First Mash and need advice

[Bubba56]

After reading for a while I finally made my first mash.
I used:
5# cracked corn
5# sugar
3 gal. distilled water
1 TBSP Dadys distiller yeast

Sanitized everything with Starsan. I added boiling water to the corn and sugar and mixed til sugar was completely dissolved. Then waited until temp reached 85 degrees, added remaining water and checked specific gravity. I then added yeast, mixed thoroughly, covered and put away with airlock in place. My concern is that it's been about 36 hours and i've seen no airlock activity. I uncovered it this morning to check specific gravity and saw it was bubbling. The specific gravity reading hasn't changed much if any from the initial reading of 1.075. I've added a photo of what it looked like when I opened it.

Being my first attempt; I am worried that I may have messed something up, room temperature too low (appx 70 degrees) or being over anxious.

Thanks for any help or advice you can offer.
Rod

[dieselduo]

You probably just have an air leak is why the air lock isn't working. You really don't need to use star san like in home brewing. I suggest that you go to the tried and true and try something like ujssm .It makes a nice drop and you can't go wrong there

[still_stirrin]

What is the "room temperature"? It could be too low. You didn't say...

Also, it's really just a sugar wash, isn't it? You didn't really run through a grain mash protocol.

[pfshine]

Wrap a blanket or sleeping bad around it, the yeast working in there should warm it up and make it work faster.

[MoonBreath]

How did you cover 5 lbs of corn and 5lbs of sugar with only 3 gallons of water..
Prolly not enough water, yeast, nutrient, and proper pitch temp or 'room' temp.
Shouldn't have to worry about ph with the distilled water.
You're close.....

[Bubba56]

Thanks for the advice, but It has now been 48 hours….. I have tried agitating it, wrapping it and put heating pad under it to see if it would help, taped the lid with duct tape to make sure there are no leaks and I still see no signs of life in the airlock.

Like I said previously,; if uncovered it’s bubbling away, but not sure if it’s reacting correctly since it’s my first attempt. if there is a piece of the puzzle I have overlooked please direct me where to look for the answer.

[Pikey]

look, if you can see it bubbling - it's bubbling !

That photo shows it is going to go !

Take your cork (or bung) out and soak it for 20 minutes in warm water (You have to weight it if cork)

While you're waiting - take a sharp knife and scrape the ridges off the tube of the
airlock, so the tube is round and amooth.

STick the airlock back in the cork firmly.

Now stick the cork back in the bung - hole firmly !

Now come back and tell us "It's bubbling now !"

Takes a while to work it out - The first time - !

[pfshine]

I had some guy I know tell me this nearly same scenario. I went over to see what was going on and found the problem. He didn't put water in the airlock, so of course it didn't have any activity. I'm not exactly sure what he thought it was supposed to do. Yes it was a bone head mistake but it just goes to show that little things can be overlooked. Airlocks don't even really matter all that much, lots of guys open ferment. Just check the sg and FG when you can't hear anything bubbling, this will tell you when it's done.

[ShineRunner]

Thanks for the advice, but It has now been 48 hours….. I have tried agitating it, wrapping it and put heating pad under it to see if it would help, taped the lid with duct tape to make sure there are no leaks and I still see no signs of life in the airlock.

Like I said previously,; if uncovered it’s bubbling away, but not sure if it’s reacting correctly since it’s my first attempt. if there is a piece of the puzzle I have overlooked please direct me where to look for the answer.

If it’s bubbling, it’s working. Doesn’t really matter what the airlock is doing. You did put water in the airlock, right? (Good catch, pfshine!) Check the SG in a few days and I’m sure you’ll see that it’s lower.

SR

[zapata]

You can also hear a wash working, might sound like rice crispies popping if it's not glug glugging.

[Bubba56]

Thanks for all the advice.

After testing my bucket for leaks I determined it was junk... Ordered a good one. I also received some advice regarding the yeast not having enough nutrients. So after adding a yeast/TP mixture the batch took off, but esembled a crime scene for a while.

In the past few days the Specific gravity has been dropping and is sitting at 1.000 today. Thanks again.

[jon1163]

You can also hear a wash working, might sound like rice crispies popping if it's not glug glugging.

I have 30 gallon poly barrels and when I hold my ear against the side of the barrel it sounds like Rice Krispies when starting and finishing and like a bubbling brook of water when it's really chugging along in the middle.

When I ferment it just depends on whether it's open or with an airlock. When I started I used to use airlocks all the time but now it's about 50-50. My poly barrels have a gasketed lid that I've removed the gaskets from. They have a 3 inch hole in the lid where you can screw a cap on. I usually leave the cap off and the barrel lid on.

I clean with Starsan which I've mixed up in a spray bottle when starting a ferment but for most of the things I clean with somewhat high pressure water only from a garden hose, never had an issue.

[cede]

I wonder why you put corn apart for some taste.
Not cooking it and with no amylase to convert the starch, it does not contribute to sugar/alcohol content.

Anyway, good to hear you find out what was happening

[Bubba56]

I wonder why you put corn apart for some taste.
Not cooking it and with no amylase to convert the starch, it does not contribute to sugar/alcohol content.

I mainly added the corn to hopefully gain some flavor from it. By boiling the water and then adding the corn and allowing to sit till the temp reached 165 degrees I hoped to pull some flavor and starches out of it.

The strange thing was that after a day or two into fermenting I did see the SG raise a bit. Not sure why??

[ShineRunner]

I wonder why you put corn apart for some taste.
Not cooking it and with no amylase to convert the starch, it does not contribute to sugar/alcohol content.

I mainly added the corn to hopefully gain some flavor from it. By boiling the water and then adding the corn and allowing to sit till the temp reached 165 degrees I hoped to pull some flavor and starches out of it.

The strange thing was that after a day or two into fermenting I did see the SG raise a bit. Not sure why??

We see this here a lot. You can pull all the starch possible out of the grain, but if it’s not converted by enzymes, it’s just that- starch. Yeast don’t eat starch. They eat sugars. They’re different.

It really doesn’t matter if you’re only going for flavor from the corn, but don’t expect to get any fermentable sugar from the corn.

SR

[pfshine]

I wonder why you put corn apart for some taste.
Not cooking it and with no amylase to convert the starch, it does not contribute to sugar/alcohol content.

Anyway, good to hear you find out what was happening

Uj is one of the most widely spread and used washes and not just on this site. All it is, is corn water sugar on the first gen, then you add backset to it in subsequent generations. Not everyone wants to do ag, I do, but lots don't and that's fine nothing wrong with it. I have heard it's fantastic after a few gens.

[MoonBreath]

Also when thats sticky to the touch it won't be finished, when its not sticky and air dries quickly, its finished workn and 'dry'.
It'll start out tastn like corn sugar, and when finished will taste like a good bitter stillbeer.

[Smokee]

I bought 2-6.5 gallon buckets from my local brew store and they don't seal. My first wash was sweetfeed with a ton of sugar, put the airlock on and nothing. When I called the brew store and asked they said they've been getting calls about it and the lids aren't sealing. I use cling wrap twisted and pushed into the lid lip prior to pushing it down onto the bucket. I like keeping up with the bubbling to get an idea how the ferment's going.

[jon1163]

I bought 2-6.5 gallon buckets from my local brew store and they don't seal. My first wash was sweetfeed with a ton of sugar, put the airlock on and nothing. When I called the brew store and asked they said they've been getting calls about it and the lids aren't sealing. I use cling wrap twisted and pushed into the lid lip prior to pushing it down onto the bucket. I like keeping up with the bubbling to get an idea how the ferment's going.

put your ear against the bucket