Asking for a little spoon feed here, please help with corn c

[MichiganCornhusker]

Try gently heating and stirring some slurry up to 150f.
Not all of it, just put a quart in a sauce pan to see if you can raise the SG.

Another thing I've done before when my mash hasn't produced the OG I wanted is to heat it back up to 150F and add some barley malt.
It will bring both more enzymes and sugars the party. You might keep some on hand for just such an occasion in the future.

Btw, once you have gone through the mash process there is much less risk of scorching if you keep stirring as it heats up.

[yakattack]

You can eliminate scorching completely if you cook over steam * hint hint*

[der wo]

If your mash was 135F before adding the backset, it fell from there if the backset was at room temp. I like to mash in the 140F's, up to 150F.
120F would be pretty chilly for a quick conversion.

Regardless if this is true and the time was too short for mashing with 120F, the SG should be high even before adding the glucoamylase. Unfermentable dextrins cause the same measurement like fermentable sugars.
That's why I think, the low temp was not the problem.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Try gently heating and stirring some slurry up to 150f.
Not all of it, just put a quart in a sauce pan to see if you can raise the SG.

Another thing I've done before when my mash hasn't produced the OG I wanted is to heat it back up to 150F and add some barley malt.
It will bring both more enzymes and sugars the party. You might keep some on hand for just such an occasion in the future.

Btw, once you have gone through the mash process there is much less risk of scorching if you keep stirring as it heats up.

Tbh, I think I will leave well enough alone for this batch. I have 10 gallons of 8% potential wash. I figure it'll make a fine white to sip on while explore yiur other tips.

[der wo]

You can eliminate scorching completely if you cook over steam * hint hint*

Or build a rummager *hint hint hint*

[MichiganCornhusker]

I figure it'll make a fine white to sip on while explore yiur other tips.

It will indeed.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Uhwut?

[panikry83]

I too have had difficulty with all grain but, mine lies with getting the shit strained enough where I don't lose 20+% of my yield. The process is actually pretty easy, I think it gets over thunk most times. SCD and MCH gave me a good process, which has been described in this thread. Follow there lead and you'll be fine. Get back to me when your have a better way to strain.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

I do pretty good straining cracked corn.
I've yet to strain any of my corn meal batches.
Gon' learn soon.

[BayouShine]

A paint strainer bag in a mop wringer or one of MCH's filters will get the job done on cornmeal pretty well.

[HDNB]

jus my opinion but it may be easier to build a steam jacket kettle than strain corn meal.

[yakattack]

I second that hdnb

[Hillbilly Popstar]

I have plans for a modular steam/thumper build inspired by MCH's still.

Just haven't broken it to the wife yet that I'd like to spend $500 on a milk can. I know theres cheaper options, but I already have an 8 gallon milk can and I think the two would look so good together.


Pitched yeast tonight. Checked gravity first. There was no appreciable increase which is disappointing cause I was counting on the SEBAmyl to keep working during the ferment.

[Truckinbutch]

A paint strainer bag in a mop wringer or one of MCH's filters will get the job done on cornmeal pretty well.

It helps a lot . SRD and I have been getting crazy high conversions with corn ground to flour . We've been trying to rack a clear boiler charge to circumvent scorching with direct heat and steam distilling the sludgy stuff in the thumper .

[yakattack]

I have plans for a modular steam/thumper build inspired by MCH's still.

Just haven't broken it to the wife yet that I'd like to spend $500 on a milk can. I know theres cheaper options, but I already have an 8 gallon milk can and I think the two would look so good together.


Pitched yeast tonight. Checked gravity first. There was no appreciable increase which is disappointing cause I was counting on the SEBAmyl to keep working during the ferment.

What!? 500 for a milk can? What is it the size of a 50 gallon drum? Gold plated? Holy hell I can't imagine 500 bucks for that. Custom.build ss with fittings maybe but for a milk.can there had to be a cheaper source for the same thing. ...

[Hillbilly Popstar]

I have plans for a modular steam/thumper build inspired by MCH's still.

Just haven't broken it to the wife yet that I'd like to spend $500 on a milk can. I know theres cheaper options, but I already have an 8 gallon milk can and I think the two would look so good together.


Pitched yeast tonight. Checked gravity first. There was no appreciable increase which is disappointing cause I was counting on the SEBAmyl to keep working during the ferment.

What!? 500 for a milk can? What is it the size of a 50 gallon drum? Gold plated? Holy hell I can't imagine 500 bucks for that. Custom.build ss with fittings maybe but for a milk.can there had to be a cheaper source for the same thing. ...

Well it is a 26 gallon.
This is the cheapest one I have found.

https://shop.distillery-equipment.com/p ... 7126539526" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Rain Distillate]

What kind of iodine yall using to do these iodine tests? What percentage is the iodine?

[MichiganCornhusker]

What kind of iodine yall using to do these iodine tests? What percentage is the iodine?

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =3&t=54758

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Got me a big yellow mop bucket. I was aprehensive at first cause they dont give those things away, not the good ones anyways.

But I squeezed an extra two gallons out of 19 lbs of corn meal in about 20 minutes. I figure it increased my yeild by at least 20%.
The mop bucket has been the beat purchase I've made since buying my still.

[Truckinbutch]

Got me a big yellow mop bucket. I was aprehensive at first cause they dont give those things away, not the good ones anyways.

But I squeezed an extra two gallons out of 19 lbs of corn meal in about 20 minutes. I figure it increased my yeild by at least 20%.
The mop bucket has been the beat purchase I've made since buying my still.

It will run faster for you if you squeeze small amounts at a time . I put 2 quart scoops of mash in the strainer bag , twist the neck down tight and squeeze . Flip the bag and squeeze again . Flip a final time and dump .
Overfill the bag and you are fighting it the entire time and losing ground timewise .

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Oh, I didn't do it all at once. I put the bag into the Wei get and loud the mashed corn until it gets about half to 3/4 full.

I figure I am squeezing about a half gallon at a time.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

I just stripped one of the corn washes.
Total take was .5625 gal, or 9 cups of low wines at 70 proof.

Not too terribly happy with those results. This means my ferment yielded right around 5% ABV.

Need to find a way to get a more efficient conversion.

[der wo]

When you really had only 5%, but the low wines are 35%, then much alcohol was left in the boiler. How many gallons wash?

[Hillbilly Popstar]

4 gallons.

[der wo]

0.5625gal 35% = 0.197gal pure alcohol.
0.197gal pure alc in 4gal wash means 4.9% alc.
BUT collecting only 0.5625gal from 4gal wash leaves much alcohol in the boiler.

Why didn't you collect all the alcohol? In different jars so that you can decide later? Then you would know now, how successful the mashing was.
Did you measure the FG? If not, now you know, why you should have.

Considering you numbers I think you had at least 6% in the wash. But wouldn't it really interesting to know, if it was 6, 6.5 or 7%?

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Umm...
.35 x .5625 = .197

Not sure where you're seeing more alcohol.

I was collecting low wines. I had 2 4 gallon washes. I stripped one, and then added those low wines to the 2nd for a spirit run.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

FG was .998

[der wo]

Your FG is great!
You had OG 1.046 and FG 0.998. Should be 6.5% alcohol.
(But did you test the hydrometer with water. Does it read 1.000? I ask, because both measurements OG and FG are on the low side. Perhaps it measures with water 0.990)

4 gal with 6.5% have 0.26gal alcohol. You collected 0.197 only. The rest remained in the boiler, because you stopped the stripping run so early. If you would have collected 1 gal instead of 0.5625gal, you had now 1gal with around 24%.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Well I always strip to 210f, at which point the distillate is less than 10%.
I believe the mix up resulted from a bad thermometer.
When I measured the SG the temp of the mash was around 125f (so says my thermometer), so I adjusted accordingly. I have a feeling at was reading too high.
I am using a cooking thermometer. The kind used in a deep fryer. Thats only cause my brewing thermometer broke and ive yet to replace it.
So I bet my SG was actually closer to 1.044 or 1.043.

[der wo]

Well I always strip to 210f, at which point the distillate is less than 10%.

Does your still provide reflux? A thumper?
When I collect without reflux until 10% in the parrot, I either have collected much more than 0.5625gal from 4gal (this is with a normal abv 8-10%), or I have much less than 35% abv all in all (this is with unusual low abv in the boiler).
Your numbers would clear up, if you would use a thumper or a long passive column in a cold room.
But anyway, for taste I would collect longer. If the abv is low, I would collect until 20% abv all in all.