MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby BigRig » Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:25 am

Sounds like you didnt have enough reflux, towards the end you were almost running in pot mode, you should be able to get 92-94%. Next time instead of turning water down to get the output, turn the power up to push through the reflux. U will get the output rate you want but at a higher abv%. Fractions should compress too.
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby Gatorade » Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:46 am

I ran the last 30 litres of wash as you suggested, switching from full reflux to a thin stream of product by increasing power worked quite well, by the time two plates had fogged up the glasses i was on full power and collecting tails. It is easier to adjust the power level than a small adjustments to a needle valve.

I made the domino's from a French oak barrel I was gifted from a local vineyard that had been used for Pino Noir. I placed the domino size pieces of oak on tin foil and put in the oven at 210c for three hours. These were then toasted on one side with my butane burner.

I have two 5 litre glass vessels with the product at 65% abv, and about 24 oak domino's in each.

After a week the caramel colour is slowly spreading down the vessel. I have just tasted both vessels and am loving the flavour's so far, I will keep tasting each week until the domino's are no longer needed.

One of the 5 litre vessels has a slight bitter after taste, I guess i was greedy with the cut's. Should I stop ageing this and re-run via a pot still to remove the slight bitter after taste or would leaving it ageing change the after taste to something more pleasant like the other 5 litre vessel ?
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby BigRig » Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:02 pm

Gatorade wrote:I ran the last 30 litres of wash as you suggested, switching from full reflux to a thin stream of product by increasing power worked quite well, by the time two plates had fogged up the glasses i was on full power and collecting tails. It is easier to adjust the power level than a small adjustments to a needle valve.

I made the domino's from a French oak barrel I was gifted from a local vineyard that had been used for Pino Noir. I placed the domino size pieces of oak on tin foil and put in the oven at 210c for three hours. These were then toasted on one side with my butane burner.

I have two 5 litre glass vessels with the product at 65% abv, and about 24 oak domino's in each.

After a week the caramel colour is slowly spreading down the vessel. I have just tasted both vessels and am loving the flavour's so far, I will keep tasting each week until the domino's are no longer needed.

One of the 5 litre vessels has a slight bitter after taste, I guess i was greedy with the cut's. Should I stop ageing this and re-run via a pot still to remove the slight bitter after taste or would leaving it ageing change the after taste to something more pleasant like the other 5 litre vessel ?


You could leave it oak for a while and see what that does with the aftertaste. If it doesnt improve you could chuck it in with your next run (remembering to dilute to 40%).

Did u weight the dominos ? How much grams per litre are you using ? With them being small you will get similar effect as chips so they will work quickly so keep an eye on them.

My dominos are approx 4" × 1" x 0.5" and i like to use 7g/L for 6month oak (2 per 5L jar).
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby M8Harry » Mon May 03, 2021 3:12 pm

Hi Gang,

Question for you all.

If I was to put 15L of water into my PD boiler (no exposed elements) and heat the water up to 65ish degrees then dump my malt in to try and extract and convert out of the grains what I can would that be a bad thing to do?

my thoughts were I can dump the content of my PD boiler (grains and all) straight into my fermenter after adding the sugar. Just wondering if the time to do so would be worth any extra sugar/flavour I might get out of it.

Thanks in advance.
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby bluc » Mon May 03, 2021 7:00 pm

Yep absolutely :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Take gravity reading before adding sugar :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Last edited by bluc on Mon May 03, 2021 7:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby BigRig » Tue May 04, 2021 8:25 pm

Is french or american oak better on this ?
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby Wellsy » Wed May 05, 2021 7:05 am

The general rule of thumb is the French is for whiskey and American for bourbon but if we listened to the rules we would not be doing this :)
I found the French colours up super fast where the American takes longer. So it may depend how patient you are :)
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby BigRig » Wed May 05, 2021 7:38 am

Yeah i am using french on rum and this at the moment. Smells a little sweet similar to the rum, thinking about swapping it out for USA oak, see if it "un sweetens" it a bit.
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby Wellsy » Wed May 05, 2021 12:50 pm

Bigrig it gets even more complicated as the tempt the oak is toasted at changes the flavours it imparts as well as the abv you oak it at. I Oakes same NGW at 50% and all I could taste was caramel, it was amazing. I will be mixing this with something else to bring the flavour back a little
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby Sam. » Wed May 05, 2021 1:42 pm

Wellsy wrote:The general rule of thumb is the French is for whiskey and American for bourbon but if we listened to the rules we would not be doing this :)


Also depends if your talking new oak or used oak. 80% of scotch whisky is aged in once used american oak bourbon barrels
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby bluc » Wed May 05, 2021 2:47 pm

:text-+1: i see more sherry, brandy and rum from french then anything else..
Last edited by bluc on Wed May 05, 2021 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby BigRig » Wed May 05, 2021 5:11 pm

Using the 5 star medium french dominos. Not sure if they are used or new. Catching up with andrew friday so will get some american dominos for the whiskey.

French has only been in for 5 days so will pull em out and throw some yank dominos in.
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby Sam. » Wed May 05, 2021 7:14 pm

BigRig wrote:Using the 5 star medium french dominos. Not sure if they are used or new. Catching up with andrew friday so will get some american dominos for the whiskey.

French has only been in for 5 days so will pull em out and throw some yank dominos in.


Pretty sure the dominoes will be fresh oak.

Best is to split your batch in two and age one on french and one on american, at the end of the day its your personal preference not what is "supposed" to be used :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby corrymeela » Sun May 16, 2021 12:42 pm

Wellsy wrote:The general rule of thumb is the French is for whiskey and American for bourbon but if we listened to the rules we would not be doing this :)
I found the French colours up super fast where the American takes longer. So it may depend how patient you are :)


its the other way round,american oak for whisky(scotch),french for rum.
although whiskey may be different to whisky.

since the scots have been making whisky forever have often wondered what they used before America was colonised-and why they changed.
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby BigRig » Sun May 16, 2021 2:57 pm

Yeah i swapped the French out for american at it has picked up already.

Put another 2 washes through the bubbler yesterday and this morning. Have a nice little stock pile now.
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby Gatorade » Sun Dec 05, 2021 11:25 am

Almost six months of ageing on the oak domino's, I had to have a taste.

Smells like whiskey, look like whiskey and hits your mouth with the whiskey envelope of surprise. Great throat feel, and instant warmth. The oak flavours together with the amber base work so well. Caramel, vanilla's, slightest suggestion of smoke, with that feeling of warmth. The slight sugar head, and the tingle at the tip of the tongue after the pleasant flavours from the oak dissipate.

I have filled a bottle watered down to 45% abv from the 60% on oak as it is so damn good, I want to drink it now.

Has anyone else left this longer than six months on the oak domino's ? What would I expect if I left it another six months ?

Thank you for this brilliant recipe, I am going to make another batch tomorrow. :clap: :clap: :clap:
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby stillts » Sun Feb 13, 2022 9:22 am

this might be a silly question, so bear with me; should the 1kg of malt be unmilled or milled? I am guessing unmilled but wanted to make sure
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby BigRig » Sun Feb 13, 2022 11:24 am

Mill it so you can extract as much flavour as possible
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby stillts » Sun Feb 13, 2022 2:27 pm

Cheers Bigrig!
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Re: MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

Postby stillts » Thu Feb 17, 2022 5:29 pm

Unfortunately I could not get the Caramalt. The helpful team at Grain & Grape mixed in an equivalent of the LME in with the milled 1kg malt grain.

(From the recipe:
1kg Ale or Pilsner malt
1 tin of caramalt liquid extract)

Hopefully it turns out ok. I will let you know how it goes.
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