noob fermentation questions

Comic Book Guy · Post by **Comic Book Guy** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 1:32 pm

I'm going to be making a sugar/tomato paste/yeast/water wash, but i still have a few questions.

1.How low is the minimum temp before yeast dies? I know it takes a lot longer at low temps(15deg takes 2wks according to Tony's site). It gets pretty cold where I am, and I want to know if I have to ferment it indoors.

2.What kind of smeel does this wash put off?

Thanks in advance!

Post by **Tater** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:59 pm

Yeast for me does best around 70 degrees f .Read some where a post where they poured mouth wash in bubbler so fermint wouldnt smell.Might wanna try doing a search on this fourm and reading over sight in my signature.

canadianmoonshiner · Post by **canadianmoonshiner** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:57 pm

tater wrote:Yeast for me does best around 70 degrees f .Read some where a post where they poured mouth wash in bubbler so fermint wouldnt smell.Might wanna try doing a search on this fourm and reading over sight in my signature.

What's wrong with the smell of fermenting molasses? Smells like molasses... rich & sweet... I love it.

Much less obvious than a grain wash. I think everyone knows what fermenting or cooking beer smells like... now that would make me paranoid.

Comic Book Guy wrote:1.How low is the minimum temp before yeast dies? I know it takes a lot longer at low temps(15deg takes 2wks according to Tony's site). It gets pretty cold where I am, and I want to know if I have to ferment it indoors.

Being outdoors I think the problem would not be the low temps (if 15C is your minimum) but fluctuations between night & day. Keep it indoors if possibe. If outside is the only option you could wrap your fermenter with a (electric?) blanket and/or

use an aquarium heater.

Post by **Tater** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:12 am

What's wrong with the smell of fermenting molasses? Smells like molasses... rich & sweet... I love it.

Much less obvious than a grain wash. I think everyone knows what fermenting or cooking beer smells like... now that would make me paranoid.

Nothing wrong with molasses wash >Just wasnt what poster asked.

possum · Post by **possum** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:38 pm

Comic book guy:

Sugar wash dosen't smell like much, I smelled banannas in mine. I haven't used tomato paste for nutrient.

I personally must ferment inside in the cold months.
Since I don't have explicit permission to ferment and distill where I live (currently with family members) I put some listereen in my fermenter locks to reduce yeasty smells from my ferment area.

70-75 farenheight is the best for the yeast I use, but different yeast strains have different optimum temperatures.

jbrew9999 · Post by **jbrew9999** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:46 pm

If you want the wash to smell nice, use a store bought yeast nutrient or mollassas. Tomato paste makes your wash smell like funky tomatoes.

Yeast doesn't actually die at temps around 15C but it goes dormant. You're going to want to keep your wash between 20C - 25C.

If you are worried about the fermenting smell, you're really going to hate the distilling smell.

Comic Book Guy · Post by **Comic Book Guy** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:26 pm

thanks everybody. distilling wont be a problem, I just wanted to know if i had to worry about stinking up the house because its only getting into the 50's during the day. I'll use the listerine. thanks.

stillman · Post by **stillman** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:58 pm

I just got back from a weekend away and found a E-1118 ferment stuck. I had turned down the temp in the house while away(OOPS wasn't tinkin'

).

Anyway, I had a turbo yeast going and 3 batches of E-1118. Brought the temp back up to 68deg and some didn't restart so I put the scum at the bottom of the bucket of turbo into the stuck batch and it's going like crazy.

Post by **Grayson_Stewart** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:29 pm

stillman wrote: so I put the scum at the bottom of the bucket of turbo into the stuck batch and it's going like crazy.

A good stir and bringing the temp back up would probably have done the trick.

TN.Frank · Post by **TN.Frank** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:27 pm

tater wrote:Yeast for me does best around 70 degrees f .Read some where a post where they poured mouth wash in bubbler so fermint wouldnt smell.Might wanna try doing a search on this fourm and reading over sight in my signature.

Oh, man, it's funny you should mention mouth wash. My glass that I put the hose from my fermentor into was growin' somekind of mold in it. It was just in the glass, nothing that'll mess up the wash but it still looked bad. So, I took some mint mouth wash and put it in a new glass for my hose to sit in. I did it mostly to kill the mold but I didn't think it'd freshen the air too.LOL.

canadianmoonshiner · Post by **canadianmoonshiner** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:05 pm

TH.Frank wrote:Oh, man, it's funny you should mention mouth wash. My glass that I put the hose from my fermentor into was growin' somekind of mold in it. It was just in the glass, nothing that'll mess up the wash but it still looked bad. So, I took some mint mouth wash and put it in a new glass for my hose to sit in. I did it mostly to kill the mold but I didn't think it'd freshen the air too.LOL.

Always & immediately rinse or wash your tools.

cellsitegod · Post by **cellsitegod** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 7:09 am

I tried the mouthwash thing Tater suggests.
Worked great! Cut down on the smell, I'd say by 75%
There's a slight odor in the room I have my fermenters in only.
My wife is much happier!

Hillbilly Rebel · Post by **Hillbilly Rebel** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:40 am

One of the old moonshiners' tricks of the trade was that during the winter they would sometimes bury the fermenter in manure. The heat that was put off by the decomposing manure would keep the ferment warmed to the proper temperature range. Beats mouth mash, huh?

Post by **Tater** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:54 am

Just burying them and covering with leaves if in woods sawduct if in an old sawmill {great place to shine plenty of dry slabs] or hay if ya in a barn will work to.