My sweet feed this week

[BillHoo]

I started a sweet feed on Friday.

Been putting it off a few years and finally got some time to do it.

Used one part barley from the local homebrew shop. I don't think it was malted. One part flaked oats. And about two parts cracked corn birdseed. Topped it with a half gallon of Fancy Molasses from the restaurant supply store and 5 pounds of sugar. This came to about 5 or 6 inches deep at the bottom of the fermenting bucket

I got a gallon of tap water boiling and mixed that in til the sugar dissolved and waited a few minutes for it to steep a bit. Then added 4 gallons of bottled spring water.

It was warm to touch, but not hot. I pitched a packet of Prestige WD which includes amyloglucosidase enzyme. Capped the fermenter and put on an airlock.

Next morning (Saturday)...nothing. no action.

Its been cool this week, but I think the house has been around 70 F.

I checked the yeast packet and found it had an expiration date onf November 09' 2009

So I put the fermenter in my car and parked it in a sunny spot with hopes that some heat might help

Nothing...

Sunday afternoon, I pulled out another pack of the same yeast with the same expiration date. I mixed about 4 tablespoons of white sugar with a pint of warm tap water, a heaping spoon of molasses and a small pinch of Epsom salt.

Within an hour it had foamed to a two inch thick head.

I put in another couple tablespoons of sugar and brought in the fermentor.

Using a paint stirring attachment on a cordless drill, I aerated the wash for about 10 minutes. Pitched in the new yeast and added another pound of sugar and a bigger pinch of Epsom salt.

By dinner time the airlock was burping every second!

This morning its chugging even faster. Smells like sweet grass.

I put it back in the car and parked it out in the street in the sunshine this morning.

[just-a-sip]

sounds like it was working just fine just had to catch up to the amount of sugar you had in there. also why in the heck does the car need to be involved. the yeast only truly need about 75 degrees F to be happy im sure your garage/shed/cave would be just fine without all the moving and transferring of your wash. plus if your anywhere where it gets 85+ the car can get up to 120+ in the sun. that can be to hot and kill the yeast.

[BillHoo]

Temps in the 50s this week and the downstairs bathroom is kinda chilly.

My wife doesn't want the stuff upstairs in the usual habitable areas. So, my spare car seemed like a good place. I tried to warm up the jugs of water in there all last week and they just barely got lukewarm.

I'll keep an eye on it from time to time. But I doubt the wash will even get in the 80s this week.

[BillHoo]

Yup! Bubbling like crazy yesterday afternoon and the ferment or was somewhat cool, but not cold to the touch though the inside of the car was warm.

[BillHoo]

It's been chugging away since Sunday. I'm hoping it will finish this week as the following week I will not have time to run it until middle of September!

I took it out of my car last night as I had to drive it out and get gas. The whole cab smells of alcohol vapor and yeasty sweetness! Tried opening the windows for a about 10 minutes before it started to rain. Still has a strong fermnt smell.

The bucket is still burping downstairs.

[just-a-sip]

provided you can keep the temps up it will be finished this week. there is no reason a wash that size should need any longer.

with all the trouble your going through to make this thing finish you may want to look into some alternatives for heating it up. many people have had great luck with cardboard boxes and a light bulb. in the winter i use a submersible fish tank heater. and there are plenty of other great ideas. if you plan on continuing this you may want to sole the cold weather issue.

[corene1]

provided you can keep the temps up it will be finished this week. there is no reason a wash that size should need any longer.

with all the trouble your going through to make this thing finish you may want to look into some alternatives for heating it up. many people have had great luck with cardboard boxes and a light bulb. in the winter i use a submersible fish tank heater. and there are plenty of other great ideas. if you plan on continuing this you may want to sole the cold weather issue.

I was just going to mention some type of warming. maybe an electric blanket or heating pad. I actually built a warm box with a plant germination pad and thermostat for my winter ferments.

[BillHoo]

I've done the heating pad in the past.

My wife would complain that I'm wasting electricity for my "hobby".

She complained that the car smelled like it was leaking gas yesterday, so I took it out. been in the low 80s this week, so I'll keep it outside today and bring in at night, lest the neighborhood raccoons try to gt in it.

[BillHoo]

7 days since the mini-yeast bomb. 9 days total. It's still belching gas from the vapor lock at a rate of once every 8 seconds.

I have no time for running it this week if it happens to finish before next Tuesday.

Monday is the first day I have free after squirrel season opens up. I promised myself, I gotta spend some time in the woods with the .22 this year.

Also debating whether to call up the local winery for their grape pressings to make grappa again this year. I got some great reviews for my last batch from Cabernet pressings in 2009. They usually start pressing between Sep 3rd and the 15th.

[BillHoo]

Finally got 7 hours free to run the still. The fermentor had been sitting outside under the deck the whole time. This week temps dropped into the upper 20s, so I brought it in to warm up a bit. Might save a few BTUs
of propane when firing up the still.

I popped open the fermentor and tasted the wash.

It was a dark cola colored brew that tested bready and slightly sour.

I've done grappa and sugar washes in the past that smelled really alcoholic. This does not have much of a smell other than a really nice bread.

Hope that is not a bad sign.

Its boiling up now as I type.

Got the cooler filled with frozen gallon water jugs and an aquarium pump circulating water to the condenser.

[BillHoo]

So far going well. Started at 5:30 and now after 10 PM.

Temperatures are fluctuating between 160 and 180 F. Outside temp is supposed to drop into the 20s tonight. I have the still set up just outside my patio door (under the deck downstairs). I've been riding the gas dial trying to keep it within range and surfing the internet in between looking up at the collecting jar, the flame, and the the thermometer.

I took a taste of my third cut. Kinda corny and starchy tasting witha bit of burn. Not bad. Kinda reminds me of the cornflake whiskey I made a few years ago.

I'm into cut #4 now and plan to go up to 10 before I call it quits. Will stop at #10 or when the temp goes above 195 F Not even bothering to measure alcohol content until tomorrow. Going o be a long night.

When I watch these moonshiners on tv and youtube, many of them don't seem to bother making cuts. They just run it "til it's done" it seems.

Ack! It just started to rain! But there isn't any rain hitting the still or into the collection jar... yet.

[Richard7]

I didn't know it rained in Hooville! LOL
What kind of still are you running? I run an offset reflux and don't hit tails till about 203f.

[BillHoo]

I'm using a 10 gallon milk-can still with a potstill head. Heated with a propane turkey fryer burner. I have a 3 foot length of half-inch copper pipe leading from the condensor to my collection jars (washed out Snapple and Arizona Iced Tea bottles).

I try to avoid temps over 200 F because I'm very lax in keeping an eye on it even thought I'm sitting 5 feet away.

Often when it's in that range, I'll look up to see steam coming out of my collection jar!

[BillHoo]

Gosh that was a long run! I ran it slow in the beginning, keeping temps in the 175 F range. Finally got bored and let it go up to 196F before calling it quits.

Started a little after 5:30 PM and finished a little after 4AM. Yield a bit over half a gallon undiluted.

Have not even used the alcohol meter yet to test ABV. Will probably do that tomorrow.

I need to take the caps off the bottles and cover with some coffee filters and let them air out a bit.

Before I finally went to bed, I took a few gallons of backset to dissolve about 5 pounds of sugar and water to pour back into the fermentor. Saturday morning I checked the airlock and saw no activity for Gen 2.

I still have backset in the still. I may put it in plastic jugs and freeze it. (wife probably won't like it as she complained about my frozen water jugs hogging space in the freezer for the cooling water)

[rad14701]

You ran 10.5 hours for a half gallon...??? That's insane...!!! Seriously...!!! And from how few gallons of wash...???

You need to stop whatever you're doing and do some research... That run didn't need to take that long...

[woodshed]

You need to back off and do some research. It will serve you well in the future.

[BillHoo]

I never said I was sane!

Anyway, that was about 5 gallons of wash, maybe less.

I don't even drink this stuff.

btw.. I just went down to the spare bathroom and Gen 2 is now chugging away nicely. No additional yeast was added. Just added some more grain and sugar.

[Richard7]

10 and a half hours for just over .5 gallons? something is wrong. Bad wrong. Today I ran for 6 hour and yield was three gallons.

[Prairiepiss]

Quit trying to control the temps. It's a pot still. You can't control the temps. The ABV of the wash does that. You control a lot still by takeoff speeds. And drips are for reflux stills. Not for pot stills. You want a broken stream to a twisted stream coming out of it.

[BillHoo]

Quit trying to control the temps. It's a pot still. You can't control the temps. The ABV of the wash does that. You control a lot still by takeoff speeds. And drips are for reflux stills. Not for pot stills. You want a broken stream to a twisted stream coming out of it.

OK. this is my second time using the potstill. I've been using a reflux for the past few years.

The last cut flamed up easily, so I guess it still had a high ABV and I could have run it hotter, faster, longer. Just stopped because I wanted to go to bed.

[Richard7]

I ran it slow in the beginning, keeping temps in the 175 F range. Finally got bored and let it go up to 196F before calling it quits.

Started a little after 5:30 PM and finished a little after 4AM. Yield a bit over half a gallon undiluted.

I think this is the main part of the slow problem. YOU do not control the temps of the boil. That is all dependent of the ABV of the wash. All you can control is how fast you boil it. If you hold the temps back the boil is going to stop and all your doing is wasting power to keep it hot.

Posting while you were, I bet you were ready to go to bed!