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I’ve now got two small(16L) pots fermenting with DADY. They seem to be taking longer that similar washes in these pots When I USP Ed Red Hat Bakers yeast. I check and record readings everyday, the DADY pots are dropping 6 or 8 points per day, where with Red Hat Bakers yeast they went down 10 or 12 ...

Update: there's definitely a difference between the two yeasts, and I'm more impressed by the standard baker's yeast. Baker's Yeast: Due to the temperature still being close to 90F, my 60F hydrometer actually sinks lower than its lowest marking! The sample was also relatively clear, which could be a...

Since no one gave me a straight up or down opinion on Distiller's Active Dry Yeast in this recipe, and since I ran it a few nights ago and wasn't happy with the results, I decided to make it again. I made a 6 Gal batch then split into two fermenters, one with baker's yeast and one with DADY. We wil...

Since no one gave me a straight up or down opinion on Distiller's Active Dry Yeast in this recipe, and since I ran it a few nights ago and wasn't happy with the results, I decided to make it again. I made a 6 Gal batch then split into two fermenters, one with baker's yeast and one with DADY. We will...

zed255 wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 6:50 am Don't throw it out! If it went from 1.090 to 1.017 there's about 9.5% ABV in the wash you can distill out.

I guess I’m just concerned with the flavor that the remaining sugar will add...maybe none? That’s new territory for me.

But tomato paste also has sugars in it, and I'm not particularly keen on the SG points for tomato paste. Negligible . The whole point of the Birdwatchers ( Tomato Paste Wash ) is that the recipe is pretty fail safe and will result in a relatively clean wash using common household ingredients so lon...

Garern2 This is the expected numbers for Taters OP recipe 449A18F8-098D-41A0-AA47-9C4A6C7A8AAC.jpeg But it does say approx 18kg of sugar so YRMV Where are you getting this? The OP states, numerous times, that the SG has to be 1.090 Has it been changed somewhere? I understand that using the amount o...

Looks like I may have stumped the board. I know I've stumped myself.

Does anyone know if the SG listed is the actual SG, or is it the SG reading at the temperature listed in the recipe (~90* F)? I assume since it's listed as SG, the SG should be 1.090 at 60* F, which would be a reading of 1.094 at 90* F.

My SG reading, at 90* F, was between 1.093 and 1.094.

It could a # of things PH, temp bad yeast etc... I'm sure someone with more knowledge than I will come along. It's definitely not temperature, as my fermentation chamber keeps things within +/- 1 degree F. I didn't check pH, but I've always done all grain so I never really needed to after I knew th...

I just finished a 10 gallon batch of birdwatchers and I used Dady yeast and it fermented complete my starting gravity was 1.070. My temps were not as high as yours, it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 72 to 80 regular room temperature although at the end of the run I did add a heating pad becau...

This is the first stuck fermentation I’ve had in my history of fermenting things...since 2003. It’s stuck at 1.017! The only change I made is using DADY, because I have some and baker’s yeast is nearly impossible to find around here during this time. I have a fermentation chamber and held the temper...

Then just build a proof of concept still. Rough and ready. You know, to learn on. Then set out to make a thing of beauty. Which will never be built, you know, 'cause the rough and ugly one runs just fine ;-) That's what I've already done, but I'll have to settle on something eventually. I'm just tr...

There are some excellent reflux stiil designs and build threads here on the forum.....stills that will pull azeotrope from start to finish of run. You can build something good if you try. Yes, I've seen several of them. However, I'm extremely OCD when it comes to my own projects. My wife does all o...

For neutral spirits, 95% ABV is pretty impressive Good luck with that..... best I've seen is 93 temp corrected. If you want to run one at 1 drip per second or less and take a week to do a run you might just scrap 95% in if your very lucky. What you say about how they run is correct otherwise. This ...

Have you had trouble manually trying to keep the temperature in that range? With my sacrificial run of 15L of 9.2% cheap wine, I just ran my still based on its output by adjusting the heating element and didn't even check the temperature of the cooling water. It worked ok I guess, but since I could...

If you were going to control the 'temperature out', (Tout), of the cooling water with a PID, you would also have to control the 'temperature in' or have stable cooling water temperature, as it is the amount of energy extracted by the cooling water that controls the amount of reflux, not Tout. In my...

As a control engineer (heavily biased normally), would certainly say that a PID doesn't serve much of a practical purpose in this instance. Have a good read on these forums as there's plenty of great advice and information to get you started. However, will share a few changes from my own tinkering,...

Have you learned how to run it without a PID? Not yet. I’m doing my first run on a propane burner this weekend if the weather cooperates. I’m just thinking ahead. flow via a solenoid valve ... so it clicks on clicks off . Problem with that idea is that T500s are super sensitive to water flow change...

I see a lot of information going against PIDs here, and I understand the basic concept. I'm not trying to kindle the anti-PID movement. I am curious: the T500 instructions are based on temperature of the condenser output. A PID is presumably based on the temperature of the column, unless you connect...

TDick wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2020 4:05 pm Welcome Neighbor!
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I just moved here from AL in July of 18. I still call NW AL home. Thanks for the welcome!

Greetings all. I have been brewing beer and making mead/wine since 2003. For various reasons, I never made the jump to distilling. I've just completed my 8 gallon convertible column/pot still modifications and PID panel, so I will be distilling my first batch on Sunday if everything is clear. I look...