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Northern_Shiner wrote:after i cook the wheat germ do i strain it out or do i just toss it all in the fermenter?

Some people strain it, and some don't. Try it both ways and see what you like better.

I would try real hard to get any solids outta my wash/mash before puttin' it into the boiler.

I'm guessin' that anyone who suggests otherwise hasn't tried for themselves and found out.

(For anyone that actually is new to this and doesn't know, burnt flavors are almost impossible to remove from booze. Even redistillation doesn't remove these burnt flavors, but just lessens them a bit.)

Have you ever done this or are you just extrapolating from your own experience, THM?
Wheat germ is extremely light and floats around a lot in the boil. It has no viscosity to cause it to stick or burn. If you are heating externally there is little chance of the DWWG burning if it was prepared to the original recipe. I have never burned a batch of DWWG in the 20 years I have been preparing and running it because there is just not that much solid material.
If you are using an internal heater you should filter it because of the proximity of the bran to the element.

I freely admit I'm extrapolatin' from my own experience, as you say.

I do know for a fact that any solids in a wash/mash that get a chance to burn leave a burn taste that is about impossible to remove from booze.

Yes you are correct about that and I have ruined a few all grain corn and malt washes distilling on the corn. A double boiler is almost the only way not to burn that sort.

I went out today and got some wheat germ along the way having read a litle of this post a while ago.

I got 8 lbs for $6 at Bulk Barn.

The lady at the counter knew what it was before I told her. I thought she wouldn't have seen much of this stuff. She looked at me weird when I asked and said, "we sell a lot of this."

What the hell do people do with wheat germ, I haven't even heard about it until recently?

Would using all of this for 40L be better?

I wouldn't mind having a little supply of this stuff, but I prefer quality over quantity (I am looking for a mild whiskey).

I read about the right cuts make a blended type whiskey with this recipe but thought I would have seen a post about using a bunch of wheat germ in a wash.

the sole purpose of the wheat germ is to add nutrients. Adding more than is required is just being wasteful. It is flavorful enough using about .3 to .5 Kilos to 25 liters. .5 to .75 would do 40 liters well enough provided it is cooked off enough. If you follow the original recipe scaled to your fermenter you can't go wrong. If on the other hand you inventing new solutions creates their own difficulties as you will see if you read the whole topic.

EssenceExtractor wrote:What the hell do people do with wheat germ, I haven't even heard about it until recently?

Wheat Germ has been part of the health craze for years due to the nutrients it packs... A few people I know eat it on cereal but there are many uses for wheat germ in the kitchen... Give it a Google...

I thank it full of nutrients but they remove from flour because it is oily
and becomes rancid easily its added to bread cereal etc

Started a batch yesterday night. Made one mistake, I had so many recipes in front of me on paper, I read the wrong one and accidentally tossed in a tablespoon of bakers yeast in the boiling pot with the wheat germ. Probably no harm, just extra nutrients.

Woke up this morning. The carboy foamed over - no mess just the neck had a fluffy cloud on it. I had 5 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy with no airlock. Certainly looks promising. Smelled great cooking it last night on the stove. Can't wait to see (and taste) how it turns out.

I've made 4 batches of this now for vodka. Per batch I used 10kg of sugar and 2 lbs of germ and a 1/2 cup of lemon juice to make a batch total of about 50 liters. I made it in double batches. I boil about ~40 liters or so of water and add 20kgs of white sugar and 4lbs of wheat germ and 1 cup of lemon juice. I boiled this mixture for an hour. This is then split between 2 fermenters that were topped up to ~50 liters with cold water. I started 3 packages of EC1118 in a couple liters of mild sugar water and wheat germ for a couple of hours. I aerated both fermenters vigorously and when the mixture was cool enough threw the yeast. This recipe is the most vigorously fermenting sugar wash I've ever made (besides the ones I used to make from turbo yeasts...YUK)

The end product is great. I stripped them in a pot still and then did a spirit run in the reflux column. There are no off flavors whatsoever, it makes a very fine vodka indeed.

A big Thank You to whoever came up with this recipe in the first place I'm gonna use this recipe the next time I make rum, just substitute brown for white sugar and add a liter or 2 of molasses.

Thanks again.

Later all,
UR

Did a first run today. So it fermented in about 9 days. Didn't rack it, there was still some CO2 in the wash - it was bubbling, but my hydrometer said .994 and it tasted bitter. I must say half way through the ferment this stuff did taste quite good - almost good enough to bottle

The flavor is quite mild. Probably the best tasting sugar wash I've made. I can see how aging on oak would make this sparkle. Even the tails weren't that bad

Anyways, ran 10L of wash through my still. Collected enough to make 750ml bottle at about 35% ABV - mostly hearts, but I did toss a bit of heads and tails in it. Have about 600ml of heads and tails that I'll mix in with the next 10L of wash.

I touched up the bottle I collected with a bit of sherry - 25ml in the 750ml bottle. Also, I used distilled water to dillute as well. Not bad for fresh off the still.

Have some friends coming over tonight to do some taste testing of some aged rum I made a while back. I'll pour them a shot of this to see what they think as well.

Next wash I'm going to add some wheat germ to molasses and see what the taste combo makes

Northern_Shiner wrote:after i cook the wheat germ do i strain it out or do i just toss it all in the fermenter?

Sorry, I haven't been in this thread in a while. You MUST put the wheat germ in the fermenter for best results. For one thing the nutrients are likely not ALL extracted in the boiling process, another reason is that the yeast do much better with some particulate matter to cling to. Some, especially those with internal heating elements will filter out the wheat germ before putting the wash into their stills.

What about stacking the invert sugar?

Add 2/3 at first then after 2-3 days add the rest?
Would it be worth the trouble?
I am looking for a good vodka with a little grain flavor.

If you use Red Star Premier Cuvee (Davis 796) it will ferment to 18%. So target a sg of 1.110 and let it ferment.

Using red star champagne , yellow package at liquor barn.
Gonna do 30lb of sugar into 25gallons of water with 3lb of germ.

So come tues. when the weather warms up here i come.

I've made this four times. It is good!

I've let it clear for a long time refrigerated after fermentation stopped, and drank gallons of it. I like it a lot. But there's no carbonation.

I've never made beer before. This stuff is almost like wheat beer. Well, I guess it really is wheat beer but it's sugar based wheat flavored beer. Whatever. I don't have all that bottling stuff and don't really want to get all that stuff.

I know there's lots of folks here who have made beer or still do. Maybe one of you could tell me if and how I could just take a gallon or two of this stuff after it ferments and before it is distilled and turn it into a naturally carbonated beverage for immediate consumption.

Would it just be a matter of adding a little more sugar and letting it gas up? Or more like I should monitor the SG and set some aside at some point for clearing and drinking?

I'm new to this post...this is grate, hard to find too many good recipes out there

Ran my first batch of this through yesterday. Great stuff, I'd reccomend it, turned out better than I thought.

Rez, in the past I have bottled some as beer but I put a tsp of sugar in the bottle (700ml bottle), it carbonated all right, probably too much. If I was to do it again I'd probably just put 1/2 a tsp in.

I've made some homebrew (beer) and what i did to carbonate naturally (using sugar vs. CO2 in a tank) was dissolve 3/4 Cup of corn sugar (dextrose) into a cup of water and boil it for about 5 minutes. Cover and let it cool...after its cooled, I added it to 4-5 gallons of beer, mixed it well, then bottled. I guess you can use this ratio for smaller amounts if you'd like or if you only want to bottle a gallon or 2. This will allow you to bottle a larger quantity faster instead of having to measure out 1/2 or 1 tsp for each bottle. ANd it should give a descent ratio of sugar to fermented beverage volume in case you are bottling in different size bottles such as normal 12oz bottles, 16 oz swing tops, 1 liter or 2 liter growlers.

Hope it helps.(and hope it works)

OMP

p.s. I plan on trying this recipe soon. I think i might make 2 batches so that I can fill my boiler and also have some to bottle for immediate consumption.

Just mixed some up last night and it took of like crazy, I probably have 5"-6" of foam on top of the fermenter! Has anyone added other grains like this to impart more/different flavor? I was wondering if 16oz of peated malt would work the same and maybe be a bit more like scotch? any thoughts?

I am currently trying this recipe but my pot boiled over and I lost a lot of wash. I added a little more sugar back in and put it all in a glass carboy and dropped some red star pasture champagne yeast. Looks like it is going good but I am sure that I will not have as much yield as I would like.

I have some dark brown sugar around that I will be using next, I was considering trying it with this recipe in place of the white sugar. What do you guys think?

Well I have to say I started this wash back on the 15th WOW just checked it today the 18th I cant believe my eyes it` s going like crazy. cant wait to distill and taste I will make this again and again many thanks to you all keep stillin

Well I ended up with about 1L of high proof liquor from this recipe. I am sure that I would have had at least a L more if I had not boiled over. Because I did not do a stripping run this time my liquor ended up with some esters (has an apple taste but it's not bad). I am going to run this again and do a stripping run and see how it turns out. I highly recommend this for a first timer.

I'm new to this sight and to distilling for consumption. It's nice kicking back to a view of the Rockies after a day Hunting, Fishing or Prospecting placier gold sipping good whiskey with a nice fire going.

I'll have to try this Deathwish Wheat Germ Wash. Sounds like a winner. Lot's of places to run a still in the Rockies and the Sanguin di Christi Mountains (forgive the spelling)

I cant fiqure it out. I boiled for an hour and half I pound wheatgerm 2 bags suger and lemon juice after the mixure cooled 4 tablespoons brewers yeast. mixed it with a cup sugar let it simmer on the stove for 1/2 hour it had nice head when I piched it. mixed it in stired it for a while then spinkeled an EC 1118 on top. tried it after 7 days it was at 0 percent I have let do its thing for another 7 days going to ty it tommow. What percent should it be around?

Candoublewide wrote:I cant fiqure it out. I boiled for an hour and half I pound wheatgerm 2 bags suger and lemon juice after the mixure cooled 4 tablespoons brewers yeast. mixed it with a cup sugar let it simmer on the stove for 1/2 hour it had nice head when I piched it. mixed it in stired it for a while then spinkeled an EC 1118 on top. tried it after 7 days it was at 0 percent I have let do its thing for another 7 days going to ty it tommow. What percent should it be around?

Sounds like you're using a high alcohol hydrometer? No way you can measure a wash with that. If it fermented (ie) bubbled away for 7 days and stopped you likely just need to 'still. Wash hydrometers don't measure percent they measure specific gravity. You don't say how much water was in the mash so it's impossible to get any idea what amount of alcohol % you do have. You'd likely get about 2 quarts of vodka from the fermentables if everything converted............

good luck

minime your right in some wrong in others 1) there is two different hydrometers "we " are interested in 1) wash, beer, wine- used for our wash-can read in specific gravity, potential alcohol, pounds of sugar per gallon of water
2) the other other is for spirits-can read in sg (specific gravity), tr) that is percent of alcohol- and pr) witch is prof of alcohol ,one can not be interchanged with other with out
difficult calculations, (also can be done with scales, your just measuring the weight of liquid. (alcohol ways less than water)-sugar etc) but if your wash worked for a week and stopped , and does not taste sweet it is done -run it

Cheers Fellas, I am going to run it tommorow. Thanks for the info Its 5 gal water