Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

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BeardedWhiskey
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Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

I made a 40 gallon mash of corn, rye, and barley. I put it in the fermenter at a rather high gravity of 1.12 and it fermented out at 1.01. I'm running my first stripping run and It's coming out of the still at only 10%. Any ideas on why this could be? If it matters I'm doing 5 gallon stripping runs and this is the first one.
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NZChris
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by NZChris »

Insufficient information for me to try guess at anything.

What was the abv at the very start of the run? How much have you taken off and what is the abv of that?
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

It started at 25 in foreshots. Then it has dropped to 10% after the first 300mls. It has stayed constantly that how. By the starting and end gravity i calculated a ABV of 15% if I put the still in almost full Reflux I yield an abv of 50% but it is extremely slow and the outlet water on the Reflux is at 200 degrees F for anything to come out of the outlet.
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NZChris
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by NZChris »

Personally, I wouldn't strip with a reflux still.

My guesses, (not knowing what type of still you are running), is that you have it plumbed incorrectly, or it has a water leak.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

I'm running the T500 but I have separated the water inlets for both the condenser and Reflux so I can run it hot and fast for stripping runs. I've checked the water lines and increased the flow to the condenser to for more knockdown. The spirit is coming off at 67 degrees F.
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NZChris
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by NZChris »

So the abv at the spout is less than the abv of the wash?
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

Yes. It until it got down to 5% and I yielded 1.25 L at 10% is it possible that my gravity on the wash went down but in some way the ferment failed?
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NZChris
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by NZChris »

Taste some. Is it alcoholic?
BeardedWhiskey
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

The wash is bitter. Doesn't remind me much of alcohol. And the stuff coming out of the still is weak and barely tastes of alcohol. But when I finished the mash it was extremely sweet and sticky. It has gone bitter and I'm not sure where the sugars went
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by NZChris »

Don't stick your finger in it, drink a glass full. At the calculated strength you should easily be able to tell if it's alcoholic.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

I took two mouthfuls out of a glass, it tasted like maybe a faint sparkling wine. I think something went wrong during the fermentation. It bubbled like hell for three days but it was done after that. I have almost $100 worth of grain in it so I'm thinking about heating up 10 gallons of wort and then adding 30 pounds of sugar to it to kick it off?
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

That is after adding it all back to the 40 gallons in the fermenter
ThomasBrewer
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by ThomasBrewer »

Did you use a heating element to keep your fermenter warm during fermentation? Is the fermenter sealed?
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by cob »

please post your mash procedure.
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BeardedWhiskey
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

Fermenter is sealed with airlock, was placed on a heating pad and insulated and stayed at 78 degrees. I did BIAB with 25lbs of flaked maize, 5lbs of chocolate rye, 4lbs of another rye, and 10lbs of 6 row barley. I brought the water to 190 and added in the corn and mashed it for an hour, and then I waited until the water got to 170. I then added the rest of the grain along with the powdered amylase enzymes and let it sit at 170 for an hour. Then drained and squeezed the bag into my fermenter and added water until the gravity 1.12 was reached. Then I pitched my yeast and put the lid and airlock on.
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NZChris
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by NZChris »

A drop from 1.12 to 1.01 is quite substantial. It should have plenty of alcohol. My boiler has a thermometer in the charge, so I can work out the abv from that. You could check your abv by bringing some to a boil in a saucepan and using the temperature to look it up.

Have you done a starch test?
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

I performed a starch test using iodine before pitching my yeast and it passed. I put another 5 gallons in the still and it's coming up to temp now just to see what happens. Maybe the top was just water? I'm not sure. I used a clearing agent on it over 24 hours ago so I'm hoping maybe that brought things up to the top. If not then I'm leaning towards the recharging with a sugar syrup.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

The foreshots are coming off at 15% on the second stripping run. I'm at a loss here. I think im going to drain my boiler and add sugar to the hot wort and then add it back to the fermenter with the rest of the wort.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by ThomasBrewer »

Bearded - What are you using to measure the output ABV? Do you have an alcometer, or are you using the fermentation hydrometer?

I apologize if my questions are pedantic, just hoping to find something easy that's causing errors.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by Stonecutter »

BeardedWhiskey wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 6:49 pm Fermenter is sealed with airlock, was placed on a heating pad and insulated and stayed at 78 degrees. I did BIAB with 25lbs of flaked maize, 5lbs of chocolate rye, 4lbs of another rye, and 10lbs of 6 row barley. I brought the water to 190 and added in the corn and mashed it for an hour, and then I waited until the water got to 170. I then added the rest of the grain along with the powdered amylase enzymes and let it sit at 170 for an hour. Then drained and squeezed the bag into my fermenter and added water until the gravity 1.12 was reached. Then I pitched my yeast and put the lid and airlock on.
Please forgive me if I’ve missed anything but this isn’t sounding right. Most if not all of your amylase was destroyed at 170. To get the most efficiency I’d hold the mash at around 150-152. Also, you don’t need to cook flaked Corn. I’m really surprised you got so much conversion. Again, I very well could have missed something. It’s happened before. I’m an ignorant SOB.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

I know I didn't need to gelantinize the corn but for some reason i thought at the higher temp I'd extract more corn flavor. The packet of amylase I used directed me to pitch at that temp. I have always heard of using it below 160. So when it got below 160 a used this other generic amylase I had picked up at a lower brew store but didn't use that much. I can deal with if I didn't get a conversion. But it was so sticky and sweet I had to scrub to get it off my arms after squeezing the bag and there is none of that sweetness left. I have no idea what happened but I'm going to try to save it with sugar. I was hoping for an all grain whiskey but it seems I need the sugar to get a good yield for the time and money invested to be worth it.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by BeardedWhiskey »

The more I think about this the more I believe I must have misread my hydrometer. I've capped it back off with sugar at 1.08 and I'm going to let it do its thing for a few days. Thank you all for your help.
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NZChris
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by NZChris »

I wish posters with problems would tell us what they planned to do before they did it.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by still_stirrin »

BeardedWhiskey wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 8:07 pm… I must have misread my hydrometer…
This sounds plausible.

But when you tasted the product off the spout, there would be no doubt that it was alcohol. It should have a strong liquor taste and smell.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by NZChris »

I was trying to work out which hydrometer you had misread. Going by your SG readings you should have had 14% in the wash. If that was correct, getting 15% out of the spout is impossible without leaking cooling water into the distillate.
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by SmokyMtn »

BeardedWhiskey wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 8:07 pm I've capped it back off with sugar at 1.08 and I'm going to let it do its thing for a few days.
At this point, sounds like the best possible solution. Before developing your own recipes, master a couple of T&T recipes. It will build your confidence and experience. If you want to continue a custom recipe use this or the like https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/ ... calculator
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Re: Stripping run on all grain yielding super low ABV

Post by subbrew »

You should be done with this ferment by now but my curiosity still has my wondering what went wrong. So I went to the numbers.

There is no way you had a starting gravity of 1.12. From the grains listed you have the following sugar

25# corn = 25 X 37 gravity points = 925
10# 6 row = 10 x 35 gravity points = 350
5# chocolate rye = 5 x 31 gravity points = 155
4# other rye = 4 x 36 gravity points = 114 (assumed flaked rye)
total gravity points = 1544 so max starting gravity in 40 gallons is 1.039
This gives a potential alcohol of 5% if you had perfect conversion. and unless you ground the flaked corn to close to flour consistency you will have got less than half of the 37 potential gravity points. so it is possible your actual ABV of the mash was closer to 3%
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