What are you brewing?

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

Very easy to get a high gravity wort.

Start with a high SG and then boil the crap out of it. If it works for the belgians, it'll work for you.

That's what I don't want to do. I don't boil the wort at all, actually. Just let it cool to around 35 and then pitch yeast. I'd rather run the still a few more times than boil the stuff for 3 or 4 hours before even fermenting just to get a higher OG wort.

Is it bad practice to cut your whisky wash with sugar? Specially when adding specialty malts or corn? Because corn apparently gives a very strong flavour. I see it in my currently fermenting wash as well. Smells great. Can't wait!

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

I'm keen to see how 100g in 20lt comes out

is good, i've done it before :-) i really need to get to BG, i'm mad keen to try that southern passion whirlpool and dh only american wheat. every time i go there i get a speeding ticket though

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

Is it bad practice to cut your whisky wash with sugar? Specially when adding specialty malts or corn? Because corn apparently gives a very strong flavour. I see it in my currently fermenting wash as well. Smells great. Can't wait!

the 'Mericans add anything to bourbon because then you can't call it whiskey

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

I'm more asking about the "bad practice" with regards to "how will it affect the taste". I've made a white rum before - it was nothing to write home about, but it wasn't bad at all. It just didn't taste like whisky like an all-grain distillate does. So how would it affect the flavour if I add, say, 30 gravity points or so just to make up some alcohol in the wash?

I don't really want to push the yeast too far. I'd love to get a 10% or 11% ABV wash before distillation, but with grain it's only really "possible" for me without too much effort to get to around 8% ABV, from experience. I just want to get my yield up a little bit, but I don't want to sacrifice too much of the flavour or quality.

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

I'm more asking about the "bad practice" with regards to "how will it affect the taste". I've made a white rum before - it was nothing to write home about, but it wasn't bad at all. It just didn't taste like whisky like an all-grain distillate does. So how would it affect the flavour if I add, say, 30 gravity points or so just to make up some alcohol in the wash?

I don't really want to push the yeast too far. I'd love to get a 10% or 11% ABV wash before distillation, but with grain it's only really "possible" for me without too much effort to get to around 8% ABV, from experience. I just want to get my yield up a little bit, but I don't want to sacrifice too much of the flavour or quality.

i could taste the dextrose in an ag batch i made, there was a marked difference vs a grain only batch. i wont do it again. you could always do two ferments, strip them out and mix them before the spirit run - that will help your yield.

[paul.stevens Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close paul.stevens]

As someone who doesn't distil, wouldn't adding normal sugar work? It should increase your ABV without diluting flavour or adding any new flavours wouldn't it?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

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

i could taste the dextrose in an ag batch i made, there was a marked difference vs a grain only batch. i wont do it again. you could always do two ferments, strip them out and mix them before the spirit run - that will help your yield.

Yeah a few minutes after I posted the above I realised I answered myself - I don't want to sacrifice quality. I'm not going to go with it. My next batch of malt is milled, and I'll mash and pitch tomorrow. Will try my first reiterated mash and see how it goes.

As someone who doesn't distil, wouldn't adding normal sugar work? It should increase your ABV without diluting flavour or adding any new flavours wouldn't it?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

Paul you're no distiller, but you're a pretty good beer maker. Let me explain it to you in beer terms:

Malt provides alcohol in beer, but it also provides mouthfeel and flavour, a specific "richness" you don't get from sugar. Just like regular table sugar waters down a beer, providing a thin beer with higher alcohol content, it does the same thing to distillates. Lighter, thinner, lower in flavour and with a higher ABV. It works for some things, like vodka and white rum, but for whisky I don't want that.

[paul.stevens Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close paul.stevens]

Thanks for explaining, that makes sense.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

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

Yeah I was like Paul. You're just after the alcohol right so gooi the sugar! Apparently not quite. Im enjoying reading through the process although i dont intend ever trying

Sent from my SM-A515F using Tapatalk

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

Yeah I was like Paul. You're just after the alcohol right so gooi the sugar! Apparently not quite. Im enjoying reading through the process although i dont intend ever trying

Sent from my SM-A515F using Tapatalk

I was the same. Only after distilling various washes did I find the difference in "new make spirit" is HUGE depending on the source. Hell, new make "whisky" tastes quite a bit like whisky just on it's own. Sweet, aromatic and flavourful. Plain sugar wash (without molasses or brown sugar) to me is like drinking fire. It does nothing other than burn.

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

I was the same. Only after distilling various washes did I find the difference in "new make spirit" is HUGE depending on the source. Hell, new make "whisky" tastes quite a bit like whisky just on it's own. Sweet, aromatic and flavourful. Plain sugar wash (without molasses or brown sugar) to me is like drinking fire. It does nothing other than burn.

This is where the reflux still shines, absolute neutral ethanol from a sugar wash (if your fermentation was clean of course) I suppose running a sugar wash through a pot-still could be more 'rummy'as you're pulling flavor in from the wash itself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I haven't tried doing that....

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

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2700[/ATTACH]

Haha Jig has rubbed off on you

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

Haha Jig has rubbed off on you

I hope not! I'm not that way inclined

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

EDIT: Had the details of my brew but now i'm totally bummed, batch got scorched, and I really only saw it after pitching
Noticed a slight toastyness/roastyness and thought it was the munich/melanoidin as i have never used either.

First batch which im probably going to dump. F#@%!

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

Like how bad? I would run it through the process and see on bottling day. Might not taste to style, but might not be bad either