Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hey guys, I have a few questions for the guys out there that have had success making single malt whiskey, as I have not had much luck...

So I’ve made 4 attempts at making a single malt, and varied the recipe or process each time to try and figure out what’s going wrong, but the result is still the same. Each one I’ve done has stalled in the fermentation at around 1.02, and resulted a very sour wash, at around Ph 3.3-3.4. I’ve tried running each wash through my pot still, but the off taste/smell carries through to the spirit.

I started with:

5kg pale malt
2kg Medium peated malt
2 Tbs Safspirit Grain yeast

I tried changing mash temps between 65-63°C, same result. Tried using 2 packets of M36 Liberty Bell Ale Yeast, same result.

Is there something obvious that I’m missing? I’ve been brewing AG beer on my grainfather for a couple of years, so I’m confident that my system and process are ok.

The only things I’m not sure on are my ingredients and my water profile... the one ingredient that has been in every attempt is the peated malt. Can a malt go bad and create the problem I’m having?
Can water profile affect the fermentation? The water in my area is very soft, with minimal mineral content. What water profile should I be aiming for?
Could yeast pitch rate play a factor? I’ve only used 20-30g to 23-25ltrs of wort. Is this enough?
Or am I just not using the right yeast?

Any, and all suggestions welcome, as I have not been able to find a fix, and I’m a little disappointed with my efforts so far.

Cheers.

Only thing i can think of are you creating a good strong yeast starter? Lacto is present on grain and if you dont pasturise(boil) your wort very eash to get a lacto infection. Need a good strong yeast colony to out perform the lacto bacteria :handgestures-thumbupleft:

No, haven’t tried a starter... I’ve got all the equipment for it too!
What would you recommend? 2lt?
Would it be easier to just use more dry yeast, or does a starter improve the quality of the colony?

May be worth trying put same amount yeast into 2l wort and leave till it tries to crawl out of the container than add it to full volume...will certainly kick start the fermentation.
If you have a stir plate sit it on that.

Yeah, got a stir plate and 3ltr flask... Will give this a try, and see how I go.

Cheers man! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

yeast wont work at PH of 3.3-3.4. , try buffering it with calcium carbonate to raise it....

Yeasts can grow in a pH range of 4 to 4.5 and moulds can grow from pH 2 to 8.5, but favour an acid pH

baznkez wrote:yeast wont work at PH of 3.3-3.4. , try buffering it with calcium carbonate to raise it....

Cheers man, I was concerned that I might not have enough buffering with my water profile.

How much calcium carbonate would you suggest? And would I put in with the mash?

I use a cup of shell grit as a pH balancer, mind you, I am not very successful in my AG adventures ... just don't have sour taste to mine...

This year will be my time to play with AG! Got the brew room, needs finishing off but I got it! :text-lol:

Are you using the wrong yeast one to make vodka and not getting flavor Safspirit Grain yeast would SafSpirit Malt Whisky Dry Yeast be better.

Well it’s looking like I might have had success this time round :shhh: :shhh: :shhh:

I put on a 7kg mash. 4kg Golden Promise, and 3kg of Simpson’s Medium Peat. I went for a 2 hour step mash to get maximum fermentability. 60 mins at 61°C and 60 mins at 67°C. I yielded 25 liters of wort at 1.070, so I was pretty happy with the mash.

For yeast, I tried a 2ltr starter using 25grams of my leftover safspirit grain yeast, and ended up with 2ltrs of fairly off/sour smelling yeast slurry. So I dumped that and decided to try something else.
In the end, I rehydrated 80g of Lowen’s yeast in about 700-800ml of warm water, with a tablespoon of sugar. This mix went crazy, and doubled in volume within 5-10 minutes.

So I pitched the Lowen’s to my wort, and it took off like a rocket and my fermenter exploded with krausen, and i found just over a liter on the lid! :scared-eek:
So just out of curiosity I took a gravity reading, and it’s dropped to 1.015 within 24 hours!!
It’s slowed down now, but still bubbling away. And it has a nice malty smell that’s kind of fumey if I sniff too hard.

So fingers crossed, I’ve got this one sorted?!

wynnum1 wrote:Are you using the wrong yeast one to make vodka and not getting flavor Safspirit Grain yeast would SafSpirit Malt Whisky Dry Yeast be better.

Yeah, my local HBS ordered the wrong yeast, but I thought I’d give it a try... But it hasn’t worked out well for me so far.

Sounds like you're getting on top of things, can I ask how much you're aerating the wort? For me that makes quite a difference to yeast taking off.
My rum and whisky washes go hard for 24 to 36hrs and then finished 36hrs later. Don't get hung up on fg as with grain they usually finish higher. Back when I used to check fg I never had one go below 1.015 but I use adjuncts.
I sometimes have lacto infection and the wort tastes like crap but I overall makes very little difference when a cpl L are added to a 25L or bigger barrel.
As for yeasts any good ale yeast will be excellent, the speciality whisky/malt yeasts get slightly higher yield but the flavour profile is left a little lacking imo.

Thanks for the tips Coffe, it’s been quite the learning curve!

As for aeration, I haven’t done anything other than splashing the wort into the fermenter. It’s worked well for me in the past, but I’m always open to suggestion if it will help improve my process. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I ran a 9kg combination of 1/2 Pale malt and half Gladfields Distillers malt this weekend. Single mash infusion step for 60 mins at 63.5C. For this experiment I sparged two 25L washes and rapid cooled. 1st wash came out at 1082 (happy with that) and the second one came out at 1012 (not very happy, but kind of expected). I turned the 2nd wash into a 60L sugarhead mixed with 8 kgs of sugar and two tins of Amber LME. Both washes used Safale whiskey yeast. Re aerating, I use a plastic mash paddle in my cordless drill works a treat.