Pikey wrote:
Ok - So 5 kg sugar ? Added to 20 litres of water ? = 23 litres total ?
or 5 kg sugar - in 20 litres total volume ? = 20 litres total ? That was what I was referring to.
Perhaps you'd like to let us know what nutrients and what temperature and how much yeast ?
Sounds impressive tho'
Sure.
It was 5kg sugar add water to 23l. 4-5 large spoonfuls of calcium carbonate and half a teaspoon of nutrients I bought at the brewshop. White labs yeast nutrient wln1000. Mostly DAP and a few vitamins. 100g of fresh bakers yeast dissolved in 35c water.
If I see the PH dropping I add more CC.
The yeast is a local brand of moist, fresh 50g cubes. Temp around 27c.
Ok well that's quite a lot of yeast but not massive for fresh. Temp is normalish to low for bread yeast and nutrients modest.
Summer is coming to an end here, so I'll be back to 25 litre batches in temp controlled box soon. When I start using it again, I'll do two identical washes, side by side - one with buffering, one without and report back.
A year or two back, I couldn't believe that baker's yeast would work well for our purposes and it wasn't until I got some in a "box of bits" that I tried it. Now I'm a convert !
So although instinctively I am a "Non-believer" and as I said I have never had a stalled wine due to acid superfluity (I HAVE had "non-starters" due to insuffcient acid ! ) I shall do the "Side by side" test and we'll see if I have learned something else new ! - That's what we are here for at the end of the day - isn't it ?
What you say pikey is what I started out with. But perhaps there is something about the water and the yeast around here that makes it necessary to compensate much more than what you need.
Pikey. I realized now that I was writing 23l of wash when I meant 27l of wash in my speedy ferments. That was only one time I got the ferment to finish so fast though, with a yeast that the super market is no longer carrying. Must have been in the same family as other fast acting yeasts. With the yeast I am using now it is normally dry in 10-12 days. (from sg of 1.071)
Well it may have taken more like 10 weeks but it did eventually clear so i ran it to see what happened as advised. Not a great yield with only about 500ml out of each 4 litre batch on a strip run before i was getting to the 30% mark, and it does have a sweetish smell to it - but it does taste as smooth as anything. So took a lot of time for not a lot of volume reward, but it wasn't a complete waste of time and it is a learning experience. Thanks again guys!
thecroweater wrote:That yield is not pitiful, is that your finished spirit?
Sadly no - that was just from each strip run. Though it's that smooth i'm kind of wondering whether a spirit run will really improve it that much given how much volume i'll lose.
P.S Just got a new batch going with the right recipe volumes this time!
Hi fireymack. You may have missed (maybe not) one piece of good advice a handful of posts back. Your last post said you “.. gave it a good stir” and in a post before that you said you aeriated the wash again in an attempt to restart it. It’s my understanding that you should aeriate the wash only before pitching the yeast, and once the ferment starts don’t do anything to introduce new oxygen to the wash. So it’s fine to stir, but be careful not to do it to vigorously.
I’m not up on all the science, but in a nut shell yeast need the oxygen to multiply early in the fermentation process. Once they multiply and your fermennt begins making lots of alcohol, oxygen is not needed and its presence can stress the yeast which leads to bad tastes. It may also hinder alcohol production, but I’m less sure on this part.
