Graham Cracker SMOP

[rad14701]

As the name of this topic implies, the recipe I am currently working on uses plain old common everyday graham crackers... I've done one wash with them and have another one going right now, with a batch of DWWG running right along side of it... So far, it looks like an easy recipe for beginners and doesn't use anything exotic to get started...

The current recipe contains the following ingredients for a small 4 liter wash...

4 liters water
4 cups sugar
1 cup crushed graham crackers
1 tsp lemon juice
2 multivitamins (perhaps more than needed)
1 tbsp Fleischmann's bakers yeast

The recipe may be tweaked in the future but this one is working well, so far... Here's what I did... Scale this recipe up as needed... My tests are all done in 4 liter batches...

First, I brought 4 cups of water, 4 cups of sugar, 1 cup crushed graham crackers, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and 2 crushed multivitamins to a simmer (do not boil) for 30 minutes... The mix was then transferred to the fermenter and topped off with water to 4 liters... Once the wash had cooled to 95 degrees F I added 1 tablespoon of Fleischman's yeast... After waiting 1 hour, to let the wash breathe and the yeast to adjust and kick into gear, I inserted the air-lock... The wash was already working away, bubbling happily... After 24 hours it definitely looks like SMOP (seething mass of porrige) - more like bubbly mud...

The neat thing about this recipe is that the graham crackers have just about all of the nutrient that the yeast needs for a full ferment... It would probably work just as well without the multivitamins... The lemon juice just helps invert the sugar... Realistically, you could probably get by with a single four segment graham cracker wafer per liter of water as that's what I used for the first batch... More can't hurt, but you need to make sure you don't end up with too much sugar for the yeast you're using...

The only difference between this wash and several others I have tried is that it does end up having some oils work their way to the top of the wash... Not a lot of oil, but the yellow globs are clearly noticeable... The last batch ended up having clumps of grease on top by the time I racked it off into another container to finish clearing... Some grains have the same issues so it's nothing to be concerned about...

As far as final product is concerned, the last wash was very neutral... I suppose it may have ended up like a very light rum if I'd run it in pot-still mode... As for ABV, let's hope I remember to grab my hydrometer and alcometer the next time I'm down where they're in storage... Sure wish I knew the SG/OG...

What would I possibly change in the future...??? Well, I might try a combination of graham crackers and wheat germ... Might be just the ticket for a simple wash... We shall see...