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Re: Bourbon-making in 1870

Unread postPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:04 am
by Lost Spirits
Dear Gillmang,

I would like to thank you for finding this amazing gem of information. Several years ago I read this thread and did a lot of additional research and went a head an built one. I thought you might enjoy seeing where your digging lead.

I didn't use it to make Bourbon though.

Sincerely,
Bryan Davis
Whiskey Maker
http://www.lostspirits.net
Lost Spirits.png
Contemporary Log & Copper Still
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Re: Bourbon-making in 1870

Unread postPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 3:33 pm
by gillmang
This is an old thread which I think is the right place to post this entry today from my blog, http://www.beeretseq.com: http://www.beeretseq.com/the-bourbon-so ... ames-crow/

Interested parties are requested to read the last three posts to see the chronology. Basically I discuss that sour-mashing for E.H. Taylor (Colonel Taylor of Old Taylor fame) meant, not just using spent beer (backset, slops) to mix the mash, but also to ferment the mash. He didn't use any fresh yeast, the fermenting power was in his backset despite that it had been boiled in a previous distillation. You need to go back as I said a few posts, to where I talk about dunder, the rum analogy, to get the whole story.

Also, my post today shows that James Crow was doing sour mashing in exactly same way and of course Crow came first. And there is a connection between Crow and Taylor, explained in the post.

I thought some old hands here would like this including Mike from Georgia who is back I understand, something I thought he would never do as it was a very long while between appearances.

My best to all.

Gary Gillman

Re: Bourbon-making in 1870

Unread postPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 9:10 pm
by Squire
Good post Gary, welcome back yourself.

Re: Bourbon-making in 1870

Unread postPosted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 6:08 am
by gillmang
Thanks Squire. Today I add my latest post (from my blog) on the topic of the true historic sour mash of James Crow and E.H. Taylor. It benefits from consultations with two distillers: http://www.beeretseq.com/how-exactly-di ... ast-added/

Gary

Re: Bourbon-making in 1870

Unread postPosted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 4:55 pm
by gillmang
Just to bring matters forward from my last post, I've posted now about 10 posts since the beginning of May (2016) at my blog mentioned above, http://www.beeretseq.com. I think it's pretty clear that Dr. James Crow and the Peppers used backset to help ferment without (added) yeast, not just to lower pH and make the mash yeast work better in the stock reply of today.

This was spontaneous fermentation, which helps explain the low yields always spoken of then for hand-made sour mash.

We should bracket henceforth James Crow's name with that - that's the true effect of his association with sour mashing based on my researches.

Gary