SOUR MASH

This channel is designed to offer insight and background on the science, art and practice of making alcohol based products at home.

[Moy]

Gees you never fail to teach something completely awesome in one of your episodes. Thank you.

[wldtrky]

I just can't say THANK YOU enough George ! Not sure I would have gotten into distilling without you Sir. I had the desire, and actually most of the knowledge, but I lacked a mentor to keep me from making BAD moonshine. Happy Distilling and Thanks Again !

[ryanholbrook]

Found out you passed away. The good news is you are living on in your videos. Thanks for being a great teacher!! Wishing your family well

[SGCurt]

Out of all the other videos out there on this subject, yours are the best.

[energonjunkie]

Been loving getting back in to your videos, George :-) Very happy to hear the comparisons to sourdough as well, that's been a life-long passion for me. One bit of advice I'd offer to anyone doing sourdough, sour mash or any of the like is learn how to make what I like to call 'doomsday vaults' for your starter. Take my sourdough, I've got a frozen portion at home as well as the active one in the fridge, a frozen portion in Mum's freezer and I feed that when I'm down (I got my love of sourdough from her). Plus I've learned how to freeze-dry started at home and had nothing but success, I've been assured that the same method works just as well using barm or backset from sour mash as well.

[chuckdontknowdoya]

Another video filled with awesome information George I've been using my lees over and over I find I get a much better fermentation that way then starting fresh each time and now I know why thanks for taking the time to help us all do it better.

[wirmuessenhierraus]

Hero! Glad I found your channel. It's interesting, entertaining and there is so much to learn. Sad it's been quiet for a while but at some point everything is said, I guess. Thank you for your service!

[mikefleming]

For our sour mash we would take 25% of the backset and put it in the fermenter with the new batch instead of saving it and adding it directly to the still later. It lowers the PH and yeast love it. In fact we would take it from the still when the temp was still around 155F (after they were turned off and cooled a bit) and put it directly in the fermenter to keep the temp in there above the 143F to allow the amylase to have further time to convert before pitching DADY. Not sure if this could be a #4 type sour mash for George.

[TheRonzo]

I just now had a question for George. Called him and he answered it. He's a man of his word.

[adamw]

Taking stillage/backset and putting that into the next ferment is also an industry standard for sour mash. That's second generation though. Since stillage/backset is typically low pH already, because the ferment it came from had been infected with lactobacillus. This also saves on water and helps keep flavour profiles similar between batches. They may use between 33% and 40% stillage when doing this.

Another method is to mash as normal, then drop the temp to around 40C, and intentionally add lactobacillus starter to the mash, to cause the souring.

[mustavertwang]

You sir are a gentleman, salutations from an Englishman.

[devoid]

Always love learning new stuff, I see you are trying some stuff from your meetup.

[fourdeadinohio]

i screwed up in the right direction...for once. i'm on my 3rd. gen sour mash. i knew about saving yeast and my used corn, from George's videos and using back set from Still It. (ujssm)
i just put it all together. i love this hobby and it's not the kill, it's the hunt that makes this fun.... well somewhat the kill....lol

[LemmingsRun]

Lactic Acid does not cause fermentation but is the product of the secondary fermentation carried out by various sp. of Lactobacillus bacteria.

[Mychannel-fwmb]

I reuse all the corn...add sugar, 30% stillage and the rest local spring water...and bread yeast. ...I have never let it SIT to get sour in the sun etc..but I would like to try that

[JoeSmols]

PS, you're an amazing teacher George, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have bought a still and made some delicious bills!

[microwavedsoda]

copper is there as a filter for hydrogen sulfide that is produced from berries and the like. The stainless won't do that.

[ericberardinelli]

Love the videos George.
I have one question though....Where can I find that song in the beginning? I've been searching and can't find it anywhere.

[TheExalaber]

I was under the impression that barm was the yeast that floated to the top of an ale. Either way, that is why eastern and central Europe have more sourdough breads than western Europe. It is much harder to extract yeast for baking from lager than from ale.

[ryangardner]

I heard the podcast with Jesse, Great content!