Corn Whiskey at 65% tastes quite nice....

Blackie

The guy from over the ditch
Joined
Jun 23, 2017
Location
Richmond, New Zealand.
Fresh out of the still last week, watered down to 65% to oak it.
Looks good, smells good, and tastes great! Well it was just a wee tipple of a tiny amount left after I decanted into another 5 litre jar (so I could remove the oak).
Used Polenta (corn meal) and some real corn to make the brew.
So it's not a purists type of Moonshine, but certainly I won't be complaining about it.
Next brew is going to be a Corn Flake and Nutri-grain mix. Just to try out the flavours.
Interesting times ahead.
What are you guys quietly dribbling down your throats?
Hope all goes well with all you guys in OZ.
Cheers.
 
They look like a nice brew. Before I retired from full time work I drove wine/cider tankers.
25,000 litres or so at a time @ 9%.
The brewery would water it down to 4.5% and bottle it with some CO2 for 'fizz'.
So, I do like a good cider. Nice refreshing drink and I enjoy one or two on a hot day.
Missus has a berry cider in the fridge at the moment.
I prefer the apple though. The pear I can't go at all.
 
did you mash the corn or just add it for flavour? i did a full mash bourbon at one point and as good as it tastes the work was not worth it cooking the corn and using a ton of of rice hulls and still had to pull out the biab bag to be able to drain it on the first mash. the rest of the mashes i did just went straight into the bag. i havent been game to do a bourbon since.
 
Heated 20 litres of water, poured it into a chilly-bin (Esky?).
Had the grain in a grain bag. Dropped that into the hot water and left it there (lid on plus an old towel on top for extra insulation). Gave the bag a swill around and stir a couple of times.
2 or 3 hours later remove and drain bag into the chilly-bin. Give it a good squeeze (and it will still be quite hot so take care).
Tip all the water (wash) into the fermenter.
Sparge (rinse) the bag with more hot water and squeeze out any remaining wash into the fermenter.
I ended up with 22 litres of wash (you will loose some water as the grain sucks it up, but the sparge water helps build the quantity up again).
Add Amylase. Add sugar and stir in.
Let it cool down to about 24 degrees C (or whatever your yeast requires), and add the yeast.
All done except for the waiting.
Give the whole lot a stir up every few days for a while to put oxygen into the wash as this helps the yeast.
I only do mine a couple of times.
So no mashing as such (I don't boil the grain).
I still get the starch from the grains, Amylase converts that to sugar, plus I add sugar. Yeast converts sugar to alcohol.
When I collect the parts of the run I want, I bung that into a glass carboy. Dilute down to 65% as otherwise can affect flavour once oak chips go in. Too high in alcohol (70%+ will drag out a lot of tannins from oak and can taste nasty. I leave oak chips in for about 8 days only, and that's enough for decent taste/colour. Different story if you have a proper oak barrel though...leave it there for months/years.
I will then dilute down to 45% - 50% for a nice sipping whiskey, and bottle it.
No, I'm not a p*sshead...I only have a 'finger' of booze plus an ice cube (or a drop of water) to 'crack' the whiskey once or twice a month.
I just like making the stuff.
Give it away to family and friends mainly.
 
im the same way now very rarely drink but still enjoy making it so dont make beer as much now more just spirits for friends and family as a creative outlet of sorts. does the corn flavour really come through? i might give it a go soon im down to the last 5 litres thats been soaking on staves for 3 years now so nearly ready to bottle maybe.and im nearly ready to try again after the battles last time. not cooking and mashing the corn sounds worth a try.
 
I was looking at doing a sugar wash, in order to distil a gin.

Lady in my life is a G+T girl, and that juniper-based stuff ain't cheap. I figure a few litres will pay for all of the hardware, and get me some brownie points along the way.

Plus, she is a big proponent of essential oils. I can use that line to convince her on my buying a still! (y)
 
My new brew with the corn flakes and Nutri-grain will be hot water in a pot, bung in the cereals, and mush it all together.
Then bung that into the fermenter with a yeast.
Just wanting to see how the flavour comes through.
Will make a mess of the fermenter though.
Yes, try the Esky idea. Works fine.
The breakfast whiskey 🥃 sounds bloody good and crazy, don’t forget the the cream Horse
 
Thanks @SpeedyPC I'm going to make up a label for the bottles, and call it 'Breakfast Whiskey' (or 'Brekkie Whiskey'?).
Or...maybe some of you can come up with a name?
'Speedy Whiskey' may not work though.
 
Well @Rami if said stranger came over here and knocked on the door...he may just get a wee drop or two offered.
@Arnold J Rimmer good idea! My setup cost 'about' $800 - $900 all up. It wasn't all in one hit as I added and altered things as I went along. You could easily do a simple setup for $400 and make great Rum, Whiskey, Gin. I have easily recovered my outlay compared to buying bottles of commercial spirits.
Don't know about sharing the still with essential oils though. Probably OK if you frantically wash the whole still clean between oils and alcohol making.
Hey, get the right still and you can make your own car fuel too (or should that be rocket fuel?).
 
Hehe...

Nothing like a good steam clean!

I don't know about the fuel though... my car runs diesel, and that would be a messy cleanup!

My late father-in-law has a brewing kit in his garage that gets no use, so I have a wash tub with all of the necessary fermenting hardware... just need the distiller.

I know that the ones on ebay are pretty cheap, and require a flame to be motivated. I'm thinking of getting one of those to start, and seeing if I can modify it with a hot water heater element and building a smart temperature controller, down the line.

Hell, if I can replicate results from a $6000 coffee roaster for $100, this should be a snap! Plus I have the heating elements at work!
 
Thanks for that link...now 'bookmarked'.
This guy has some great videos, and products.
https://distiller.co.nz/index.html#products
Temp controller is easy. I built my own...it's a power controller to cut back the power for the run once the still is up to temp. Cost about $12 to make including the Dick Smith metal box to hold it.
I had my build details and photos up on a distilling forum but can't find them (yet). Will keep looking though.
Here's a link to a slightly different one to my build.
http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4056&start=15

For a column I think that realistically you need at least 50mm (2") diameter tube or you will be there all day waiting for the run to finish.
Something at least 400mm high will be a help too for the final product (yeah, some guys make a pot still with a short column but some guys also drink the brew straight out of the still with no other interest in actually trying to make a good brew).
Here's my setup, first as a pot still then as a hybrid (I whacked a water jacket on to it). Getting cleaner spirit with better alcohol level.
Just scroll through to the various piccy's.
https://paste-and-cut.com.au/community/threads/not-a-brew-day-but-a-stillin-day.5240/#post-135604
 
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nice work @Blackie

interesting concept in regards the cereal brew, keen to know how it turns out

whats your recipe for cider? i love a good cider but never attempted at making one
 
Hurry up HORE!!!!

Pass me the bloody breakfast whiskey 🥃 I’m trying to recover from the men’s flu, because the Dog (@tim33z) can’t give me a cuddle to get myself better

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