How To Make Moonshine - UJSSM Style "Sour Mash" Sugar Wash Bourbon 

I'm Uncle Jesse and I approve of this video.

Started years ago making wine, then went to brewing with malt extrats, then learning all grain brewing. For last 6+ months have been reading and reading and reading about distilling and now last several months watching yours and a few other videos..just purchased my first baby "get into the hobby" still a Turbo 500...both with reflux and copper dome. There is so much to learn but going to try my first mash creation this week!

Love the fact that you identified that this really isn't a sour mash as your not converting the starch. Glad I found your channel.

I make this most of the time, this is my white lighting my friends love it

For grain I always use sweet feed aka horse feed. It has cracked corn,oats wheat and barley and molasses in it. Pretty good stuff.

You really don't have to worry too much about the excess sugar on a first run. Unless you are putting in far too much for your yeast to handle, and of course I don't do Turbo Yeast, I use simple baking yeast which can't handle too high a starting gravity. The first run is only to get feints and backset, so you didn't really screw anything up too badly.

Well there's no big issue putting to much sugar into the mash. I always put a extra kilo or so of sugar in when making a mash in my fast fermenter just so i don't have to stress out about the gravity being to low and so on . I always say its better to do to much than to little and sugar is pretty cheap if you buy the bulk 50 pound bags so its no problem other than it can become a little wasteful so don't worry about putting to much of anything in. I do have to say its been pretty cool watching you grow and learn along the way. Ive been distilling for close to 6 years now and its always good to watch other people and how they do it snd learn new tricks and ways for myself so thank you for posting your videos man its always good to see someone who's into distilling as much as I am. Keep up the good work and congrats on your latest ferment, people like you inspire me to try new techniques and keep going. Danke, Happy Distilling.

After completing generation 6 UJSSM, I experimented with adding other grains in with the backset. For generation 7, I took half the amount of backset that I would normally take and added it back to the corn/yeast. I then made a mash of oats, golden malt and medium peated malt, added to the corn/yeast and corn back set and fermented. The results were really pleasing - I highly recommend experimenting with adding additional grains. I am now onto my second multi grain mash utilising the back set from 7 - it's getting better and better. Straight out of the stripping runs, there is obviously more flavor and complexity.

Loving your Vids Bro! I bought a T500 today :) Learning so much. Thank you!

Looks like a great and really straight forward recipe, hoping it comes out great. Cheers!

I use this recipe with a slight twist. I malt 3 lbs of corn to replace that much of the cracked corn. Also instead of baker yeast I use Lalvin IE1118 champagne yeast. Bakers yeast only goes to about 10% ABV while the champagne yeast goes up to 18%

I always wanted to do that. Recipe look pretty easy. Going to give her a shot. Give it a try here and Indiana

I like the fridge idea! I personally used an aquarium heater 😜!

i really dig the idea of sour mash and look forward to the upcoming generation of the mash. Im not a fan of corn based anything due mainly to the fact thats what i grew up with here in the south east US. Regardless, the old timers say not to use any sugar in the recipe at all. the yield will, of course, be less but the product a finer quality. There is a book perhaps you can get access to called "The Foxfire Book". there are several volumes in publication, but the one to look at is "Moonshining as an Art". It is very informative and a great insight as to the old ways of distilling.

Great info for first time distillers such as myself. I will only ever distill water in my rig as I am in the USA, but I will probably re-watch these vids a few times for reference...while distilling my water...just cause it's cool information... ;) Keep on making these cool videos, we in the States love it!

Yes with American oak, and proof it about 80proof taste great 👍

Love the idea of labels, great job

Cool! Really looking forward to seeing the sour mashing process and hear how the flavors change between each generation. You pick the best things to try out:-)>

Dude, I really like your style.

I never knew that bourbon and budweiser had so much in common!

For us non-metric heathen, the "regular" recipe UOM is at 2:07. :-)

Is common bread yeast ok to use? Also what starting and finishing gravity are you aiming for?

Hey man great video as usual. I make ujsm all the time I have 2 50 litre ferments on the go and I have lost count of the generation they are up to, i just change some corn out every 2nd generation. If you can get it try adding a tin of Saunders Liquid Malt per 25 litres of wash, tastes really good.

I have allways used frozen corn and God its lush😜

Thank you for all your help Jesse. My question is what part of that do you save ourselves. The bottom part of your mask with the yeast. Or the bottom part of your mash after distilling

Great video Jessie. Was wondering when you were going to brew up a batch of UJSSM. You might want to consider playing around with alpha and gluco amylase enzymes from pintoshine some day. The starch conversions are quite remarkable. Cheers!

I'd love to get some help on the enzymes for my cracked corn. I have an amylase enzyme powder, but I can't seem to find if I have the right stuff or not. I've done 1 run so far, which turned out okay, by my ABV seems low. I've read lots about two part amylase enzyme liquids. And I'm just overwhelmed and confused. Great video! as always, super helpful.

Great video, thanks

Started my 2 gen. Today. Now to wait

Really liked the vid this time. Great hat by the way. How about Svieks. Means cheers in Lithuanian. Love that recipe. I've tweaked it a little as everyone has. If you heat the corn then use some amylase to convert it. You can use a bit less sugar and you get a bit more flavor. Can't wait for you to do a queens run.

THANK YOU !!

Hi Jesse Completely new to brewing and keen to learn. I’m so happy to find you on RU-vid. Real business: I have got a big 200 litre fermenter and boiler. Questions1 Can I just use sugar( which sugar is best) to start with and add molasses in the fermentation .

This is a great recipe and turns out great. Thanks. Question have you ever done this and then mashed the corn in bucket for and hour at 65C with cracked corn? It’s not malted so am I wasting my time? Would I get any conversation?

looking forward to learning this craft. not a hobby. that would be golf. 1st ever sugar mash i hope next week but may try this as 1st batch. how long does the backwash keep for the next generation. sounds similar to amish bread and its starter passed around. now.. Pick me.. quickly

How many 5,15,20 gallon bucket would you suggest for sour mash, 3 generations. Mix,mash,, ferment, cook, mash, mix, cook. This takes several days, many runs. I wouldn't want to come up short. Mark

Still it thanks your in the big leagues

Hey Jesse, it's a great and useful video. I tried this mash, and I done first generation. I have a question to ask you. Can I use total liquid, which I used in first still to the second generation fermentation?

Please make a fruit wash and distilled series

Jesse getting back into this and I've learned a lot more about the difference between a pot still and a reflux still. For making ujssm we want a pot still to keep the flavor. however what kind of an effect does it have to run stripping runs and then run one Spirit run at the end. Isn't that kind of akin to double distilling? Will that cause considerable flavor loss?

I'd love a consult on how to get started. I've watched videos, read blog posts but my biggest hurdle seems to be where to start. I'm looking to use electric heating and there are options out there, but I'm just not sure what to get to start out.

What is the most economical still to make or buy?

Can you help me ? I have a 175 L fermenter, what would be the measurement for the recipe?

hi jesse! in this recipe i noticed that you didn’t use nutritious salt for yeast. I am a beginner in distillation. In my country (Algeria) I can only find baker's yeast, yeast for distillation such as tubo or wine or beer yeast are not found on the market. to make this recipe i have to use baker's yeast. in this case I have to add the nutritive salt for the yeast, the vitamins and adjust the pH with citric acid. should i do the same for each generation? please answer me to start my preparation. big thanks.

If you add a half pound of 6 row barley or a spoon of amylase enzyme it will ferment those corn sugars

Try this... This is for 1 gallon. Can easily be up scaled up. 2 Cups Cracked Corn With A 32oz Bottle Of Corn Syrup Added. Add 20 Grams Yeast. Let The Foam Do It’s Thing & Calm Then Top The Rest With Spring Water. Ferment 10 Days. Produces a pint of 130-140 Proof Shine. Taste So Good... I cut that back to 80-90 proof and age on oak. It’s my favorite:~)

I did 5lb crack corn, 2lb 2 row malted barley and 7lb table sugar, to your knowledge, will it have any adverse effect on the mash?

4 easy tips to vastly improve this recipe (1) put a big pot on the stove half fill of water and bring to boil, add 20% to 50% of your cracked corn and turn off the heat, put the lid on and leave it over night to cook and cool down, throw it in the fermenter with the rest of the corn the next day and break it up add your sugar and yeast and way you go. (2) to improve it even more do the same trick with a bag (1 or 2 kg) of rolled oats (porridge) and add that to your fermenter too. (3) add 1 or 2 kg of frozen sweet corn, you won't regret it, your first batch will be good and batch number 2 to 6 will be even better too. Highly recommend this tip. (4) at batch number 5 add another1 kg of cracked corn and after that batch remove 1kg of corn or small bucket or bowl (I don't weigh it) and replace it with same amount new cracked corn with every batch from then on, add new addition to some of your hot backset straight out of the still to partially cook it and release the flavor. Sort of like the continuous fermentation process the commercial breweries use today. If you miss what the frozen sweet corn did for you earlier on you can add more of that too. These tips slightly complicate the UJSSM recipe but well worth the little extra trouble.

I'm not in this for the contest, but I've got an idea for the whisky name. Sugar Mill Whisky, for the milled grain and sugar additions that make up the recipe. Thanks for making the videos, I'm always excited to get the notifications. Again, I am not entering the contest (I spend way too much time on the HD or AD forums and not enough in the shed as it is), just like the content.

In our country its hard to find cracked , flacked corn or malted wheat. Here we can get raw wheat and corn straight from fields. Can you explain how to use raw corn.

Hey I am a beginner and I'm trying to learn how to recognize my foreshots heads hearts and Tails how do you know when you get to the end of your Tales or how do you know when you coming out of your four shots

Dumb Question...maybe.. I have 3 Run Ripped of UJSSM and an in the process of doing my fouth. I assume that is a sweet spot and want to stop after 4. I will have approx 5 US Gallons of "low wines" ready for a final run. Do I combine all the product for that final slow run? Do I add some distilled water to it before running it? I have a smallish (max run about 7 gallon) still? Thanks for any comments or assistance..

so as for the calculation on adding too much sugar. all that would've done is given you a higher ABV right? as long as your yeast could handle it.

Try it with invert sugar.

I know output can vary greatly but I'm curious in general how much volume you got from your stripping runs of UJSSM, and also how much final product you get from each 5 gallon wash.

I wonder what recycling the yeast dose? If it conditions the yeast over time or changes the flavors any? I would think that if the yeast are constantly in some alchohol because of reuseing them it would start to be more alcohol tolerant? I also wonder if over time it absorbs some of the mash flavors giving your wash a different flavor each generation?

Will the corn really add much flavour if not mashed? i feel an experiment coming on. Try one with mashed corn. I feel like its a waste of fermentables

Can you just use regular bread yeast? Or do you have use a still spirits whisky yeast or DADY. I’ve also heard that turbo yeast isn’t the best- fast by you get off flavors?

My still is running at 90 proof but I have to go someplace and was wondering if I can shut it down and start it back up in the morning

What's is the generation- the backset or the remaining unspent corn? How many generations can you go before starting over with a sweet run?

Any thoughts on making a sugar wash that includes some koji rice or fermented rice (cooked rice + nuruk or jiuqu) to get some of that rice wine flavor without going all rice?

Hello Jessie. I've made this recipe and when it was done fermenting it smells like white wine. Its the first run. So its not even sour mash yet. Have you had til happen to you before and you know why? Could it be the turbo yeast i've used that gives that white wine taste and smell?

So I have 1.5 questions. 1. Why is the corn cracked? 2. If surface area of corn is the factor- why wouldn’t you use polenta?

what sort of yield do you get from the UJSSM recipe? what i mean is if you did say, 5 generations, @ 25L for a ferment, how much whiskey at approx 40% do you end up with at the end of the 5 generations? also, is a stripping run just a hot and fast run of the still to distill the alcohol off, not worrying about the flavour? the first generation distillation is a stripping run, but what about the 2nd, 3rd etc? i watched the 5th gen video where Jesse makes all the cuts in the jars on the table. what's the difference when doing this distillation? do you run the still a lot slower for this? i know most brewers don't like to work by temperatures, but what sort of temperature ranges does the cut run span?

What is the point in the cracked corn? When there is no amylase present, the corn adds no sugars. Is it purely for flavour?

Thanks for the video and recipe. Just starting out here, and been getting a lot of good info on youtube. I have two questions. Does the PH value matter on any kind of mash, or just certain ones. Also, is it ever a bad idea to filter your spirits; something like rum or brandy?

I was wondering im on my 4 th generation do I have to add yeast it's bubbling really good

White lighting about 💯 proof

Why aren't you mashing the corn? To get the starch to sugar conversion? No conversion takes place during a ferment.

I'm liking the video's a lot. I've read a bunch on the forums, but seeing stuff is a welcome extra layer. When you say people feel the quality is best at around gen 5 or 7, does it just stay good then or do next generations get worse flavor? Thanks for making these!

Do you have a video on malting corn?

Great Videos! But You didn't show how you start your yeast or what ratio water/yeast, thanks!

Did you ever try the cornflakes mash?

My questions are about aging/oxidation. Should I top up barrels that lose their Angels share with neutral? Or a new batch? Also is there a way to test for the types of alcohols in a solution? I'm aware of the Lucas test, however that will only tell you the presence of primary secondary or tertiary alcohols. I want to know the specific concentrations of say acetone, ethyl alcohol, butyl alcohol, Etc in the heads, hearts, and tales of a specific batch.

hey tell me for 25L of mash at 15/20% abv what quantity of good moonshine can i get, i did it many many times on my 10 liters still and i did 25 liters of mash each time but i didn't pactice for a couple of years and next month i'll made my personnal apple brandy recipe, since my still is 10 liters (with a thumper) so i distill the 25L in 3/4 times and i pour all the first in the second distillation with second part of mash and the same at the last distillation part of the mash, how many quantity of good product do you think i'm gonna have?

After yeast finish working, how Many days can I wait to run it. How long will it be good for?

Can you use other grains than corn for this kinda mash? Can you use barley malt?

Dude! I'm not sure what to do. Please help when you can. I have my gen 1 UJSSM rolling well, so much so that it is at 1.000 fg (1.068 sg) after 4 days. It's my first time using DADY and it is still bubbling on the regular. Do I let it go or just siphon off etc to prep gen 2? Used the recipe listed in this video. Thanks for any help

Are these American/NZ gallons and not UK? thanks......

I like to let the mAsh go sour 15 to 24 hrs start the sugar fermentation then pitch the mash and yest.Plus it's so much better if you break down the starch to sugar..

hi really enjoying all of your videos only been doing this myself for a few months started out with the turbos #Crap been doing the tpw's for the last few months with nice results now i really want to start the ujssm but near where I live in the UK I only can find natural mixed poultry corn doesn't say anything on the bag I Googled the company and looked and it says it's 50%CORN AND50%Wheat will this be okay can any one give me some advice as I could order kibbled corn but will have to wait and the mixed is a 20kg bag and at £7 is half the price?

Not a 100% sure but... you can add your spent grain from this ferment to the next fresh batch and then you got your sour mash.

To try this with the original 5 gallons of water would a 6 gallon fermentor work or would I need to convert?

I've always heard to ferment at room temp

Does adding too much yeast cause any problems?

You skipped to much stuff for us beginners, how much yeast did you use, I see you added hot water to it, how long do you let it sit before adding to the mash, what temp. should the mash be when you add the sugar , do you use a sanitizer to clean your fermentation bucket, to you use the one way tube on the top (don't know what its called) Will the fermentation work with the bucket being half full. ? ? ?

Is it OK to use Turbo Yeast fir this recipe?

Guys... I finished my first distillation of the first batch - not yet a sour mash. It tastes good but the smell is strange, it smells like a boiled egg... is it expected smell? Is there any chance to get rid of it?

Could one use LME instead of sugar and attain something more flavoursome?

Have you ever use corn syrup?

1 week in on my first ujssm( fizzing away nice action) thank you for your time... just got my amylase any help on a good corn recipe would be appreciated more then you know team!!! Lolo ( good shit ) I can’t find the video that you show how to sparge with the tea bag tec!!

Remington Ford

Can you distil this thru a Turbo 500 still???

I am hopping to do my first run in several weeks when I get my 20l still. What would be the best recipe to start will, corn meal and amylase or just white sugar??

What’s the best yeast to use for UJSSM to start off with it’s my first time stilling

Im a brewer and new to distilling so please be kind but why dont u use alpha amylase to convert the corn starch to sugars also?

What kind of yeast are u using on this recipe?

Are you hitting 150 to 180 or better alcohol.

Thanks for inspiring me to try this on my own, I scaled down the recipe to 7.5 liters of water, 1.3kg corn sugar, 1.3kg scratch corn and 5.7g of yeast or 2 gallons water, 2.8 lbs corn sugar, 2.8 lbs cracked corn and .2 ounces of yeast ( wanted to make a smaller batch as I have never distilled before ). My batch is currently in a 3 gallon glass carboy fermenting away but I failed to think about how I would replace the spent corn for my next generation, im thinking about leaving the corn in for 2 generations as i have no idea how I would remove the spent corn, what are your thoughts ? also roughly how much drinkable product do you think I will have after a run ?

Hey Jesse what type of yeast did you use. cheers

What if you did this UJSSM and every time you do a new generation you add another type of yeast. This would be interesting bc each yeast adds its own flavor.