(relatively) high volume washes.

erbachem · Post by **erbachem** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 12:16 am

Hi all,

I have just purchased a 200 litre (40 gallon) food grade drum with the intent of eventually using it to ferment my washes. I was wondering if anyone else out there uses a similar volume and whether they have any recommendations.

There are a couple of things that I have been thinking about.

1. I figure that much wash is going to produce a lot of heat and potentially take it up to the point where the yeast starts to die off. Should I be worried about this?

2. Are there any tricks to pitching the yeast at this volume?

Post by **Tater** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 5:51 am

no and no

stoker · Post by **stoker** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 3:14 pm

1 with yeasts like the turbos, it might get too hot, it also depends on your room temperature. and when fermenting too warm, yeast will make less ethanol and more other stuff
2 use a starter

erbachem · Post by **erbachem** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 1:02 am

So far, I am thinking of using the following
- 200L water
- Lalvin EC1118 yeast
- 50kg Dextrose
- Either tomato paste or yeast nutrient from the home brew shop (DAP and other stuff). Not sure which yet or how much to add.

The fermenter is located in a large garage. Since it is well and truly summer here now the ambient temperature is likely to get relatively high in there. Outside temperatures rarely get over 28 degrees celsius here but a lot higher in the shed during the heat of the day. I have a covered area at the back that might be suitable. I doubt anyone is likely to want to take off with 200L of wash

One option I have been thinking of was to set a fan in front of the wash during the day to help disappate heat.

Given all of this what is your opinion on the likelihood of an overheating yeast? The brew shop has a temperature tolerant pack available. Do you think this would help?

Hackers · Post by **Hackers** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:08 am

I would be inclined to use V1116 yeast. A tin shed is the worst place to put your wash as you will have high extremes of temperature 30oC+ in the middle of the day and 10oC or less at night. You want as consistent as possible ambient temperature.

Rocky_Creek · Post by **Rocky_Creek** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:15 am

No more than 75 lbs sugar ( 34 kilos). Ground corn or molasses for neutriant, corn is cheap and adds no flavor to speak of - 3o lbs (13.5 kilos). Using the corn you will only be able to get about 30 gallons of liquid in it ( 113 liters ). Distill it 3 times and you won't need to age. Read uncle Jessie's method of seting back the liquid from the still. Do it in the winter in a basement, use distillers yeast and a submirsable heater and blanckets to 85F ( 29C I think ). You will get no heads to speak of with distillers yeast at this temp. You may be able to control it in the summer depending on where you are. At 85F and this strength count on about 16 days. Use a solid cover over it to keep air and other things out.

erbachem · Post by **erbachem** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:33 pm

Thanks for the replies. There is a small room inside the shed to I might look at insulating it to keep the ambient temp as consistent as possible and put the wash in there. Unfortunately, I don't have a basement and am loathe to wait six months for winter to try it out then

What are the main reasons for using the V1118 instead of EC1118? I don't believe I have come across this yeast yet (by that name at least). Where could I source some in Auckland, New Zealand?

riff42 · Post by **riff42** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:28 am

What are the main reasons for using the V1118 instead of EC1118? I don't believe I have come across this yeast yet (by that name at least). Where could I source some in Auckland, New Zealand?

K1v1116. Lavin, like the EC1118.
I can't help you beyond that