by BigRig » Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:36 pm
I ran the first gen of this on the weekend.
From each fermenter i ended up with almost 40L of wash. I stripped first 2 washes down to 25ish% then combined with 20L of wash for a spirit run. Leftover wash will be added to 2nd gen.
I discarded fores then collected in 250ml cuts until i hit hearts then upped to 500ml, dropped back to 250mls for tails.
Tasting notes
1. Heads
2. Heads
3. Heads
4. Honey, caramel. Slight heads burn.
5. Same as 4 without the heads burn. Reminds me of caramel popcorn.
6. Molasses, licorice flavour. But unlike a Rum. No grain.
7. Same as 6
8. Grain flavour is starting to show up but very Subtle. Molasses still there and very rummy. I love rum.
9. Grain flavour coming over more & the molasses flavour is fading. Reminds me of a muesli bar
10. Same as 9.
11. Now all i can taste is the grain, no real corn flavour though. molasses has gone.
12. Much the same as 11.
13. Grain flavour has faded alot. reminds me of straw or hay. Almost flavourless.
14. The flavour is back but different. Very nice. Dry, no sweetness. My notes simply say "grain grain grain".
15. Same as 14. More complex, interesting grain flavours.
16. Much the same as 15, but deeper darker grain flavour. Slight smokey (not sure how, i didnt use peat. guessing its the molasses showing up again).
17. Same as 16 with heaps of dark smokey flavour. Very pleasant, almost reminds me of bbq.
18. Deep, dark flavours. Bags of smoke but not peaty smoke (i hate peat). No wet dog yet but hint of tails "funk". Again not unpleasant but didnt make the cut. ( i have kept it separate though and thrown some dark USA oak in it to see what happens).
I kept jars 5-16 + some of 17. End result was a nice smokey grain flavour with a sweet but not sickly after taste, oats helped with mouth feel.
Wasnt any noticeable corn flavour but the sweetness from the molasses might've masked it.
2nd gen has been down for a couple days and had 10L backset added to each. This looks and smells even better than 1st gen.
Sitting at 63%abv. I haven't added any wood yet as i was undecided, should i go french, usa or mix ?