HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Ive been distilling for a few years (7 or 8 ) using the home brew shop goodies.
flavour & wood chips but as good as it is (98-99% ethanol, double distilled) it is not authentic or have that real bourbon sour mash tang to it.

so I would like to go back to an original corn/rye mash in a pot still, instead of the yeast/sugar mix in my reflux still (beer keg with a 30cm tower).

now mashing is not one of my fortea's so any info will help!

has any one else gone down this path???

Mick.

Of course not, as it is illegal...

I think your best option would be to google a US site. I'm sure there'd be plenty of stuff there.

was discussing a similar topic with Kev recently about doing a high alc all grain mash and then distilling it for a 'single' malt type approach.

As far as distilling goes, when you use the turbo yeast you will always bugger up the distillation process as the result isnt just ethanol. Ive seem the distillation setups and smelt the end product.

the end result isnt just ethanol. not by a long shot. i can smell the other alcohols from across the room. I have worked with ethanol in a lab for the past 12 years so i know the smell. Hell, i am happy to prove it to you.

As for the sour mash.

A few links for you to read up on....
Link
Link 2

Cheers
DrSmurto

drsmurto,
I know what you mean with "the smell" (fusol oils, butenol & proponol)
I have smelt others & even my own when I first started, all using elec, heating elements which pulse or surge as the thermostat kicks in & out.

thats why I use gas under a keg cut down to 30 ltr with a reflux tower & double distill, the second pass goes for three days & nights non stop, as slow as I can get it. I dont use the first litre (after hitting 78.5) & stop when it wont stay below 80 degrees.

if there are oils or heavier alcohols in it they are scarce!

My spirit doesn't have any smell, thats the problem!!

proper bourbons depend on fusol oils from the corn to flavour the spirit, hense the pot still.

Ive lined it up at the local pub before & got friends to try & pick the BEAM from mine & 100% thought mine was the BEAM because it was smooth enough to drink straight, they expected home brew to be rough.

Oh & thanks for the link, I had googled for info before but that stuff is new!

Mick.

Have a good look at this one cos you can achieve almost the same thing without a mash although obviously the mash would be better
http://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Uncle_Jesse's_Simple_Sour_Mash_Method

If your looking to do a full mash then the directions for backset etc are the same but just make sure that your mash is about 51% crushed corn + approx 30% malt grain ( your choice) and if you want something along the lines of a jacks then also add 19% rye , as for the actual mash just look it up on here its pretty simple and i would expect that you would want to keep the temp fairly high say about 68-70*C and use about 3 litres water per kilo of grain/corn

I tried making spirits but gave up as they tasted poor.

What yeast do you recommend dr smurto?

Ive never made spirits!

I was just suggesting that if i did i would do a full mash using a high alc tolerance ale yeast.

Turbo yeast is insane at producing up to 20% abv but its the other alcohols that it produces i dont like.