First grain whiskey run

JHeron

So last weekend I decided to try an AG whiskey to clean up a bunch of malt I had laying around for making beer.
27 lbs of mixed pale malt and 2row, 5lbs flaked oats, 2lbs flaked barley, 6lbs wheat malt, 2lbs black malt, 4lbs beach smoked malt.
Its a mixed bag I know  

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I split the grain evenly between 2-10 gallon igloo mash tuns and mashed in the same as I would with beer only at 148F.
I sparged the grains into a bucket to transfer to my 205L fermenter in the basement (the grain was removed). I used a few gallons more for sparging then I normally would and ended up with about ~140-150L of wert. I took a gravity reading but not until after my wife added about a dozen apples that had been going soft (she mashed them up and cooked them first, so much for AG but why not eh?) as well as some boiled water with about a cup of yeast nutrient so it probably screwed up the accuracy of the reading eh?
It read @1.049 which I thought was kinda light so I mixed in about 8lbs of fine white cane sugar I had on hand just to be safe though it barely bumped it up but a point, I kind of regretted it after but c'est la vie eh?
I pitched 2 packs of US-04 and some long expired US-05 and BE-134 saison yeast for fun.
It fermented hard and fast and I suspect it will be ready to run this weekend. It smells awesome!
I have made a couple of great rums and I am thinking of running this the same way.
Fast stripping runs then a slow as I can stand it spirit run.
Sound about right? Any tricks for running whiskey runs I should know about?
Cheers,
JonLast edited by JHeron on Fri Dec 16, 2022 8:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ben

Seems like a lot of black (patent?) malt. Otherwise looks great. Look for the thread on here about better cuts through dilution, and set up a reference sample from hearts you can compare your other fractions too. Collect lots of little jars from the run, it will help you figure out where your fractions are.:)

JHeron

Yes, Simpsons Black patent.  Is it too much? I dont know never made a grain spirit before but its a good amount for an 11 gallon stout.
46lbs of grist in this bill total.
Cheers,
JonAttachments

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Ben

If its too much you can always blend it in with later whiskeys. Probably just fine.:)

JHeron

I did 2 stripping runs last night and damn it is great right off the still!
Nice smoky taste and clean finish. Much smother then the rum was off the still.
I am thinking I will add a gallon or two of the wash to the spirit run to make sure it keeps the flavour, is this a thing with whisky like it is with rum?
Would adding the backset from my last stripping run to my next sugar wash (going to try a vodka next) be a good idea to bring down the PH?
Merry chritmas everyone!
Jon

Ben

A sugar based ferment is a wash, are you meaning wash or do you mean the beer from another AG mash? If you are talking a wash I wouldn't recommend that, the sugar wash will dilute the flavor and mouthfeel you worked so hard for.
It is common for people to add their stripping run to the beer from a mash and run that through the still, it's called a 1.5 run (fairly loose term). It can help bump the flavor a bit. If you like the product from the strip it's certainly worth trying. It can be a little tougher to cut than a standard strip/spirit run (fractions won't be quite as tight).
You can save the backset for pH adjustment. Give it a little taste and see if you like the flavor, it will probably be pretty neutral and just a little sour.:)

JHeron

Thanks for the tips!
I meant to leave a bit of the wash/beer out of the last stripping run then add a gallon or so it to the boiler for the final spirit run.
I did this with my rum runs just wondered if whiskey makers did the same thing.
In any event I managed to save a bit under a gallon of the beer so I am going to try it in my spirit run tomorrow.
Merry HOHO!
Cheers,
Jon