All Bran Recipe

[rad14701]

Since it is not convenient to invert 20kgs of sugar at a time versus very easy using my setup to simply dissolve the sugar, I was hoping Rad, you can tell me if there is a much noticeable difference in the finished product taste.

The original recipe will work perfectly well without inverting the sugar... Not doing so may or may not extend fermentation time marginally if at all... I've never noticed any difference in taste of distilled spirits...

[mikepiet]

Thanks rad14701 and Loosely for the info and getting back to me.

Thats what I was hoping for rad - sort of a wheat whiskey kind of taste.

I'm in the same boat as the guy at work Loosely - nowhere near a water supply. I'm actually quite happy with my little airstill. I keep 2 fermenters going so I'm bottling about 4 liters per week.

Thanks again guys.

All the best,

Mike P

[nerdybrewer]

I don't have all my equipment setup yet but I was so impressed with the simplicity of this recipe it's the one I'm trying first.
Water is in the kettle and gettin' ready to boil right now.
I'll let ya know how it goes!

[Cardinalbags]

Since it is not convenient to invert 20kgs of sugar at a time versus very easy using my setup to simply dissolve the sugar, I was hoping Rad, you can tell me if there is a much noticeable difference in the finished product taste.

The original recipe will work perfectly well without inverting the sugar... Not doing so may or may not extend fermentation time marginally if at all... I've never noticed any difference in taste of distilled spirits...

Thanks. Speed of ferment is not my primary concern. I usually let my washes go about three weeks before stripping. One of the benefits of being able to do larger washes

I am really looking forward to running this.

I'm at about 2 weeks into this wash and its still burping a bit. I am going to give it a stir to see if its just degassing still.... reads about 0.996 (i.e just a shade below 1). Probably will run it tomorrow if it settles out in time, otherwise it will be next weekend.

[nerdybrewer]

Smells great.
This is my first brew ever using Active Yeast instead of brewing or wine or champagne yeast.
I got a little bowl of wash out and put two tablespoons yeast in it once it dropped to 95F.
It's going like crazy.
The bucket of wash is at 104F now, just 9 more degrees and I can pitch in the yeast.
Oh, I've got 15% PA on my hydrometer. That's like 1.12 SG (don't remember but I can look at 15% and see what the SG equivalent is)
I used a box of Total and 12 Lbs C&H sugar with 5 gallons of spring water.
Boiled it up as directed.

I have HIGH HOPES!

[ac_rhino_lfl]

So what is 20-20-20? Search here comes up with nothing because every term I use comes back 'The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words:' ... which is every word which makes the search here pretty useless. When searching the Al Gores Intarwebz I find 20-20-20 all just plant fertilizer with amonia, pee pee, and other stuff ... is that it? Why is that good and not bad if it is?

"An industry standard, 20-20-20 is a general purpose fertilizer that is great for maintaining plants in almost any environment. It provides fast green-up and great foliar expansion due to a high percentage of ammonium and urea nitrogen plus balanced phosphorus and potassium for excellent root and shoot growth."

Thanks

[rad14701]

So what is 20-20-20? Search here comes up with nothing because every term I use comes back 'The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words:' ... which is every word which makes the search here pretty useless. When searching the Al Gores Intarwebz I find 20-20-20 all just plant fertilizer with amonia, pee pee, and other stuff ... is that it? Why is that good and not bad if it is?

"An industry standard, 20-20-20 is a general purpose fertilizer that is great for maintaining plants in almost any environment. It provides fast green-up and great foliar expansion due to a high percentage of ammonium and urea nitrogen plus balanced phosphorus and potassium for excellent root and shoot growth."

Thanks

You got it, it's fertilizer... Don't be concerned with the amount of urea listed as it doesn't effect the distilled spirits in the least... Just don't drink the fermented wash as it can cause diarrhea due to the magnesium sulfate... I am currently using 30-10-10 in place of the 20-20-20 but both work fine...

[nerdybrewer]

I'm trying to keep it simple, just sugar, spring water and a box of Total plus yeast.
I can tell it's working but I let the temp fall too far over night, got my heating pad duct taped to the side of my fermenter now so I can get the temp back up - aiming for just shy of 80F.
It's slowly bubbling now, if I give the bucket a good swirl a lot of CO2 is released so I know it's ok.
At this stage it's like a newborn baby, you just want to keep a close eye on it and make sure it's warm, well fed and clean.

[ac_rhino_lfl]

Cool Rad, thanks for the clear up.

I've been making mead for years but recently bought a Mr. Distiller. I use it to make distilled water for my meads but I've also used it to make spirits. I typically use 5lbs sugar and make 2 gallons of wash ... add typical yeast and wait. It's been a bit messy but first run yields about 1000ml minus the first 50ml I dump and it is a bit cloudy (I run it through a brita filter). Second run yields about 400ml of 160-180 proof and the left over about 50-60 proof (750ml) which I save and mix with fruit for a mild fruit drink. I've also run a few gallons of carlos and rossi 12% chardonnay through (mostly for the gallon jugs for mead lol) but its surprising that I get 1000ml at 120 proof and second run at 400ml 180-190 proof ... and it’s really clear and neat ... much neater than a homemade wash but compare $12 a gallon for wine to $3 a gallon for wash ... anyway, it’s fun. I have 2 6 gallon buckets and going to make a wash with from recipes I found here later this week.

I'm going to leave the pee pee out of my washes

[rad14701]

Cool Rad, thanks for the clear up.

I've been making mead for years but recently bought a Mr. Distiller. I use it to make distilled water for my meads but I've also used it to make spirits. I typically use 5lbs sugar and make 2 gallons of wash ... add typical yeast and wait. It's been a bit messy but first run yields about 1000ml minus the first 50ml I dump and it is a bit cloudy (I run it through a brita filter). Second run yields about 400ml of 160-180 proof and the left over about 50-60 proof (750ml) which I save and mix with fruit for a mild fruit drink. I've also run a few gallons of carlos and rossi 12% chardonnay through (mostly for the gallon jugs for mead lol) but its surprising that I get 1000ml at 120 proof and second run at 400ml 180-190 proof ... and it’s really clear and neat ... much neater than a homemade wash but compare $12 a gallon for wine to $3 a gallon for wash ... anyway, it’s fun. I have 2 6 gallon buckets and going to make a wash with from recipes I found here later this week.

I'm going to leave the pee pee out of my washes

Stop using that Brita filter...!!! It's synthetic and there are synthetic granules in the filter medium itself... Please refer to Rule #8 of The Rules We Live By... Food safe does not mean alcohol safe... We don't want you poisoning yourself or others... Rather than filtering you'd be better off diluting and redistilling because water is the best filter...

Also, do some research before bashing ingredients... Some of us spend a whole lot of time doing independent research... To think that urea is piss is just plain wrong... Do your research... Some urea is good for yeast...

[nerdybrewer]

Since I am not using any yeast booster and just using active baking yeast my ferment is going slow.
I'm wondering if this will eventually finish or should I add something this late into it?
I have time and don't mind waiting.
Also are two Tbl spoons of this yeast sufficient?

[nerdybrewer]

Guess I was just worried over nothing, it's bubbling about once per second now.
Shaking it up causes a geyser of CO2, blows water out of the airlock.
Did a little more soldering today, what they say about copper being an excellent heat transfer element - it's so true!
Takes a while to heat up 2" copper and a 2" fitting! By the time that's hot enough the other end is HOT and the little connectors I soldered yesterday are getting loose.
Looks like someone in the soldering thread forgot to mention it would be wiser to solder the bigger pieces first... (or I missed it)
See, I get to learn so many more things now that I've taken up this hobby!

[Hound Dog]

Guess I was just worried over nothing, it's bubbling about once per second now.
Shaking it up causes a geyser of CO2, blows water out of the airlock.
Did a little more soldering today, what they say about copper being an excellent heat transfer element - it's so true!
Takes a while to heat up 2" copper and a 2" fitting! By the time that's hot enough the other end is HOT and the little connectors I soldered yesterday are getting loose.
Looks like someone in the soldering thread forgot to mention it would be wiser to solder the bigger pieces first... (or I missed it)
See, I get to learn so many more things now that I've taken up this hobby!

Hey NB, you can wrap a wet rag around the soldered fittings while heating the unsoldered joint and it will keep then from melting loose. Just a quick off topic tip.

[nerdybrewer]

HD that totally makes sense, thanks for the tip.
My AB is still bubbling away! Very very nice!!

[DoublyDooble]

Ran my first AB ferment on Sunday. Damn it's good. Even my wife was raving. I couldn't believe how smooth it was straight off the still. After 48 hours (last night) I decided to have a little splash to cap off the night...ended up going back, twice. Watered it down to between 90-100 proof and plopped in one cube of ice. It's hard to describe just how good the subtle flavors combined with the incredible smoothness just kept me coming back to the jar for "just another little splash." Definite keeper here. Can't wait to do another couple ferments of this and get my stock built up.

[nerdybrewer]

DD - what was your version of the recipe?
I know using as much sugar as I did isn't totally recommended but it seems to be working so well and the wash smells very healthy.
5 gallons at 15% should yield about 6 quarts of 100 proof by my calculations, some of that gets saved in a parts cleaner jar and some tails will go into a jar for a future run.
Since I haven't actually done a real run yet I may be showing my ignorance but I may get 5 quarts of drinkable 100 proof out of this one ferment, that would be awesome!

[DoublyDooble]

DD - what was your version of the recipe?

This is the version of the recipe I just ran. Due to pot size constrictions I probably inverted about half of the sugar, ended up using around 21lbs of sugar for 12 gallons of wash.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 0#p7145395

I know using as much sugar as I did isn't totally recommended but it seems to be working so well and the wash smells very healthy.
5 gallons at 15% should yield about 6 quarts of 100 proof by my calculations, some of that gets saved in a parts cleaner jar and some tails will go into a jar for a future run.
Since I haven't actually done a real run yet I may be showing my ignorance but I may get 5 quarts of drinkable 100 proof out of this one ferment, that would be awesome!

Someone else may comment on the potential negative effects of you adding too much sugar. My understanding is that depending on what kind of yeast you use, you run the risk of the higher alc concentration killing the yeast before it can ferment all of the available sugar, essentially killing the ferment early. Or if you're using yeast that can handle higher ABV in the ferment, you still risk off-tastes. Plus, you're not going to get all 5gal into your boiler. Is there a reason you didn't just split the sugar and do 2 separate ferments with a target of 8-10% each? Even if you have a small boiler, my guess is that it's much easier to do two runs, or two quick stripping runs and then a longer spirit run, rather than get greedy and try to get it all at once. The other thing is that at a higher potential ABV it's going to take days longer to ferment out (if it does).

But, I hope it works out for you...and I'd be prepared to make strict cuts and be satisfied with having less than you want that tastes good rather than a whole batch that tastes like shit b/c you wanted to squeeze some extra heads/tails into the final product.

[rad14701]

Aside from too high of a gravity wash (too much sugar) potentially causing the yeast colony to be jeopardized, it also causes hotter tasting spirits with less flavor profile... In fact, if you are shooting for flavored spirits using a pot still you would be better off dropping the potential %ABV down to the 8% - 10% range, maximum... The original intent of this recipe was to provide a fool proof alternative for novices previously using turbo yeast... However, reducing the potential %ABV and using more All Bran will improve the flavor profile considerably...

[nerdybrewer]

DD and Rad, thanks I will take this advice to heart on my next try.
For now I've got a healthy ferment going and will run this 5 gallons in my new 15.5 gallon keg setup.
I will definitely pay close attention to cuts, but this will be my first true keeper run so I'm prepared to make my mistakes and learn from them.
Next time I will cut down on the sugar and double the Total cereal.

[Prairiepiss]

DD - what was your version of the recipe?
I know using as much sugar as I did isn't totally recommended but it seems to be working so well and the wash smells very healthy.
5 gallons at 15% should yield about 6 quarts of 100 proof by my calculations, some of that gets saved in a parts cleaner jar and some tails will go into a jar for a future run.
Since I haven't actually done a real run yet I may be showing my ignorance but I may get 5 quarts of drinkable 100 proof out of this one ferment, that would be awesome!

Rad summed the high ABV up.

5 gal of 15% ABV. Will have .75 gal 100% ABV in it. Or 1.5 gal of 50% ABV. As a general rule after cuts and diluting to drinking strength. 40% to 50% ABV. You will have approx .75 gal or 3 qts of drink.
Now pushing the ABV so high usually creates more unuseable alcohol. So you may find you get less then the 3 qts.

Just because you think the ferment was good. And it smells great. Doesn't mean all will come out the still good.

Once you get some runs under your belt. Then you will realize what is being said to you. To be true.

[nerdybrewer]

Don't get me wrong, I believe what you all are telling me.
I've learned something, I'll try and keep learning as I go and with you guys around there's definitely a lot less chance of repeating the same mistake twice!

[nerdybrewer]

Prepare your minds, I'm about to propose something either really brilliant or truly idiotic!

I have a couple gallons of lightly hopped very heavy and very dark stout I made several years ago.
Lots of amber malt, chocolate malt and black patent malt went into it.
It's got 10% alcohol.

I feel I've already screwed up this batch of AB by over doing the sugar and under doing the cereal.

So - why not experiment with it?
If it doesn't work out I can toss the whole thing out and start over.
I woke up early this morning thinking about it, if I mix the two and then run it there's a possibility in my mind that it could come out really good.
Of course I'm thinking that it may come out really truly bad too, in which case I'd have learned something.
I would learn something either way.

Your thoughts?

[whiskymonster]

Just made up 60l of this stuff in 4 15l water bottles.

13kg sugar, prolly overdid it on the cereal with a whole 750g box, 100g yeast half boiled half just activated, and a couple teaspoons of cheap phostrogen general purpose fertilizer.

Jesus christ on a bike, this stuff is fast!

To the point that I was worried about the heat for a little while.
seems to have calmed down and holdind at 33 celcius after about 2 hrs.

Never run a Turbo, but do they seriously run as fast as this?

Made some alesthat have bubbled like crazy and done in a week, but this is something else!

Rad, I tip my hat to you.

If it tastes as good as people say, then I will personally consider you a saint!
Cheers

[DoublyDooble]

Prepare your minds, I'm about to propose something either really brilliant or truly idiotic!

I have a couple gallons of lightly hopped very heavy and very dark stout I made several years ago.
Lots of amber malt, chocolate malt and black patent malt went into it.
It's got 10% alcohol.

I feel I've already screwed up this batch of AB by over doing the sugar and under doing the cereal.

So - why not experiment with it?
If it doesn't work out I can toss the whole thing out and start over.
I woke up early this morning thinking about it, if I mix the two and then run it there's a possibility in my mind that it could come out really good.
Of course I'm thinking that it may come out really truly bad too, in which case I'd have learned something.
I would learn something either way.

Your thoughts?

Why mix them? If anything just dilute what you have with water so that the overall potential ABV is lowered before it gets high enough to negatively affect the yeast. Definitely don't want hops. Do a search on beer and hope and you'll understand why cheap beer is not recommended for a cleaning run or to run in general. The oils can wreak havoc, or so I've read.

[nerdybrewer]

I transferred it to a carboy today and read it's gravity.
The (possible) good news is that it's only at 7.5% alcohol now.
Should I stop the ferment or allow it to keep going for a while?
Still a lot of CO2 trapped in there, I gave it a good shaking once it was in the carboy.

[DoublyDooble]

You mean it's at 7.5% potential alcohol? I still think you should split it between two carboys and dilute it with water allowing the yeast to ferment all the sugar without reaching an overall ABV that is detrimental to them and either stalls the ferment with sugar left or creates a lot of off-tastes. You may have to do two runs, but your overall alcohol will be the same, and it's better to have two lower ferments than one that doesn't ferment out.

[rad14701]

I transferred it to a carboy today and read it's gravity.
The (possible) good news is that it's only at 7.5% alcohol now.
Should I stop the ferment or allow it to keep going for a while?
Still a lot of CO2 trapped in there, I gave it a good shaking once it was in the carboy.

How, exactly, are you coming up with this 7.5% number...??? You can't get an accurate alcohol content reading of your wash with either a hydrometer or an alcometer...

[nerdybrewer]

It started at 15% potential, it was down to 7.5% potential yesterday.
Can you not merely subtract where it is now from where it started?

[rad14701]

It started at 15% potential, it was down to 7.5% potential yesterday.
Can you not merely subtract where it is now from where it started?

No... There is information on the New Distiller Reading Lounge, as well as on the parent site, which explains how to properly use a hydrometer... How did you get the original 15% number...??? I'm asking for your exact process, not what you think...

[nerdybrewer]

After mixing and cooking my ingredients I let the wash cool.
I put the hydrometer in and took a reading, it was at 15% PA or 1.115 SG.
Then I pitched the yeast.
Yesterday I used my autosiphon and racked it out of the fermenting bucket into a glass carboy.
Before doing that I put the hydrometer in and read it at 1.060 (7.5% PA).

Rad I've been brewing beer for 36 years, lagers and ales, all grains and partial mashes, made a lot of mead and wine too.
If you think I've got something wrong regarding reading a hydrometer I am open minded enough to listen.