Nice job my friend. It never hurts to re-hash the basics for those just plain interested in learning, or those interested in getting into the hobby and just needing basic information. There are many ways to do things right, but many more ways to do them wrong. Initial success will drive folks to try harder and to do things the right way, and not shortcut the process, which ultimately makes everybody in the community look bad. Big thumbs up buddy !! --den
Great video, Randy! I suspect your corn did not fully gelatinize. A 7 lb grain bill at 30 points per pound per gallon (PPG) should have given you 70 gravity points in 3 gallons of water, or an original gravity of 1.070 before sugar additions. You did not say if the rye and wheat were malted. With an original gravity of 1.045 something is amiss. Cook the corn longer, or leave the mash tun closed for at least 8 hours or overnight. And use malted grains. Adding all that sugar dilutes the flavor. By the way, the PPG of flaked corn is about 30 and it is fully gelatinized, so you should get close with corn meal if you wait long enough. Cheers!
I find 3# of grain per gallon gets really close to target gravity. Yes, I sometimes need to do the same and goose it with sugar but I find it brings more of the grain flavors through.
Hey Randy: great vid as always! For that paddle, check out Adventures in Homebrewing. They have a 42" stainless paddle for just $25. Looks like a decent zombie killing weapon for "Walking Dead" when you're not brewing... Decent prices on grains (which they can grind) also!
First thanks for watching I started a play list named tasting and recipes please check it out I don't mind sharing my check list let me see what i can do Cheers!!
@@stillworksandbrewing Planning my next batch. I am strongly leaning in your direction and do a plain bourbon. Always enjoy your videos and solid information.
Hi Randy I was wondering if you ever thought about trying to make a mash from Carmel and if so because there’s so much sugar in it what are your thoughts on the caramel to sugar ratio I’m trying to do 5 gallon containers at a time
I think what i would do take 1 gallon of water and 1 pound of Carmel melt together and check gravity points then you can do the math to see how much you will need it dose sound good cheers!!
Randy a question for you from a newbie... when hydrolzing your corn meal, would it be possible to place corn meal, water, and SebStar into a 30qt pot and slowly heat up to +/- 180 degrees? It would seem you could gelatinize the corn meal in such a way without building the viscosity, then when the temp drops the other grains could be mixed in easily before transferring to the mash tun.
For those of us just getting started haven’t seen anybody say anything about this after you run your mash through your still how much material is left in your pot that you have to discard
Newbie question. At the beginning you started with a few gallons of water but you ended up with 6 gallons at the end of the video. When did you add the extra gallons?
I have my still being delivered on Thursday and wife is going out town for the weekend so I can play with my new toy. I have a black berry wine that is really sweet which I am going to distill to brandy. Would love any words of wisdom and do you have like first time user still video? Thanks
First congrats for joining the hobby I would do a vinegar run followed up with a water run this will help you get some run time and clean the most important thing is take your time when a still is running correct it should be drip drip small stream drip drip and so on have fun
@@stillworksandbrewing I wonder if sometimes you can show us what the mash looks like so we can see the colour and thickness before and after you strain it?
I can’t say I ever noticed corn meal giving off flavors... But it sure is a pain to strain out of the mash. I get cracked corn from Tractor supply for $9.85 for 50#... My local brew store charges $105 for 55# of flaked corn. Obviously this makes cracked corn a no brainer .👍🥃
@@bryanbrunk1186 I wouldn’t be overly concerned. Yeast nutrient contains much higher concentrations of minerals and vitamins and most distillers won’t hesitate to utilize them with little concern for flavors. Corn meal is a consumable human food product. Personally I prefer cracked corn... But obviously that is an animal/livestock food product. Honestly I’ve tried corn meal... It was fine. But the clean up was ridiculous.😊👍🥃
@@BillMcGirr it isn't something I'm worked about eating, it is something that doesn't sit well with the yeast. And, when the yeast struggle, they make eaters and other stringencies that give an off flavor that comes out in the final product.
@@bryanbrunk1186 I had zero problem fermenting corn meal. Reasonably fast and complete ferment when I used it. No discernible off flavors. Perhaps your experience was different... So be it. But that certainly wasn’t mine. Best wishes.😊👍🥃
I always enjoy your videos. Interesting and informative. But honestly I don’t understand your Star-San addiction. You’re NOT making beer or wine. Almost all germs and bacteria 🦠 DROP DEAD at 140 degrees... You’re mash water is 170. Your still boiler will be FAR HIGHER than that. On top of that... any alcohol content above 60% will finish the job. I’ve NEVER had a pot still run less than 140 proof or 70% on my worst day. I’m not sure how many times you think you can kill a germ... But once is usually sufficient. Distillation is a complete disinfectant. This is why it’s safe even for sickly infants. This is common knowledge to distillers the world over. Not sure why you bother.🤷♂️ ✌️🥃👍
Plenty of recommendations to sterilize at the start to keep germs, bacteria etc out of the mash/wash. Distilling does this too as you say, but that mash sits for 1-3 weeks depending on what your doing, ambient temperature etc, that's the time the Starsan helps keep things free of nasties... Like you said, most nasties can die off over 140... Most. Nothing wrong with trying to have things clean and reduce the bacterial issues.
@@mrbrown3546 I suppose. But like I said... This isn’t beer or wine. My boiler will do a run at between 180-205 degrees... All day... Everyday. Every time. Not even the BUBONIC PLAGUE is surviving. Ever. The amount of time your mash sits is COMPLETELY unimportant... As long as you use something called “a lid”. It’s a new invention.🤯 Mash can sit covered FOR YEARS. In fact if you took sewer water... Put it in your non Star-san boiler and distill it properly. You will LITERALLY be able to drink shit water with almost no fear of illness. This is why infants are given distilled water. Like I said... Distillation is a near PERFECT disinfectant. When you drink a glass of water or milk... Do you spray the glass with Star-San???? Of course not. But that glass has been sitting uncovered collecting “nasties”... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤷♂️ Ridiculous.
