First ferment... could be better from the start

[Sailor]

I’ve spent the last i don’t know how many years reading this forum with anticipation of making my own likker. I’ve learned a damn lot. Sure appreciate the wisdom at our fingertips these days.

That being said i know i could have come at my first ferment a lot better... just have a lot going on and didn’t want to wait for all the ideal ingredients.

I basically ended up doing a basic sugar shine mash with cracked corn.

So, what i did was take a 50# bag of cracked corn and poor about half in a big ass turkey frying pot:


Then added 12.5 gallons of well water.

Then, heated it up to about 150-160 (thermometer is shit)... then turned off the heat.

I added 2 more gallons of well water that was at about 72 deg when the mash was around 140. Ended up at around 120 very soon after.

Here i added #20 of white sugar.

I made a yeast starter with 3 TBSP active dry yeast, 1-1/2 cup warm water (110) and 6 tsp of sugar. I’m 10-20 min it was doubled in size so i dumped it in the mash.

I aerated the batch by dumping it back and forth for a while.

The corn began to swell a little and thought i might want to have a bit more of a few more resource.



Well, i ended up adding another batch of fermenting greens.

I took sleeping meds and I’m about to Pass out.





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[Lawfish]

Sounds like you released some starch from the corn, but didn't do anything to convert it to sugar. In the absence of some enzymes (liquid or via malted barley or other source), the starch from the corn won't ferment. Also, corn needs about 180 degrees to fully gelatinize. I would suggest reading the thread on Booner's Casual Corn recipe. I would predict you will get a decent sugar wash with the corn acting as a yeast nutrient and flavoring only. Sort of like a variation of Uncle Jesse's Simple Sour Mash.

[Pikey]

Yrs I agree with Lawfish - you have the corn and should get some flavour from it - plus 20 lb sugar in aroung 13 gallons (US ? ) of water - that should get you a decent abv in your wash. I'd maybe squeeze around 5 lemons in there, or add perhaps 5 teaspoons of citric acid if your ferment shows signs it's not going well.

But I think you'll get it away ok and that's what matters most in your frst ever. It certainly looks as though the yeast is working.

All the best

P

[HDNB]

as a side note, the other by-product of fermentation is CO2. you get about 1/3 the weight of the sugar in gas, so if you use 15lbs of sugar, you get 5 lbs of CO2.

no big deal in a well ventilated area, but in a small bedroom, if there is poor ventilation...and your respiration is already reduced from sleeping meds...you may not wake up. You don't mix those sleeping pills with booze . right?
my daughter, ( the medical type person around here) tells me CO2 bonds to blood similarly as CO gas (say from a turkey fryer) and there is no bonding sites left for oxygen, which causes the whole death problem.

my workshop is almost 1400sq ft, 9' ceilings. if i get 4 big ferments going in there at the same time there is no air left to breathe, i have to open a door and window for a cross breeze to maintain that all important consciousness.

[Sailor]

I appreciate the replies, and the health concern. I’m not mixing sleeping meds with booze and i am very familiar with hypercapnia.

I was just exhausted and drank a theraflu pm.

Ok, so i ended up with a total of 27 gallons of water, 20-25 lbs of corn (intended just for flavor), 40 lbs of white sugar, and 4 tablespoons of the active dry yeast.

I never checked the PH... I’ve got a new tester but just didn’t use it.

The airlock started bubbling away in about 1.5 hours... and by morning it was pretty aggressive.




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[greggn]

>I made a yeast starter with 3 TBSP active dry yeast, 1-1/2 cup warm water (110) and 6 tsp of sugar. I’m 10-20 min it was doubled in size so i dumped it in the mash.

>I aerated the batch by dumping it back and forth for a while.


You should aerate before pitching yeast. Doing what you did surely did more harm than good by damaging still fragile yeast cell walls.

[Pikey]

I think as long as you et plenty oxygen in there, any damaged cells will just act as nutrient for the newly energised breeding programme

[Oldvine Zin]

I’ve spent the last i don’t know how many years reading this forum with anticipation of making my own likker. I’ve learned a damn lot.

Not quite sure you learned enough

OVZ

[Oldvine Zin]

Keep trying and learn from your mistakes

OVZ

[Sailor]

I’ve spent the last i don’t know how many years reading this forum with anticipation of making my own likker. I’ve learned a damn lot.

Not quite sure you learned enough

OVZ

Not sure i ever will from just reading. More of an experiential learner myself. I’ve seen a bunch of times where newbies get beat up for doing stupid shit. It’s the only way I’m gonna learn and retain anything.

It’s still bubbling away, so I’m guessing it’s doing just fine. Thought about pulling the lid off and checking the PH. I might do that once action starts to die off a bit.


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[acfixer69]

I’ve spent the last i don’t know how many years reading this forum with anticipation of making my own likker. I’ve learned a damn lot.

Not quite sure you learned enough

OVZ

Not sure i ever will from just reading. More of an experiential learner myself. I’ve seen a bunch of times where newbies get beat up for doing stupid shit. It’s the only way I’m gonna learn and retain anything.

It’s still bubbling away, so I’m guessing it’s doing just fine. Thought about pulling the lid off and checking the PH. I might do that once action starts to die off a bit.

nothing wrong with learning the hard way long as ya learned

Turn off the tapatalk addy


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[Sailor]

I’ve spent the last i don’t know how many years reading this forum with anticipation of making my own likker. I’ve learned a damn lot.

Not quite sure you learned enough

OVZ

Not sure i ever will from just reading. More of an experiential learner myself. I’ve seen a bunch of times where newbies get beat up for doing stupid shit. It’s the only way I’m gonna learn and retain anything.

It’s still bubbling away, so I’m guessing it’s doing just fine. Thought about pulling the lid off and checking the PH. I might do that once action starts to die off a bit.


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And... there is so much contradicting information out there you have to just get some experience to have a stance. Take for example the comment made about pitching prior to aeration and doing more harm than good... many people with obviously more experience than me say differently.

Anyway, excited to get going and for the experience. Admittedly i have spent more time reading up on Still making and operation than fermenting.


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[Kegg_jam]

So... why not pick a tried and true... and follow it to the T

[Oldvine Zin]

As I said learn from your mistakes, that works well for fermenting. When it comes down to distilling mistakes can be dangerous.

OVZ

[Sailor]

So... why not pick a tried and true... and follow it to the T

This point is what earned the title of the post. I’ve used a sour mash recipe with adding a little heat to the corn in the beginning.

[Pikey]

So... why not pick a tried and true... and follow it to the T

This point is what earned the title of the post. I’ve used a sour mash recipe with adding a little heat to the corn in the beginning.

When I do sour mash recipess, I use "Micronised" Flaked maize.This has been heated during the rolling process to gelatinise the starches according to the info which comes with it. That works fine over a number of generations. I have never used enzymes or malt in there to convert the starches, BUT the maize is said to get "Used up" and some is replaced for each new generation. Why tht would be I don't know, but it works for me.

I don't think you have done much wrong here at all.

[Edit - having said that I've never done one using whole maize and so can't really compare with such a product. - but you'll get something decent for a first time run - and IF you do go down the "PH" route - do bear in mind that this is called a "SOUR MASH" and many of us make no ph adjustments at all during the course of a run, just making sure there is SOme acid in there to start with. ]

[bilgriss]

Sounds like an okay first ferment. Now read the recipe for Uncle Jesse's Simple Sour Mash, and use your results to go to generation 2. Save up a few batches for a spirit run, and you'll have a tasty product.

The reason people habitually tell everyone to use a recipe from the Tried and True section whenever someone starts off with an untried procedure is pretty simple. They work. When something doesn't work, it's usually easy to determine why. But I'm not sure everyone above read your whole post before replying.

[RedwoodHillBilly]

When I do sour mash recipess, I use "Micronised" Flaked maize.This has been heated during the rolling process to gelatinise the starches according to the info which comes with it. That works fine over a number of generations. I have never used enzymes or malt in there to convert the starches, BUT the maize is said to get "Used up" and some is replaced for each new generation. Why tht would be I don't know, but it works for me.

I don't think you have done much wrong here at all.

[Edit - having said that I've never done one using whole maize and so can't really compare with such a product. - but you'll get something decent for a first time run - and IF you do go down the "PH" route - do bear in mind that this is called a "SOUR MASH" and many of us make no ph adjustments at all during the course of a run, just making sure there is SOme acid in there to start with. ]

If you have never done a sour mash AG, and just have done sugar heads, you should try a good sour mash AG recipe. I like to have some malt in my recipes, but to each their own. For a product that you're going to drink white, sweet mash is OK, but to age on wood, my preference is to do a sour mash. I feel that some malt leads to a more complex flavor. Even in my enzyme converted maize mashes, I make sure to add some malt for flavor.

[Sailor]

So... why not pick a tried and true... and follow it to the T

This point is what earned the title of the post. I’ve used a sour mash recipe with adding a little heat to the corn in the beginning.

When I do sour mash recipess, I use "Micronised" Flaked maize.This has been heated during the rolling process to gelatinise the starches according to the info which comes with it. That works fine over a number of generations. I have never used enzymes or malt in there to convert the starches, BUT the maize is said to get "Used up" and some is replaced for each new generation. Why tht would be I don't know, but it works for me.

I don't think you have done much wrong here at all.

[Edit - having said that I've never done one using whole maize and so can't really compare with such a product. - but you'll get something decent for a first time run - and IF you do go down the "PH" route - do bear in mind that this is called a "SOUR MASH" and many of us make no ph adjustments at all during the course of a run, just making sure there is SOme acid in there to start with. ]

I’ll have to read more into the PH on a sour. Interesting.

I’m planning on doing at least 4 cycles with the first obviously being just a stripping run. Hope to do that this Sunday. It’ll be my first time producing with my Still also...
[img]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201712 ... 0afd64.jpg[/img]

And yes, I’m going to do my vinegar and sacrificial run prior too... and don’t give your opinion on me putting a thermometer on, I’m a data nerd and just want it.