Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

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LWTCS
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by LWTCS »

It's a lovely pink!
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myerfire
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by myerfire »

Birdwatcher, I just want to wish you well and thank you for all of your insightful posts. Your recipe was my first wash a year and a half ago, tried several others and now I will start another BW sugar wash tomorrow.
myerfire
noshybabs
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Re: Birdwatchers gar wash recipe

Post by noshybabs »

noshybabs wrote:thanks for this birdwatcher.

I've just popped one in, but instead of the tomato paste I used 50g yeast nutrient. I'm worried about turning my bucker orange.


if anyone is interested that's

5kg sugar
2 limes
50g yeast nutrient
75g dried bakers yeast.

Its only been in 5 mins and its already got a head and smells delicious.

I'll let you know what happens
well its been a week and its only made it as far as sg 1.03..... :(
birdwatcher
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by birdwatcher »

Thanks for your good wishes all.

I'm now an apartment dweller in Ottawa, but I will monitor this forum on a regular basis.

I'll say it once more. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Follow my recipe to the letter for perfect ethanol.

Take care.

G
My sugar wash for ethanol is under the Tried and true recipes forum.
noshybabs
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by noshybabs »

I guess your right. Il know next time.
braemar
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by braemar »

Hey noshybabs,
You have almost made winoes sugar wash it will most probably still ferment to dry but may take another week.
If you dont want to use tomato paste do a winoes sugar wash it works fine.
I find what ever recipe you do if you follow it, it will work, these blokes have done all the hard work.
its fun to change the little things to see how it works but i never change the main ingredientin a recipe
Regards
Braemar
maritime
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by maritime »

i ran another birwatchers today.
got 1000ml of fine stuff. i haven't checked it yet, but i've been hitting 94-94.5% every time.
we did go through 20 gallons of frozen slushy drinks saturday, all powered by birdwatchers. it's a crowd pleaser. no hang over if cut right.
7 year column distiller
makes pretty good barn vodka
birdwatcher
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by birdwatcher »

I made a smoothie yesterday. Strawberries (10), banana (1), ice, about 12 oz. of mango juice. 2 oz. birdwatcher vodka. Into a blender.

Wicked.

Cheers.

G
My sugar wash for ethanol is under the Tried and true recipes forum.
rad14701
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by rad14701 »

Sounds good, birdwatcher... Straight from brain freeze to buzzed with a nice taste along the way... :shock:
Austin Nichols
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Austin Nichols »

I have 5 liters of BW @ 40% soaking in pine apple for the last 2 weeks and it smells awesome now, cant smell any alcohol at all, it smells just like pineapples.

I will report on how it turns out when the mrs gets back from WA, I'm not allowed to touch it until then :roll:

AL.
birdwatcher
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by birdwatcher »

Pineapple Liqueur. Sounds interesting.

Have you considered adding some spices, herbs etc.

Vanilla bean and or ginger comes to mind.

Keep us posted. I love making liqueurs. Working on a Grand Marnier substitute at the moment.

G
My sugar wash for ethanol is under the Tried and true recipes forum.
kiwistiller
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by kiwistiller »

Interested in hearing your recipe BW - I've made one that was macerated clementine and tangello zest in neutral, redistilled in the pot still, oaked for a few months on a small amount of medium / heavy toast @ 60%, then spiced with a vanilla bean and a touch of clove over about a week (I think) , then finally carameled for sweetening. long process but the results have been pretty fine. still sitting in the jar now about a year later, I really should cut and bottle it.
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sudsy
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Re:

Post by sudsy »

"I have tried the wet blanket method (with a fan) and it keeps temps down to 30C, or a bit lower. If I use ice I can keep it to 25-27. So both methods do the job, but the wet blanket is easier and cheaper."

Alot of the people i know use their laundry sinks just fill it with water and usually it is 20 degree's ish here in oz brings temps down very quickly also, i use this method in my bath to cool wash down giving it a mix every ten mins .
birdwatcher
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by birdwatcher »

During our Winters, down to -35 C, cooling is not a problem. Cheers.

G
My sugar wash for ethanol is under the Tried and true recipes forum.
Caprimulgus
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Caprimulgus »

True. Same thing here. The problem in winter is thawing enough up to get started :)
Nobody puts baby in the corner....
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18918
sudsy
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by sudsy »

i have reverse cycle that keeps things warm enough for a great ferment :P
maritime
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by maritime »

ran a 5 gallon batch of birdwatcher tonight.
took off 100ml of foreshot
then another 100ml of heads
pulled off 1400ml of nice clear, sweet smelling liquid. always a sweet note until it sets for a day or two, uncovered.
then the temp climbed 2*F, pulled off 400ml of tails.

getting the stock pile ready for a long cold winter. i can only run in the summer.
may get a few more batches run before deer season starts.
i love this hobby.
7 year column distiller
makes pretty good barn vodka
gavin
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gavin »

I ran a 7.5kg batch of this wash the other day, and as much as I'm regretfull to say it the final result seems to be not as good as what I produced with a standard turbo yeast classic.

This tomato powered wash did distill out somewhat cleaner with less of the ester/fruity type smell, (94% one run only) however after it was put thru the carbon and the ester type smell had been cleaned out there was a slight tomatoish smell/taste that became noticible which made it less palatable as a neutral than the turbo wash treated the same way.

The yeild of ethanol per kg of sugar seemed to be down on the turbo as well.

Could I have got something wrong?
marc83
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by marc83 »

What were the other ingredients you used?and how much etc?how big was the wash?25L?
7.5kg is too much for a 25L wash IMO.I use 5kg in a 25L BW wash,no more,no less,and have NO problems.
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.-Frank Sinatra
Austin Nichols
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Austin Nichols »

I have done about 6 of these washes now and havnt had a drama, I use 5kg of sugar for a 25L wash, it sounds like you might not have let it ferment out or rack it.

Was the wash still tomato colour? mine are fairly clear when they're ready to run.

So far of all the recipes I've tried this one is my favorite, just scale the original recipe down to suit and dont change it.

I will never go back to turbo's again.

Cheers.
gavin
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gavin »

Ingrediants were:

7.5kg sugar
two 140gm pottles of tomato paste
20ml lemon juice
pinch of epsom salts
95gm of active dried yeast.
Enough water (aprox 32ltrs total wash) to acheive a starting SG of 1.09
26deg pitch, and kept at 26deg thruout fermentation


It fermented out perfectly (took 12 days though) and cleared very clear - yellowish tint but very clear liquid right down to the sediment layer in bottom of fermenter, none of which went into the still .

The only two things that have been done differently with this wash compared to the previous turbos (because I have learnt them from these forums since doing the turbos) were things that should have given this wash an advantage over the turbos i.e.. letting the wash clear to a very clear state before running, and running the still just below draw off temps for a good hour or so to achieve a column equilibrium and some heads compression before drawing anything off.

I was initially thrilled with the results because as I say the distilate was noticibly less esterish straight out of the still than the previous turbos (what ester smell there was was a bit different to that of the turbo distilate as well) but after diluting to 40% and putting thru carbon there is definatly a tomatoish type odor and taste. This is very slight admittedly, but because of its nature it makes this lot of distilate less neutral (to my taste and smell anyway) than that of the turbo distillate treated the same way.

I need to stress here I have no previous experiance with distilling so I'm not at all qualified to say what a really good neutral should taste and smell like. However three vodka drinking mates have tasted the neutral from the turbos and all said it was actually very good and all three agreed in blind testing that my "vodka" was smoother to drink than a shop vodka that was used for comparison. I personally still detect a slight smell with the turbo neutral, but one of the vodka drinkers (a DRI food scientist) says that the only smell is just the smell of ethanol itself. The nature of the smell does seem to fit with what a clean spirit might smell like but I'm not entirely happy because the good quality shop vodkas (although perhaps not as smooth to drink) don't seem to have this odor. And to be honest it is this odor that has been the reason I have looked for an alternate wash.

I do realise that I'm going against common practice of doing two runs etc for a neutral, however I wanted to run this wash the same way as I had already run the turbos so that I could get a true comparison between the various washes before deciding what one to stick with in the future and comencing the practice of double runs. I currently have a brew of rads bran wash almost fermented as well and will be running this thru the same for comparison also.

Apart from wondering if I have mucked up in some way, one question I would also like to ask is - Is there any possibility that the quality of the turbo yeast packs have increased in recent times?
rad14701
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by rad14701 »

gavin, one 6 oz. (170 grams) can of tomato paste should have been enough for 32 liters... Also, keeping the SG a bit lower would help speed fermentation and reduce off smells and flavors...
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gavin »

rad14701 wrote:gavin, one 6 oz. (170 grams) can of tomato paste should have been enough for 32 liters... Also, keeping the SG a bit lower would help speed fermentation and reduce off smells and flavors...
cheers rad!

I may end up doing another wash at a lower sg and less tomato paste.

It was a little hard to work out exact tomato paste weight from the original post as "three cups" is somewhat loose.

My previous wash was based on ratios simular to what apparently worked well for others and seemed to have birdwatchers approval (posts 1&6 on page three etc). While avoiding ratios that didn't seem to work well for others (2nd to last post on page 7 -which seems to have a ratio simular to what you are suggesting)

I also looked at: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_grams_are_in_a_cup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow and figured "a cup of tomato paste" was likely to be at least 200grams (ie at least 600gms being used for birdwatchers 80ltr wash). So I figured my 280 grams should be pretty much in keeping with the original recipe ratio for a 32 ltr wash

regards

gavin
kiwistiller
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by kiwistiller »

gavin wrote: I also looked at: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_grams_are_in_a_cup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow and figured "a cup of tomato paste" was likely to be at least 200grams (ie at least 600gms being used for birdwatchers 80ltr wash). So I figured my 280 grams should be pretty much in keeping with the original recipe ratio for a 32 ltr wash
Neat trick you might like: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=tomato+paste+cup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow That website is pure gold for converting and calculating almost anything.
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gavin
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gavin »

kiwistiller wrote:
gavin wrote: I also looked at: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_grams_are_in_a_cup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow and figured "a cup of tomato paste" was likely to be at least 200grams (ie at least 600gms being used for birdwatchers 80ltr wash). So I figured my 280 grams should be pretty much in keeping with the original recipe ratio for a 32 ltr wash
Neat trick you might like: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=tomato+paste+cup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow That website is pure gold for converting and calculating almost anything.
Brilliant mate! That site IS pure gold, have added to favorites.
marc83
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by marc83 »

I usually get 3x25L washes goin one after the other,one each week.
A week to ferment,Rack,a week to clear,then strip run each wash.
Then do a spirit run of 20L of 40% low wines once i have enough.Best neutral i get.

In a 25L wash i try to go for a SG of 1075.5kg of sugar gets this spot on.
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.-Frank Sinatra
birdwatcher
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by birdwatcher »

Hi Gavin,

1 cup equals 240 ml. My ethanol has never had a tomato smell, more a mild sugary odour.

I agree with Marc, SG 1.09 is too high, my last wash wash was 1.07 at start, about a week to finish.

I have never used charcoal to filter.

I'll say it again; using Turbo yeasts is simply a waste of money.

Cheers,

G
My sugar wash for ethanol is under the Tried and true recipes forum.
Samohon
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by Samohon »

I have 30L of BW low wines to run this weekend....
I usually fermant 40L batches at an SG of 1.080, then strip when SG is 0.990. Never had a stuck batch yet. :D :D :D

1 Cup of concentrated tomato puree,
100ml of lemon juice,
1 tsp Epsom salts
100g bakers yeast.
7kg sugar
Water to 40L


After I combine all the ingredients together, I then sprinkle the 100g of bakers yeast on the top and leave it.
In my fermenting bin there is 10 inches of head room, plenty oxygen for my yeast colony to multiply, as the oxygen depletes the beasties go to work.
Takes about 5 days to completion @ 25deg C. I never rack the wash to clear, straight into the boiler with it, take 200ml of forshots then strip it fast.
I leave about 1" inch of lees at the bottom of the fermenter from my racking cane, then toss it.
When my carboy contains about 20L I add 20 tsp of Bicarbonate of soda, then I leave it until I want to run it, usually 2 weeks...
This is a great recipe, it's simple to perform and has'nt let me down... I don't expect it to, its just so easy...

I dont get a tomato taste or smell from my distillate and the product once cut has been compared to some top brand names...

Thanks again BW....
♦♦ Samohon ♦♦

Beginners should visit The New Distillers Reading Lounge and the Safety and Related Issues among others...
gavin
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gavin »

birdwatcher wrote:Hi Gavin,

1 cup equals 240 ml. My ethanol has never had a tomato smell, more a mild sugary odour.

I agree with Marc, SG 1.09 is too high, my last wash wash was 1.07 at start, about a week to finish.

I have never used charcoal to filter.

I'll say it again; using Turbo yeasts is simply a waste of money.

Cheers,

G
Cheers birdwatcher!

I may have to end up doing another batch at a lower SG.

I used 1.09 as a starting point as this was mentioned first up in the original recipe/post. But I guess I should have taken more notice of where you recommended it be a bit less than this.

I probably should re emphasize that the taste/odor was very slight and may not have even been picked as being "tomatoish" without a comparison, or the knowledge that tomato paste was used in the brew......My wife's initial comment when I asked her to smell the two different distillates was that the one from the tomato one had a little more smell and that it smelt a little bit like methalated spirits. But then after she was told what it had been made from she said "oh yeah, that could be a tomato smell". Whereas I had not been thinking methalated spirits at all, but after she said that and I smelt it again I could see how she could have picked that also.

I'm in no way suggesting there is anything like meths in the distillate of course, I'm just trying to emphasize that the taint is not so strong that it is really obvious or that its easily picked. In fact had I (having no experience with distilling) smelt this distillate without a comparison and been told it was neutral, I would no doubt have accepted it as being neutral.

And this of course was after 1 run only. I can well imagine that after two runs this distillate would be very clean.
However as mentioned I'm just comparing single runs at this stage because that's how I had run the previous turbos, and I don't want to have to buy more turbos in order to do double runs just for comparisons before seeing if one of these alternate washes might stand out as giving an obviously better result at this stage.

Having said that, I may well get to the stage where I try pitching some of the turbos at lower SGs for fair comparisons also.
Because at this stage I'm more inclined to think that it is using a lower SG that is the secret to quality outputs rather than whatever yeast nutrients are used. i.e I'm not entirely convinced (at this stage anyway!) that turbo nutrients are as nasty as people say and that all turbos are nessasarily as bad an option as most people say they are. Especially for us in NZ who can be paying $2-$4 per 100gms of dried active yeast alone.

Some of my progress will no doubt eventually involve getting various end results professionally analyzed for comparisons as well, seeing as I have a mate who is more than able and willing to do this for me.

Regardless of any outcomes and opinion though, I always appreciate yours (and others) inputs because this is most definatly a big learning curve for me! And it would be impossible to read thru these forums and not appreciate the way you, rad, kiwi, and many others have put an awful lot of personal time and effort into helping others in their quest of producing the perfect plonk!

best regards

gavin
gavin
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Re: Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

Post by gavin »

Samohon wrote:I have 30L of BW low wines to run this weekend....
I usually fermant 40L batches at an SG of 1.080, then strip when SG is 0.990. Never had a stuck batch yet. :D :D :D

1 Cup of concentrated tomato puree,
100ml of lemon juice,
1 tsp Epsom salts
100g bakers yeast.
7kg sugar
Water to 40L


After I combine all the ingredients together, I then sprinkle the 100g of bakers yeast on the top and leave it.
In my fermenting bin there is 10 inches of head room, plenty oxygen for my yeast colony to multiply, as the oxygen depletes the beasties go to work.
Takes about 5 days to completion @ 25deg C. I never rack the wash to clear, straight into the boiler with it, take 200ml of forshots then strip it fast.
I leave about 1" inch of lees at the bottom of the fermenter from my racking cane, then toss it.
When my carboy contains about 20L I add 20 tsp of Bicarbonate of soda, then I leave it until I want to run it, usually 2 weeks...
This is a great recipe, it's simple to perform and has'nt let me down... I don't expect it to, its just so easy...

I dont get a tomato taste or smell from my distillate and the product once cut has been compared to some top brand names...

Thanks again BW....
cheers man!

That sounds like a good no bulshit way of doing things. And pretty much along the lines of what had in mind as a likely final procedure also.
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