Fine Scotch Whisky Recipe Discussion

[bluc]

Will stop any active enzymes you may get slightly higher volume of you dont..

[Bob9863]

I boil the snot out of mine, then strain out the grain.
I also course grind my grains, and have even taken to using liquid malt extract to fill it out a bit.

I like dark liquid malt, ground and boiled chocolate malt and heavy pleated malt if I'm doing it easy but if I'm doing a special run then I malt my own grain and very heavily smoke it, I also add some raw grain for cereal finish.
But either way the grains get boiled and strained, if it's a little low on suger content then I add some dextrose, I like to anyway is I like my mash to finish around 10% abv when doing scotch.
Any higher and I find you loose too much flavour.

[Mossimo]

ok, so if i understand correctly,

instead of holding the grain at 65 degrees for 30 minutes (that's what I've been doing currently) you actually boil it, which kills any bacteria etc, but may damage the enzymes so the overall output isn't as high? so a trade off, less enzymes, but, its disinfected through the heat?

im ok with less output as so far I've tried this twice and failed, anything more then nothing is more then what i had :-D

please feel free to correct me if I'm understanding this wrong..

[Bob9863]

That's what I do, that's not to say it's the only way or the right way, but I find it works.

If you use 100% malt then there shouldn't be anything left to convert anyway. But I find it gives more flavour.

You can hold it at 65° afterwards and add some amylase and hold it for 1 hour which is something else I do, but I also like to add raw ground grain for that cereal finish on the taste profile.

[Mossimo]

Can't believe it's been nearly 3 years since I last tried to make this, but finally have some time off work and I'm going to give it anther go... let's hope i make something better then vinegar this time!

[howard]

Can't believe it's been nearly 3 years since I last tried to make this, but finally have some time off work and I'm going to give it anther go... let's hope i make something better then vinegar this time!

good luck this time mossimo.
i don't know about anyone else, but i think that there's a good reason not to 'boil the shit' out of grains before mashing, in some attempt to prevent infection.
ie the temp for sparge water shouldn't be much above 77C, as this will release unwanted tannins, astringent tastes from grain that have husks.
i think the normal mashing temps of 65C should kill off anything lurking on the grain.
probably the biggest chance of infection is when folk leave their mash overnight to cool naturally.

i'm guessing this 'boiling the grain' is probably the reason folk might have to add dextrose to bump up the OG, as some/most(?) of the natural enzymes would be destroyed.
perhaps the alpha may survive for the mash, resulting in a load of unfermentable sugars in the wash?

what does the team think?

[Mossimo]

So I'm thinking I might freeze some water this time so as to speed up the cool down process of the mash, get the yeast on there asap.
How does everyone else cool it down?

[howard]

So I'm thinking I might freeze some water this time so as to speed up the cool down process of the mash, get the yeast on there asap.
How does everyone else cool it down?

start the day early :smile:
counter flow chillers or coil chillers.
this one from kegland is what i use (it came with the Brewzilla)
https://kegland.com.au/products/brewzilla-35l-replacement-immersion-ice-bucket-chiller-stainless-steel?_pos=2&_psq=chill&_ss=e&_v=1.0
i changed all my fittings for water to camlocks, so everything is interchangeable.
depends on your water supply, but mine will reduce a wash from 65C to 35C in less than an hour.

my mate has a plate chiller that cools from 65C to 25C immediately.
his cooling water is in a small IBC type container with about 10 x frozen coke bottles in it.

[Mossimo]

Hi all,

So successfully made the mash and its been bubbling away for nearly a week.

Question, how long does this take to fermentation out? It's been sitting at 1030 or so for 2 days from initial of 1070.
I'm worried about a yeast infection if I leave it go to long, this is where I've messed up in the past.
Also temp is around 28

Thanks in advance