Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Refined and tested recipes for all manner of distilled spirits.

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bigbuck
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by bigbuck »

maybe add some corn meal for extra nutrient????
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by hpby98 »

Hey all, it's worth hunting up a bulk grocery store for tomato paste

I picked up a 2.5 liter tin for less than 1/4 of the price of the little 150ml tins
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Bushman »

hpby98 wrote:Hey all, it's worth hunting up a bulk grocery store for tomato paste

I picked up a 2.5 liter tin for less than 1/4 of the price of the little 150ml tins
Costco sells tomato paste in bulk at a goo price. Also their red star yeast is the cheapest I have found.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by hpby98 »

Bushman wrote:
hpby98 wrote:Hey all, it's worth hunting up a bulk grocery store for tomato paste

I picked up a 2.5 liter tin for less than 1/4 of the price of the little 150ml tins
Costco sells tomato paste in bulk at a goo price. Also their red star yeast is the cheapest I have found.

Yep, where I get my yeast too

But the tomato paste there is still about $1 per 150ml

I got a big 2.5L tin of Heinz for $6 at a “wholesale club”
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fizzix
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by fizzix »

Bushman wrote:Costco sells tomato paste in bulk at a goo price.
Their squishy prices aren't bad either.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by hpby98 »

Duplicate post
Last edited by hpby98 on Sun Feb 04, 2018 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

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Lucazzu
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Lucazzu »

I've just done my first stripping run ,
Collected 120ml more or less of foreshot for 9lt pot still
and collected everthing till 96° . just had 1000ml without cut but foreshot.

I'm going to distill the other 9lt tomorrow for the other stripping run,
Now i expect 2000ml more or less of liquid without cut but foreshot,

I'll discharg 150ml of foreshot for the 2000 ml spirit run
and what about head and heart?!

I think i've to collect other 100ml of head and the rest may be a good heart till 93-94° and 40% abv where i think tail will start
I'm i right people?!

Thaanks!
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Lucazzu »

Finished spirit run on Sunday!
Discharged 250ml of head!
Had about 20 jar filled with 50ml on the head and 100ml where I could smell the heart!

Finished with something like 800ml of 70% when mixed with some tails/head.

Had something like 1.5ml of 40% neutral spirit.

Made 1lt of Odin's easy gin(just macerating) and something like 500ml of apple pie moonshine(30% abv more or less).

It's my first wash and distillation ever, my still is a Chinese cheap still so it isn't really a neutral spirit, idk what I can taste but it's not everclear! Anyway I'm really excited and Impressed!

I'll go to sip some apple pie now! Bye ppl !
[img]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201802 ... b8dfea.jpg[/img][img]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201802 ... 6af55a.jpg[/img]
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by fizzix »

Lucazzu, the fact that you're having fun makes it all worthwhile.
You're making the best of your resources and producing something that makes you happy.
I can't think of what else this hobby is meant to do. Congratulations!
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by cdd »

how many grams of citric acid should I use for 30 liters?
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fizzix
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by fizzix »

Some rough scribbling:
Your scaled down recipe calls for about the juice from 1 lemon, or roughly 17 grams of juice.
But citric acid is about 4x stronger than lemon juice, so 17/4 = 4.25 grams of citric acid

An exact scientific amount isn't necessary in this recipe -just close.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by dee_stiller »

Well, took me 5 days, but entire thread read and a page of notes made. For those of you willing to read all 1690 odd posts, you will have all your questons answered, and confirmed. You will be rewarded with tips and tricks from those who have run it under lots of different scenarios.
Now, I have the chest to pin it on, WHERES MY MEDAL??!! :D
This is a great recipe, easy to see that, and one I look forward to making very much. Kudos Birdwatcher!
All this readings giving me a headache. Upside? At least the grog wont.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by fizzix »

Wow that's quite an undertaking, dee_stiller. It is a fine, simple recipe that makes a great neutral.
I checked my medal drawer and trophy case and came up with this 24-karat SOLID GOLD genuine authentic medal for you:
medal.jpg
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by cdd »

I used tomato paste in my starter on my last ferment. Looks really good so far. All solid stuff from tomatoes falls to the bottom immediately. Also, it lowers starter ph.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by dee_stiller »

fizzix wrote:Wow that's quite an undertaking, dee_stiller. It is a fine, simple recipe that makes a great neutral.
I checked my medal drawer and trophy case and came up with this 24-karat SOLID GOLD genuine authentic medal for you:
medal.jpg

Perfect! :clap:
All this readings giving me a headache. Upside? At least the grog wont.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by cdd »

why is citric acid used? to lower ph or to invert sugar?
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by fizzix »

cdd wrote:why is citric acid used? to lower ph or to invert sugar?
I've questioned that in my mind as well. It doesn't seem to be enough to invert according to some methods: (Reference Link)
But in conjunction with the acidic tomato paste the sugar looks inverted (straw-colored) to me. Hmmm... curious now.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Saltbush Bill »

dee_stiller wrote:Well, took me 5 days, but entire thread read and a page of notes made.
You could have just read the recipe and put the wash down. It still would have worked its a tried and true recipe for a reason.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by dee_stiller »

Saltbush Bill wrote:
dee_stiller wrote:Well, took me 5 days, but entire thread read and a page of notes made.
You could have just read the recipe and put the wash down. It still would have worked its a tried and true recipe for a reason.
Thanks for taking the time to point out the obvious. Having not yet gotten to the stage of making a wash, any wash, ever, there was a ton of other stuff in the thread that I learnt about. On ya mate.
All this readings giving me a headache. Upside? At least the grog wont.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Yummyrum »

Acid is added to this recipe for pH adjustment.
Inverting sugar requires bringing it to the boil .
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Saltbush Bill »

dee_stiller wrote:Thanks for taking the time to point out the obvious. Having not yet gotten to the stage of making a wash, any wash, ever,
My point is that in that 5 days you could have made and and fermented a wash. There is very little besides what is in the recipe that you need to know about TPW.....as long as you follow the recipe. Reading is good , but sometimes you can learn just as much or more by doing.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gimp1973 »

Wow, I've used elements of this recipe with ec 1118 but just decided to give the full recipe a shot. WOW!! I've never had a wash take off like this. Minutes after dumping into a carboy it was already bubbling the fermentation lock! Now it's in my temp controlled environment at about 25 degrees celsius and going like crazy! I was doubtful that it would finish in 7 or 8 days but at this rate I'm not sure it'll even take that long! Thanks for this recipe and thread, all (but especially Birdwatcher)!

My only concern is that I really noticed a distinctly cleaner taste when I started using ec 1118. It's a LOT more expensive than baker's yeast though, using as much of it as this recipe calls for would be pretty expensive. I just hope that the Red Star yeast I'm using produces a cleaner flavor than the fleshman's yeast I used before going to ec 1118.

Thanks again!
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Nabatean »

Gave it a shot and ..... I am convinced !
Stopped using tomato paste years ago but after this run I will stick to it.
I keep it on 25 C though. Not higher.

Thanks Birdwatchers
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by dieselduo »

Gimp if you like the ec 118, why not harvest your yeast. You only need to buy it once. It's pretty easy to do
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gimp1973 »

This is amazing. I made two 21 liter batches on Feb 26th and just distilled half of one yesterday. Cheap, easy, crazy fast, and great yield. From about 10 liters of mash I got 2.4 liters of usable 40% ... moonshine? What do we call this? :D Side note, I've experimented with adding aromatics in my final distill run and can make some not-too-shabby gin by adding ground juniper and lavender :)

This is easily my fav method so far, thanks very much for an awesome recipe and thread!!!
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gimp1973 »

dieselduo wrote:Gimp if you like the ec 118, why not harvest your yeast. You only need to buy it once. It's pretty easy to do
I've thought about making a starter but it seems complicated. It would be GREAT to get away from buying the ec 1118 though, it's not cheap. I'd love to get a starter going and use as much of it as I did of the Red Star for this wash... it would cost a fortune to use 50+ grams of ec 1118 per 5g of wash! :D
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by fizzix »

gimp1973~
Yeast "washing" is reusing a yeast bed to cut costs. Here's one article on the subject, but you can search and find even easier methods.
Purchase a good no-rinse sanitizer as everything MUST be kept free of shit and bacteria. I use Star San to sanitize jars and stir spoons and etc.

Just getting into washing yeast myself to save $8 bucks a pitch. Hey, it adds up!

Two other things: Here's a good deal if Amazon serves you.
And please introduce yourself in the Welcome Center if you haven't already. (My apologies if I missed it.)
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by hpby98 »

Nabatean wrote:Gave it a shot and ..... I am convinced !
Stopped using tomato paste years ago but after this run I will stick to it.
I keep it on 25 C though. Not higher.

Thanks Birdwatchers

Curious why not higher. Mine ferment out around 30°C with good success. Using red star yeast.
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gimp1973 »

fizzix wrote:gimp1973~
Yeast "washing" is reusing a yeast bed to cut costs. Here's one article on the subject, but you can search and find even easier methods.
Purchase a good no-rinse sanitizer as everything MUST be kept free of shit and bacteria. I use Star San to sanitize jars and stir spoons and etc.

Just getting into washing yeast myself to save $8 bucks a pitch. Hey, it adds up!

Two other things: Here's a good deal if Amazon serves you.
And please introduce yourself in the Welcome Center if you haven't already. (My apologies if I missed it.)
Thanks for the great tips! Sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. I've been lurking and reading for some time and just stared participating :) This forum is an AMAZING resource!
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