MacWhisky Recipe Discussion

[markus]

With my last run of macwhisky I thought I'd oak some tails instead of keeping them as feints.
I finished collecting hearts at 74%
So my next 3 jars were 73, 71 and 69%
After being on oak for over a month I sampled some an oh man :puke-huge:
After reading somewhere that glenmorangie only collect from 75-65%
Makes me think ill need another 10 years on oak before I sample again.
This just goes to show you can't make cuts on ABV%
Nose knows best

Cheers Markus

[Smbjk]

Did my first strip of macwhisky. Once i've done my spirit run and cuts i will oak on american oak which i have toasted. My question is have i toasted my sticks enough. I did them on 210deg for 3hrs. Each stick is sbout 100mm long. And also aprox how may sticks would you use per 2lt of 65% and how long.. thanks guys

[Dominator]

Did my first strip of macwhisky. Once i've done my spirit run and cuts i will oak on american oak which i have toasted. My question is have i toasted my sticks enough. I did them on 210deg for 3hrs. Each stick is sbout 100mm long. And also aprox how may sticks would you use per 2lt of 65% and how long.. thanks guys

The amount of toast comes down to personal taste. What you have there I would call medium toast and will work fine. As for how much, I think a rule of thumb 10grams of oak per L. But it also comes down to how long it will sit on oak for. The adage is 'less for longer' as in less oak for a longer time, but we don't all want to wait 6 months-2 years or more to enjoy a hard earned hooch. For me, I use more oak because I know mine usually only lasts a month or two before I get to it, maybe once I have been doing this for a couple of years I will have built up a better collection. Personally I would use 1 of those sticks per litre.

Hope that helps mate.

[Smbjk]

Did my first strip of macwhisky. Once i've done my spirit run and cuts i will oak on american oak which i have toasted. My question is have i toasted my sticks enough. I did them on 210deg for 3hrs. Each stick is sbout 100mm long. And also aprox how may sticks would you use per 2lt of 65% and how long.. thanks guys

The amount of toast comes down to personal taste. What you have there I would call medium toast and will work fine. As for how much, I think a rule of thumb 10grams of oak per L. But it also comes down to how long it will sit on oak for. The adage is 'less for longer' as in less oak for a longer time, but we don't all want to wait 6 months-2 years or more to enjoy a hard earned hooch. For me, I use more oak because I know mine usually only lasts a month or two before I get to it, maybe once I have been doing this for a couple of years I will have built up a better collection. Personally I would use 1 of those sticks per litre.

Hope that helps mate.

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Thanks dominator :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Bushy]

Did my first strip of macwhisky. Once i've done my spirit run and cuts i will oak on american oak which i have toasted. My question is have i toasted my sticks enough. I did them on 210deg for 3hrs. Each stick is sbout 100mm long. And also aprox how may sticks would you use per 2lt of 65% and how long.. thanks guys

In my opinion you havn't toasted those enough. I reckon puttin those in will leave you with a woody taste. Just goin by the colour. What i've read is 200 for 2 hrs then 250 for 20 mins.
I only mucked around a little with some barrel bits from a mate up the road then saw toasted dominos and that was that.
Don't be scared to set fire to a bit then put it in. After you blow it out of course. Definitely smooths out yr gear when you put charred in there. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Beam]

I have a question about this recipe do I have put the malt in water and cook it ? or do I just add it in with the hot water/ sugar mix? and do I just add the caramalt in with the hot water and sugar as well then just top the rest up with cool water then pitch yeast when cool enough? thank you

[Bushy]

It's basically a sugarhead. You're not goin for conversion of yr malted grains just flavour as with the LME. Great flavours too. I have seriously departed from Macs original recipe, but it's all good fun. Can't say as I have bettered the first run of this, just different.

[Beam]

thanks for the reply, its been about 6 days now and I took the sg reading today with no bubbling going on and if im reading the hydrometer correctly its reading 996 is that good to run ?

[MacStill]

Run it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Beam]

thanks mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[guerd87]

Anyone had an attempt at doing this recipe in about 20/23L?

How much sugar should I cut back?

Also I dont have dominoes, but the LHBS sells oak staves from various old barrels. Better then chunks I hear? Worth using on this recipe?

John

[Dominator]

If you top the fermenter up to 23L I would still use 5kg of sugar.

[Kimbo]

Give the Oak chunks a go mate, it all comes down to personal taste :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Bushy]

I ran the 5th gen of this today. Threw everything out to the chooks and starting again. I'm gonna do multiple gens again but this time using lager caramalt and pilsener grain. The multi gen runs i've just finished have been using Amber caramalt and even some dark grain. Way too much flavour in the final product. I been blending it with some UJ and it's bloody beautiful. I absolutely love this hobby. :wave:

[Stevem109r]

I ran the 5th gen of this today. Threw everything out to the chooks and starting again. I'm gonna do multiple gens again but this time using lager caramalt and pilsener grain. The multi gen runs i've just finished have been using Amber caramalt and even some dark grain. Way too much flavour in the final product. I been blending it with some UJ and it's bloody beautiful. I absolutely love this hobby. :wave:

Was there much difference in flavour between gens?

Sent from my A501 using Tapatalk 2

[1 2many]

I ran the 5th gen of this today. Threw everything out to the chooks and starting again. I'm gonna do multiple gens again but this time using lager caramalt and pilsener grain. The multi gen runs i've just finished have been using Amber caramalt and even some dark grain. Way too much flavour in the final product. I been blending it with some UJ and it's bloody beautiful. I absolutely love this hobby. :wave:

Maybe you should have sticked to the tried and proven :teasing-neener:

Haha always good to here your results bushy.

[Bushy]

I ran the 5th gen of this today. Threw everything out to the chooks and starting again. I'm gonna do multiple gens again but this time using lager caramalt and pilsener grain. The multi gen runs i've just finished have been using Amber caramalt and even some dark grain. Way too much flavour in the final product. I been blending it with some UJ and it's bloody beautiful. I absolutely love this hobby. :wave:

Was there much difference in flavour between gens?

Sent from my A501 using Tapatalk 2

Havn't reeeeaally tried the later gens. Just a sip to test.

Maybe you should have sticked to the tried and proven :teasing-neener:

Yeah 12 you may be right. But I have enjoyed playin around with this. Anyways I put the original recipe down today, so ner!

[kingy]

I've got some ingredients for this recipe to make 2 fifty litre batches. Do you guys think it would be better to single run them or strip them both and spirit run.
Or do 4 individual batches , strip them all and 1 big spirit run.

[Kimbo]

I've got some ingredients for this recipe to make 2 fifty litre batches. Do you guys think it would be better to single run them or strip them both and spirit run.
Or do 4 individual batches , strip them all and 1 big spirit run.

With a pot still, it doesnt really matter what size batches you strip.
as long as you strip the lot, then do a nice spirit run with all the combined low wines :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[guerd87]

Got all the ingredients today to put down 50L of this :)