Washback (Wooden fermenter) Anyone build one?

Any hardware used for mashing, fermenting or aging.

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Single Malt Yinzer
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Washback (Wooden fermenter) Anyone build one?

Post by Single Malt Yinzer »

I'm thinking of building a washback and seeing if anyone else has. If so I would love any advice or experience you could offer. I'm building square for ease of building. I plan on making it ~15 gallons max capacity with normal wort size of around 10 gallons. I plan on using Oregon Pine (aka Douglas Fir) to be traditional, no other reason. I am going to build it like a coolship (koelschip), long and wide versus tall.

Some numbers:
7.48 gallons in a cubic foot
Goal size: 2 cubic feet

Video I found with Eldradour's Iain Henderson talking about theirs (I need to speak in that accent whenever I work on my whisky.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ARLgspPVPE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

*Yes I did a search, no it did not turn up much.
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der wo
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Re: Washback (Wooden fermenter) Anyone build one?

Post by der wo »

Large distilleries use them without breaks. They are always wet.
Perhaps you will get problems unless you have always a ferment running. Mold and leaks. But perhaps in the end it's not so terrible. But I wouldn't consider it traditional. Perhaps you should use always the same yeast.
In this way, imperialism brings catastrophe as a mode of existence back from the periphery of capitalist development to its point of departure. - Rosa Luxemburg
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acfixer69
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Re: Washback (Wooden fermenter) Anyone build one?

Post by acfixer69 »

Only thing I would question would be Pine or Doug fir. I know a few that use older oak ageing barrels from distilleries to ferment in.

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nathar
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Re: Washback (Wooden fermenter) Anyone build one?

Post by nathar »

Oh brother. I just built a finger-jointed pine pizza dough proofing box just because it was the traditional way they used to do it. Must. Resist. Getting. Weaker.
Windswept
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Re: Washback (Wooden fermenter) Anyone build one?

Post by Windswept »

Wonderful, something else I have to try now...
If I didn't learn the hard way, I wouldn't learn at all!
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