Mac's Bourbon Whiskey Knock Off (BWKO) Discussion

[Maritsio2016]

does anybody fore go stripping an run this straight through a bubbler? if so would be interested in results. now I've got my new milk can i don't have the capacity to store that much strip yet.

[Zak Griffin]

Anything that we say to strip and spirit run through a pot can be run once through a bubbler :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Maritsio2016]

Anything that we say to strip and spirit run through a pot can be run once through a bubbler :handgestures-thumbupleft:

yer roger cool i think ill be making this in a few weeks then to blend with mcWhisky to have a bit of variety.

[Zak Griffin]

At some point in the MacWhiskey thread, Mac mentions that a blend of that and this is a very good thing.

I did a MacWhiskey and rushed the cuts, so I ran it all back through with a couple of gens of CFW and it was some seriously tasty whiskey!

[aussiebrewer]

considering putting down a 150L wash of something similar to this but thinking of going 2L corn 1L barley and 1L rye (instead of wheat). So i am in need for some advice :-D

Im curious on the amounts. if i scale up to 150L it makes it

10L Corn
5L Barley
5L Rye

I may add more corn as i like JD and it has a high corn count but i wont go 80%. Im not after a weak flavour also, cereal washes have been alright but are a disappointment to me for whisky.

I want to know how many kg to buy. for example is 5L of rye 3kg of rye, or more/less?
Corn ill get cracked at a stock feed place for nicks hopefully but the rye and barley will be the money spenders so i only want to buy enough for the 150L if i go through with it, thats it.

if some is left over so be it but would rather buy exact amounts in the beginning,

craft brewer in Capalaba is where im looking for Rye and barley so if anyone knows one cheaper im all ears :D . was going to check out Capalaba Produce for the corn perhaps, feed grade is all i want right?

Need to organise this over the next few days if if i am to go ahead with it.

Cheers
AB

[aussiebrewer]

turns out after a phone call can get cracked corn for $17.90 and barley for $14 for 20kg bags each at capalaba produce. guess ill just have to lump it with the rye prices at craft brewer.

***still, how many kg should i buy at craft brewer for 5L rye malted ,this one http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=798

does this rye look alright and i assume feed grade barley will be fine too along with the cracked corn for feed. they had rye seed but not grain.
read many times over that malted rye has more flavour than unmalted, wont get any time to convert any starch i would think so ill just be sticking to 4kg sugar per 30L so 20kg all up i would think.

cheers
AB

[warramungas]

Something I found with larger sugar head washes was that even if you upped the quantity of grain with the sugar it still only used the top inch or so of grain in the fermenter.
So id do a 150 liter wash with a sh*ttonne of grain and sugar but only the top couple of inches looked like it had been used. Youd scrape that off and give it to the chooks and you'd have fresh looking grain underneath it.
I'm only doing about a 20 liter bucket of corn at a time (about 3 or 4 inches in depths) in a drum fermenter then can pretty much throw most of it away keeping a little bit for the yeast for the next generation with another bucket of fresh corn (boiled then cooled first of course).

[aussiebrewer]

I understand what your saying warra, the yeast only need so much for the amount of sugar in there, but if i were to add in more than i need will it increase final flavour. im not after a bland product.

[warramungas]

I understand what your saying warra, the yeast only need so much for the amount of sugar in there, but if i were to add in more than i need will it increase final flavour. im not after a bland product.

The one I just did (months ago) seemed the same as the others however I'm still a fair noob when it comes to flavoured washes. I have the second Gen still sitting in there waiting for my boiler to be built.
I can't answer that question definitively yet until I run a few more washes but I know all the old school washes I've done the grain bed looks 'spent' on top and relatively untouched below. The wash on the next generation when I just pull the top off the grain bed, add dunder, sugar and water and stir the bejeezeus out of it ends up looking and smelling the same after fermentation as a fresh grain and dunder batch (foul) :mrgreen: .

[scythe]

The more sugar you give the yeast the less it will look for it in the grain?
Im assuming that yeast is lazy like water and electricity and take the path of least resistance.
So if you have a big block of digestable sugar sitting next to a lump of grain the sugar will be processed into ethanol before /faster than it could process the grain.
So maybe the yeast is getting to its FG before it can properly process the grain's sugars.

Which could be why only the top bit of grain is spent.
...
...
Maybe.

[warramungas]

The more sugar you give the yeast the less it will look for it in the grain?
Im assuming that yeast is lazy like water and electricity and take the path of least resistance.
So if you have a big block of digestable sugar sitting next to a lump of grain the sugar will be processed into ethanol before /faster than it could process the grain.
So maybe the yeast is getting to its FG before it can properly process the grain's sugars.

Which could be why only the top bit of grain is spent.
...
...
Maybe.

I'm not a biochemist bit I always assumed that the grain only looks used in the top inch or two (sometimes the bed is 12 inches deep) because the yeast needs oxygen to work. The process in the compacted grain bed becomes anaerobic quickly once the oxygen becomes depleted in the tiny cavities down there. The mass of water and sugar above with the bulk of the oxygen can't circulate through it and trapped CO2 buildup displaces any available O2.

[aussiebrewer]

Im looking at it this way.say you make a tea in boiling water with one teabag. if yoy double or tripple the teabags the flovour increasea. im wondering if doubling ingredients while you simmer them in boiling water would this increase the flavour.

Think about it... biab has no grain but still has flavour and nuetrients so a slow simmer thsi way would seem like the go to make.it stronger?

Thoughts

[warramungas]

Im looking at it this way.say you make a tea in boiling water with one teabag. if yoy double or tripple the teabags the flovour increasea. im wondering if doubling ingredients while you simmer them in boiling water would this increase the flavour.

Think about it... biab has no grain but still has flavour and nuetrients so a slow simmer thsi way would seem like the go to make.it stronger?

Thoughts

I'm not an expert by a long shot and never proclaimed to be. I just use the thought that if its only using the top little bit regardless how deep the bed is, why have a really deep bed? It just takes up volume and doesn't seem to get used. The grain looks fresh as a daisy under the brown stuff.
BIAB is a different kettle of fish as you're converting mostly unfermentable starches to short chain polysaccharides the yeast are happy to munch on.
Longer boiling I'm sure would help but if your going to muck around with that you may as well do BIAB and have you ever tried to do BIAB or convert 20+ kg of corn?

[Teddysad]

I have done many experimental grain based wash / mashes in 5l glass demi-john fermenters. - currently have one going with only unmalted barley, water and a chinese yeast.
In these I can see the action and consistently I see the grains upheaving in a mass and rising before settling down again.

The type of yeast may have an effect top fermenting or bottom fermenting.

On the bigger scale runs, I certainly dont see only the top level of the grain disturbed.

The density of a very fine crush may contribute to the phenomenon

[CyBaThUg]

Hey I'm a little impatient if I was just to do 1 gen of say 200 ltr would it still have a bourbon taste

[bluc]

A lot of the bourbon taste comes from the dunder I reakon its more like a whiskey than a bourbon when you dont do gens. I reakon its still nice but if you want bourbun flavour go for gens and a decent amount of time on oak :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[CyBaThUg]

Got my cracked corn and wheat but thought the barley was a tad expensive $30 for 20 kg is that about right or not

[TasSpirits]

Got my cracked corn and wheat but thought the barley was a tad expensive $30 for 20 kg is that about right or not

$20 for 40kg or $18 for 25kg down in Tassie

[rumdidlydum]

Is it malted? If so its about the price I payed.

[CyBaThUg]

Not malted its from the feed store