Stilligent

Sweet feed whiskey

Sweet feed - cracked corn, oats and barley coated in molasses, sold for horses and livestock - makes a remarkably smooth whiskey. It's quick, cheap and, in its author's experience, has never stalled.

Recipe by Kentucky shinner

Makes
Whiskey
Still
Pot still
Ferment
5–6 days
Wash
about 8–9% ABV
Difficulty
Easy

About this recipe

Kentucky shinner developed this version from an old-timer's recipe - Deb Brewer's "genuine" moonshine, made with all-grain horse feed, sugar and bread yeast - and "bumped it up a little" for more alcohol per run. The sugar provides most of the strength; the feed gives a sweet, rounded, slightly rummy character that smooths quickly on oak.

For other batch sizes, a good rule of thumb is equal parts sweet feed and sugar: about 0.18–0.21 kg of each per litre of water (1½–1¾ lb per gallon), adjusted to the gravity you want.

Original recipe discussion ↗

Ingredients and calculator

Ordinary bread (baker's) yeast.

Recipe calculator

Scale the recipe to your batch, in metric or US units, and see what to expect.

Units

01Batch

Kilograms
SG –Potential –
Ingredients
Sweet feedA layer about 4 inches (10 cm) deep in the bottom of the bucket - roughly 7½ lb for a 6-gallon wash.3.5 kg
White sugar7 lb per 6 gallons.3.2 kg
Bread yeastOr 5 packets per 6 gallons.8 tbsp
WaterAbout a third boiling, the rest cool, to make up the total volume.to 22.7 L

02Fermentation

Ready to distil–
Fermentation time–
Starting gravity–
Wash strength–
Pure alcohol–

03Distilling and bottling

Hearts from the still–
Water to add–
Spirit at bottling strength–
Expected cuts
Foreshots–Discard
Heads–Keep as feints
Hearts–Keep
Tails–Keep as feints

Volumes are typical for the still chosen. Make the cuts by smell and taste, never by volume alone - the guide to making the cuts shows how.

Estimates for planning, assuming a healthy fermentation. Your settings are remembered on this device.

Method

A white bucket of sweet feed mash - cracked corn, rolled oats and barley glossy with molasses - beside a hessian sack spilling the same feed onto a wooden bench.
Sweet feed from the sack, and the same feed soaking in the bucket: cracked corn, oats and barley coated in molasses.
  1. Choose the feed. Any farm-supply store sells sweet feed. Read the label: choose one without medication or preservatives, which can harm you or stop the yeast.
  2. Scald the feed. Bring about a third of the water - 7.6 L - to a good, hard boil and pour it over the feed in the fermenter.
  3. Add the sugar. Add the sugar and stir for about 15 minutes, then let it stand for 90 minutes.
  4. Top up. Fill to the full volume with cool water. The wash should now be at about 32 °C (90 °F).
  5. Pitch the yeast. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface and stir gently. Fit the lid and an airlock.
  6. Ferment. It's usually bubbling within 4–6 hours, runs hard for about two days, then slows right down. Leave it about 5 days - sometimes 6 - until it starts to clear.
  7. Settle and rack. Stand it somewhere cool for about 24 hours, then rack it off the grain and distil.

Fermentation

A fast start and a vigorous two days are normal; after that it ticks over slowly until it begins to clear. From a batch this size, Kentucky shinner typically collects about 3.8 L of low wines.

Distilling

Run it through a pot still - the original uses one, sometimes with a thumper. Discard the foreshots and collect in jars. The middle of the run can be good enough to drink as it is; most of it improves greatly on oak. Kentucky shinner oaks it at 55% ABV and finds it really smoothing out after a couple of months.

Fermenting a wash is legal in many places; distilling it often is not. Distil only where it is legal to do so, and check your local licensing first.

Troubleshooting

Fermentation won't start.

Check the temperature was down to about 32 °C before pitching, and that the feed has no preservatives.

Grain in the boiler.

Rack carefully after the cool settling day. Solids scorch on an element and can foam into the still.

Variations

  • Sour mash. After a run, take about half the hot backset and dissolve another 3.2 kg of sugar in it. Let it cool to about 32 °C, pour it back onto the grain and yeast left in the fermenter, and top up with water to the full volume. The yeast usually wakes within 4–5 hours.
  • The original. Deb Brewer's version uses about 4 inches of feed in a 5-gallon bucket, 5 lb of sugar and one packet of bread yeast, filled with warm water and run after 4–5 days.

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