Whiskey Precursor Beer

[Delta3]

I'm looking to do some all grain brews (finally) and my logic has gone more or less; I like beer, I like whiskey. What does whiskey taste like before it's distilled? Because it must be more or less an unhopped peated ale...

I've seen a couple of recipes on brewers friend, but I'm curious if it's worth the effort trying a brew?

 

[IainM]

It won't taste much like whiskey, because of all the proteins and stuff left behind by distillation, and because whiskey gets most it's character from barrel aging. It'll also be cloyingly sweet.

 

[Dutto]

As far as I can make out, the malted barley used for making whisky is deliberately milled to a relatively fine grist and then mashed at a low temperature (normally from 70*C max down to 60*C) for the first pass in order to produce the maximum amount of fermentable sugars. Subsequent mashes (up to four of them) are at higher temperatures and produce less sugars.

A feature of the wort used for making whisky is that it isn't boiled because there is no need to drive off any compounds that can affect the taste or to introduce the bitterness that Hops bring to the brew. The wort therefore goes from the Mash Tun to the Fermenter without boiling.

We already make a "Whisky Precursor Beer" in that we produce a wort from the malted grains but after that I'm not sure what could be done to make it into a palatable brew without boiling. i.e. to make a brew without boiling off the elements that can negatively affect taste and the addition of the hops which gives beer and lager their distinctive taste.

I'm open to suggestions though so until then, here's a great read on the subject of whisky...

https://www.whisky.com/information/knowledge/production/details/mashing.html

Enjoy.

 

[Delta3]

Awesome. Thank you for the information :-). I definitely won't be trying this one then hahaha.

 

[Oneiroi]

Last time I went on a tour, the distillery was using wooden fermenters which were almost open and had no temp control at all.

Obviously the wood can’t be sanitised/sterilised, so although they were using specific high alcohol yeast they probably also ended up with some kind of house culture of wild yeast/ bacteria too.

The guide rather confusingly said that they didn’t worry too much about controlling the ferment as the off flavours wouldn’t make it through distillation, but also that they preferred wood to stainless fermenters because they thought it had a positive impact on final taste.





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[peebee]

If it passed you by …

"Dutto" described the mashing technique used for whisk(e)y:

… Subsequent mashes (up to four of them) …

In beer brewing this multiple mash technique died out in the 19th century as beer brewers caved in to the new fangled "sparging" ideas.


(EDIT: Oh aye, and if you are fortunate enough to go on a distillery tour, you may be UN-fortunate enough to get a taste of the "precursor beer".)

 

[Delta3]

From the descriptions it sounds pretty bad... How bad was it?

Sounds quite curious the difference in the initial fermentation. I'd assumed to a point it would be pretty damn similar to a heavy barley wine prior to distillation.

 

[ACBEV]

In beer brewing this multiple mash technique died out in the 19th century as beer brewers caved in to the new fangled "sparging" ideas.

I use the old fangled mashing scheme, I've never done any sparging. The only down side is two or three, hour long mashes, but I don't bother with a fourth mash...

 

[Llamaman]

Didn't Adnams make a distilled spirit from Broadside?

Edit: Yes, they did;
http://adnams.co.uk/spirits/our-spirits/the-spirit-of-broadside/

 

[simon12]

I saw copper rivet distillery in Chatham dockyard recently, the yeast they use gets to 9% in 3 days before its distilled. The use a variety of grains most of which you can see the fields its grown in, its the only place I have ever seen a lauter tun. But whisky production is designed to get the maximum alcohol from the grains not something that will be drinkable before distillation. Making it like beer is like single malt whiskey and would be a raw beer, other whisky would use distillers malt and normally corn which would be nothing like beer.

 

[peebee]

I use the old fangled mashing scheme, I've never done any sparging. The only down side is two or three, hour long mashes, but I don't bother with a fourth mash...

(Ignore this distracting post. I'm sure the sands-of-time will wash over him soon enough).