Problem with my Mash?

[over_the_top84]

Alright, this is for any of you experienced distillers out there or anyone who knows what they are doing. This may be a bit long, but I want to explain what I've tried and the problems I've had so far.

Okay, so my goal as of late is to create a simple mash (mainly sugar based), ferment it, and run it through a homemade still I've made. Basically, I just want to make sure I can make alcohol first before moving on to bigger and better (and more costly) things. So I made a simple mash consisting mainly of water and fresh, non-pasteurized apple juice (it was just available at the time), and enough added sugar to it so that it would have enough but not too much (in short, I definately added enough, but I don't think I overdid it.) I also used regular baker's yeast (yes, I know, not ideal, but it was what was available at the time, and should still make ethanol).

I made two gallons of this mash (just a starter amount) and placed the mash in two empty and clean milk jugs. I made homemade airlocks out of straws and a glass of water and did my best to make them airtight. I let the mash ferment for about 3 weeks in my basement. After this, I ran it through a still I had created (consisting of a tea kettle, rubber stopper, and a long coil of copper tubing descending through a 5 gallon bucket of ice water). Anyways, I don't think my still was at fault. Here's my problem:

I don't believe that the majority of the product I got was ethanol. I mean, I was careful to eliminate the head and I stopped distilling after the drips began to be watered down. Even though this would allow for the tails to still be present, I still don't believe there was even that much ethanol in the final product. It tasted sort of "off" in a way, and when I mixed a decent amount of it with another drink, it failed to have any effects other than giving me a headache for almost a whole day. Plus, the product had a strange smell... strong like some sort of chemical, maybe some sort of alcohol, but not sweet like ethanol should smell. Now, I'm pretty sure I didn't ingest any methanol since I threw out a large portion of the initial product, but what I drank certainly had some other chemical present. I've never drank any homemade product before, but I suspect that mine was flawed in some way (and yes, I'm not stupid enough to drink a larger amount of it. I drank enough, and I got a headache for almost a day and a half).

So.... I think that the problem might have been with my homemade airlock which I doubt was completely airtight. Theoretically, more oxygen present could have oxidized the ethanol to acetaldehyde, although I have no idea what the effects of ingestion of that could be. Does anybody have any idea what went wrong? Also, if anyone has any better small scale recipes for a cheap mash, could you let me know? If you have any additional questions, let me know.

[linw]

Standby! OTT, why did you want to add as many variables as you could? Why not start learning with the most simple and sure wash? Just do a simple sugar wash and buy a turbo yeast packet and follow the instructions on the packet. It is cheap and will provide everything for a reliable outcome. When you get this wash successfully through your still, you can branch out if that is what you want but keep it simple (and sure) till you get some experience.

[Tater]

rubber stopper doesnt sound good

[Yttrium]

Or an even simpler method would be to buy some cheap box wine and try distilling that.

[USarmy21]

the product had a strange smell... strong like some sort of chemical, maybe some sort of alcohol, but not sweet like ethanol should smell

i used to have the same problem. the chemical comes from the heads i belive and it only takes a little bit to ruin the liquor. next time make sure you run the still SLOW and you should distill it 3 times. the first run you should collect everything(heads,ethanol,tails) and the second run you should collect the ethanol in one bottle and the heads and the tails in another bottle. then run 3 do the same exact thing as run number 2.
when i say hold on to the heads and the tails you do that because the heads and tails will still have some ethanol in them so thats why you should keep them then distill it when you have enough to fill up your still.

[over_the_top84]

Thanks everyone! Anyone have a good suggestion for a simple sugar-based wash? I've heard that you need to have enough nutrients present for the yeast. If so, how do I make these available? Sorry about the newbie questions... you probably get these all the time! lol

[Tater]

read over this web sight http://homedistiller.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow best info ive found

[LeftLaneCruiser]

Anyone have a good suggestion for a simple sugar-based wash?

1) Buy a package of Turbo-yeast.
2) Follow the instructions on it.
3) Read homedistiller.org
4) See Tater's advise above


KJH

[Pieterpost]

or:

-4,5 kg sugar
-2 cans of concentrated tomato paste
-adjust pH with citric acid to 4 - 4,5
-adjust total volume to 18 liters
-add yeast

works like a charm everytime !

and let's not forget :

-read homedistiller.org
-see leftlanecruisers advice
-see taters advice

[over_the_top84]

Thanks again! I've been reading alot on the site and I've picked up on it pretty quickly. For the recipe using tomato paste, does the paste function to give the needed nutrients or what? Also, will using it have an effect on the final taste? I understand that if I was using a reflux still most of the taste would be gone anyways. Is it possible to get this same effect by distilling the product through several times in a pot still and only keeping the ethanol? Also, by citric acid I'm assuming you mean that lemon juice will work to adjust the pH with. Ok, I think I got it. I'm going to try that soon as soon as I get a chance. Thanks again.

[Tater]

Yep tomato paste will feed the yeast and leaves no taste when wash is distilled. Lemon or lime helps with ph.

[Scuba Steve]

I've read somewhere that there isn't much or any heads with a sugar wash? Is that so?

[Scuba Steve]

I'm running a PDA-1. I've ran 10 gallons of yurbo sugar wash and I'm having a heck of a time telling when I'm running pure ethanol. Heads or tails who knows. The temp uns up to 78C and I let it sit for quite awhile before I start drawing. When the temp starts getting around 82 I quite the run. Who do I double or triple distill? Thanks

[Scuba Steve]

Not trying to steal this post but, what's the tomato paste about?
Would this be used in a tubro/sugar batch for spirits only?

[Pieterpost]

a packet of turbo yeast usually contains:yeast and nutrients. The tomato paste provides nutrients for the yeast cells. So if you use a packet of turbo yeast you don't need to use tomato paste.

btw personally I find that the distinction between heads/middlerun/tails becomes much sharper when I add sodiumbicarbonate when I redistill.

Also I have found that package with turbo yeast give a larger head fraction (which tastes sweet) compared to a home made sugar wash with baker yeast (for recipe see above).

[Arnie_sla]

I gave this a try the last sugar wash I made, and it worked fine.

Instead of using a full pack of Turbo 48 for 25 litre sugar wash I only used half the pack.

I added some tomato paste to the wash to make sure there was enough nutrients and figured that as the yeast multiples itself it shouldn't need any extra yeast.

Well as I said it worked fine, and infact the amount of methanol and heads collected was less than when I use a full pack of Turbo 48.

So from now on I will be getting two 25 litres of washes from one Turbo pack simply by adding a cheap can of tomato paste to each wash. I have basically saved the cost of a Turbo pack as I now get 2 washes for the price of one pack about $10 Aust. The tomato paste is about $1.50 for 250 gram jar which I used over two washes.

I still add the same amount of sugar to the wash about 7 1/2 to 8 kgs.