All Bran Recipe

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JFlipz
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by JFlipz »

Anyone know anything kind of between the 5gallon food safe buckets and something quite as large as 20gallons???
For my 'sizes' I'm with nerdy- 7.5 would be AWESOME, &/or 10 obviously still more manageable than 20 (and wouldn't take me 4 full charges to 'still)

I run a 5gal pot, but due to my newbie status prefer not to go over about 3.75 gallons of liquid at a time for now... I run über slow, but I'm scared of the inevitable puke!
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cranky
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by cranky »

JFlipz wrote:Anyone know anything kind of between the 5gallon food safe buckets and something quite as large as 20gallons???
For my 'sizes' I'm with nerdy- 7.5 would be AWESOME, &/or 10 obviously still more manageable than 20 (and wouldn't take me 4 full charges to 'still)

I run a 5gal pot, but due to my newbie status prefer not to go over about 3.75 gallons of liquid at a time for now... I run über slow, but I'm scared of the inevitable puke!
My brew shop carries several different sizes I believe including 6, 10 and 12 gallon. I like the 12 because I can start 10 gallons in it and not have to worry about spilling over and when it settles down a bit I can move it to 2 - 5 gal. carboys to finish and clear. Carboys come in all kinds of sizes from 2.5 gal up to 12 and even larger but I sure wouldn't want to lift a full 12 gal. carboy. I also like to start 8 gallons using 2 - 5gal. buckets and move then to a carboy and 3 - 1gal. jugs. One thing I have noticed is that washes in 1 gal. jugs finish and clear much faster than in 5gal. carboys so another option of course is make it in as big a pot as you can get and move it to as many 1 gal. jugs as you feel you need. There are many options available it just may take a little creative thinking to get what you need.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Hound Dog »

Rubbermaid makes a 10 gallon trash can too. You can order on Home Depot online and have it delivered to your store for free or look on Amazon.
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hanon
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by hanon »

I will definitely say bakers yeast is the way to go with this. I had a 2-gallon starter of the White Labs distiller yeast that I had stepped up to an estimated 300-500 billion cells and pitched most of my sugar wash on that. I put the other 2 gallons of sugar wash in a 3 gallon kettle with 2 oz of fresh bakers yeast. My sugar wash was 1.060 SG. After 24 hours the part with the bakers yeast was down to 1.010 while the part with the distillers yeast had barely moved so I decided to combine them (along with a small experiment of birdwatchers that was moving pretty slow) and pitch another 6 oz of bakers yeast. It was down to 1.002 two days later, so I gave it another day, racked most of it into an 8 gallon kettle, and poured the rest through a strainer into another kettle. I'll see how clear they are looking tomorrow and maybe rack again or cold crash to get them clearer. A very easy inexpensive recipe, $5 sugar, $1 cereal, and $1 yeast to produce a little over 8 gallons of an 8% wash with an ambient temperature in the high 70s.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Justafarmer »

I just started a version of this. I crushed two regular sized boxes of Total cereal and simmered them in different pots with one packet of Fleishman's in each for 30 minutes. I dissolved 8 lbs of sugar with hot tap water in two separate 5 gallon buckets. I added the cereal to each bucket and a gallon of water out of the refrigerator to each. I finished filling each bucket to about two inches from the top with cold water from the tap. I made a yeast starter for each bucket using about 12 ounces of the wash from each bucket and three packets of Fleishman's. The starters had almost foamed out of their cups in less than ten minutes! Like the rookie that I am, I just stuck my finger in the top of each bucket of wash, and they seemed about room temperature, so I pitched my yeast. After a few minutes with no noticeable activity, I decided I needed to check the temp, and my washes were both about 105F. I figured I'd wait a couple of hours and repitch, but I went by the buckets about thirty minutes later and both were bubbling nicely! I'm hoping to be able to run this ghrough my pot in five or six days. Thanks for the recipe, Rad!
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by rad14701 »

Justafarmer, my only concern is the minimal 2" of free space in your buckets... Watch those closely... Good luck... Let us know how the All Bran turns out...
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Justafarmer »

Oddly enough, both washes are still bubbling away at just one bubble per second in the air locks. I'm not in a hurry at all, I just expected a little faster action. No big deal if it takes a week or longer, I'm just a little surprised. My UJ washes are usually bubbling twice as hard by now.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Full_moon »

How many generations of mash have you done, and have you noticed significant change?
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by rad14701 »

Justafarmer wrote:Oddly enough, both washes are still bubbling away at just one bubble per second in the air locks. I'm not in a hurry at all, I just expected a little faster action. No big deal if it takes a week or longer, I'm just a little surprised. My UJ washes are usually bubbling twice as hard by now.
Mine go like gang busters unless I'm having water or yeast issues...
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Justafarmer »

I'm sure I don't have a water issue, unless maybe it wasn't oxygenated enough. The yeast was brand new from the grocery store. I don't know how long it was on their shelf, though. Of course, it could be working like mad and my buckets aren't sealed good. I've had that happen before. If they finish in the next couple of days, I'll know that's the case. No matter what, it smells really nice close to the buckets, kind of like yeast rolls baking.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Justafarmer »

Sorry, Rctime! I missed your question. This is my first All Bran ferment. I see that some are using backset on their subsequent runs, and I'll probably go that route, as well. That's what I'm doing with UJSM right now as well, on the fifth generation. Of course, I'll replace all of the cereal if I use backset to start another batch of All Bran.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Justafarmer »

After a week, both fermenters have slowed, but are still bubbling about once every six seconds in their airlocks. Still smell nice, though.
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hanon
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by hanon »

Great recipe Rad, it ended up making a fine "vodka" and a good blended "whisky" after sitting on 1g/oz dark toast oak chips for 3 weeks. The "whisky" does taste a little vodkaish, but 6 cups of cereal can only give it so much flavor. Overall I probably ended up with 3 L of ~90 proof spirit from a 10 pound bag of sugar. Here a pic of my 94 proof All Bran "whisky": http://homedistiller.org/forum/download ... &mode=view
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by revblues »

First off, thanks Rad for this recipe. It's sheer magic. So far I have done 8 batches, and they all have done great. As you said, anyone having problems must have water or yeast issues.

For the record, I've been using the recipe from page 3, good quality well water and Fleishman's yeast. The only thing I've done different, is to aerate with pure medical grade O2, (I have an O2 concentrator with a compressor that fills the bottles, hence a pretty much limitless supply). And I just pitch my yeast dry. 10 minutes into shooting the o2 to it, the krausen starts to form in a big way. When I hook up my homemade airlock, Made from 2lt bottles, it starts blowing bubbles like a machine gun, and does so for a few days.

After it clears, I run it through my VERY basic pot still, (turkey fryer, 6 gallon stock pot, and 20ft of copper worm), and on a single run get what myself, my compadres, and even my dear old grey haired mom find to be a very potable likker. No one to date has passed up a second shot.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by rad14701 »

revblues wrote:First off, thanks Rad for this recipe. It's sheer magic. So far I have done 8 batches, and they all have done great. As you said, anyone having problems must have water or yeast issues.
Glad to hear that you are having success and enjoying the results... :thumbup:
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Justafarmer »

My airlocks have finally quit bubbling, so I'm gonna let the washes clear for a couple of days before I run them. I'm in the process of making the cuts on a spirit run of UJSSM, so I've got plenty to do while the solids settle.
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MulletMan
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by MulletMan »

Hey Rad...
First... Thank you from a newbie to this hobby for not only you but all the other "expert hobbiest" for sharing all of their knowledge.
This is my first post since my Welcome post. That being said "I hope this is going to the correct place".
OK..now that that is out of the way.

This All Bran is my third fermentation since starting the hobby of distilling...and all I can say is "DAMN" it is going crazy. I did a straight sugar wash for my sacrifical run with champagne yeast and vitamins from the wife and did not get much airlock activity, but really did not care because the sacrafical run. Next was the Birdwatch with tomatoe paste...my first run!!! But the hearts tasted like tequila (kinda sorta). I am sure that was something I did..oh well.
Now..I have this carboy with your All Bran going and I have not seen this type of fermentation ever!!!
I guess my only question would be if this unreal fermentation is due to the boiled yeast or miracle grow (that's what I used) or the combination of both. Anyway.. it doesn't really matter..it looks to be the start of something good for a newbie like me and many others although it seems like Rad is no newbie...

Thanks again

Also I found that if you tell the wife you been eating all those veggies for all those years from your garden...miracle grow won't hurt you or we would be dead by now.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by rad14701 »

MulletMan, thanks for the kind words... The rapid fermentation is due to a combination of everything... The boiled yeast adds B-vitamins... The fertilizer adds nitrogen to help the yeast colony grow in cell count rapidly... The cereal itself is so highly fortified that it helps balance out the nutrient requirements to help the ferment run its course with a healthy yeast colony... All Bran was picked because it has the highest vitamin and mineral fortification of any cereal other than Total which also has ample fortification...

You mentioned the tequila taste from the Birdwatchers which makes me question whether you ran it in pot still mode because in pot still mode you will have some flavor carry over which is indeed reminiscent of tequila... I have never noticed and off flavors myself... I just ran two batches of Birdwatchers on Saturday through my marble filled LM reflux column and it turned out to be almost the most flavorless neutral I've run to date... Even the mild tails tasted scarily good at 180 proof... You'd never know you were drinking spirits that potent because there was virtually zero bite or burn...
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MulletMan
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by MulletMan »

Rad... thanks for the reply.
From reading your other posts my question has been answered many times sorry for asking.
I am hoping this is the run !!!! It even looks like mountain dew!
Maybe this time I did it right....we shall see said the wife.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by NattyBoh »

Rad, I made 3 batches last night (5,4,and 4 gal) and they were all bubbling like crazy within an hour. Assuming they finish as expected, I plan to run this weekend. This is my first run ever (following 2 cleaning runs and a sac run). My goal is to use this for apple pie. I have a 7.5 gal pot still (2" column w/ a big ol shotgun condenser). Question... Should I do 3 fast stripping runs (per another thread, Odin recommended collecting 1/3 of boiler volume as fast as possible for pot still stripping runs) then a single spirit run or should I do 3 very slow spirit runs? I've read, and read, and read some more and feel like there is not a wrong way to go but the opinion of the experts is really appreciated. Thanks.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by rad14701 »

NattyBoh wrote:Rad, I made 3 batches last night (5,4,and 4 gal) and they were all bubbling like crazy within an hour. Assuming they finish as expected, I plan to run this weekend. This is my first run ever (following 2 cleaning runs and a sac run). My goal is to use this for apple pie. I have a 7.5 gal pot still (2" column w/ a big ol shotgun condenser). Question... Should I do 3 fast stripping runs (per another thread, Odin recommended collecting 1/3 of boiler volume as fast as possible for pot still stripping runs) then a single spirit run or should I do 3 very slow spirit runs? I've read, and read, and read some more and feel like there is not a wrong way to go but the opinion of the experts is really appreciated. Thanks.
If you are shooting for a more neutral spirit then stripping runs followed by a spirit run would be a good plan of action... You could almost do two stripping runs rather than three, just as long as you have ample head space in the boiler... With a total of 13 gallons you'll end up with closer to 12 gallons of wash to run, or perhaps a little less... Whether two or three stripping runs is up to you...
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by NattyBoh »

Thanks Rad. Going to go with two 6 gal stripping runs. My boiler is a 7.5 gal slim quarter keg (the tall thin one). Will head space be an issue? Thanks again and can't wait to post my results.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by rad14701 »

NattyBoh wrote:Thanks Rad. Going to go with two 6 gal stripping runs. My boiler is a 7.5 gal slim quarter keg (the tall thin one). Will head space be an issue? Thanks again and can't wait to post my results.
You'll actually have more head space than with the shorter quarter kegs... Two strips and a spirit run is what I'd do because stripping runs go plenty fast... I'd probably skip making cuts until the spirit run... Depending on your rig and techniques you may need to do two spirit runs... If the spirits need to be cleaned up after the initial spirit run you can simply dilute to somewhere under 40% and rerun just the best blended spirits... Save everything else but the foreshots in your feints jug...
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by NattyBoh »

Thanks again. Will update following my spirit run.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by NattyBoh »

I think my first run was a success. I ran this weekend and wow was it exciting. I ran two quick stripping runs of 5 and 6 gallons on Saturday. I discarded the first 200+ ml and collected everything down to 30%. I finished with a little over 9L of low wines at 50%. On Sunday, I diluted to 40% and ran it slow, collecting a total of 3.5L. Since I've never made cuts before and did not know what to expect, I just saved 1.75 and kept the other 1.75 as feints for a future batch. I let it air out a day then made 2 quarts of Apple pie (1 30% and 1 40%), one quart of sweet tea "vodka", and I put one quart away with 1/2 an oak spiral in it. Apple pie tasted "hot" but I assume it will mellow and the Oaked quart already has significant color. I'm sure I made a few mistakes but this new guy had a blast doing this for the first time. Been studying since February and finally put my knowledge to work. I'm hooked. Thanks again to all that have helped along the way.
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Red_90 »

I just started my second wash based on this recipe
8lbs sugar
1.1lbs bran flakes (weight according to cereal box)
1 lemon's worth of juice
2 teaspoons distillers yeast DADY
Crushed the flakes and inverted the sugar separately and topped up for a 5 gallon wash.

The krausen on this thing and the vigor of the yeast is something to behold. I'll be running it in my basic pot still once the yeast settles. Wish me luck.
Pain Managnent
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Pain Managnent »

let us/me know how it went when you run it I have a 5 gal batch cooking now with 10lbs of sugar and no lemon juice used the epsom salt (no 20-20-20) per rads recipe on pg 3
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Red_90 »

Pain Managnent wrote:let us/me know how it went when you run it I have a 5 gal batch cooking now with 10lbs of sugar and no lemon juice used the epsom salt (no 20-20-20) per rads recipe on pg 3
Will do, the ferment has been going for about 2 weeks(turns out DADY likes 80-85*F temps) so I'll probably make a run Sunday and give an update that evening or Monday.
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john2674
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by john2674 »

You've got me interested. Ever since I started
this hobby this hobby I look forward to winter. The last few runs I've been experimenting with oatmeal but I think I'll try this next. I see you use bakers yeast. Have you tried it with brewers?
Pain Managnent
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Re: All Bran Recipe

Post by Pain Managnent »

This is my fist try at this so I followed it to a T and its almost done so I hope to run it next weekend
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