I had a barrel that I wanted to fill with a rye whiskey I made 4 mashes of George Washington Rye (60% rye 35% Corn 5% Barley) I hated the process for all the same reasons mentioned in the video. But boy, the end result was worth it Great job Jesse
Hey Jesse, have you considered doing the rye with Angel Yellow Label? It takes almost all the "goopiness" out of the equation. I'll wager the sparging will be that much easier also! I'm thinking my next experiment will be a 90% rye malt/10% oat grain bill. What's odd is that I can't stand the taste of rye bread, but LOVE rye whiskey. Um yeah, I'm weird...
I have done a rye using angel yellow label and it did not help the goopiness. The grain bill was 50lb rye, 15lb of wheat, and 17 pounds of malted barley (I may have converted some sugars with this barley but my thermometer was broken at the time so who knows; I added it "by feel"). First day of fermentation my fermenter literally exploded. It shot the airlock to the ceiling with so much force it shattered. It gushed about 4 gallons of mash all over my house and sprayed gook all over my ceiling and walls. After the first week of vigorous fermentation, the fermenter became less active and got a bit cold (66F) so I am not 100% sure it fully dried out. But I began stripping runs about two weeks later anyway (three weeks total). First strip was easy but the second was near to impossible to separate. I believe this was because I almost grinded my rye to a fine flour. I was able to get 2 strips and after hours of trying to strain through several strainers (all for 2 gallons of liquid) I realized the last strip was not worth it and threw the last 10 gallons of gloopy mess out. I got about 4 - 4.5 gallons of low wines at 40ish%. As for the spirit run, I added enough water to cover my element. I took a big heads cut (maybe 1.5 gallons) and cut the heat as soon as I got into tails. The yield was surprisingly bad. I blended about a quart of some headsier/tailiser stuff that was somewhat passible. I got about 2/3 a gallon of quality cuts (149 proof - mostly hearts and some early tails) I was happy with. Huge amount of rye grainy funk and spice. Way better than a 100% wheat mash I previously did using angel yellow, rye just gave me a worse yield (even after accounting for the wasted stripping run). All in all, I would never do a rye mash like that ever again. In hindsight, I believe the effort should go into making a stepped proper mash (w/ a beta glucan rest), ideally using malted rye (no need to gelatinize and heard it can be easier to work with), milled to proper size to lauter using some amount of rice hulls, and finally a high quality brew bag that you can suspend over your kettle to squeeze the bejesus out of. Just my two cents before you waste a whole lot of your time, money, and hairline post fermentation.
Rice hulls and a Protien Rest and Rye isnt bad to work with. Bring your mash to 122-131 °F for ~30 to 60 minutes, Hold it there, then Bring the temp up to 148-158 °F range for ~60-90 minutes and that will take care of a Lot of that sticky gummy issue, I have done a lot of 100% Rye and 100% Oat malt beers this way, never had a problem with a stuck Sparge. My go to Guideline is 1lb of rice hulls for every 5lbs of rye malt.
As a Homebrewer who makes a lot of rye beers, you might want to try using rice hulls in the mash to vastly improve your sparging/draining your wort/wash from your mash.
@@jamesgrey8093 in the case of one of my rye ales, I use ten pounds of rye with one pound of rice hulls. In other batches of were I am using a lot of rye, corn and/or wheat I will throw in a half pound to one pound just to ensure that I don't get a stuck sparge.
without reading through all the comments, I’d suggest alpha-amylase enzymes during the mash mix. I do a lot of cereal mashes and find that some crushed pale malt turns the gel into an easy to use liquid mash. I know there are some new brewer enzymes coming into the market that might target the heavier gel starch of rye. I have been told MGP uses a mash filter, but I bet there are commercial enzymes they use to increase their yields.
I must say awesome vid. I have made lots 100% rye. The key is alpha amylase and lots of beta glucanase. It's temperamental but but not too bad. I will also say you hit the bubble gum note on the mark. Every 100% rye I've ever made had straight up bubble gum at jar#2-4. Like clockwork when jar 3 or 4 start to turn to vegimite you have about half a pint to a pint and you are in pure awesome bready hearts. Rye has become one of my favorite grains to blend with wheat. Especially a chocolate rye. They work really well together.
How long does grain keep for? I have a whole sack of chocolate rye (DP 0) and I've never opened it, it's wrapped in plastic, insulated house, out of sunlight.
@@cabji I've had most of mine vacuum sealed and wrapped like yours for 4-6 months. After that it does get a slightly stale taste. Some say a year or more it I really have never stored mine that long as I don't keep my house at storage room temps with no humidity lol. Deep freezing can make it last a bit longer like up to 12 months. Now that's just my preference and I'm sure others have had success with storing malts differently. I have found with a normal malted Rye that is about to go stale like at the 12-14 month mark you can do a caramel or light chocolate cycle in the oven and bring some flavor back to it. You'll loose any DP you had but the flavor add is well worth it.
I don’t think rice hulls would help as this isn’t the grain sticking together or turning into a porridge. This is sticky high viscosity sugar syrup left after the starch conversion. Rice hulls would give it something else to stick to or be captured in. It might be possible to thin it out with extra glucoamalyse.
rimrock I’ve never distilled nor have I fermented on the grain but as someone that has brewed dozens of beers some with 80% rye grain bills it helps having rice hulls on the home brewing side. It helps create flow when sparging and rinsing the grains
Very good video. A couple of observations. Rye malt usually has a fairly high DP which is why it was so commonly used in good proportion in old Pennsylvania rye whiskey production. Well converted corn malt has almost enough DP to convert itself but nothing else which is why malt corn whiskey was common from small scale (home and community use) moonshiners in the U.S. and early in the frontier days of the mid-west. Also, don't cut yourself short Jesse, remember the Bulleit is MGP rye @95% rye and 5% malt so your technically comparing two different mash bills in the cocktail. You are correct that rye is far more than spice and the rye that most people find in the US is MGP style which typically has either a dill or black cherry note or even anise note too it, but rye is much more diverse than that and depending on style you can pull orange zest, jasmine flower, lavender, apricot, and even star fruit notes from rye. Rye is a giant pain in the ass even for us commercial distillers, particularly with foaming during mash in and in the fermenter and still as well as stickiness. There are enzymes designed specifically for dealing with rye stickiness and flow issues now that would make sparging much easier I would imagine. The first time we fermented rye at Spirits Of French Lick the fermenter foamed up and into our 1 inch plastic airlock hoses that feed into a 2 in pvc pipe that vents to the roof. The turbulence was high enough that it didn't bust the pipe but literally unscrewed the end cap from the pvc!
Your ability to describe flavor notes is impressive brother. Usually the best you can get out of me is whether I like it or not lol. Thanks for the video.
You should try beta-glucan pause (an hour on 45 C) and use rice hulls for filtration on mash stage. Besides you can use ferment Beta-glucanase (Myceliophthora fergusii).
@@chrisv8674 I agree also, a Glucan rest (just different words, same concept.) at 104*f for 20 to 30 minutes breaks down the starches in the hull that cause the KY jelly effect. I just did a 75% rye batch with the rest and it was no worse than 100% barley. A multi rest mashing technique works great but I also mash in a pot over a burner so it's easy for me to bring temp up. Jesse's mash in the plastic fermenter method would probably not be as appropriate to multi temp mashing. You the Man Jesse! Love your channel the most.
@@nateobee That sounds good to me , people that have problems with rye should try it this way,but for lazy people there is always a alternative ,simply use rye bread ,maybe not as good but workable.Cheers 👍👌👍
@@chrisv8674 I got that from Palmer's How to Brew. Good book on beer, but good stuff for distiller mashing too. He actually calls out stuff that is specifically for head, mouth feel and others about beer, but not important for stillin. Good read and available free online. Highly suggested reading.
When you showed whiskies bottles for rye category you only showed USA brands where as Canada is know for Rye whisky! In Canada there are wide range of rye, including 100% rye whisky, I am a distiller and I just distilled 100% rye. Yes I will say Mashing and fermentation are not as hard as distillation and it doesn’t matter if you distilled it with grain or without. Bela-glucans cause heavy viscosity which leads to heavy foaming during distillation and Deformer cannot do much. Rye is fun to make and it does give away lots of spicy character during distillation but after aging the spicy notes calms down to good oaky whisky with dark chocolate, citrus, vanilla on nose followed by sweet and spicy with good flavour of all spice, cinnamon, ginger on palate. I make 2 types of Canadian Rye whisky, 1st is 100% rye and 2nd is Canadian whisky(blend of rye, corn n barley). Rye is a fantastic and a unique style of whisky 🥃. You should give, Canadian rye whisky a try. Cheers 🥃🥃
Jesse, I absolutely love that you brought commercial products, both the cocktailish Mr Coffee. AND proper whisk(e)ys. Bravo! Blending them (see what I did there) with home distilling is brilliant and really on point for the hobby. I’ve done Rye, but I mixed a Popcorn Sutton type Corn/ Corn meal approach as 50% of my bill with Rye as the other 50%. At the last minute I decided I liked the “Deathwish” moonshine recipe that uses wheat germ, so I dropped in a glass of grocery store wheat germ. It’s AMAZING. I’ve decided to play with variations on that bill. So maybe blue corn meal next. Maybe some red wheat. Midnight Rye. Who knows. I like your yeast combination. I think I’ll give that a go too. Love you brother. Keep rocking out the videos. It makes a crazy world less so.
Once again a great video Jesse. First time I did ab all rye it was a mess, I hated it, I almost just tossed the entire thing. But I had spent quite a bit on it, and my pride wouldn't let me give up, lol. For my second time though, I added in extra enzymes, both a-amylase and g-amylase, as well as beta-glucanase, and it was really no different than working with barley after the b-glucanase rest, although I had to do a stepped mash because the b-glucanase I used had a max temp of 54C (130F), so I let it sit around 50C I think. Been a few years.
Going to have to try that coffee liqueur - If Jessie says it’s the best he’s ever had and the bottle was full at the start of the video and “not so full” at the end, well you know it’s going to be good.
I made a rye whiskey early on in my distilling career. And it was so painful I vowed never to use rye again. A quick google told me that a rye whiskey had to be 51% rye and I split the stitches in my BIAB trying to ring it out.
I, my friend, have started watching your video productions multiple times. I just mashed in a rye whiskey mash last weekend. The intent of this mash is to mix with a second mash that I am putting together this week which is a Apple Cider must and then ferment both into a Rye/Apple Whiskey which I will be aging on some toasted and charred white oak. Here is the grist bill that I used for the Rye: 17 lbs. Rye Malt 4.5 lbs. Distillers Malt 1.5 lbs. Chocolate Wheat 7 scoops (about 7 lbs.) of flaked corn Cheater... 1 gallon KARO brand Corn Syrup (did this to raise my OG up from 1.40 to 1.060 This process netted me about 13 gallons of Rye Mash and I used a BIAB with very light straining as I am an old man and am lazy when it comes to straining 30 lbs. of grain that is saturated with a slimy mess. Also my dogs love to snack on my spent grain. Used Yellow Label Angel Yeast and it is actively fermenting on day 3 since I pitched the yeast. I loved this Rye whiskey video that you did and had to watch it again since my Rye was so fresh on my mind. Keep doing what you do Jesse!
Thank you Mr black!!!!....... I think you might have had some effects from the alcohol...... But it made an awesome video ....... Thank you Jessie!!!!!!
Cloves, Bubblegum, Mint/Eucalyptus, Dill, and Black Licorice?? Can't say I've ever thought of that combination when I had a Rye. I'd lean toward Nutmeg, Tarragon, Turmeric, and fresh ground Black Pepper.
Use mixed grain animal feed from produce department; it's full of rye. Great earth taste with smooth finish. I mill it twice to crack it up and cook in copper laundry tub on BBQ (get tub from korean store). Always add 2kg Oates also from produce store and cook in brew bag. It's so very cheap and easy. I never buy grain from brew store as it's 40 times the price. I do add dextrose to help the yeast and up the yield. Butter into copper still and run 50 pot 50 reflux. Run it twice to pull down 90%+. Charcoal filter slow. I have been doing the same thing for 15 years. End cost is less than $7 per 2l @40%. Very clean very cost effective very simple. Tip: store brew bags in fridge to increase life.
wish I'd seen this video before deciding Rye Whiskey would be the first all grain whiskey I attempted lol. But I guess the flip side is I figure this out the rest should be easy haha
I just did a rye mash and distilled it today. I am very comfortable with a high corn, low rye mash with much success. TODAY WAS A DIFFERENT CAT. It started to puke immediately, it took a few jars before it settled down, never clear, smells like tails but high abv. Wont do this again. Going to try and salvage what I have but its not what I wanted or expected.
The way I like to describe how different grain affects the flavor of alcohol is to refer to bread made with that grain. Corn bread: bourbon and corn whiskey Rye bread: rye whiskey Whole wheat bread: wheat whiskey
Old subscriber here,,, but finally found the awesomeness channel, again, good to be back,, now find george, an I'm set,, awesome job, sir, north Carolina,,💯😁😎🤘
What if you washed the milky sticky grains with fresh water, collected the liquid, and then like making a sugar syrup, you slowly cooked off the liquid until it was a usable fermentable gravity... Or... Is this just showing my naïve lack of knowledge...
Good Video! I've experienced the oily slimy rye washes! I’ve made three Rye Whiskey mashes (all were 70% raw rye, 15% malted rye, 15 % malted barley). I've found that adding some additional beta-glucanase enzyme makes a huge difference in the flow of the mash. I've done two mashes with extra enzyme and one without, I'll never do another mash without the additional beta-glucanase. I've been using Visco-Buster from White Labs and it works miracles (only need 2.5ml per 30 gallons). The last mash I did with the beta-glucanase I added some rice hulls and was able to sparge about half the volume and then use a grain bag to separate out the rest of the liquid. I'm a beer guy by training and sparging is just more comfortable for me, even if I am wringing all the liquid from a grain bag.
Yes. Did a 60% Crushed Rye. It was a bit_ch to process. Took me about 9h to complete the sparge. I swore never again in my life. My Whiskey is now 7 months on the wood. Tasting awesome. Will I do it again. Dammit…..yes sucker I will it is worth it. Stupid is what stupid does.
fermented on the grain, used malted rye, was a PITA... gravity stuck at 1.020, was a syrupy mess.... couldnt get it restarted to finish.What was your FG?? unsure why DADY yeast didn't finish other than it was a bit colder than 80F. What was your yeast? Unsure where to go with it i tossed it, going to go and try another way and just Mash with barley...
from my experience making %100 rye beer, just add tons of rice hulls. Wheat and Barley have their own hulls, rye doesn't so by adding rice hulls you can sparge just fine with pure rye.
I can’t wait I just purchased a 100l jacketed pot belly boiler with an agitator to go with my 4” copper column still from oak stills I’ve got a 20kg single malted wheat and 12kg of honey whiskey that I’ll be filtering into my 100l boiler tomorrow which will be a nightmare but well worth the work anyways love your vids man keep up the good work.
Oh man, you've hit a sweet spot. Ukraine is probably on of the birth places of rye whisky. Rye and wheat are very traditional in Ukraine and Canada has so much of rye also in part due to Ukrainian immigrants. At the moment there is a huge push from the Ukrainian craft community towards rye whiskies and they are amazing. Have you ever tasted peated rye whisky? Mind boggling! And we have it. Rye with elderflower, rye as a base for gin, etc. Rye has so much potential in skilled hands! P.S. To me spiciness of rye is more like fresh crushed black pepper, maybe with a hint of Sichuan pepper, but i liked your cloves analogy. Cheers!
any tips on how to improve condenser blowby? the liquid comes out ice cold. but some vapor escapes. (reflux still running in "pot" mode with a shotgun condenser)
How are you not scorching anything that has any goop in it? I thought I had some corn mash sieved out well, but got enough of a scorch to make it nasty. Re distilled it, and added a bunch of willow charcoal. Made it pretty palatable. I've been malting some rye to try.
Got a rye on ferment that just lacto up to a rather fancy lindburger cheese with a hint of bready barnyard 2 days in ! I am a little excited, looking like the pineapple/orange rye express is gonna be rolling into the station shortly !
Do 100% rye finsh it at 45% on white oak. It's a great drink, but it needs to finish like rum. Put it away and forget about it. A year would not be too long. Before I moved I would run rye 3 times more than other whiskeys. But you are right it takes patience to work rye, it's a different breast.
Yeah, I'm not big on hot coffee drinks, it makes the alcohol too volatile and harsh. Cold coffee cocktails, (alliteration from an illiterate!), are the way to go.
tharnkyou you have inspired me to distill doing my first batch of gin have to double distill as wash flavers have come through first attempt thanks again
I wonder if the unwanted earthy flavor passed through from the wild yeast that kicked off before pitching? I've had batches of beer get infected with wild yeast that smelled pretty awful before
I've got a question. I work on fairly small batches, live in an apartment and all that, and I usually do rum and sugar vodkas. I've tried moving into whiskeys, and I've been getting a weird taste off the still through the whole run, almost tastes like cardboard smells. Lady at the supply store told me she's never heard of that, but it might just be that I'm not at all used to grains, and maybe I'm just sensitive to that taste. I let some age for about the last year or so, and it no longer has the taste, but I'd still like to know what, if anything, might be going wrong. Maybe this is totally normal for grains.
I’ve heard about people suspending some copper in the air still and running the distillate through cotton to help improve flavour. Almost sounds like tails - maybe it’s puking a bit. Your best bet really would be to solve the water problem and use the 3 gal for grain mashes. You can get a submersible 12v water pump off Amazon for a few bucks - toss it in a ice filled cooler. Good luck
@@Bassanova100 How strict are your cuts? I found when using the AirStill that I was only getting ~300 mL of "hearts" on the spirit runs from ~800-1000 mL of entire run. Have you tried the 1.5 technique? 1st run, treat as a stripping run. Then take that ENTIRE run (~1L) & dump it into empty boiler, top up with ~3L of wash, rinse & repeat until you're out of wash. On run#2 & each subsequent one, you should get a larger heart cut (500-600 mL). Or you could do the standard 2.0 (double distillation). Just strip your 5 gal bucket & dump all the low wines into your 4L boiler. Good luck, have fun!
Whenever my modified canning pot runs a bit fast/hot and my condenser can't knock it down, the spirits getting warm and also tailsy. Signal to dial down power input and increase water flow through the condenser. Not possible on the air still, I know...
Hi, Jesse! Yes, I have been trying to brew with rye. It`s like you present - sticky and there is very small amount of dextrin's (sugar) in it. It is low alcohol thing. In Latvia we eat rye bread a lot. This is the best thing - rye bread.
For Jesses next project I suggest a South American masato where the women of the tribe (preferably virgins) spit into the starchy wash of roots as a main source of amylase to ferment. Then distil that. Incidentally in Australia after a wine tasting competition someone made a cognac from the spit bucket and introduced it the year later to be tasted. Sorta gross, but interesting like pirate rum.
rye is a huge pain in the ass but if you keep distilling and taking cuts you can make some of the weirdest whiskey around, like straight mint and bubble gum at the same time with some toffy and wood tannin. very strange. ya loose a lot of yield though doing this.
Freaking love it! Glad you did the tasting notes on the rye itself at the end, was thinking you wouldn't for a moment there. Been thinking to do a rye for a while, but this has changed my mind some. Other less challenging things to do in the meantime. On your mr black - I got used coffee ginds from the office the other day. Boiled em up and put with sugar - will be distilling that soon. But also took a small sample and let it macerate in some white dog sorghum whisky . Strained the next day and added toffee sugar. Just wow.....very similar to tia maria.
There is one really good way to get rid of the problems associated with rye. Do a partial mash with just the rye, boil the shit out of it, then put it in your main mash.
Yo my bro can you do a vid on what you need to do in nz and au to sell your alcohol 🥃 Legally and can we I no with anything you can’t but can you get a Liquor license to sell ?
Jesse, you are like Obi-Wan Kenobi training Jedi Knights. Several months ago, I made my first rye whiskey. I boiled water first and added it into a 5-gallon cooler to control the mash temperature. You have inspired me to make another one with your instructions, May the force be with you and just Sill It!
This is so timely! Just had a rye disaster last weekend. Had great success with simple fruit/sugar washes. Got the confidence up to attempt a pseudo all-grain rye whisky. Total UNMITIGATED DISASTER. 25 lbs. flaked rye, 10 lbs. flaked corn, 4 lbs. 6-row, 1/5lb. ea chocolate and c-60 (nod to you Jesse), 10 lbs. inverted sugar, roughly 20 gallons water with mineral/salts to adjust + 30 mils lactic acid, extra alpha and beta amylase for good measure. 155f for sach rest, then let it self cool to pitching temps; 6 packs US-05. Took 24 hrs. to cool. What went into the barrel can best be described as basically oatmeal. Fermented on the grain. Tried to take a gravity reading but the hydrometer just about bounced out of the tube! Let it go for 2 weeks, and seemed to be done. Read about 1.010, but hard to say because of viscosity, whether that was accurate. Straining was a nightmare. Imagine milking runny pancake batter out of suspended twisted paint strainer bags in my garage, praying they don’t burst. Huge mess. 10.5 gallons into 15.5gal sanke keg/pot. Rookie mistake not trying to clear it somehow. But what resulted from this was a horrible yield (almost a gallon, and avg 100pf) of a yellow tinted “smokey, peaty”, weirdly hobo foot scented product. Turns out the gross phenolic smoky astringent flavors and aromas were from us SCORCHING THE BAJEESUS out of the bottom of the keg. Literally chunks of charcoal, basically, pouring out of the keg when I dumped it. FML. Now I’m trying to figure out how the hell to get the scorching off. I’ve tried multiple overnight pbw soaks, overnight with full strength vinegar, now I’ve got gasoline in it trying to break it up. Doesn’t seem to be working. Recommendations? Only positive note, was the wash tasted AMAZING! Saved roughly 5 gallons of the bottom of the fermenter to pitch into the next batch which is going like gang busters now. 20 gallons water, 30 lbs. of inverted sugar, 15 pounds rinsed/cooked cracked corn, ~5 gallons previous batch barrel dregs, 5 lbs. 6-row. Cereal mashed the cracked corn (also not fun). Wish I’d used a strainer basked and muslin bag (next time!), and it seems like it’s the perfect consistency. High hopes for redemption. I think that's what I'm gonna call batch #2 if it's a success. Redemption rye. If I pitched 25% of #1 into #2, then that means I'm at ~30% rye for #2? is that right? Life is for learning.
I tried an all grain last year. I did pale malt and corn but think the form contributed nothing to it. The beer was a red colour. It got an infection on top after it fermented, so I distilled anyway after reading online that you can. The distillate was the funkiest smelling thing I ever made. It reminded of like fishy, oyster sauce how it smelt. I thought it sucked so I left it sitting in the cut jars or in my shed for about 2 months. The jars have a hole in the top lid for breathing. After a couple of months it began smelling more malty, like Milo. I blended the best jars but by then it came to 20% ABV and the regret set in. I have it with oak in it now but it's low proof. Will attempt all grain again and won't care what the product smells like. I'm saving that stuff.
I use a dish washer tablet in the pot and set the temp to 65c/149f, leave it for an hour or so. If there's crud left on the elements then a few ounces of citric acid and a plain water charge to just below boiling should shift the rest.
All grain rye is super easy with the proper enzymes. Use VISCOSEB L - BETA-GLUCANASE ENZYME to keep the mash from gumming up. Additionally, if you have a high % corn mash use the proper HTL enzyme to help convert the corn and if no malt, use the Amyl GL enzyme for converting the starches to sugars.
i think i will try to ferment whole grain chicken food: Sorghum millet (red) 43.0% millet (yellow) 7.0% barley 2.0% wheat 23.0% oats 18.0% rye 0.5% spelled 1.5% sunflower seeds 5.0% any ideas what will get out of that?
I had a barrel that I wanted to fill with a rye whiskey
I made 4 mashes of George Washington Rye (60% rye 35% Corn 5% Barley)
I hated the process for all the same reasons mentioned in the video.
But boy, the end result was worth it
Great job Jesse
Now my question is how do we home make cold brew coffee liqueur?
Hey Jesse, have you considered doing the rye with Angel Yellow Label? It takes almost all the "goopiness" out of the equation. I'll wager the sparging will be that much easier also!
I'm thinking my next experiment will be a 90% rye malt/10% oat grain bill. What's odd is that I can't stand the taste of rye bread, but LOVE rye whiskey. Um yeah, I'm weird...
I have done a rye using angel yellow label and it did not help the goopiness. The grain bill was 50lb rye, 15lb of wheat, and 17 pounds of malted barley (I may have converted some sugars with this barley but my thermometer was broken at the time so who knows; I added it "by feel"). First day of fermentation my fermenter literally exploded. It shot the airlock to the ceiling with so much force it shattered. It gushed about 4 gallons of mash all over my house and sprayed gook all over my ceiling and walls. After the first week of vigorous fermentation, the fermenter became less active and got a bit cold (66F) so I am not 100% sure it fully dried out. But I began stripping runs about two weeks later anyway (three weeks total). First strip was easy but the second was near to impossible to separate. I believe this was because I almost grinded my rye to a fine flour. I was able to get 2 strips and after hours of trying to strain through several strainers (all for 2 gallons of liquid) I realized the last strip was not worth it and threw the last 10 gallons of gloopy mess out. I got about 4 - 4.5 gallons of low wines at 40ish%. As for the spirit run, I added enough water to cover my element. I took a big heads cut (maybe 1.5 gallons) and cut the heat as soon as I got into tails. The yield was surprisingly bad. I blended about a quart of some headsier/tailiser stuff that was somewhat passible. I got about 2/3 a gallon of quality cuts (149 proof - mostly hearts and some early tails) I was happy with. Huge amount of rye grainy funk and spice. Way better than a 100% wheat mash I previously did using angel yellow, rye just gave me a worse yield (even after accounting for the wasted stripping run). All in all, I would never do a rye mash like that ever again. In hindsight, I believe the effort should go into making a stepped proper mash (w/ a beta glucan rest), ideally using malted rye (no need to gelatinize and heard it can be easier to work with), milled to proper size to lauter using some amount of rice hulls, and finally a high quality brew bag that you can suspend over your kettle to squeeze the bejesus out of. Just my two cents before you waste a whole lot of your time, money, and hairline post fermentation.
Rice hulls and a Protien Rest and Rye isnt bad to work with. Bring your mash to 122-131 °F for ~30 to 60 minutes, Hold it there, then Bring the temp up to 148-158 °F range for ~60-90 minutes and that will take care of a Lot of that sticky gummy issue, I have done a lot of 100% Rye and 100% Oat malt beers this way, never had a problem with a stuck Sparge. My go to Guideline is 1lb of rice hulls for every 5lbs of rye malt.
Ya cook with the rice hull?
@@bdee1084 No you add rice hells to the mash, it helps with sparging and breaking up the sticky mess that rye creates.
As a Homebrewer who makes a lot of rye beers, you might want to try using rice hulls in the mash to vastly improve your sparging/draining your wort/wash from your mash.
Whats the ratio of mix,,how much.
@@jamesgrey8093 in the case of one of my rye ales, I use ten pounds of rye with one pound of rice hulls. In other batches of were I am using a lot of rye, corn and/or wheat I will throw in a half pound to one pound just to ensure that I don't get a stuck sparge.
thanks, will bear that in mind
heard/read that a lot, just can't get rice hulls for a reasonable price here (import only). Researched for alternatives, never found any.
@@lilinguhongo2621 They are available from Australian brew stores,. I used at least 3% by weight of the rye malt.
without reading through all the comments, I’d suggest alpha-amylase enzymes during the mash mix. I do a lot of cereal mashes and find that some crushed pale malt turns the gel into an easy to use liquid mash. I know there are some new brewer enzymes coming into the market that might target the heavier gel starch of rye. I have been told MGP uses a mash filter, but I bet there are commercial enzymes they use to increase their yields.
I must say awesome vid. I have made lots 100% rye. The key is alpha amylase and lots of beta glucanase. It's temperamental but but not too bad. I will also say you hit the bubble gum note on the mark. Every 100% rye I've ever made had straight up bubble gum at jar#2-4. Like clockwork when jar 3 or 4 start to turn to vegimite you have about half a pint to a pint and you are in pure awesome bready hearts. Rye has become one of my favorite grains to blend with wheat. Especially a chocolate rye. They work really well together.
How long does grain keep for? I have a whole sack of chocolate rye (DP 0) and I've never opened it, it's wrapped in plastic, insulated house, out of sunlight.
@@cabji I've had most of mine vacuum sealed and wrapped like yours for 4-6 months. After that it does get a slightly stale taste. Some say a year or more it I really have never stored mine that long as I don't keep my house at storage room temps with no humidity lol. Deep freezing can make it last a bit longer like up to 12 months. Now that's just my preference and I'm sure others have had success with storing malts differently. I have found with a normal malted Rye that is about to go stale like at the 12-14 month mark you can do a caramel or light chocolate cycle in the oven and bring some flavor back to it. You'll loose any DP you had but the flavor add is well worth it.
Must have been a fun call! "That MUCH Rye? Are you sure?" 😂 Did they suggest rice hulls?
I don’t think rice hulls would help as this isn’t the grain sticking together or turning into a porridge. This is sticky high viscosity sugar syrup left after the starch conversion. Rice hulls would give it something else to stick to or be captured in. It might be possible to thin it out with extra glucoamalyse.
rimrock I’ve never distilled nor have I fermented on the grain but as someone that has brewed dozens of beers some with 80% rye grain bills it helps having rice hulls on the home brewing side. It helps create flow when sparging and rinsing the grains
Very good video. A couple of observations. Rye malt usually has a fairly high DP which is why it was so commonly used in good proportion in old Pennsylvania rye whiskey production. Well converted corn malt has almost enough DP to convert itself but nothing else which is why malt corn whiskey was common from small scale (home and community use) moonshiners in the U.S. and early in the frontier days of the mid-west. Also, don't cut yourself short Jesse, remember the Bulleit is MGP rye @95% rye and 5% malt so your technically comparing two different mash bills in the cocktail. You are correct that rye is far more than spice and the rye that most people find in the US is MGP style which typically has either a dill or black cherry note or even anise note too it, but rye is much more diverse than that and depending on style you can pull orange zest, jasmine flower, lavender, apricot, and even star fruit notes from rye. Rye is a giant pain in the ass even for us commercial distillers, particularly with foaming during mash in and in the fermenter and still as well as stickiness. There are enzymes designed specifically for dealing with rye stickiness and flow issues now that would make sparging much easier I would imagine. The first time we fermented rye at Spirits Of French Lick the fermenter foamed up and into our 1 inch plastic airlock hoses that feed into a 2 in pvc pipe that vents to the roof. The turbulence was high enough that it didn't bust the pipe but literally unscrewed the end cap from the pvc!
There certainly are enzymes that make it really easy to work with. I really like a 100% rye bill.
Happy Birthday BTW
damn thats crazy
Your ability to describe flavor notes is impressive brother. Usually the best you can get out of me is whether I like it or not lol. Thanks for the video.
You should try beta-glucan pause (an hour on 45 C) and use rice hulls for filtration on mash stage. Besides you can use ferment Beta-glucanase (Myceliophthora fergusii).
Exactly right, that is the way to go, start with a rest at low temperature 42 to 45 ,and after that go to mid 60 celsius.hope he will read you post.
@@chrisv8674 I agree also, a Glucan rest (just different words, same concept.) at 104*f for 20 to 30 minutes breaks down the starches in the hull that cause the KY jelly effect. I just did a 75% rye batch with the rest and it was no worse than 100% barley.
A multi rest mashing technique works great but I also mash in a pot over a burner so it's easy for me to bring temp up. Jesse's mash in the plastic fermenter method would probably not be as appropriate to multi temp mashing.
You the Man Jesse! Love your channel the most.
@@nateobee That sounds good to me , people that have problems with rye should try it this way,but for lazy people there is always a alternative ,simply use rye bread ,maybe not as good but workable.Cheers 👍👌👍
@@chrisv8674 I got that from Palmer's How to Brew. Good book on beer, but good stuff for distiller mashing too. He actually calls out stuff that is specifically for head, mouth feel and others about beer, but not important for stillin. Good read and available free online. Highly suggested reading.
When you showed whiskies bottles for rye category you only showed USA brands where as Canada is know for Rye whisky!
In Canada there are wide range of rye, including 100% rye whisky, I am a distiller and I just distilled 100% rye.
Yes I will say Mashing and fermentation are not as hard as distillation and it doesn’t matter if you distilled it with grain or without. Bela-glucans cause heavy viscosity which leads to heavy foaming during distillation and Deformer cannot do much.
Rye is fun to make and it does give away lots of spicy character during distillation but after aging the spicy notes calms down to good oaky whisky with dark chocolate, citrus, vanilla on nose followed by sweet and spicy with good flavour of all spice, cinnamon, ginger on palate.
I make 2 types of Canadian Rye whisky, 1st is 100% rye and 2nd is Canadian whisky(blend of rye, corn n barley).
Rye is a fantastic and a unique style of whisky 🥃. You should give, Canadian rye whisky a try.
Cheers 🥃🥃
Jesse, I absolutely love that you brought commercial products, both the cocktailish Mr Coffee. AND proper whisk(e)ys. Bravo! Blending them (see what I did there) with home distilling is brilliant and really on point for the hobby.
I’ve done Rye, but I mixed a Popcorn Sutton type Corn/ Corn meal approach as 50% of my bill with Rye as the other 50%. At the last minute I decided I liked the “Deathwish” moonshine recipe that uses wheat germ, so I dropped in a glass of grocery store wheat germ. It’s AMAZING. I’ve decided to play with variations on that bill. So maybe blue corn meal next. Maybe some red wheat. Midnight Rye. Who knows. I like your yeast combination. I think I’ll give that a go too.
Love you brother. Keep rocking out the videos. It makes a crazy world less so.
Right on Brother! Excellent, ideal with the midnight why I have four bags, and I think I will use that instead of traditional Rye.
Once again a great video Jesse.
First time I did ab all rye it was a mess, I hated it, I almost just tossed the entire thing. But I had spent quite a bit on it, and my pride wouldn't let me give up, lol.
For my second time though, I added in extra enzymes, both a-amylase and g-amylase, as well as beta-glucanase, and it was really no different than working with barley after the b-glucanase rest, although I had to do a stepped mash because the b-glucanase I used had a max temp of 54C (130F), so I let it sit around 50C I think. Been a few years.
I heard a terrible first experience with rye as well. Thanks for the tip. Btw, I love your channel.
good to know, ta
"It's the consistency of KY jelly. Why does that make it hard...."
This as a stand alone comment is gold.
"Freedom units" Roflmao... so funny to hear a non-american use that term.
I like my temperature at 143 degrees. I get a better conversion of the rye, usually around 87%.
Going to have to try that coffee liqueur - If Jessie says it’s the best he’s ever had and the bottle was full at the start of the video and “not so full” at the end, well you know it’s going to be good.
I made a rye whiskey early on in my distilling career. And it was so painful I vowed never to use rye again. A quick google told me that a rye whiskey had to be 51% rye and I split the stitches in my BIAB trying to ring it out.
I, my friend, have started watching your video productions multiple times. I just mashed in a rye whiskey mash last weekend. The intent of this mash is to mix with a second mash that I am putting together this week which is a Apple Cider must and then ferment both into a Rye/Apple Whiskey which I will be aging on some toasted and charred white oak. Here is the grist bill that I used for the Rye:
17 lbs. Rye Malt
4.5 lbs. Distillers Malt
1.5 lbs. Chocolate Wheat
7 scoops (about 7 lbs.) of flaked corn
Cheater... 1 gallon KARO brand Corn Syrup (did this to raise my OG up from 1.40 to 1.060
This process netted me about 13 gallons of Rye Mash and I used a BIAB with very light straining as I am an old man and am lazy when it comes to straining 30 lbs. of grain that is saturated with a slimy mess. Also my dogs love to snack on my spent grain.
Used Yellow Label Angel Yeast and it is actively fermenting on day 3 since I pitched the yeast.
I loved this Rye whiskey video that you did and had to watch it again since my Rye was so fresh on my mind. Keep doing what you do Jesse!
You should distill a bunch of mr. black
Thank you Mr black!!!!....... I think you might have had some effects from the alcohol...... But it made an awesome video ....... Thank you Jessie!!!!!!
Happy F(rye)day.
I see what you did there
Cloves, Bubblegum, Mint/Eucalyptus, Dill, and Black Licorice?? Can't say I've ever thought of that combination when I had a Rye. I'd lean toward Nutmeg, Tarragon, Turmeric, and fresh ground Black Pepper.
Use mixed grain animal feed from produce department; it's full of rye. Great earth taste with smooth finish. I mill it twice to crack it up and cook in copper laundry tub on BBQ (get tub from korean store). Always add 2kg Oates also from produce store and cook in brew bag. It's so very cheap and easy. I never buy grain from brew store as it's 40 times the price. I do add dextrose to help the yeast and up the yield. Butter into copper still and run 50 pot 50 reflux. Run it twice to pull down 90%+. Charcoal filter slow. I have been doing the same thing for 15 years. End cost is less than $7 per 2l @40%. Very clean very cost effective very simple. Tip: store brew bags in fridge to increase life.
wish I'd seen this video before deciding Rye Whiskey would be the first all grain whiskey I attempted lol. But I guess the flip side is I figure this out the rest should be easy haha
I was inpressed you had Templeton Rye . love that stuff represent IOWA!
Surprised you didn’t use or talk about amylase enzymes at all. They’ll turn your porridge into a runny mash in no time!
I just did a rye mash and distilled it today. I am very comfortable with a high corn, low rye mash with much success. TODAY WAS A DIFFERENT CAT. It started to puke immediately, it took a few jars before it settled down, never clear, smells like tails but high abv. Wont do this again. Going to try and salvage what I have but its not what I wanted or expected.
The way I like to describe how different grain affects the flavor of alcohol is to refer to bread made with that grain.
Corn bread: bourbon and corn whiskey
Rye bread: rye whiskey
Whole wheat bread: wheat whiskey
Old subscriber here,,, but finally found the awesomeness channel, again, good to be back,, now find george, an I'm set,, awesome job, sir, north Carolina,,💯😁😎🤘
What if you washed the milky sticky grains with fresh water, collected the liquid, and then like making a sugar syrup, you slowly cooked off the liquid until it was a usable fermentable gravity... Or... Is this just showing my naïve lack of knowledge...
Try to find a Single Barrel Catcher's Rye from Two James. It is a flavor bomb with a hint of spice.
that mr coffee is great
Good Video! I've experienced the oily slimy rye washes! I’ve made three Rye Whiskey mashes (all were 70% raw rye, 15% malted rye, 15 % malted barley). I've found that adding some additional beta-glucanase enzyme makes a huge difference in the flow of the mash. I've done two mashes with extra enzyme and one without, I'll never do another mash without the additional beta-glucanase. I've been using Visco-Buster from White Labs and it works miracles (only need 2.5ml per 30 gallons). The last mash I did with the beta-glucanase I added some rice hulls and was able to sparge about half the volume and then use a grain bag to separate out the rest of the liquid. I'm a beer guy by training and sparging is just more comfortable for me, even if I am wringing all the liquid from a grain bag.
*Brings out homework bottles for Rye*
*No bottles of Canadian Rye*
Am disappoint
Yes. Did a 60% Crushed Rye. It was a bit_ch to process. Took me about 9h to complete the sparge. I swore never again in my life. My Whiskey is now 7 months on the wood. Tasting awesome. Will I do it again. Dammit…..yes sucker I will it is worth it. Stupid is what stupid does.
fermented on the grain, used malted rye, was a PITA... gravity stuck at 1.020, was a syrupy mess.... couldnt get it restarted to finish.What was your FG?? unsure why DADY yeast didn't finish other than it was a bit colder than 80F. What was your yeast? Unsure where to go with it i tossed it, going to go and try another way and just Mash with barley...
Your sample Ryes are good but highly recommend Willett straight rye 108 proof. Fantastic freedom drink
from my experience making %100 rye beer, just add tons of rice hulls. Wheat and Barley have their own hulls, rye doesn't so by adding rice hulls you can sparge just fine with pure rye.
I can’t wait I just purchased a 100l jacketed pot belly boiler with an agitator to go with my 4” copper column still from oak stills I’ve got a 20kg single malted wheat and 12kg of honey whiskey that I’ll be filtering into my 100l boiler tomorrow which will be a nightmare but well worth the work anyways love your vids man keep up the good work.
Oh man, you've hit a sweet spot.
Ukraine is probably on of the birth places of rye whisky. Rye and wheat are very traditional in Ukraine and Canada has so much of rye also in part due to Ukrainian immigrants.
At the moment there is a huge push from the Ukrainian craft community towards rye whiskies and they are amazing. Have you ever tasted peated rye whisky? Mind boggling! And we have it. Rye with elderflower, rye as a base for gin, etc. Rye has so much potential in skilled hands!
P.S. To me spiciness of rye is more like fresh crushed black pepper, maybe with a hint of Sichuan pepper, but i liked your cloves analogy. Cheers!
Have you tried Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye Whisky, I think it won "Whisky of the Year" in 2016.
any tips on how to improve condenser blowby?
the liquid comes out ice cold. but some vapor escapes.
(reflux still running in "pot" mode with a shotgun condenser)
How are you not scorching anything that has any goop in it? I thought I had some corn mash sieved out well, but got enough of a scorch to make it nasty. Re distilled it, and added a bunch of willow charcoal. Made it pretty palatable.
I've been malting some rye to try.
Got a rye on ferment that just lacto up to a rather fancy lindburger cheese with a hint of bready barnyard 2 days in ! I am a little excited, looking like the pineapple/orange rye express is gonna be rolling into the station shortly !
You think mixed nuts would make a good liquor?
A traditional trail Mix Whiskey?
Pork n Beans out of the can?
Beta-glucan rest at 37-45c, protein rest 45-55c, modestly acid pH 5.0
Do 100% rye finsh it at 45% on white oak. It's a great drink, but it needs to finish like rum. Put it away and forget about it. A year would not be too long. Before I moved I would run rye 3 times more than other whiskeys. But you are right it takes patience to work rye, it's a different breast.
My understanding is that a 104F/40c rest will help dissolve those sticky beta glucans, has anyone tried this?
Yeah, I'm not big on hot coffee drinks, it makes the alcohol too volatile and harsh. Cold coffee cocktails, (alliteration from an illiterate!), are the way to go.
tharnkyou you have inspired me to distill doing my first batch of gin have to double distill as wash flavers have come through first attempt thanks again
I wonder if the unwanted earthy flavor passed through from the wild yeast that kicked off before pitching? I've had batches of beer get infected with wild yeast that smelled pretty awful before
I've got a question. I work on fairly small batches, live in an apartment and all that, and I usually do rum and sugar vodkas.
I've tried moving into whiskeys, and I've been getting a weird taste off the still through the whole run, almost tastes like cardboard smells. Lady at the supply store told me she's never heard of that, but it might just be that I'm not at all used to grains, and maybe I'm just sensitive to that taste. I let some age for about the last year or so, and it no longer has the taste, but I'd still like to know what, if anything, might be going wrong. Maybe this is totally normal for grains.
Hope someone can help you.
Would you mind telling me what your still is made of? I live in an apartment too and really want to get into it.
It's just a little air still. I have a stainless 3 gallon, but the water cooling is a pain in the ass here, so I don't really ever use it.
I’ve heard about people suspending some copper in the air still and running the distillate through cotton to help improve flavour. Almost sounds like tails - maybe it’s puking a bit. Your best bet really would be to solve the water problem and use the 3 gal for grain mashes. You can get a submersible 12v water pump off Amazon for a few bucks - toss it in a ice filled cooler. Good luck
@@Bassanova100 How strict are your cuts? I found when using the AirStill that I was only getting ~300 mL of "hearts" on the spirit runs from ~800-1000 mL of entire run. Have you tried the 1.5 technique? 1st run, treat as a stripping run. Then take that ENTIRE run (~1L) & dump it into empty boiler, top up with ~3L of wash, rinse & repeat until you're out of wash. On run#2 & each subsequent one, you should get a larger heart cut (500-600 mL). Or you could do the standard 2.0 (double distillation). Just strip your 5 gal bucket & dump all the low wines into your 4L boiler. Good luck, have fun!
Whenever my modified canning pot runs a bit fast/hot and my condenser can't knock it down, the spirits getting warm and also tailsy. Signal to dial down power input and increase water flow through the condenser. Not possible on the air still, I know...
Hi, Jesse! Yes, I have been trying to brew with rye. It`s like you present - sticky and there is very small amount of dextrin's (sugar) in it. It is low alcohol thing. In Latvia we eat rye bread a lot. This is the best thing - rye bread.
I don’t know if I missed a video but your using a different boiler and your element controller has been jazzed up any info on the upgrade
Weren't you a little concerned with mashing in at 70C would not give you full gelatinization of the corn?
For Jesses next project I suggest a South American masato where the women of the tribe (preferably virgins) spit into the starchy wash of roots as a main source of amylase to ferment. Then distil that. Incidentally in Australia after a wine tasting competition someone made a cognac from the spit bucket and introduced it the year later to be tasted. Sorta gross, but interesting like pirate rum.
rye is a huge pain in the ass but if you keep distilling and taking cuts you can make some of the weirdest whiskey around, like straight mint and bubble gum at the same time with some toffy and wood tannin. very strange. ya loose a lot of yield though doing this.
Freaking love it! Glad you did the tasting notes on the rye itself at the end, was thinking you wouldn't for a moment there. Been thinking to do a rye for a while, but this has changed my mind some. Other less challenging things to do in the meantime. On your mr black - I got used coffee ginds from the office the other day. Boiled em up and put with sugar - will be distilling that soon. But also took a small sample and let it macerate in some white dog sorghum whisky . Strained the next day and added toffee sugar. Just wow.....very similar to tia maria.
Look into using a Finnish kuurna. It’s a long trough that sahti brewers use to deal with “gummieness”
I malted corn has zero DP why no use just any corn? thanks for your great videos.
There is one really good way to get rid of the problems associated with rye. Do a partial mash with just the rye, boil the shit out of it, then put it in your main mash.
Out of this worl🌍! You are missing out > Promo'SM!!
Great video! First one of yours I have watched and it got me hooked. Thanks for taking the time to put this together!
Day 2 of asking for a distilled Planter's honey roasted peanuts video
I did a 100% rye and it was not all that bad to work with. It did take 2 days to clean the kitchen. Its currently sitting on maple and oak.
your coupon doesnt work on the Australian website for mrblack id love to buy some but not without that coupon
Could you please tell us about how easy it is to make cold brewed coffee liqueur with neutral and real arabica coffee beans?
Well done Jesse, cheers!
Canadian whisky is made with rye , and of course we don't call it whisky we call it Rye
I have found the milled rye is way easier than the flaked rye...Flaked rye is a real challenge
Bulleit Rye smells a bit like bananas to me and since I live in the USA we can't make our own.
Yo my bro can you do a vid on what you need to do in nz and au to sell your alcohol 🥃 Legally and can we I no with anything you can’t but can you get a Liquor license to sell ?
Take it from a guy that’s done a rye beer. Use rice hulls in the mash!
Feel sorry for the Canadian eye makers using a 100% rye mash bill
Think it would be cool to see you do a supermarket RYE just to see it
I love Rye Whiskey. I wish it were legal for me to still and age my own.
I often drink hot coffee or hot Earl Grey tea with a shot of Bushmills.
Super recipe, worked with Rye once but in used Rye bread.
Not as sticky as in the video.
What is Angel Whiskey Yeast? Is that the same as Angel Yellow Label?
rye grain test is very different depending on what country it comes from
To have a good ferment, does the grain have to be malted or can it be standard raw grain?
Thought thats what an "Irish Coffee" was all about lol
You should get some templeton rye
IKR?😉
What about using amalayse to get the mash back to a liquid?
i have a question could it be possible to make raro alchol
Jesse, you are like Obi-Wan Kenobi training Jedi Knights. Several months ago, I made my first rye whiskey. I boiled water first and added it into a 5-gallon cooler to control the mash temperature. You have inspired me to make another one with your instructions, May the force be with you and just Sill It!
You have become a Jedi Master my friend! May the force be with you!
@@zachmayo7194, I would love to see him on Master distiller. May the force be with you!
Brilliant video, thank you Jesse
I’m a Canadian I loved Rye when I use to drink
That's a huge beard! Thanks for the video!
KY jelly will make it hard..
In the right Hands anyway..
Sorry..
This is more like a George Washington rye whiskey
"Do we want a dash of bitters?" yes. Always
I'd love to see you do a white rye
Are you sparging the entire grain bill at once?
This is so timely! Just had a rye disaster last weekend. Had great success with simple fruit/sugar washes. Got the confidence up to attempt a pseudo all-grain rye whisky. Total UNMITIGATED DISASTER.
25 lbs. flaked rye, 10 lbs. flaked corn, 4 lbs. 6-row, 1/5lb. ea chocolate and c-60 (nod to you Jesse), 10 lbs. inverted sugar, roughly 20 gallons water with mineral/salts to adjust + 30 mils lactic acid, extra alpha and beta amylase for good measure.
155f for sach rest, then let it self cool to pitching temps; 6 packs US-05. Took 24 hrs. to cool. What went into the barrel can best be described as basically oatmeal. Fermented on the grain. Tried to take a gravity reading but the hydrometer just about bounced out of the tube!
Let it go for 2 weeks, and seemed to be done. Read about 1.010, but hard to say because of viscosity, whether that was accurate.
Straining was a nightmare. Imagine milking runny pancake batter out of suspended twisted paint strainer bags in my garage, praying they don’t burst. Huge mess. 10.5 gallons into 15.5gal sanke keg/pot. Rookie mistake not trying to clear it somehow. But what resulted from this was a horrible yield (almost a gallon, and avg 100pf) of a yellow tinted “smokey, peaty”, weirdly hobo foot scented product. Turns out the gross phenolic smoky astringent flavors and aromas were from us SCORCHING THE BAJEESUS out of the bottom of the keg. Literally chunks of charcoal, basically, pouring out of the keg when I dumped it.
FML. Now I’m trying to figure out how the hell to get the scorching off. I’ve tried multiple overnight pbw soaks, overnight with full strength vinegar, now I’ve got gasoline in it trying to break it up. Doesn’t seem to be working. Recommendations?
Only positive note, was the wash tasted AMAZING! Saved roughly 5 gallons of the bottom of the fermenter to pitch into the next batch which is going like gang busters now. 20 gallons water, 30 lbs. of inverted sugar, 15 pounds rinsed/cooked cracked corn, ~5 gallons previous batch barrel dregs, 5 lbs. 6-row. Cereal mashed the cracked corn (also not fun). Wish I’d used a strainer basked and muslin bag (next time!), and it seems like it’s the perfect consistency. High hopes for redemption. I think that's what I'm gonna call batch #2 if it's a success. Redemption rye. If I pitched 25% of #1 into #2, then that means I'm at ~30% rye for #2? is that right?
Life is for learning.
Ta, reading mistakes more useful than successes!
There is this stuff called easy off grill cleaner. You might consider looking into it
I tried an all grain last year. I did pale malt and corn but think the form contributed nothing to it. The beer was a red colour. It got an infection on top after it fermented, so I distilled anyway after reading online that you can.
The distillate was the funkiest smelling thing I ever made. It reminded of like fishy, oyster sauce how it smelt. I thought it sucked so I left it sitting in the cut jars or in my shed for about 2 months. The jars have a hole in the top lid for breathing.
After a couple of months it began smelling more malty, like Milo. I blended the best jars but by then it came to 20% ABV and the regret set in.
I have it with oak in it now but it's low proof.
Will attempt all grain again and won't care what the product smells like. I'm saving that stuff.
I use a dish washer tablet in the pot and set the temp to 65c/149f, leave it for an hour or so. If there's crud left on the elements then a few ounces of citric acid and a plain water charge to just below boiling should shift the rest.
2 months to go until we get that answer about the cuts 🎉
All grain rye is super easy with the proper enzymes. Use VISCOSEB L - BETA-GLUCANASE ENZYME to keep the mash from gumming up. Additionally, if you have a high % corn mash use the proper HTL enzyme to help convert the corn and if no malt, use the Amyl GL enzyme for converting the starches to sugars.
i think i will try to ferment whole grain chicken food:
Sorghum millet (red) 43.0%
millet (yellow) 7.0%
barley 2.0%
wheat 23.0%
oats 18.0%
rye 0.5%
spelled 1.5%
sunflower seeds 5.0%
any ideas what will get out of that?