Running like a freight train

[Little Hank]

Well this is only my 2nd mash and I've got a little reading to do but holy shite. My first was just sugar and water and Red Star DADDY yeast that peculated like a slow Coffey maker. That was my sacrificial run. Now I have tried the Sweet feed Whiskey mash T&T recipe and its running like a freight train, I've got water slightly spitting out of my air lock. I want to read up on the effects of a larger amount of yeast because most of what I've read had a lower amount of yeast per gallon of water and this one said to use 8 tablespoons. In my mind i think this is the reason for such a violent mash. I feel like a kid again at the general store with 25 cent. Can't wait to learn enough to understand what my tweeks will do to my final product. I did start out with a SPG of 1.069 for this mash. signed slightly exited

[greggn]

> I've got water slightly spitting out of my air lock.

You may want to consider swapping out your airlock for a blow-off tube.

[fizzix]

I always feel good with 1.06 to 1.08 and congratulate your success.
Good to see excitement in this hobby, Hank.

[Twisted Brick]

1.069 for first time is excellent. Virtually all of my ferments have started out between 1.060 and 1.068. Assuming your sweet feed ferments out dry (1.000) you will end up with 9%ABV. Anything between 7% and 9% (some say 10%) is perfect and well within a yeast's comfort zone.

Nice job.

[acfixer69]

Glad to here your success. I have had some good Sweetfeed whiskey, a member Bentstick sent me some awhile back. Was a wonderful drink he had on oak 2yrs. However mine failed during ferment. Got it from Tractor Supply. They no longer stock the pellet free stuff in my area. So I've yet to try it again. Where did you get your grains co/op mix or big box grain store?

[kimbodious]

Raise your airlock a bit, you may have it pushed too far in to the fermenter, 1/2” is plenty

[OtisT]

Sounds like you got the ferment right.

I do think starting with more yeast can speed that up if all the conditions are right. Good conversion, aeriated, good PH, correct temp, nutrients, plenty of yeast, covered to trap CO2. I just had an AG ferment like a “freight train”, less than 36 hours. It did not finish as dry as I had hoped, but from 10 74 to 10 14 it was still a respectable 7.5%+. My AGs typically finish around 10 04 and I considered trying to restart it to eek out a few more drops, but decided it was good enough.

I’m not sure if the speed of the ferment had anything to do with finishing sweeter than normal. Any opinions on that?

Otis

[Little Hank]

> I've got water slightly spitting out of my air lock.

You may want to consider swapping out your airlock for a blow-off tube.

I'm going to need to HD Google that Term

I always feel good with 1.06 to 1.08 and congratulate your success.
Good to see excitement in this hobby, Hank.

Thanks for the targets and congrats, I felt it was pretty good from what I've read but wasn't really sure if i should expect that I could get more. I don't want to come across to excited buuut yeah I am a bit lol.

1.069 for first time is excellent. Virtually all of my ferments have started out between 1.060 and 1.068. Assuming your sweet feed ferments out dry (1.000) you will end up with 9%ABV. Anything between 7% and 9% (some say 10%) is perfect and well within a yeast's comfort zone.

Nice job.

I just followed the recipe. The wash was lipping up the side to 1.69. My sacrificial dropped to .98. That would be great If I could get the full 9%

Glad to here your success. I have had some good Sweetfeed whiskey, a member Bentstick sent me some awhile back. Was a wonderful drink he had on oak 2yrs. However mine failed during ferment. Got it from Tractor Supply. They no longer stock the pellet free stuff in my area. So I've yet to try it again. Where did you get your grains co/op mix or big box grain store?

Thanks, we do have a tractor supply local but we also have a satellite mill shop where we get our chicken feed. They mill all there farm feeds a few towns over, eventually I hope to get cracked corn but I'm not sure if they sell it separately.

Raise your airlock a bit, you may have it pushed too far in to the fermenter, 1/2” is plenty

I did have it in pretty far so i pulled it out a bit, it seems to have helped to keep the water from coming out but shes hitting the top.

Sounds like you got the ferment right.

I do think starting with more yeast can speed that up if all the conditions are right. Good conversion, aeriated, good PH, correct temp, nutrients, plenty of yeast, covered to trap CO2. I just had an AG ferment like a “freight train”, less than 36 hours. It did not finish as dry as I had hoped, but from 10 74 to 10 14 it was still a respectable 7.5%+. My AGs typically finish around 10 04 and I considered trying to restart it to eek out a few more drops, but decided it was good enough.

I’m not sure if the speed of the ferment had anything to do with finishing sweeter than normal. Any opinions on that?

Otis

I thought I did something wrong because it was going so strong and started within mins of closing the lid. My water PH is 6 something but I forgot to check this mash . my last ph on day 2 was 4.4. I really need to keep better records but I was getting a little antsy and over looked some readings on this one. 36 hrs wow that would be awesome If i dont loose flavor but i'm using a thumper so it should be pretty flavorful. I wrapped my bucket and the lid temp. has stayed at 83* F so far. It was at 92*F when i pitched the yeast then i stirred it in real good. Hmm never even would have thought that the speed would effect the sweetness. I'd like to hear thoughts on that also.

Thanks for the replies. Now if i can get my cuts as good as my ferment started.

[Little Hank]

This finished with a .996 SG @ 1.5 weeks. I made my first cut at 150 mL and kept the next 325ML that I cut 3 times but ended up mixing it together at 150 proof. the last 110 ML got dirty so I shut it down. I never really felt a difference in the texture while making cuts but the smell cleaned up where I made my cuts. Thanks for all the info you guys compiled on here and all the endless amounts of help you've given others for me to read. Now on to the next attempts.