... I'll be doing a spirit run this week end!
I've got a Chubby just thinking about it :lol: ......And her----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

[MacStill]

I got a pm off a guy about this recipe when I was a member of HD, and thought I should just mention here that it's the spirit run of 5 generations of low wines that your looking for, please please please dont think you can short cut this by doing a spirit run on each generation then adding it all together for aging ;) it just doesnt work that way.

[Kimbo]

Thanks Mate,
All good, I've got 4.5 generations of low wines saved up to add together to do a spirit run this week end :D

[Kimbo]

OK, so i've done my spirit run, done some blending.
the ujssm has been sitting on charred oak for about a week and a half.
my problem is it smells and tastes nothing like Bourbon... Its more like a neutral on oak or possibly a scotch!
i had this strange feeling when it was fermenting that it lacked a bit of flavour!
so, should i add more heads and tails back in?, or should i do a sour corn starter? or wait or what?? :(