Jack Daniels Clone

[Crusty]

Hey guys.
I'm planning on making an all grain bourbon shortly, similar to a JD.
Grain bill,
80% corn (flaked maize)
12% barley
8% rye
yeast? Open to ideas here.
Oaked on charred white oak.
I want to run the still no higher than 80% ABV & oak it no higher than 62.5% ABV.
Plan is no stripping runs, fermenter to bubbler, 3 plates?
I did a 5 gen stripped rum over 4 plates several years ago & although it was a great rum, it lacked a little grunginess & was a bit light, too clean.
Experienced all grain bourbon makers out there care to chime in?
1 plate, 2 plates, 3? What's your results?
Cheers

[chipboy]

I have a mate who does this very nicely, ingredients / recipe are fine but its a sour mash so needs at least two gens to come to life, whats missing is the soak in charcoal to give it the flavours. He does it over 4 plates and it comes of around 70%, looking at his remarks to me barrell is 62.5 so as close to this as you can manage, US05 yeast.

Enjoy it,

[Crusty]

I have a mate who does this very nicely, ingredients / recipe are fine but its a sour mash so needs at least two gens to come to life, whats missing is the soak in charcoal to give it the flavours. He does it over 4 plates and it comes of around 70%, looking at his remarks to me barrell is 62.5 so as close to this as you can manage, US05 yeast.

Enjoy it,

Thanks heaps.
I was looking at 05 yeast.
More info on the charcoal soak would be awesome & the still he’s using.
I’ll look at stripping it then & using 24% backset for a few ferments, probably 3 gen.
I’m borking at 4 plates though.
Cheers

[WoodyD40]

hi Crusty

Stig has suggested I only use 3 plates when I do my rum and whiskey fermentations through the still. (and no packing in the reflux column)
I'm pretty happy with the results to date.

But i've never tried a JD fermentation (yet).

[Crusty]

hi Crusty

Stig has suggested I only use 3 plates when I do my rum and whiskey fermentations through the still. (and no packing in the reflux column)
I'm pretty happy with the results to date.

But i've never tried a JD fermentation (yet).

I really think 3 plates for sure.
I read somewhere that the charcoal filtering is done by using sugar maple that they soak in JD then set it on fire. It also stated that they use a charcoal depth of 10 feet & the spirit takes 4-5 days to make it through the charcoal. I might try that charcoal filtering method, obviously not to that extent before it goes on charred oak.

[chipboy]

Watch your pH and get ready to adjust it during ferment. He went to 5 gens and it basically became impossible. No maple charcoal but still tastes nice.

[RuddyCrazy]

Eh Crusty it has been some time since you sold me those 60 litre fermenters and it is good to see you found your home :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Eh mate I reckon I'm about 14-18 hours away as I reckon I may just need to drive up to say Hello and go a bit further so the Sig can't walk out the door next time. With my ol merc it should be a tank or three away and whats a week in one's life.

Now what ever do you with grains it's going to be your version of whisky so why bother with a commercial brand as that true drop is your own.

Cheers Bryan

[Crusty]

Watch your pH and get ready to adjust it during ferment. He went to 5 gens and it basically became impossible. No maple charcoal but still tastes nice.

Cheers man.
It's the reason I'm looking at a 3gen then a spirit run.
Beyond that, like you said, it starts getting a bit tricky with fermentation.

[Crusty]

Eh Crusty it has been some time since you sold me those 60 litre fermenters and it is good to see you found your home :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Eh mate I reckon I'm about 14-18 hours away as I reckon I may just need to drive up to say Hello and go a bit further so the Sig can't walk out the door next time. With my ol merc it should be a tank or three away and whats a week in one's life.

Now what ever do you with grains it's going to be your version of whisky so why bother with a commercial brand as that true drop is your own.

Cheers Bryan

Hey Bryan.
How have you been?
Was it the SS Brewtech Unitank gear I sold you?

[RuddyCrazy]

No mate it was those two 60 litre fermeters and we did talk about you where you you were sick of winning awards for making beers and had enough where you were going to greener patsures,

Now I did get upto northen NSW back in my youth and spend 12 months there but further west where we ran muck back in '85 so I reckon it has changed these days. Where any property in NSW has million price tag or more.


Cheers Bryan

[Crusty]

No mate it was those two 60 litre fermeters and we did talk about you where you you were sick of winning awards for making beers and had enough where you were going to greener patsures,

Now I did get upto northen NSW back in my youth and spend 12 months there but further west where we ran muck back in '85 so I reckon it has changed these days. Where any property in NSW has million price tag or more.


Cheers Bryan

The world has changed & your right, you need a million bucks to buy anything here nowadays.
I went commercial with the beer brewing & landed a Head Brewer's gig in Yamba. Created 12 beers for them, stuck with it for a bit over 4yrs then headed off in December 23.
Still living here but really like to get some property down Tasmania, grow a beard, dreadlocks, grow my own everything & live the dream.
One day man, one day.

[chipboy]

Just so you know, once you do this properly its not as insipid like the commercial stuff, its JD but not as you know it, we have a whole lot of theories why but the common one is lowest common denominator.

[bluc]

You need unused American virgin white oak to get authentic flavours. You need char exposure and a little raw oak exposure also

[The Stig]

Now what ever do you with grains it's going to be your version of whisky so why bother with a commercial brand as that true drop is your own.

I agree with this and tell almost everybody the same thing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bluc]

Safspirit american whiskey is a good yeast :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[chipboy]

Actually its maple ash, not oak that is burnt (anerobically) and the charcoal is used in the filter.

[bluc]

Inside Barrel treatment for ageing is what Im talking about. The spirit pushs a long way into the oak so there is contact with charred toasted and raw oak and the oak needs to be new not reclaimed. I tried lots of experiments chasing authentic american(tenesee/burboun ) whiskey.
The maple charcoal removes the tails but and imparts flavour but its short contact time with the charcoal does not have as big an impact as the oak barrel but still effects it and you wont get authentic jd-ish flavour without it.

[bluc]

I have a mate who does this very nicely, ingredients / recipe are fine but its a sour mash so needs at least two gens to come to life, whats missing is the soak in charcoal to give it the flavours. He does it over 4 plates and it comes of around 70%, looking at his remarks to me barrell is 62.5 so as close to this as you can manage, US05 yeast.

Enjoy it,

Thanks heaps.
I was looking at 05 yeast.
More info on the charcoal soak would be awesome & the still he’s using.
I’ll look at stripping it then & using 24% backset for a few ferments, probably 3 gen.
I’m borking at 4 plates though.
Cheers

25% backset to 10 gens on town water for all grain mssh I could do but only just. That rule is for American burboun and can only be made in southern USA all the area has limestone water , very high in calcium carbonate and is how they do 25% backset indefinitely.
Have always wanted to do a corn ferment using store bought mineral wster to see results flavour wise....

[chipboy]

I tasted his 5 gen product on dominoes and its seriously interesting. I think JD do a 2 or 3 gen on continuous still, too much thinking required to understand how they do this but I am sure they have optimised i by now.

[Crusty]

Thanks for all the input & advice guys, it's awesome & some great info to go on.
I found some Canadian maple lump charcoal from The Big Green Egg that's used for cooking / smoking & will look into possibly soaking the spirit in the charcoal for 4-5 days before emptying it.
Then a long soak in new charred white oak for a period of time.