Whisky washes and ideas

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

So this sounds like a lockdown post... apologies for that, but I cant remember how I did it last time (sugar wash and cider), and some advice would be appreciated...

19.7L wort at SG 1.074 (100% pale malt) and I have Goldstar Instant Yeast for it

• Intend running it at 25 deg. I think this worked well for cider. Is this ideal for this too?
• One sachet or two? (weird that they dont give instructions on the bread yeast packet, regarding how much to use for brewing!? )
• Do I need to hydrate or not?
• Nothing else I need to add is there? (such as nutrients)

TIA


And in other news...
Jeez Louise, I cant believe how much a cube shrinks!. And here I squeezed it so it wouldnt explode from initial handling. I think my 20L has shrunk to 15L. Maybe the angels are taking their share early.

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Doing a run today.

Had to fix my SCR on the little single plate stove so that delayed things. Getting very low yield ATM with a max of 60% out the spout. May be cos my block of ice was still mostly water when I started so not condensing as much as last time. I guess that means it's just alcohol lost as it has pumped out and not been collected.

This is just the first half of the wash, so well see how the second goes.

Quite surprised how similar this all grain wash and distill vapour smells versus the previous birdwatchers. I expected to detect as lot more graininess. Especially with the low ABV. Has been tasting pretty nice tho and not harsh at all.

IMG_20201205_123557.jpg

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Doing the second half stripping run today, hopefully, if the ice block has frozen up properly and not just an exoskeleton like yesterday.

I know it's common practice to add tails from previous runs into a current run (not sure if this applies if previous run was a sugar wash) but nonetheless, does one really want to dump something in there that smells like dogs arse and stinky shoes!? Does it not contaminate your flavours or maybe just give you more tails in the new run?

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Thanks for that.

Pushed my still to it's capacity limit so wouldn't have had space to add old tails anyway.

I actually bought some activated carbon but since learned that the aquarium AC is nasty shyte that your can't use for alcohol. So I might just need to make safe cuts and/or triple distill to keep it cleaner.

Still had a hell of a time maintaining a steady temp increase with continuous fluctuations of temp at the top of the column despite pretty steady temps at the pot.

Edit: oh, and this happened:
IMG_20201206_213915.jpg
I believe it will be as awful as theory predicts, but I would just like to know what a whiskey beer tastes like

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

OK so I've got a few white spirits here at home. One is a bastard "bourbon" wash with a bit of sour corn that went into the ferment, and it was then mixed with an all-grain wash so it's not technically "bourbon", the corn content is too low.

I also have an all-grain one here that's gone through two slooooow spirit runs, pure single malt, and all that.

I have no idea what to do with these two jars. It is 3l per jar, and if I remember correctly they're clocking in at around 75% ABV each. I want to do a whisky with the one, but my patience is a problem and I don't know how it'll turn out. I want a SWEET whisky (maybe with the corn batch), but I'm not sure how to treat my oak to get a sweet finish. I got a pretty sweet finish on a previous whisky I made, but it also turned out REALLY harsh. As in, I don't want to drink the rest, harsh. I'm thinking of adding that to the aging spirit just to do something with it. Or include it in my next spirit run. I dunno.

Anyway, how do I make my oak impart a "sweet" flavour, and less "oak"?

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

flavor-profile-of-toasting-oak-chips-temperature-vs-time-1.jpg

150 deg seems to be the sweet spot for sweet. Not sure why this table indicates 3 hours. I did all mine at 3 hours but I since found that 1 hour seems to be the average recommended toasting time.

Maybe increasing the char or including more charred pieces will help with the harshness.

I had a sugarwash tails/ whisky tails redistill put through aquarium activated carbon (yes, a crime), then 195deg / 3h toasted oak, half charred, and it was pretty damn good and smooth after just 2 weeks, much to my surprise.

I would kind of expect the vanilla range would also give a sweet perception?

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Yes I would love the sweet vanilla range. I toasted mine in the oven to hit that spot (even using a probe thermometer because the oven temps are horrible), but I got STRONG oak flavours even after a month on the oak. Still harsh.

I'll run it through aquarium charcoal before I age on it a bit. I did buy a box, might as well use it. Other option is to add the carbon powder I have here (bought for purpose) and then just re-distill both batches together, with some water diluted down to about 30% ABV. Might work best. Then I have triple distilled new age spirit that was put on proper carbon.

I can then do the oaking to taste. It's just so much work. Maybe I should cheat and add the Irish Whisky syrup I have lying around here. That being said I need to make a rum again. Soon. Sommer this weekend.

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

OK so I'm going to be working on my whisky a bit this week. I have to distill a 20l wash to get a good quantity of new make I can start aging.

On a related note, a client ordered single malt whisky washes this week and I make him two kits so long. I used a shitload of malt, LOTS of effort but in the end managed to get to a 1.092 OG wash in the can. 75% effieciency. Smell is incredible, and it's super sweet. Cheated a bit and added spraymalt, but it's still in his scope so we're both happy. Can't wait to hear his feedback on it.

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Made a few washes lately. Got around 10 of spirit post stripping that I'm running now. Doing more fine cuts in an effort to not be a stingy bastard, and it's helping. Currently in the hearts and it tastes and smells amazing. Very happy right now.

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