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In this Discussion
- crozdog June 2015
- fadge June 2015
- FloridaCracker June 2015
- grim June 2015
- Johnboy June 2015
- punkin June 2015
- rossco June 2015
- Smaug June 2015
- Unsensibel June 2015
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I asked the brew shop for EC 1118 but when got home she has given me w-yeast 2049 I used 1 sachet 7gms left it in cup of warm water for about 10 mins started to foam up, then added to fermenter is that enough or should I add the second sachet as well
@Johnboy what volume or batch size is that ? I'm guessing 40-50-60lt with that much corn and 7kgs dextrose. Does not seem enough yeast, this is generation 1, so its your base to work from, no yeast needed after this lot if it all goes to plan for you. Hopefully the brewers will help you out with this, but I recall 1 x 7gm yeast per 20-25lt wash ?
It will take 3 or 4 weeks with the lower temps this time of the year. Summer is 2-3 weeks, winter up to 6 weeks at times.
From what I've been making over the last 2 years that seems like a lot of corn, you may not even get any of the malt to get past the corn taste. It will get you a bourbon base, just depends what your after profile wise. (BUT I was trying for a whiskey, not bourbon, so mine has developed to almost no corn, perhaps 10 or 25 % max)
cheers
fadge
That's the bill for a 40l wash in my house.
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Punkin do you think I should pitch more yeast or do you feel that will be enough? With the blanket on its around 26 degrees
If it's ferementing then it's enough. i would have pitched more myself, but if it takes off with no infection the first time then the huge yeast bed, high abv and low oh will protect it from infections after the first ferment.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
So I pitched another 7 gms of yeast this morning got home 10 hrs later and still not a lot happening temp is 28 small amount of foam on surface but no real action should I give it a good stir up, leave it be, or learn to be patient?
I usually pitch 24gm of us05 for a 60litre beer wash. Some take off from the get go, others take a day or two. I my uj is really old and I can't remember how much yeast I pitched. I leave it to ferment 6 weeks or so. Hope this helps.
Some just take a while to show activity, I find if you place ya ear on the drum (or if using cling wrap as a top cover is easier) you can hear the slight fizzing or bubbles like say a glass of lemonade from the fermenter - its working ok. After that you may not even see air bubbles in the air lock if its not quite sealed. I do 2 barrels at a time and often only one air lock show activity, sometimes both for only a few days, but the sound test is always working.
I used to check far too much, take the lid off the have a look and stuff, but now its just mix it up and let it go, every time it does ferment out, some just take a bit longer, you know temps when mixing, maybe ph, at the end they all work, so just hang in and wait a bit.
Winter is a bitch, heaters , blankets, but just need a bit more time.
fadge
Cheers guys it has a fizzing sound just no real bubbles I expected a fairly violent ferment agitating the corn and such, is that the normal story
Winter? Crap, it was 92 here yesterday. Anything fermenting here will blow the cap off! Temp on any mash will be a huge factor and sometimes just a degree or two will make a big difference. Hang in there. The great poet Tom Petty once wrote "The waiting is the hardest part". He was referring to whiskey mashes.
haha 28 c should be about perfect for the yeast Ive used so hopefully it ll get a move on shortly Next question is how would you guy recommend running it? I could just do a quick strip in pot mode or do a full run to practise my cuts but how many plates is the norm for a bourbon run? I was thinking 4?
So my wash finally ran its course after repitching some new EC1118 was still not a fast ferment took 10 days wrapped in electric blanket running at 26 degreesC let it sit for 24hrs no blanket 12degreesC nice and clear, set up and ran it on 4 plates. Both elements 6kw took 34 mins from 14c to boil fogged first plate waited till for second to fog like the manual says never happen looked away for a couple secs to read manual again looked back to see both bottom T's full of foaming wash shut down 3600w element waited for it to calm down, then let it reflux for an hr ran off 200ml of fores. start heads 90ABV 750ml switched jars at 85ABV collected to 70ABV 250ml collected remaining 4.5L to 30ABV shut down cos it was 3am washed up made second wash with backset used raw sugar this time smells like bourbon in shed today fermenting flat-out not like before. A few questions Every 500ml jar tastes like a spicy aniseed sort of flavour, nothing like bourbon what did i do wrong? or is that the rye ? Why did the ABV drop so quickly from the beginning? I was running at 10mins per 500ml is that too fast? I had to run 3600w to maintain pencil stream from 60ABV down No Defleg from 70ABV is this normal? PC temp ran solid at 16.5degrees. I calculated 3.6L based on SG readings but got 5L at 50%(2.5L 100%??) once I threw it all in a feints jar. Should I bin it as it has such strong flavour rather than use in next boiler charge?
Sorry for all the Questions first run and all.
Johnboy
The rye will definitely give it some spicy flavor. Also, when white, you should get kind of a grain smell not a traditional whisky smell. That comes after you introduce it to our friend oak.
Also remember that successive generations of UJ will get better. After the 3rd or 4th you will really notice how much better. Hang in there. Sounds like you are making great progress.
no real grain or corn smell just strong aniseed flavour
Im worried it will taint the next batch if I include it in the boiler charge
Were your jars new? I have a few cases of grandma's pickle jars in the basement, no matter what I do they'll always smell like pickles.
brand new never used tasted same straight out of parrot all still parts were washed in dishwasher prior then run 900ml of heads and fores plus reflux time should have been plenty to final clean rig
new wash has the sour mash bourbon smell so hopefully its a winner i used dex the first wash, raw sugar this time smells way nicer
So no ideas on the aniseed flavour??
Anise Seed Oil was once used as an insect and pest repellent (CAS # 8007-70-3). Is it possible that your corn may have been treated with a pesticide or fungicide?
Chemically, you would find it very difficult to produce an anise/licorice/fennel flavor without the use of herbs. Certainly possible that you may have had your mash infected by some kind of very odd microbe that produces some sort of anethole compound, but probably unlikely.
Much more likely that the chemical basis for the odor came in on one of the ingredients used.
Taste and smell are pretty subjective, so who knows it could be completely normal, but you are just picking up on it. I don't know that grain flavored rum would taste identical to new make bourbon, but maybe... :)
It'll be ok first strip is always dodgy.
The raw sugar is what we have always used, the successive generations will all merge together. White dog doesn't taste or smell like bourbon, most of what you think of as bourbon comes from the barrel or dominos.
Sounds like you had a good first run and a great learning experience. It's like the first time you learn to drive a motorbike. Things get easier as you learn what to expect the bike to do. There's only so much you can put in a manual about learning to drive.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
Ok i guess we'll see what the next gen comes out like are the volumes about right? 250mls of 70-85 doesn't seem much?? I would have thought that the hearts would have been a larger cut then tail off fast. but bulk of run was 60ABV down
I got the grains from home brew shop corn was from USA as was malted rye
Did I read this correctly?
You ran 4 plates
Fores - 200ml
Heads - 750ml @ 90% ABV
Hearts - 250ml @ 85%-70% ABV
Tails - 4.5L @ 70% - 30% ABV
???
Seems very odd to me... I'm running 4 plates as well and am controlling for deph. temp. between 50C-60C. Collecting in mutliples of 500ml and making the cuts the day after by taste. Typically, by the time my collection speeds goes down, there's not that much alcohol left and when I increase my power or decrease reflux, my ABV drops so sharply that now I don't really bother to collect tails (stinks up the place anyhow).
-> Maybe you let the deph temp get too high?
Pretty sure he said he stripped without reflux condensor
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...then let it reflux for an hr...
I had to shut defleg off to maintain slow trickle then had to up power to get tails defleg temp was around 60 when I shut it off
Was I just running too hard at 10 mins per 500 ml
Sounds like you were doing a stripping run ie no dephleg induced reflux & running fast.
If that was your aim, fine. If you were looking to pull drinkable product out of a single pass, you need to change a few things. my suggestions would be - back off to 1 element sooner. - if you have power control on the remaining element - experiment with the power level so you can get 100% reflux without escaping vapour or you plates going mad. - let it sit nice and happy in 100% reflux for 30 + mins - next you have 2 options either SLOWLY decrease the dephleg needle valve or SLIGHTLY increase the power input so your parrot starts to SLOWLY fill - collect fores drip by drip - I collect them out of the bottom of the parrot (about 200ml for a 40l boiler charge). - close parrot drain valve and SLOWLY collect heads. I adjust the needle valve or power controller SLIGHTLY so I take heads at a fast drip but not a stream. I will only collect up to 500ml to start before swapping collection jars to help with making cuts later. - when the smell & taste are smoothing out swap in another jar & increase your take off rate slightly. a fine stream is good - when you are sure you are into hearts - & not before, increase your output again to get a pencil lead thick or larger stream. - keep an eye on the alchometer as well as the smell / taste as you'll want to swap jars more frequently as you near the end so you can make a good tails cut - air the jars for a day or 3 before making your cuts.
Don't forget to take notes while doing all the above including alchometer readings when you swap jers.
All that said, I have to agree with punkin - sounds like you have learnt a lot already.
Sorry can't help with the aniseed smell / taste. Could just be your sense of smell? It may not be aniseed like...have you asked others for their opinion (without saying that you think it aniseed)? Depending on what others think of what you collected, I reckon you have 3 options for what you collected from this run:
FYI Getting into making beer & spirits will do a lot for your sensory development if you focus on it a bit ;-).
Did you do a vinegar/water cleaning run? What about a feints run or was this the maiden voyage?
Ohhh yes - that sudden jump from 1 plate fogged to the top plate going crazy can be real short - its caught me a few times & had hot alcohol spewing all over my bench before I noticed!!!