Traditional Appalachian Sweet Mash Corn Whiskey Discussion

[MtnMoonshiner]

Ok, would you care to expand on this bit?

Yeah, ok, the inter continental thing is a bit of a bug bear, but lets try...

The "cap" as I referred to it isn't really a solid piece. More so just a foam, or a sometimes a thin film. Once the alcohol builds, it eats the cap to almost nothing. Once that happens, it's good to run. I believe you started your mash 5 or 6 days ago, so it should be ready to run. Taste it and see if it tastes bitter like a beer, or check it in a hydrometer. It should be somewhere between 6 to 8 %...or there about. If it is, run it. Also, as bt1 pointed out, by looking at it on around day 6 or 7, you should see all the solids sitting in the bottom, and on top will be pretty clear, maybe with a little bit of a colored tent to it. Like light yellow or light brown water, but still very clear.

I spent some time in Australia, so I'll attempt to use your words and phrases from now on to alleviate any confusion. At least when I know the equivalent term hahaha.

[emptyglass]

I'm in day 6 now, but it still has solids floating around, and I still have some bubbling, so its not done yet.
Good to know what to watch for, I expect it won't be long now. I'm not sure if the spillage I had has affected the time to finnish, as I reckon I lost a lot of the malt. Or it could be because its cooling off a bit latley. Either way, I'm not really concerned, I don't think I'll be able to run it the moment it finnishes, due to work and life.


My boiler is a bit smaller than yours MM, so I'll have to run it in batches.

BT, thanks for the heads up, I would have expected it to clear like a sugar wash.

[emptyglass]

Its been another 5 days, its still got bubbles and is still a little cloudy. I'm really stating to think I lost a lot of the malt. Its also less than 15c here at the moment.
I got the shits on and threw an aquarium heater in there, in an effort to warm things up a bit. Try and get this stuff to finnish.
Its starting to taste a little dry, so I guess its progessing, just bloody slow.

[crow]

Yeah I found that a saccharificial mash will slow right down if the ambient temps are not maintained . An example is one unwarmed mash went for 3 weeks before stalling and another week after I heated it :shock:

[MtnMoonshiner]

I hope it works out for you, EG. I'd hate to see the time you've out into it so far be wasted.

[emptyglass]

This stuff is the BOMB!
Its nice. No, sorry, bloody nice. And its only an hour or two old. Good work Mtn man.

Heres my take on things.
I mixed the be-jesus out if it with a drill when I put it down. Much more than I could with a shovel handle. I got a good starter going. I kept it too warm for too long. I guess the heavier corn sank to the bottom, the malt and possibly a good lot of the rye settled to the top, I got a good strike and blew shit everywhere. I reckon most of the malt ended up on the floor. I guess this led to less diastatic power in the wash (?).
Wash fermented out to about 5 or 6%, and was going slow. I threw a heater in there, bad mistake. It made the top half warm and with the low ABV, I got an infection today. It was ok yesterday. I though fuck it, and racked it off.
Due to mitigating circumstanses, I needed to run what I could tonight.

Judging by the yeild, I got a ferment abv of 5 or 6% and got 2.5 ish litres at 92% of a 40 litre charge. I still have to make some cuts, but I think its all looking good.
Bit dissapointed at the yeild, but a proper ferment would fix that. The product is delicious, white. I cant wait till it gets old :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Either way, it was good to loose my all grain virginity, still got a lot to learn.

[bt1]

Howdy,

I've got a serious issue with this spirit...it won't store properly...

It bloody disappears from the mason jars rather than ageing for months which is more my preference...

"hey, you blokes why's everyone in the storage area..smiling away?"

Invaded by bar flies
bt1

[JayD]

This stuff is the BOMB!
Its nice. No, sorry, bloody nice. And its only an hour or two old. Good work Mtn man.

Heres my take on things.
I mixed the be-jesus out if it with a drill when I put it down. Much more than I could with a shovel handle. I got a good starter going. I kept it too warm for too long. I guess the heavier corn sank to the bottom, the malt and possibly a good lot of the rye settled to the top, I got a good strike and blew shit everywhere. I reckon most of the malt ended up on the floor. I guess this led to less diastatic power in the wash (?).
Wash fermented out to about 5 or 6%, and was going slow. I threw a heater in there, bad mistake. It made the top half warm and with the low ABV, I got an infection today. It was ok yesterday. I though fuck it, and racked it off.
Due to mitigating circumstanses, I needed to run what I could tonight.

Judging by the yeild, I got a ferment abv of 5 or 6% and got 2.5 ish litres at 92% of a 40 litre charge. I still have to make some cuts, but I think its all looking good.
Bit dissapointed at the yeild, but a proper ferment would fix that. The product is delicious, white. I cant wait till it gets old :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Either way, it was good to loose my all grain virginity, still got a lot to learn.

So it's safe to say EG's doing the Popcorn jig...yeehaaa

[MtnMoonshiner]

EG, and bt1, I'm glad y'all are pleased with it!

[emptyglass]

Yeah, so far I'm having the same trouble as Bt, damn leaky aging vessels. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[MtnMoonshiner]

I think that tends to be a universal problem! Depending on how many friends you've got, keeping enough on hand for get-togethers can be very difficult! To be honest, if that's the worst problem with the liquor I make, I'm ok with that hahaha

[emptyglass]

Ok mtn man ,I blame you for this post. I havn't been this shit faced for awhile.

What do you do with your leftover grain, other than keep some for sour mashing? It would be shame to waste it. Seems theres a lot to be had in the leftovers.

Would be a sad thing to just give it to the chooks, although they might taste nice on the spit.

I'd like to send a warning to anyone considering making this stuff, dilute the stuff before consuming, or else you'll look like me about now. You don't want that 8-)

[tickle]

@EG...lol...you cant be too bad, conquered the keyboard anyway. Canyou talk about the run? Cuts, overall comparo to uj? Ive heard it that cuts are dead easy on some all grain,...if you could share your thoughts?

@mtn man-you are the shit brother. This is exactly what a lot of us need to help make the leap. A no nonsense, step by step method, in plain english. I promised myself that i would not mash until i fimished a build i am behind on, but as soon as i am, will be putting this on. Just got a 55 gal fermenter, so i can follow it to the letter!

I know it has been posted elsewhere, but i would love to hear your malting methods. I dont want to clutter this thread up, but consider another post? Hearing more about the sour mashing would be cool too. Teach us! ^:)^

[MtnMoonshiner]

EG, I been blamed for worse! I can't say I'm too ashamed of being responsible for your current sloshy state haha! As far as the grain goes. Save about half of it, and replace the other half with fresh unmalted grain. Top off to the original level with hot water, and stir it till it starts to soften up. Add yeast as before. I prefer this method over throwing what we call a "sugar bump" in for two reason. For one, I can get 100 gallons of sour mash, from my previous 50 of sweet. Second, the flavor is a hell of a lot better without the added sugar....yes, you might want to buy a second fermenter haha.

Tickle, I can PM you, or start a new thread. Don't much matter to me. Depends on how many folks want to know

[Cane Toad]

We ALL want to know :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bushbrew]

Kn-Oath. :romance-kisscheek:

[waza]

:text-+1: to both of the above

[tickle]

Lol! The masses have spoken!

Ive read a lot about home malting, but those same sources usually make brewing sound like advanced chemistry! Looking forward to a straight forward time tested method.

I wonder if EG woke up yet?
:laughing-rolling:

[emptyglass]

:text-+1: on the malting method.

I'll get another fermenter. I don't want to do a sugar bump, mostly because I have some UJ (corn and sugar) on the go. I'd prefer to concentrate on this recipie, I'm liking the way it tastes and its a good sign its going to be real good in time. Its a nice change from the trusty UJ.

Tickle, all I did was run it through my bubbler. I let the plates charge, took off some fores, refluxed for a bit, then started collecting. Got about 400mls of heads, then the rest was hearts. The last bottle collected was tails, but the smell nice, not like wet dog, and taste not too bad, so they'll probably get blended in. Its very smooth stuff, even at 92% off the still, a taste off the finger didn't have that burn it usually does from my sugar washes.
It ran well, all the way to the end. I wasn't expecting that as the abv was lower than I hoped to get. I cant say much more, still early days.
I got some UJ thats been in a cask for 3 months. Mtn moonsine was not far behind.

Oh yeah, I woke up pretty good, all things considered.

[Kimbo]

EG, I been blamed for worse! I can't say I'm too ashamed of being responsible for your current sloshy state haha! As far as the grain goes. Save about half of it, and replace the other half with fresh unmalted grain. Top off to the original level with hot water, and stir it till it starts to soften up. Add yeast as before. I prefer this method over throwing what we call a "sugar bump" in for two reason. For one, I can get 100 gallons of sour mash, from my previous 50 of sweet. Second, the flavor is a hell of a lot better without the added sugar....yes, you might want to buy a second fermenter haha.

Tickle, I can PM you, or start a new thread. Don't much matter to me. Depends on how many folks want to know

Hi MM, I'm a bit confused :think: what are you fermenting here? i mean, your not adding any sugar and there doesn't seem to be any cooking for starch conversion, so where is the fermentables coming from?