Page 1 of 1

slight vinegar smell

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:09 am
by Cornbread
My really strange ferment(Cinnamon toast crunch cereal...stop laughing, I love experimenting) is starting to get a slight vinegar smell. If I try real hard, I can make that slight vinegar smell be a dry wine smell in my head. I read somewhere on internet that adding a campden tablet would rid the acedic acid of vinegar. I started at 1.085 on Jan. 1st, now it is 1.016. The air lock was hiccupping every 5 seconds. I just took lid off and stirred the hell out of it. (Don't ask me why...I don't know)..Heard a lot of fizz. Put lid back on.........now 15 minutes later......no bubbling. To start I had mixed 5 pounds sugar with 2½ gallons of water. 12.8 ounce box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, let air out one day with cloth over top of fermenter bucket, then added yeast(from refrigerator storage)
WHY did the bubbling stop? Was it gas stuck under the trubs as Barney Fife warned me about on my other cereal wash?
Should I rack it and freeze it & rack again OR throw it to the hogs?

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:27 am
by Dnderhead
leave it alone for awile and see. mite be a slow fermenter with cinnomen I don't thank yeast like it to good.
theres nothing that I know of removes acedic acid.campden is potassium metabisulfite witch yields
sulfur dioxide gas that kills off bacteria and wild yeast.

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:34 am
by Cornbread
Thank you so much. I will go back to the basics, I guess, so I won't drive you nuts all the time. Thanks again.

"Novices shouldn't experiment"

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 1:31 pm
by Tater
Id add a tad more water also.

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 2:04 pm
by Cornbread
tater wrote:Id add a tad more water also.
Definitely will do....but may I ask why? Many hours ago, I put a baby pinch of nutrient in it and stirred real lightly, then added about 3 little grams of "prepared" yeast (with warm mash & sugar) and the ferment started back . I sure didn't know stirring it like crazy would stop the bubbling. Maybe an air leak???????? Thanks

P.S. I notice you used the word "tad'. I know you are from the south now. LOL

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 2:08 pm
by Dnderhead
stir/shake whatever to knock loos the co2, come back later and see if it has more.

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 2:21 pm
by Tater
Cornbread wrote:
tater wrote:Id add a tad more water also.
Definitely will do....but may I ask why? Many hours ago, I put a baby pinch of nutrient in it and stirred real lightly, then added about 3 little grams of "prepared" yeast (with warm mash & sugar) and the ferment started back . I sure didn't know stirring it like crazy would stop the bubbling. Maybe an air leak???????? Thanks

P.S. I notice you used the word "tad'. I know you are from the south now. LOL
The sugar to water ratio is what I was referring to.Your recipe seemed pretty well maxed out .A qt to 1/2 gallon more water may improve your ferment.Ive always thought the easier ya make it on the yeast to do their job.Would end up giving ya better product with best tastes .Even though it might mean tad less final product

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 2:47 pm
by Cornbread
tater wrote:
Cornbread wrote:
tater wrote:Id add a tad more water also.
Definitely will do....but may I ask why? Many hours ago, I put a baby pinch of nutrient in it and stirred real lightly, then added about 3 little grams of "prepared" yeast (with warm mash & sugar) and the ferment started back . I sure didn't know stirring it like crazy would stop the bubbling. Maybe an air leak???????? Thanks

P.S. I notice you used the word "tad'. I know you are from the south now. LOL
The sugar to water ratio is what I was referring to.Your recipe seemed pretty well maxed out .A qt to 1/2 gallon more water may improve your ferment.Ive always thought the easier ya make it on the yeast to do their job.Would end up giving ya better product with best tastes .Even though it might mean tad less final product


OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I didn't know any of that. Thanks so much!!!!! (That one is going down as lesson learned #77)
I'm gonna be a freakin' genius one day.......LOL

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 11:55 am
by Cornbread
THANKS everyone. That added water plus waiting a day plus putting in a very warm room overnight DID THE TRICK......

UPDATE: Cinnamon Toast Cereal will never get into the "Tried & True Recipes' Hall of Fame. Came out almost a neutral. I plan on adding cinnamon candy (as recommended by Dnderhead) to final bottle & let it dissolve.( I added more some powdered cinnamon to a taste spoonful of the hearts during strip run and it was fantastic.) May have been the wheat & rice blend. ...BUT......basically nearly a vodka neutral before that. Everyone probably knew that but me, but, I too, find myself staring in the cereal aisle.

P.S. I don't know if any of you have had a hydrometer go bad. I was screaming at my results. I did a strip run and got 10 % abv !!!!!!!. I pulled out hydrometer & it had spirits leak into it. I put another in & got a good reading. I guess next time I will spend more than 5.95 cents for one(Freas & Co.). My 13 dollar one worked great.

UPDATE #2: Strip run(minus foreshots) came out 42% abv................Whew.......

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 1:28 pm
by noobsauce
cool..GL with it Corn

Re: slight vinegar smell

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:23 am
by Cornbread
Did a spirit run of the "cinnamom toast crunch" special today. The taste is actually pretty good. it will peel the hair off ya tongue. It came in at 79% abv. Can't wait to "cinnamize it" (new verb). They need to put a picture of this stuff in the dictionary next to the word "White Lightning".

I always looked at myself as a corn likker man. Never understood this neutral wash stuff until this forum. I abhor the taste of anything close to Vodka, but I HAVE to describe this recipe as Great White Lighning. I am pretty sure THIS will be my new "neutral" for the Strawberry PD's & marischino cheeries & etc. It does not taste like corn liquor & it doesn't taste like vodka. I guess its the wheat & rice trying to give it a slight slight whiskey taste? Oh well, I will shut up. I know one of the mentors could sip it in a minute and know what it taste like. I just have not tasted very many different things (never made a grain) and could not descibe this tasty bite of 158 proof....and of course I never water a damn thing down. Oh well, too late now, just dropped the cinnamon candy in it. Next time i will oak it & see what happens........Thanks everyone for putting up with me as usual.