malt o meal

[fdangerous]

Hi everyone , i am compleatly new to this and ive been researching alot of diferent things and they all seem contraversal to me. I have been reading on this site for 2 monthes now and i thank everyone for the vast collection of knowledge i have gained , now for my first post and my first question .Now rememer im compleately new to this , can i use malt o meal made with wheat grains as a yeast neutrient? Any help would be very much aprciated, and another thing i was wondering if i have a good fermentatoin going can i add more suger to boost the "%abv?"

[Hawke]

Malt-O-Meal, Gerber baby cerial or Total all work for neutrients.
Pushing a wash much over 10% ABV starts producing off flavors. Better to go for quallity over quantity.

[fdangerous]

Thanx alot, im starting out with great-grannys welches wine and wasnt getting nothing ut a very bad tasting dry wine , can i run that through a distiller, and what if i add more suger,once again thanx a ton.

[pumpman]

You can distil your wine but don't put any sugar in it, you dont want sugar in your boiler it will foam up and can cause big problems.

[fdangerous]

You can distil your wine but don't put any sugar in it, you dont want sugar in your boiler it will foam up and can cause big problems.

i ment in the fermentation process....wont it make it stronger?And i have another question if anyone can help, since im so new to this should i start with the pot distiller or go for the reflux cause the price on copper?lol

[Barney Fife]

wont it make it stronger

No. The yeast can only take so much, then they die, either from suffocation from too high SG, or from too much alcohol; either way, you end up with sugar in your wash.

[olddog]

You would build your still according to your preference of spirit. If you prefer flavoured spirits, whisky, bourbon, fruit or grain flavoured, then a potstill would be the way to go. If your preference is vodka or neutral spirits, then a reflux still is the way to go.

[fdangerous]

o man i feel like a big dummy cause i just dumped more suger in the batches but they seem to be still bubling , guess i can let em go to they quit bublin and syphon offwhats there or split the atches up and .....i dont know. i think im going to go with a pot distiller , i got a five gallon pot with a lid useing my stove where should i go next

once again im a newb if anyone has an idea od dimensions or size of pipe please help, this is my first one and i want it to e semi functional

[Barney Fife]

Split off your batches, and water them down to dilute them back, and you'll be fine. Do it before the yeast die.....

[rad14701]

What Barney Fife said, fdangerous... If you have two batches going you might be able to split them into three by dumping 1/3 of the two into a new vessel and then adding 1/3 more water to all three... So, for example, if you have 10 gallons of wash now you'll end up with 15 gallons... It's easier to fix a wash before it stalls than after...

Good luck...

[fdangerous]

well i started some plain ol malt o meal still waiting on fermentation to stop then ill let yall know how it goes

[fdangerous]

ok now i have a problemb.....i started three of these batches a little over a week ago and they have completly stoped fermenting i can see the malto-meal on the bottom and the suger
but no go, im stumped??? should i add something to the atch to help with nutrients or more yeast.....

[rad14701]

fdangerous, did these washes ferment at all or do they look as though they have stalled...???

When you taste them do they taste sweet or dry (sour, like wine)...???

Did you follow the Gerber recipe or go off on a tangent...???

What was the exact recipe you put down...???

[fdangerous]

At first they were fermenting like crazy then the balloon dropped and nothing, i just went by touch and feel cause as you know im very new to this and am expierimenting. my recipie waas justsuger , malto-meal , bakers yeast , and water. Is there something im missing here
and when i open them they smell like yeast.....i was reading somewhere today aout lemon juice .....would that help, epsom salts, anything??? My wife has one a day vitamins would that help? thanks rad

[rad14701]

If they've been actively fermenting for a week then they are probably done... The only way to tell is by bubbles through the airlock, and/or a hydrometer reading, and/or tasting dry (sour with no sweetness)... If you don't fuss with them for 2 - 3 days they should start to clear with all of the solids falling to the bottom... It's probably yeast you're starting to see on top of the Malt-O Meal on the bottom, not sugar... You'll start getting a definitive layer of yeast building up on top of the "nutrients" on the very bottom... They will drop either once the sugars have been depleted, death by excessive alcohol content, or death by infection...

[fdangerous]

well rads right as usaul its done...lol

[fdangerous]

Ran it through the pot distiller once lastnight and let it sit now theres stuff at the bottom think im gonna run it through a couple more times to get the good stuff,lol, when i ran the home-made wine through it it tastes like vodka or like a gin, this has a different flavor