grain wash ??

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mountainboy

grain wash ??

Post by mountainboy »

i made a wash of sweet feed an sugar an 2 packs of bread yeast .every thing seemed to be going good [then] i check it with my hydrometer n shows 0?recon it was my test vessel? could i have goofed an what went wrong .i keept it as air tight as i could ,its ben a wk ,a half .recon if its save able or should i start over .my temps also ben around no lower than 69.8,up 72.6 f .

my mash is the same sweet feed mash that tarheel posted.
thought every thing was kickin wright alone .and no ive not a clue .can some one help , holy , a few others that seem to jump at a chance to dog some one out !! ive red , red .yu were write ive learned alot .and im also glad i did read it .till now cause i thought id not have to ask again for help.oh well :oops:
MyDBear
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Post by MyDBear »

Tell us exzactly how ya made yer wash, every step and we might be able ta pin point it
Be Patient God aint finished with me yet
mountainboy

how i dun it

Post by mountainboy »

i used a 25 gal bucket>used about 3/4s a 5 gal of sweet feed ,close to 10/15 pounds sugar2 packs yeast bred kind ,probly 1-1/2 table spoons out of a jar of bread yeast.instaled hose in lid an put in jug a h2o.an put thermo in lid also stay wright around 70 aLL THE TIME + or - a few deg.airated mash , heated water put sug in disolved,let cool down to 68 deg used about 4 gal h2o.put yeast in check every day bubled alot had sweet taste for several days then turnd sour .also when take lid off now it seems to be stil bubblen for awhile can also bunp bottom off bucket an will buble alot .? what kind of vessel can i make to test my spirits in with hydrometer ?read some were to used 3/4 copper pipe an cap on end seems to small in dieameter.?

recon i should just start over ????????????
USarmy21
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Post by USarmy21 »

so your saying your wash turned sour??? if so my wash turned sour a couple times before and im pretty sure its from a certain bacteria. i would put the fermenter in a diff room or do what i did and completly sanatize everything in the room the fermenters in to kill the bacteria. theres bacteria that will steal the sugar from yeast and produce acid(sour) and theres bacteria(can only tolerate concentrations up to 21% alcohol) that will turn alcohol into acid. vinegar is made from those bacterias. to reduce the chances of bacteria growth keep the lid on all times till the day you decide to distill it.
davidbmatthews

grain mash

Post by davidbmatthews »

Mountainboy;
Your making something simple too complicated. For a five gallon wash;
1. put cracked corn bout 4 in deep in 5 gal bucket.
2. fill bucket with clean water (spring water, not city water) leave about 5 inches room for other stuff.
3. Wait all day then skim off all the stuff that floated to top. Add 5 lb sugar, add a coupla packs yeast.
4. Next day put in about five drops of Beano( find it at drug store or Wal-mart)
5. Cover your bucket with something to keep bug and other critters from falling in.
6. When it quits working and is gold yellow color (bout 5 or 6 days) take a pot and dip off the liquid (mash) and strain it through a clean cloth into another bucket.
7. Distill your mash, when through, pour the liquid left in the still back in your ferminting bucket. Put the origional corn back in and another doublehandfull of new corn, and another 5 lb sugar, fill bucket to full with new water. Five or six days you are ready to distill again. Just keep on keeping on.
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Re: how i dun it

Post by MyDBear »

theholymackerel wrote:I don't know what sweet feed is, but unless ya boiled it there is a good chance it could contain' bacteria, etc.
sweet feed is corn,wheat,oats ect. mixed with molasses.
Be Patient God aint finished with me yet
mountainboy

thanks yall

Post by mountainboy »

im tryin to make moon shine .the good kind that wont make yu a hangover .most all that ive found around here is from what ive read is probly full of (foreshots,tails) .good but sorta of rough the first several drinks .then my paw has had some that was mmm good,best of all felt pretty good the next day . 8) . back to the wash i read that it will go from sweet to sour as the prosees goes ?? also what kind of taste would i get out of a just sugar wash for my type spirits .??or maybe i was thinkin that i could use a sugar wash recipe an add a litle grain for flaver .?? would that work ?yall my mouths ben waterin ever sense i started this hobby .so id like to do it right on the 1st time .i hope .

oh yea if ever thing turns out i think ill be done with my by next wk .looks good n hope works as good as looks .thanks yall i couldnt done it with out ya .

i think ive found my thing that im good at :idea:
DBM

Post by DBM »

mountainboy;
I think you will like using plain cracked corn instead of sweetfeed. Also for the good whiskey take your drinking stuff from the middle cut, mix it bout 50/50 with good spring water. Put it in quart jars and let it age (as long as you can) in a place where it will get shookup ounce in a while. I put mine in an old bucket with trash on top in the back of my pickup.
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Post by Fourway »

DBM wrote:Put it in quart jars and let it age (as long as you can) in a place where it will get shookup ounce in a while. I put mine in an old bucket with trash on top in the back of my pickup.
Whiskey aerates a little and maybe stablizes slightly is you let it sit in uncapped or loosely capped glass for a week or so after it's made but once you seal it up in a glass jar it's in stasis... it stays pretty much how it it.

wine ages in glass but spirits don't.

the shaking up in the bed of your truck is an excellent old time practice based on the earliest accidentaly discovered techniques for aging and mellowing spirits *in barrels* but I don't buy the idea that it would do much at all to jarred spirit.
If you had it in jars with wood chips that would be a different story.
"a woman who drives you to drink is hard to find, most of them will make you drive yourself."
anon--
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Post by AkCoyote »

Mountainboy:
It sounds like you're trying to paint the Mona Lisa before you've ever picked up a paint brush. Slow down a bit and have a little patience. First, what Holy said. When it stops bubbling run it and see what you've got. Don't get greedy (and disappointed). Distill twice and on the second time through, make your cuts and keep the middle run. I don't know what it will taste like but at least you won't get hung over. The post by davidmathews is simple and easy recipe to follow for the next time. Give it a try and see what you think. Wish you luck!

AkCoyote
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Post by Jaxom »

Could corn meal be substituted for the cracked corn? If so, I've got an old time musium/grain mill near me, would love to try making some out of that. I know from experience cornbread made from thier meal is MUCH tastier then when made from store bought meal.

If so, how many lbs is "4 inches deep"?

Jaxx
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Post by Grayson_Stewart »

Jaxom wrote:
If so, how many lbs is "4 inches deep"?

Jaxx
Volume of a cube or box is base x height x width
Volume of a bucket is (3.1415 x diameter^2)/4
Density is weight divided by volume

Measure a five pound bag of corn meal at the grocery store, divide by the weight of the bag to get a density...then you can figure out the weight of whatever you are measuring in. We have no idea if your talking about 4" deep in your truck bed or a cardboard box.
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Tater
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Post by Tater »

yes you can use corn meal but it is harder to sparge ,
I use a pot still.Sometimes with a thumper
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