Large Mash

[RoundEye]

Has anyone done very large mashes?

I've come into 3, 50 gallon food grade barrels and was thinking about building up some big sugar washes. Are there any issues that come with making washes that are larger than the stanard 20L that most seem to do?

[showrguy]

i've done some that were close to 40 gal. in a big 55 gal. drum..
the only problem that you could encounter is too much heat from that large of a ferment working...
hope that helps

[Rocky_Creek]

UJSM with distillers yeast works well in large amounts ( I do only 40 gallon ferments). Distillers yeast would probably work in anything, hot as hell here this year and no problem with it. I usually do 15%, since it will go to 22% no stress on the yeast.

[RoundEye]

How do you do the messuring of ingredients for large washes? Is it as simple as just multiplying the regular 5gallon solution by whatever size you want the wash to be?

[showrguy]

yep

[Rocky_Creek]

Well it depends on what you make.

Vodka - 25 lbs cracked corn and 50 lbs of sugar, (you can use citric acid to bring it to a ph of about 4.5 but not completely necessary). You can go to 75 lbs sugar with no bad effects. No neutrient needed. Corn does not have a real strong taste and will make good vodka if you do the job in the second (reflux run).

UJSM - 50 lbs corn 50 lbs sugar. Same note on citric acid.

In both cases fill to about the 40 gallon mark. This isn't brain surgery. Close is good enough. From there you can vary it do a little trail and error.

[RoundEye]

It sounds about as easy as I was thinking then. Sometimes when it's so easy I wonder if I'm missing something important. Guess not.

[Rocky_Creek]

It is easy just keep it clean, maybe you could make a starter ( just a little water a dash of molasses and sugar and yeast) always guessed at it, never had one that did not work). If you are going to be doing it in the winter a basement can work other wise there are submersible heaters made for this purpose.

[George]

Has anyone done very large mashes?

I've come into 3, 50 gallon food grade barrels and was thinking about building up some big sugar washes. Are there any issues that come with making washes that are larger than the stanard 20L that most seem to do?

I do 80 liter sugar washes in a covered 104 liter Rubbermaid opaque plastic storage container on a regular basis. No problem.

birdwatcher

[partsbill]

I currently have 3-30 gallon fermenters going right now. Have 2 40 gallon Rubbermaids full of 5-day old mash ready to distill.