How to Make Homemade Jack Daniel’s Honey

 

Greetings, I am Wagner Ramírez, artisan liquor maker.

This has been one of the most complete challenges in my career as an artisan liquor maker, because the elaboration of this liquor involves all the stages, from fermentation to cold filtering and, I must warn, you need to master brewing, distilling and macerating techniques.

This process is divided into three stages:

The elaboration of the “beer”, the distillation of the “whiskey”, the maceration of the liquor and the final finish.

I have designed this process to obtain at least 1000 ml of liquor with a degree of alcohol of 35% by volume and 12% sugar by mass. Same estimated values ​​as Jack Daniel’s Honey.

If you have a 40% neutral corn whiskey you can go to step 3.

1. The "Beer"

Ingredients

• 25 liters of water without chlorine.
• 4 kg of broken yellow corn.
• 2 kg of ground diastatic malted barley.
• 1 sachet of yeast for wine with tolerance to 15% alcohol.

Process

• Place 12.5 liters of 70-degree Celsius water in an ice kepper (cooler)
• Gradually add the broken corn and ground malted barley.
• Stir well, leave no lumps.
• Cover the cooler and leave to marinate for an hour.
• Filter the grains and place the wort in a pot.
• Place the beans in the cooler, add another 12.5 liters of 70-degree Celsius water and repeat the process.
• Boil all the wort for an hour.
• You should get 15 liters of wort with a density of 1,196 g / ml. These values ​​are approximate and may vary, do not worry.
• Place the wort in the fermenter and lower the temperature to below 30 degrees Celsius.
• Add yeast and stir well.
• Cover the fermenter, set the air trap, and leave to ferment in a cool place (18-25 degrees Celsius).

 

2. Distillation

Filter the "beer" with a cloth strainer.

Place the "beer" in the traditional still.

Make a first quick distillation. Cut off the methanol head and save the hearts and tails.

The second distillation will be very slow and with low heat. Cut off the entire head that has a solvent scent. Save hearts with sweet scents. Discard the unpleasant scent tails.

You must decide, assess the aroma of your whiskey, and decide whether to do a third distillation or not. I usually always distil three times; I like that aromatic profile.

Lastly, lower the whiskey to 40% alcohol by volume.

3. Maceration

Ingredients

1000 ml of 40% neutral corn whiskey.

120 ml of honey.

5 g medium roast American oak chips.

1 clove.

Process

Place all ingredients in a sealable glass jar.

Let marinate for 15 days in a cool, dark place.

4. Finish

Filter the plant matter with a strainer.

Place the liquor in a clean jar and store in the refrigerator for 15 days so that the solid particles settle to the bottom.

Transfer the liquor to another bottle, leaving the sediment behind. You can repeat this step twice to clarify more.

Bottle it.

Enjoy it.