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Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2022 1:02 am
by cattery
I've been using this basic bwko recipe for about 8ish years, but I've always been scared to change it up because it is my staple and I hate pouring product down the drain if an experiment fails. But I thought this time I would give it a bit of a shake up :dance:

2x
70lt fermenter
10lt cracked corn
2kg Weyermann Cararye
1.5kg Tungamah Baudin malt
8kg sugar
50ish lt water

The aim is to cut off some of the sweetness of the corn and spice it up a bit
The wash is as dark as Toohey's old.
Smells VERY different coming off the still on the first strip.
I think it'll age with a bit more complexity, but we'll see :-??

Pic is of the saved wash for watering down my spirit run.

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2022 1:23 am
by cattery
Oh and I started off with some frozen backset from last season, so no sweet run :music-deathmetal:
Using Distillamax SR yeast, worked a treat last season for 12 gens.

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2022 6:33 am
by bluc
Noice :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Sun Oct 09, 2022 1:23 pm
by stillts
@Cattery, that looks like an interesting version. How is it going so far?

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Sun Oct 09, 2022 2:09 pm
by Wellsy
I know what you mean cattery
I started using raw sugar and have always been to scared to go back to standard. I did add some rye as a variation at half the amount of barley and I like it. This is definitely my go to wash

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2022 9:37 pm
by cattery
stillts wrote:@Cattery, that looks like an interesting version. How is it going so far?


The first couple of strips had a bit of "spice" in the hearts, it began to mellow out by about 4th gen.
I've got about 30lt of 60% on oak at the moment. Two lots of 15lt one on toasted french, and 15lt on charred.
I also just picked up a fresh 10lt barrell ready for the next spirit run. Then I'm done for the season :happy-partydance:

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 9:49 am
by stillts
sounds yumworthy!

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 3:32 pm
by Wellsy
Don’t know who told you there were seasons cattery. Definitely stilling time all year round

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 11:40 am
by akkanomore
I have done 7 generations and decided to save backset from gen 7 and start fresh with new grains, yeast but saved backset. Is it ok to continue using backset or does there come a time when you should start again from scratch?

Thanks.

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:22 pm
by Wellsy
The backset tends to get acidic which often leads to slower and slower ferments.

Once they started slowing up I tended to start again but a lot of that depends on how much backset you use

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 8:51 pm
by akkanomore
Ok. Thanks. I still have PH at 510. See how I go. Only using about 15% backset

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 3:57 pm
by Wellsy
I am often up around 25%. Things slow up after about gen 7 or 8 for me :)

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 5:46 pm
by cattery
Starting a new season. Going back to my roots of full corn (ujsm) this time as I didn't notice enough difference after 10gens to warrant the extra expense of barley/rye. also going back to Baker's yeast because the stillamax sr was a little too "clean" for my tastes.

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 8:30 pm
by cattery
Second gen pumping before the first gen strip is finished. :music-deathmetal:

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 8:52 pm
by BigRig
Is that ibc a fermenter or used for cooling ?
How big are the olive barrels ?

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 10:55 pm
by cattery
The IBC is for cooling, placed a couple of pond cubes in there so it doesn't go foul. The olive barrel's are 70lt each. Only filled to 40lt charges. 10kg corn + rackable charge +headroom which comes into play later in the season because I need to add calcium for pH which in turn adds frothyness.

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 3:49 pm
by Scrappy
Do the wheat and barley grains need to be milled or do they go in the fermenter whole?

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 6:49 pm
by BigRig
In this recipe you are using the sugar for alcohol but cracked at a minimum to get as much flavour out of it.

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Tue Jul 11, 2023 6:02 pm
by MattSmith
Doing my first batch of this right now. 1st gen just fermented out in 3 days (1.07 > .980). Might strip it Thursday and get the 2nd gen started.

Re: Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:50 pm
by Wellsy
This one always fermented out fast for me Matt

This is definitely my go to recipe :)

I often throw a little bit of rye in it