Beginner All Grain Wheated Bourbon Mash

Are you a bourbon fan? Well, so am I. I particularly like wheated bourbon. In this article, I am going to show you the simplest all-grain wheated bourbon mash recipe I know.

This tutorial will explain the process to produce a 6 gallon mash of an all-grain wheated bourbon. We will be converting the starches in the grains into fermentable sugars by using high temperature liquid enzymes by Broken Bones Distillery. This is a classic mash bill that is tried and true.

Here's the mash bill.

70% ground yellow corn,  13% malted barley, 17% malted white wheat.

Now there are several ways to go about mashing this bill to produce fermentable sugars for yeast to consume, but the process I'm using is designed to be as simple as possible and remove as much complexity from the process as I can. This recipe is perfect for the new home distiller who is just beginning their journey into all-grain mashing. 

Using High temp enzymes can serve as an intermediate step in all-grain mashing because they allow you to exclude a couple of the steps needed when using grain enzymes to convert the starches. Now, let's make a 6 gallon batch of this incredible home made wheated bourbon.

If you have any questions about this recipe or the process just leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients

We have an ingredients kit that comes with everything you need for this exact recipe. Check out The Beginner's All-Grain Wheated Bourbon Ingredients Kit

8.5 lbs of rough ground yellow corn

2 lbs of malted white wheat

1.5 lbs malted barley

2 oz. DADY yeast

15 ml high temp liquid alpha amylase

10 ml glucoamylase

Step 1: Cook the Mash

First you want to heat up 4 gallons of water to 200F. Now, very slowly stir in the ground corn. DO NOT dump the corn into the water too fast. This will create dough balls that will negatively affect your ability to gelatinize the corn and thus make 100% conversion of starch unlikely.

Once the corn is stirred in you need to maintain 190F for 90 minutes. This will require constant stirring if you're using a heat source that could scorch the grains. Scorching grains in the mash process is an unforgiving mistake and once done can not be undone.

As the corn begins to gelatinize it will become thicker and sticky. This is what you want. This is the evidence that the starches in the corn are being prepared for the enzymes.

75 minutes into this 90 min gelatinization you can add in the malted wheat and the malted barley.

Step 2: Add Alpha Amylase

Now, it's time to add the high temp liquid alpha amylase. If you're using the Beginner's All-Grain Wheated Bourbon ingredients kit you'll find an eye dropper bottle simply labelled 'ALPHA'. Stir in the amylase. You will see the mash thin out within seconds. This is the alpha amylase breaking down the starches into long chain sugars. These sugars are not fermentable yet. The Glucoamylase will finish the job in the next step.

Step 3: Add Glucoamylase

Next you want to add in 2 gallons of cold water. This will help drop the temperature of the mash. You want to drop the temp of the mash to 100F using a wart chiller or by simply letting the temp drop naturally. At this point, you add in the Glucoamylase. If your using the Beginner's All-Grain Wheated Bourbon ingredients kit it is the eye dropper bottle labelled 'GLUCO'. Allow the mash to rest for 3 hours, stirring every 20 minutes.

Step 4: Starch Test

Do an Iodine test to make sure you achieved a good starch conversion.

Step 5: Add Yeast

After the iodine test confirms a good starch conversion then you can take a starting gravity reading and pitch your 2 oz of DADY yeast. Transfer your mash into the a fermenting vessal and allow 7 to 10 days for fermentation.