time to ferment

[runingkind]

I started a all sugar wash with 5lb sugar 5 gall.water 1 can tomatoe paste.
1 pack of bakers yeast.It has been 2 weeks and still bubbling.It has a air lock.But it hasn;t changed color or anything looks different about it,kinda burns my nose when i sniff it.Last night I put a extra pack of yeast in it,shook hard still no change.Should I let it do oits thing or dump it.

THANKS A LOT GUYS

[Bujapat]

Maybe fermentation is simply ended, all your sugar is converted.
I think you can try 2 things :
- if you have a hydrometer, measure the sugar in your wash. If it is about 1.000 or under, it's done!
- you also may taste the wash and if it isn't sweet, that means that it doesn't contain sugar anymore, it's done too!

[stoker]

kinda burns my nose when i sniff it

that's the CO2 layer

[Aidas]

Bujapat is right. Always best to measure. If the airlock is still popping, it means your yeast is still doing it's thing.

Fermentation time depends on a lot of things -- temperature, yeast vigour, etc.

What is the room temp where your wash is?

Aidas

[Swag]

I started a all sugar wash with 5lb sugar 5 gall.water 1 can tomatoe paste.
1 pack of bakers yeast.It has been 2 weeks and still bubbling.It has a air lock.But it hasn;t changed color or anything looks different about it,kinda burns my nose when i sniff it.Last night I put a extra pack of yeast in it,shook hard still no change.Should I let it do oits thing or dump it.

THANKS A LOT GUYS

Let it do it's thing. I have a rum wash that has been going over three weeks now and it's still bubbling away. It's in a relitively cool place so the yeast don't work real fast. This hobby takes a certain amount of patience.

[Bujapat]

Agree with you, Swag... I've right now a sour mash fermentin' since 10 days, it isn't achieved yet, but my cellar's T° is low (13°C). Bad weather in Belgium this month : in place of spring, we have "end of fall" weather here : 7 to 10 °C outside!
Be patient! or put your mash in an hoter place.

[runingkind]

Thank a lot my room temp is a bout 65 deg. I will let it roll.I love this site and this hobby.
CHEERS

[Fourway]

I actually beleve in pitching a lot of yeast and running way before stuff "ferments out".

To me it's a matter of diminishing returns,you can get your first %5 in 48 hours while second 5 can take a week and the next can take two weeks and so on....
The yeast produces the cleanest etoh when it is unstressed and not trying to function in a fume of its own waste.

commercially stuff like tequila and scotch are run from mashes that are as low as %3.

Running at low initial abv produces low yeilds that require redistillation but it can produce a great deal of flavor and start you off with very few fusils and other undesirable cogeners.

[Uncle Remus]

My sugar washes made with EC1118 take at least 2 weeks to do their thing. Turbo yeast takes about 3 days. Your wash with bakers yeast will produce a much nicer product than a turbo wash give it some time.

[dr wacky]

When is fermentation really finished?

My first real atempt at fermenting a surgar wash is nearing completion.
I started with a SG of 1.084. Twenty days later I'm down to 1.003. It still
bubbles every now and then. I used plain old Fleishmans's yeast. Nothin
fancy.

I was thinking, if I got identical SG readings for three or four days in a
row, that the fermentation process has probably been completed. Your
input please.

[Hackers]

I'd be tempted to give the wash a bit of a stir and see if you can get it going at a faster rate, but if you get the same SG for a couple of days in a row it has probably done its thing even if it is not completly fermented out.

[riff42]

Agree with you, Swag... I've right now a sour mash fermentin' since 10 days, it isn't achieved yet, but my cellar's T° is low (13°C). Bad weather in Belgium this month : in place of spring, we have "end of fall" weather here : 7 to 10 °C outside!
Be patient! or put your mash in an hoter place.

Ugh, I hear ya there. Once fall hit, it got almost winter-like over here in the mid-east USA. Makes me not want to bike to work most days!