Jack Keller's Carrot Whiskey

[weeple2000]

I have started a batch of Jack Keller's Carrot Whiskey. I am curious if I have a stuck ferment, or if the gravity is so high due to the wheat that was added. By the time I added the water to the rest of the ingredients, it had cooled, so I believe I didn't get any ferment-able sugars from the wheat.

Is this a stuck ferment?

CARROT WHISKEY


It took a bit of research, but evenually I tracked down the recipe as having first been published in a column by Noel Whitcomb in the London Daily Mirror in the 1940's. He called it "whiskey" not because of a whiskey taste, although wheat wines can taste like whiskey, but because of its richness in taste and color. One thing is stressed very strongly, however, and that is that the wine must age for a year before uncorking. Having said that, here's the recipe.

Carrot Whiskey

6 lbs carrots
3 lbs finely granulated sugar
1 lb wheat
1 tblsp chopped raisins
2 oranges
2 lemons
7 pts water
wine yeast
Scrub but do not peel the carrots. place them in 7 pints of water and bring to boil, simmering gently until tender (about 25-30 minutes). Meanwhile, put half the sugar (1-1/2 lbs) in primary. Slice the oranges and lemons into thin slices and arrange on top of sugar. When carrots are done, strain them, pouring the water over the sugar and citrus. Stir to dissolve sugar and allow to cool to lukewarm. Add chopped raisins and wheat and sprinkle wine yeast over top. Cover with sterile cloth and set aside, stirring daily. After 6 days add half the (3/4 lb) remainder of sugar and stir well to dissolve. Ferment additional 8 days, stirring daily. Add remaining sugar and ferment additional 10 days, stirring daily. Strain liquid into secondary and fit airlock. Rack after 30 days and again 30 days later. Bottle and taste after 1 year. [Adapted from recipe by Noel Whitcomb, London Daily Mirror]

My thanks to Adison Martin for the request.








11/22/2015 - Started
Yeast - pasteur red - or was it Montrachet?
used 10 lbs carrots
started with half of the sugar, which is 3 lbs


12/8 gravity 1.030
12/8 added the other 3 lbs of sugar
12/14/2015 - sg 1.080
12/17/2015 - sg 1.080 still
ferment probably stuck, will pick up some champaign yeast
put it in front of the fireplace to add heat to try to ferment some more
12/21/2015 - Rehydrated Lalvin EC-1118, created starter with must, pitched after 4 hours, temp of wine is now 70 degrees F
12/27/2015 - sg 1.073

 

[madcowbrewing]

This looks a lot like my Great Grandfathers Carrot whiskey also.
I haven't made yet, but based on my brewing knowledge I would not add sugar as a dry mix to fermenter, I would add it to some boiled water to sanitize it and for ease of adding to fermenter.

 

[weeple2000]

I am not sure how much the wheat would raise the gravity, but I believe I have 1.115 from sugar alone, according to this link:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp

If I didn't account for the wheat, I would have PA of 15.6 - 9.5 = 6.1%. Will a lb of wheat raise the SG by the same amount as a lb of sugar? If it did, I would have 1.045 from the wheat, would would be a PA of 6.1% hypothetically, which is what I am left with right now.

Obviously I should have taken an initial SG reading, but unfortunately that ship has sailed.

 

[madcowbrewing]

I am not sure how much the wheat would raise the gravity, but I believe I have 1.115 from sugar alone, according to this link:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp

If I didn't account for the wheat, I would have PA of 15.6 - 9.5 = 6.1%. Will a lb of wheat raise the SG by the same amount as a lb of sugar? If it did, I would have 1.045 from the wheat, would would be a PA of 6.1% hypothetically, which is what I am left with right now.

Obviously I should have taken an initial SG reading, but unfortunately that ship has sailed.

Did you crush the wheat? If not, you probably are getting zero gravity points from it. Wheat has a potential of 1.045 per pound per gallon or wort. But it needs to be crushed to release the starches and then mashed to change starches to sugars. Also, I am not sure where you are getting your potential alcohol. A SG of 1.115 would you get you a lot more. If you finished with a FG of say, 1.030, the alcohol from just the sugars would be 11.1%.

 

[madcowbrewing]

After reading that link, I see what you are saying....when it is done fermenting you should have 15.6% PA, but since you are only at 1.070, you only have 6.1% currently. IMO, I would give the new yeast a try, shake it up real good, then keep it somewhere semi-warm (68-75 degrees). It should start to drop that gravity some more.

 

[weeple2000]

Did you crush the wheat? If not, you probably are getting zero gravity points from it. Wheat has a potential of 1.045 per pound per gallon or wort. But it needs to be crushed to release the starches and then mashed to change starches to sugars. Also, I am not sure where you are getting your potential alcohol. A SG of 1.115 would you get you a lot more. If you finished with a FG of say, 1.030, the alcohol from just the sugars would be 11.1%.

I did crush the wheat. I figured the 1.115 was what I would get from 3 lbs of sugar alone.