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My Opinion After Four Years
that 75% corn, 13% Rye malt, and 12% Barley malt makes the best all-around Bourbon for the masses.I’ve made a lot of this with very consistent results. It’s become my most repeated mash, with much of it aged on oak sticks in glass gallon jugs with a vented cork stopper. I’ve also got some in a 5 gallon barrel, and a batch in a Badmo Barrel. It’s not a new formula. In fact it’s a common mashbill, but it’s easy, consistent, and cheap. Especially if you’re using feed corn, and milling it yourself. That’s my humble opinion, and it’s worth what you paid for it. Fear and ridicule are the tactics of weak-minded cowards and tyrants who have no other leadership talent from which to draw in order to persuade.
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16 Replies
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Good to hear. Finding a recipe you enjoy, is reliably repeatable and cheap is a real bonus.Cheers
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Funny enough, I crunched all the numbers on the mash bills in the Crampton and Tolman papers and your percentages are a nearly dead nuts average of all the mash bills that participated in the study.There are two types of people in this world.1. Those that can extrapolate from incomplete information.
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I haven’t dipped into Rye yet. It may be time to change up my corn whisky recipe and give this a try. “What harms us is to persist in self deceit and ignorance”Marcus AureliusI’m not an alcoholic! I’m a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings!
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Real close to my numbers:70 corn-15-barley-12-rye-3-wheat🎱 The struggle is real and this rabbit hole just got interesting. Per a conversation I had with Mr. Jay Gibbs regarding white oak barrel staves: “…you gotta get it burning good.”
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My wheat is almost gone,then that’s the bill I’m doing. But…. maybe a couple with wheat like 8ball does, that should use up the last of it.I drink so much now,on the back of my license it’s a list of organs I need.
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Nice one Deplorable.I think an opinion four years in the making is pretty well thought out one. ‘Course I might be a bit biased by the fact that I’ve landed at 75-12.5-12.5 for the house pour . Reliable, easy to measure, cost effective and makes a pretty nice drop. Can always add a bit of wheat or oats for character or mouthfeel if ya feel like it, but the basics always hold up.Cheers
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The one mash I use malted rye with was my fav so far too… I do enjoy adding some oats and wheat as well as specialty malts… Why can’t we go to 125% in the mash-bill ? ?Cheers,jonny————i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred————
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That is the best part of this hobby, you make what you like. I don’t like the “spice” of rye so much so tend to go more of 15% to 10% barley/rye. But of course those numbers are just guides. If I am getting close to the end of a bag of malt I will toss in a bit more to finish the bag, same for my corn or other grain. I have serious doubts that my palette can tell the different in 12% or 10% rye.
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Nice choice, Deplorable.When I started in this hobby, (almost exclusively a scotch drinker) I fell in love with the 75-13-12 grain bill. I couldn’t keep my mitts off it and it never made it into an aging regime, it was that tasty white. Talk about an eye opener. Checking through the spreadsheet (floating around here somewhere) of prominent distillery’s bourbon expressions, a great many of them offer this bill, and its easy to see why.“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake.”- W.C. Fields My EZ Solder Shotgun My Steam Rig and Manometer
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You were the one who encouraged me in this direction, and you’re right, I have gotten into a habit of setting aside a 5th of tighter cut white for sipping with close friends while the other stuff sits on/in wood. When I posted the OP, I was enjoying a glass that’s been aging for about 18 months, and thought “this is the best Knob Creek Bourbon I’ve ever had.” Maybe it’s the yeast we choose. Maybe it’s the better cuts, or maybe a combination of both, but as repeatable and predictable as this is, it’s become a staple in my cupboard.Fear and ridicule are the tactics of weak-minded cowards and tyrants who have no other leadership talent from which to draw in order to persuade.
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MGP high Rye Bourbon mashbill is my sweet spot (60% Corn/36% Rye/4% Malt). On the subject of percentages, I’m led to believe that weight of grains in the total bill, is not what the big boys use. Those percentages (e.g. 80/15/5 etc) are calculated by alcohol potential of each grain. This tripped me up for a while, as I was going by weight.
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Exactly!ferment volume × last 2 numbers of desired specific gravity × the percentage of the grain you want ÷ grain PGGCommon grain PPG:Corn 35Wheat 35Barley 35Oats 35Rye 27Sugar 46 Example:10g (ferment) × 75 (desired SG) × .6 (percentage of grain in bill) = 450450 ÷ 35 (PPG) = 12.8lbs of grain Repeat for each grain in the billThere are two types of people in this world.1. Those that can extrapolate from incomplete information.
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Exactly!ferment volume × last 2 numbers of desired specific gravity × the percentage of the grain you want ÷ grain PGGCommon grain PPG:Corn 35Wheat 35Barley 35Oats 35Rye 27Sugar 46 Example:10g (ferment) × 75 (desired SG) × .6 (percentage of grain in bill) = 450450 ÷ 35 (PPG) = 12.8lbs of grain Repeat for each grain in the billBam! That is very useful information.Thanks Salty and Bolverk. This point went zoom…right over my head until now. Makes perfect sense from a chemist’s point of view. The big boys can afford to hire chemist’s to optimize efficiency and repeatability.Cheers
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I don’t know about the volume of your grain bills, but mine go to 11 !!!
I love SCD’s CROW grain bill, and it stands by itself on its own, but I tilted the corn/rye ratio towards the latter, & it turned out magnificent! Unfortunately, I didn’t make enough…There are two times of year: FOOTBALL SEASON and… Waiting For Football Season
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I guess the equivalent to that is just a higher gravity mash… still 100% though lolThere are two types of people in this world.1. Those that can extrapolate from incomplete information.
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Damn it man, just as I padded my self on the back for my personal learning curves that I have achieved over the years, including successful product making, y’all have to throw a monkey wrench in the wheel with yet another formula, lol. Great knowledge though…
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