Spirit recipes (bourbon)

[jimmyjames121285]

Hi ive been brewing beer for a few years and have just started with the spirits. Ive been trying with a few different brands of essence' but havent found one yet that makes a bourbon similar to Wild Turkey. Any help would be great.
Thanks,
James

[DavidP]

what type of still do you have?
if you have a reflux still you'll have a hard time making any real bourbon.
you'd need a pot still that carries through the flavour.
you'll find recipies on here http://www.homedistiller.org/

[lethaldog]

Like david said making a "REAL"bourbon at home is hard but you can get something pretty good out of a single run wash, my best advice is go to your local hbs and get some bourbon chips, if you go to a brewcraft store they actually sell a product called gobblers chips, add 1 pack to 3.5 litres of spirit at 43% and leave sit for a month then add i bottle of kentucky bourbon essence and see how that goes for taste, the only way i have seen that makes a really good bourbon is to use these wood chips but unless you want to go through the whole process of mashing and stilling in stages then this is the best your gonna get and personally i think it turns out pretty good!

[billybushcook]

Lethaldog,
That was pretty much the same as I ended up doing it, except I was double distilling in a reflux still (home made from a keg with 15" s/s tower) to get a pure spirit which had no smell & smooth as silk on the palate, then sit it on charcoal for a few weeks then Gobblers chips for as long as I could, finished with a small amount of flavouring,
Just out of curiosity, I was told that the Gobblers chips where the shavings from old Turkey barrells after they were "skimmed out" to renew them, has any one else heard this?

I have stopped making it now because although it was a smooth drinking bourbon with a nice flavour, it was not "the real thing" & was lacking that typical bourbon "Tang"
Considered going all grain & souring the mash (actually tried it once & failed) but too much work when I can go to the botle'o & buy a liter of Wild Turkey for $59.00 why bother??

Mick.

[lethaldog]

Just out of curiosity, I was told that the Gobblers chips where the shavings from old Turkey barrells after they were "skimmed out" to renew them, has any one else heard this?

This is true "as far as they let you belive" but ive never seen any proof however they are quite good, also have jack daniels and jim beam chips and some manufacturers also have rum and scotch.

[DavidP]

on the home distiler site that I posted there is a recipe for corn whiskey.
you don't have to mash the corn but you do ferment on the same corn over and over adding backset each time.
look it up...it's called UJSM. It is VERY popular there and doesn't get any easier!

[Red Dirt Ink]

i'm currently doing this mash and will be running my still this weekend. it was really easy to do and once i have some back set in there it should be a nice sour whiskey i will tell you guys how it goes.

[rob m]

This is my bourbon recipe

10-15 grams of jack daniels wood chip per litre and soak for seven days then filter (i use a high tech filter...a funnel with a tissue jammed in it)
Once filtered add 1 heaped teaspoon of sugar to the bottle along with 10 ml of bodines sour mash bourbon essence.
Give it a shot you won't regret it

[DavidP]

the other alternative is to use the brown unbleached coffee filters. No pieces of that will come off and may just do a better job than a tissue....I also hear people use cotton wool.

[DavidP]

i'm currently doing this mash and will be running my still this weekend. it was really easy to do and once i have some back set in there it should be a nice sour whiskey i will tell you guys how it goes.

good stuff! the cordials that people use can replicate the bought stuff, but once you make your own real whiskey and age it yourself you probably won't go back.
less oak for more time is the key...alot of people over oak.

[lethaldog]

Made an experiment bourbon last year that was really good, it was this simple, just made my spirit as per normal, no mashing etc, then went down to my local timber yard and bought a piece of raw Tassie oak flooring, came home and chipped it up myself ( yes it was a bit of a pain but worth it) Put the chips on a baking tray and just gave them a little spray with water to stop burning and smoking the house out and bassically cooked them for about 20 mins Then covered the bottom of a 20 L food grade bucket say 20mm thick with chips and filled bucket with 40% spirit, i actually let this one sit for 12 months because it seemed a bit woody for lack of a better word in the early months, it got forgotten about and i found it in the shed after 12 months- Magnificent, no added essence or anything just drink as is... ( after filtering of course )

[Brewz 2 You]

I've been making a bit of bourbon lately. The Chips or shavings of the used bourbon barrles are no where near as good as the Chunks. They're large cubes about 2cmx2cm and have much much more bourbon flavour to them.
They are from Jack Danelis & Jim Beam Distillarys RRP is $39.95- $34 at B2Y
You get 3 lots out of the chunks.
1) 2.5L 40%ABV Vodka on 500g Essencia Bourbon Chunks left for 6 days then strain. (the bees knees of bourbon!)
2) 2.5L 40% ABV to the chunks and leave for 2 weeks, strain (Really good sh^t)
3)3L 40%ABV soak for 2 weeks, strain. add 1x bourbon essence. discard chunks & start again (beter then average bourbon)
As long as you have a nice clean base alcohol, ie; filtered thru carbon & Ceramic you should get a excellent result witht the Bourbon chunks

Cheers

James