I Turned Corn Into Whiskey & Filled A Barrel
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- It's time to make a 100% corn bourbon. No wheat or rye and no barley. Just a spirit made from corn and only corn.
I have mashed corn a bunch of times now and I have always been a little disappointed with the conversion. So this time I decided to go overboard with the cooking/mashing process.
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Recipe
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60 KG (132 lb) of kibbled corn
Mill the corn so its like small pebbles/course sand. I used a standard barley mill and double milled it.
Fill a large pot to just under halfway with corn. Add boiling water and stir until the pot is full.
Add a small amount of HTA (high temp alpha amylase enzymes) and boil for 45min.
Add the corn into a large fermenter and insulate very well. repeated until all the corn is cooked.
Stir in the rest of your HTA and insulate. Leave for 6-8 hours.
Cool to 60c and add glucoamalase. Insulate and leave for 2-4 hours.
Cool to 25c and pitch your yeast.
Run stripping runs to strip all the wash. Then run a spirit run. Proof down to your desired barrel proof. Age on wood for as long as you can wait.
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Refractometer - alcohol %
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IR Thermometer
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Mash Paddle
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Canon R6
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#distilling #homebrew #whiskey
I often include affiliate links in my videos and descriptions. This will not change the price for you at all, but the seller will give me a small kickback. Cool eh?
Good video young man. Next time you feel like mucking about with corn, start with cold water, add enzyme, bring to boil. I get a phenomenal starch conversion this way and rarely any clumping
I never heard of that before, I'll give it a shot.
How long a boil?
i do this also,, works great,
Cold pre-soak the corn for 12 hours before cooking and the starch will gelatanize much faster because their will be sufficient moisture deep inside the particles.
Additionally, in industrial wet corn milling, during a long steep a little bit of lactobacteria is added to produce a bit of acid to help break down fiber bonds.
@@zinger565 Would that be considered a sour mash?
I know about going to the opposite pH, adding alkali (fresh hardwood ash, burnt/hydrated lime , or lye) with whole corn to hot soak water and standing overnight to cause nixtamalization, [follow with rinse] which also breaks the fiber bonds but that also changes the flavor and arroma. (Think tamales or corn tortillas for tacos.)
My no boil process seems to work well , pre soak with. Lactic acid solution of 1.67 % no higher or it will cause problems, I can refer you to a paper if you like, then drain off pre soak solution , hit it with boiling hot water and stir it should start to gel, the temp will be in the high 80 to 90 c , I add high temp XL a high temp alpha amylase , mix and let it work , once temp hits to about 62c I hit it with a mix of amylo300 (Alpha )and bioglucanase ( a beta glucanase )..but you have to monitor your ph most enzymes have a pretty narrow ph window to work effectively. , let it cool and keep mixing , I use the Fermentis usw-6 yeast… regularly get 1.040 to 1.035 SG, the interesting thing I have found in my experiments between just water presoak and lactic acid presoak is the final gravity , I always seem to get to get a lower FG with presoak typically .999 compared to 1.005 or 1.007 in the just water presoak..
I live in eastern Ontario, Canada where 30 kilos of ground corn costs me about $16.00 Canadian
@@BruceGiven The presoak is likely freeing up more yeast nutrients, phosphate and nitrogen [amino acids] which cause faster more complete fermentation. Possible other cause of FG is that there are fewer intermediate chain maltodextrins due to more complete mashing.
@@mytech6779 the theory behind it is the weak acid solution breaks down the elements of the kernel and frees up some proteins , but it also frees up the corn oil , strangest thing I saw was opening up my fermenters to see oil on the surface (Maybe it was a very oily batch of corn ) but as corn is notoriously short of yeast nutrients and nitrogen, I always add nutrients typically Yeastex 82.
My next experiment is to use a ammonia pre-treatment and see how it yields.
Super video brother my Yellow label video dropping tomorrow, just finished the recording, Cheers
Sweet looking forward to ity dude
Awesome project. Especially the significant impact of the yeasts. Nice work, brother!
You can malt and powder the corn kernels to gain enzymes for the mash. You can pre-ferment a portion of the corn in koji/sake mold to convert carbs to sugar for yeast. Nixtamalized corn flour can be used with lactobacillus bacteria to increase the nutritional content of your mash, there is a corn beer drink called "Tejuino" that's uses nixtamalized corn.
Best video in a while my dude!! I know how much work it is to fill a barrel with an all grain high corn mash bill, but so rewarding. Nice work
Друг я с начала года уже наполнил две бочки по 50 литров.
Love his finesse and demeanor. Very pleasant to hear him talking and informative. Thank you
I was searching your channel earlier last week for a all corn mash. This couldn't have been timed better, thank you.
@@theworldisastage1984 this is the one I ended up using. I looked everywhere. Thank you for a proper name for it, I never even realized that. I also have powdered enzymes. Is the liquid better?
@@theworldisastage1984 I've noticed that too. When I run out, I'll grab some liquid. When I first started the hobby, I only used sugar, so I'm learning about enzymes now.
Do you suggest a type/brand? I have BSG Amylase and LD Carlson Glucoamylase. I have always liked their products and no complaints yet.
@@theworldisastage1984 ok, thank you.
Thanks for always being dedicated and inspiring the rest of us to keep chasing the craft. Well done Boet! - love your videos!
Hahaha...great name there. I always thought bugger was spelled with an "a" though (buggar)?
Hi Jessie I bought a T500 still 18 months ago and I was very unhappy with the whole suger wash and essense game as there was no art in it. Tat is when i come across your site via bored and bearded's site. watching you put so much effort and pation in to it all inspired me to play around with flavourd and recipies to a point where I an kinda proud of where i got and learning from yo are interested Kind regards Cornel
Awesome mate, makes me happy to hear!
I've just received my first pot still. I owe my interest in the hobby to you my friend. The knowledge you give is invaluable and gives me light years of a head start. Thank you
Awesome stuff, big love from vermont!!!!!!
Love it J. Have you tried taking the staves out occasionally - let them dry completely - then whack em back in. My experiments are suggesting that it removes some of the sharper more reactive esters.
Soooooo one of my family members may or may not have made some 100% corn liquor and gave me a few gallons. I filled a 2 gal barrel and aged it for a year. Went in at 120 proof. I checked 8t once every 60 days and proofed it back down to 120 consistently throughout the aging. After a year I got a super sweet whisky that I love. I prefer the higher proof bourbons so it was right up my Ally.
Super cool. Nice video. I’m just learning to operate my reflux still so I have my pop sourcing cheap and dead ripe fruits to ferment and “practice” learning the craft.
Nice to see you have finally committed to the longer term tasks. Once you start getting whiskeys coming out the other side on a regular basis this will 1) Differentiate your channel dramatically 2) Start producing some really good whiskey.
WoW that was a good video. You could spend years experimenting with different yeast and then have a great time blending. Wonderful content, Jesse, as always. Thanks much!
Awesome content as always. You inspired me to mix some distilling into my normal beer making hobby. I wanted to do a traditional moonshine to start and used cracked corn and sweet COB (corn, oats, barley, molasses). I used gluco-amylase for the starch conversion and got a result, but I think I will add the HTA next time to see if I can improve the conversion. My raw result was amazing and my small batch didn't make it past the stripping run.
the old garden hose getting too warm and soft and kinking on you trap. this is mostly the only thing that goes wrong when i distill these days and it usually only happens when i do really long runs.
great video. thanks for detailing how you did corn. i hope to get into this sort of thing some time in the future. im pricing up gear for milling the grains and should be purchasing soon enough.
i also filled my 20L barrel last year. it was a life dream and so satisfying. it made the best gear i've ever made to date.
Ah.. moonshine! 😅 Cool. Ancient traditional beverage here. Long history. Lol
Kibbleize it!🤣😉
I think with the Belgian yeast it’s quite temperature dependent. So lower fermentation temps will give you clove like you said. Higher fermentation temperature means the yeast is stressed and will produce banana flavored esters. Iron Root here in Texas make some really interesting corn whiskey and bourbon. It’s good stuff.
THIS is the kind of video I miss from this channel!
15:14 - best B-roll ever! Those 2 bottles got freeeeaky!
Yes! More videos like this!
Man I don’t even drink and I still enjoy watching your videos! Thanks for the great content!
As an American. Thank you for putting conversions on the screen
Hello just starting to start to age some of mine runs I do like what you have talked about, you a Professional in my book keep it up
Thanks
Great vid and timing, as I've been contemplating doing something similar recently.
But my "2 years" never make it past 6 months due to over sampling.
Thanks.
Love your work man. Very recently got onto watching your vids. Must say though I have had a laugh watching the beard development along with the videos.
I feel your videos have gone back to what they used to be. Obviously much better made. I personally don't care what soft drink tastes like fermented and distilled. Practical and how to videos is where I'm at.
Had a idea while at Bunnings they have smoking chips from the bbq section so I got a bag of apple wood chips and charred them on the bbq in an old coffee tin for 5 mins then teabag 10l of pear brandy for 2 weeks, it has great colour and resemblance of barrel aged but there is a bit charcoal taste, if I use it again I’ll probably char less and use half as much chips
The corn feed I bought smelled like vinegar. I never smelled cracked corn that smelled like that. It made a good liquor though.
The smell was propionic acid used as a preservative. Doesn't seem to affect the brew though, which is pretty cool. Cheap way to get a lot of grain 👍
This is perfect timing for me, I just got a 55 gallon blue barrel and 165 lbs of corn and 55 lbs of barley,. Weather will be nice here in Canada in about a month and a half and this exactly what I am planning. Thanks for your Share brother. I am looking at getting a wine press for the same reasons.
Loved my trip to NZ, my mother is from Auckland and have family all through the north island and some in Dunedin. Maybe on a side note, you could do a video on making ethanol fuel, using a Zeolite 3a sieve to bring proof up closer to 100% abv. With the price of petrol and all.
@@theworldisastage1984 Thank you for the idea, I was thinking that. I used some rye, oats, barley and corn in my 20 gallon batch, it is coming along really nice. I think I will take your advice.
I’ve watched a load of your videos and love them all, very informational in all of them and helpful. Was curious if you could do a dandelion wine still ?
You could try a spring over the garden hose cooling which should help support hose and stop kinking issue
Hello from the US! I’m enjoying a Mellow Corn Whiskey highball watching this. If you can get your hands on a bottle of Mellow Corn then I’d love to see you compare this to that. That’s made as a “Straight Corn Whiskey”, it’s made with 80% or more corn in the mash, although they use rye and barley as well. It can be aged in new uncharred oak or used oak (charred or otherwise). This is definitely a different product but looks quite nice.
George Dickel's Mash Bill is 84% Corn. Love the No. 12.
Watching you heave around those massive bags of grain makes me think that the 1930's moonshiners during prohibition were, in fact, ripped as hell.
Thank you for posting a good video on this day of stupid. It was nice to have something good to watch.
this day of "stupid", is that code for your personal condition or something else?
@@Slangevar333 April fool's day
With the exception of yellow label Angel yeast, the Angel yeast brand doesn't seem to be readily available in the U.S. The readily available freedom yeast equivalents (based on description), from Fermentis, look to be:
Angel AM-1 = SafSpirit M1
Angel AG-2 = SafSpirit USW-6
Angel CY115 = SafAle S-04
Angel CS31 = SafAle BE-134
I haven't tried any of them yet, but did just order some to play along!
80% plus corn mashbills in used or unchared oak are a separate category called Corn whiskey. Mellow corn is one of the most popular. The barrel and lack of volume of the flavoring grains make a tremendous change.
WONDERFUL video. My favorite type of content.
Am really happy with this I want to make it
Man you need a cordless drill with a big paint mixer on the end 😂 save that back and break the mash down a bit more 👌
When you look at the sheer amount of variety that alcohol production offers plus the sheer amount of time it takes, you can see how something like Chartreuse only came to be over several hundred years.
Love the flip flops, wish it was warm enough for that here!
I would like to try a small batch of high corn just to experiment. Not much of a corn whiskey fan, but haven't had much either. Usually corn is with at least a small amount of barley for enzymes and rye. I hate rye.
I have made small batch bourbon, just to see if I could make it. I aged in a small 5L barrel or with oak cubes. I gave it to family and a couple friends. Not my thing, but they all loved it.
I can say. With certainty that the staved at 2 years will be a tad tannic and peppery. But will still be damn tasty. Love the different camera shots. Your an old pro at this game now.
I checked to see if you have anything in the way of content (after you made that remark like you are a bonafide judge, and with a title of Shaman, I kind of expected at least something. If I subscribe to your channel, what would be the point??
@@Slangevar333 no just been in the game for a min. Whisky somm. And have followed Jesse for years. I have thought about a channel but I do a bit on instagram. Being from USA makes it sketchy for content.
Muchas gracias por el video, Es excelente. Saludos desde Colombia 👍
Day 11. Could you make a distilled video on Planter's Honey Roasted peanuts?
Yo Jessie ! How’s it goin man. It’s me Chagarlic. How’s the Craft ? Good ! Got a question for ya. How come you haven’t yet made a Real Blueberry Brandy ? I am in the process of making the Banana Brandy 2 days in so far. 😀 Yes I am still chasing the craft. I started 3 years ago and by watching your videos I have been able to perfect alot if not all of my awesome drink creations. How’s New Zealand it really looks like a nice place. I live in Canada Winnipeg Manitoba and I’ve been a fan of you on UA-cam for a while now. Totally looking forward to seeing your Blueberry Brandy video if you decide to make it. Take care Jessie and congratulations on the new addition to the family. From just a fan, Matt.
Just a tip don’t know if this is a thing there or not. I buy my corn in 25 lb bags pre ground for grits(think porridge but strictly corn) from a wholesale store.
In the US we have a lovely budget whiskey called Mellow Corn that has a 90% corn mash bill, which is about as close to this as I’ve seen
We can get this in the UK, great stuff for the price.
Mellow Corn is very nice stuff!
Ah, a fellow Brother of the Corn!!!
I just filled a brand new Bad Motivator barrel(H2) with Mellow Corn to double barrel it, looking forward to those results. Maybe someday Heaven Hill will give us some barrel proof, single barrel, or older Mellow Corn.
Mellow Corn sure has a lot of fans and considering it's a $15 USD Heaven Hill product, it might be the best budget corn whiskey anywhere. With the flavor profile, Jesse's might be better. I guess we'll see eventually.
I made corn whisky - not by boiling the corn but by slow roasting it for 12 hours. It was awesome.
I really want a couple of those barrels.
Too start with I'm a beginner too.
You need some malted corn too work with your corn ,but you will be happy with the out come.
But popcorn malt is better flavor on the out come.
The Belgium ale cs31 is probably sta 1 positive, allowing it to creating its own glucoamylase, making it dryer then other yeasts, always great if you want them extra few points.
Great video by the way!
Love the skuffs mate
Thanks for the info and ideas
Wondering if there is any information available for the usage of feed or livestock grains regarding insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers present in the mash and spirits? We have many places around to purchase these products and this is something that I have thought about. I have never seen conversations or lab testing results on the subject.
Like the idea of longer term aging methods and the possibility of mixing going forward. Thanks for the video.
Waht a lot of work and efort but you naild it.
My grandparents have grown corn. Feed corn is a lot less sweet than eating corn. I'm not sure if brewers corn is what I would eat as corn on the cob or not.
Hello sir, this is a callback to your "Is Buying A still Direct From China Worth It?" video. It'd be great to see a follow-up on that video, see if your friend was still happy with it and what issues might have cropped up since you're last video. However, what I'm more interested in is how he was heating his still.
I'm familiar with stills that use electric heating elements which go directly inside the kettle along with the mash, and thus run the risk of scorching the mash and ruining the run. I'm also familiar with stills that are heated by steam which is produced from a separate boiler, with the steam produced by the boiler channeled through tubes inside the still's kettle or through a jacket around the still's kettle.
However, for jacketed stills which have either glycol or a high boiling temp oil in the jacket, like your friend's, I don't know how those stills are heated. Are electric heating elements inserted into the jacket, heating the oil, or does the oil flow from the kettle to an external heater (similar to a steam boiler) where it's heated before being sent back to the still?
Great video!
Great video man. Very well done. Planning on doing my first corn whisky soon. I am wondering if someone is familiar with the alcoengine reflux column and if it would stripping too much flavour if doing a stripping run followed by a spirit run using the 1mm attachment. It sure is more intense than a pot still so wondering if some flavour would remain
What does adding enzymes to the corn do or maybe a better question is why do you need to add enzymes into it before boiling? Thank you!!!
About time!
Oh..so you be a Kiwi Madlad..that explains a lot here.. 🤔💪😁🤣
Its been two years. How does it taste?
I would assume that because the stave is not exposed to air on one side that the through-wood reactions will not happen. I would guess the alcohol would only go through a surface layer (just a guess).
Maybe that's solvable by an occasional vacuum chamber exposure, not sure.
why not use that magical angel yeast for this? what temps does that work best at what is the min and max range? and percentage of conversion for all grains? does it work on all unmalted grains and how long does it take to turn starches into sugars?
I think we are ready for a follow up tasting 👀
Could you maybe try to make finnish sima and distill it? Sima is kind of like a damn delicious mead lemonade
Hey Jesse: no love for the Angel Yellow Label yeast on this corn project?
Hello. What happens if I don't boil the corn? how bad is it? how much does the final product influence? thanks. 🥃
so if a condenser gets too warm or hot the shine coming out will be too harsh or hot? is this because more of those volatile part of the alc will not be going in the shine but will be lost out the worm into vapor and those would have contributed to making the shine smoother had they condensed along with the rest had the water cooling been cold enough is that what it is?
You should have a yeast rep on your show to discuss their different products on the market.
Naaa. Best part of this channel is no one trying to sell me shit.
@@johnston511 Your PERSONAL PREFERENCE aside, I'd like to learn more about yeast & the companies that provide them.
I get toasting and charring, but what was that you did after the charring? Looks like you poured water in the pan and covered it to steam the wood. What's the reasoning behind it?
if you used gluco amylase at the end what enzyme were you using at the start? should one be using both alpha and beta to get the most yield out?
Can I ferment the corn mash without using enzymes, using only yeasts?
Could you make alcohol with strawberry milk
you did not explain what kind of enzyme you used that went in boiling water? what was the point if you killed it fast like that?
I use half cracked corn, half malt corn for an all corn bill. I've often wondered what it is, bourbon sorta, like Jesse said, malt likker....or an American single grain corn scotch? I guess moonshine is the "normal" I feel a more suited name would be better
Aged at 65c for 60 hrs... how many times did you have to fill the water reservoir for the sous-vide?
Have you ever tried to artificially sea age a spirit? I think that would be interesting?
have you ever thought about making caramel wash?
Living in the great corn state of Iowa has always made me wonder if anyone has made whiskey out of sweet corn?
I am curious about the wooden barrel you have setting there. How long can you age in that before it becomes "To much"?
I like those BadMo barrels.... I also like the old wooden keg... but i heard somewhere that the wood to whisky ratio is off and the wood will over power if not careful... Im a rookie at best so maybe i'm out to lunch.. :)
Hey Jesse, greetings from way across the pond in Buffalo, NY USA. Love the channel and all the great information, thank you!!! Question............ IF........ I were to try some small batch recipe development, are there any pitfalls that you experienced while working with small batch runs? Thanks...Cheers!!!
How long did you age in the barrel, assuming small barrel is supposed to have greater surface area to larger barrels
Jesse or anyone have you had success using the AM-1 after the 7 days it says it has to be used up by once opened? I want to buy some but there is no way I will use 500g in 7 days.
How did you arrive at the Sous vide forced aging process?
Smoky Quartz in New Hampshire USA makes amazing 100% corn whiskey
Set aside some SV rapid aged too!
Newbie here. Looks like you are fermenting without an air lock ?
Yeah I often go without the air lock.
trying to figure out names of amylases used in this video, can someone help with advice? I'm in Canada, all amzn has are amylase enzyme and glucoamylase
Why not use grits or homeny?
I see you were wearing 'The Ring' but, you were still visible! Yeh, my ring don't work either.......😂
i have had several friends ask me to distill fruity pebbles cereal and i was wandering if you have any suggestions on how i could do it for the best flavor
Fresh sweet corn is bloody 👍