Hi, I'm new to the forum

[BosDistiller]

Hi. I'm from the east coast. I'm new to distilling. At this point I'm concentrating on mastering a wash. I've been using grains. Specifically, I've been using all- purpose unbleached flour. Thus far, I've been unable to get a wash that takes hold (e.g., After pitching the yeast, nothing has happened 24 hours in). I could use a little help if anyone has suggestions:

I'm using city water, which has a PH of around 8.1. I brought the PH down to 4.5 using lemon juice (4.5 is the recommended PH for the enzymes I've been using). I brought the water up to 180F and mixed in the flour (I used a pound of yeast and four liters of water) , at which point the starch gellatinized. At 168F I mixed in a commercial enzyme called "Convertase" using a kitchen mixer and continued to mix for twenty minutes. At 140F I mixed in "Bioglucanase," another commercial enzyme. Both temperatures were recommended on the product cut sheet. After holding the temperature and continuing to mix for twenty minutes, I mixed in a spoon full of DAP, packed my pot in ice, cooled it down to around 70C and pitched my distillers yeast (I got the yeast started by letting it rest in a cup of warm water for about an hour). The wash appeared to be DOA, and there was never any noticeable activity. The only thing I could think of was perhaps the wash lacked oxygen, but I beat it for forty minutes with a kitchen mixer, so that seems unlikely.

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to provide.

[Dnderhead]

Convertase, the only one I found was for some sort of protein? and bioglucanase is for gluten?
if so then neither is what you want,,you need amylase, alpha and beta.

[Mr.Spooky]

if your wanting some type of gradification, go to the "tried and true" section and start with a more simple wash. there is recipies for the novice and the seasoned pros. mabee im just comfortable where i am right now, but i just now feel that im getting a decient drink from a very simple wash (ffmw) ,,,and iv been doing the same one for more than a year. anyhow welcome abord!!!
Mr. Spooky

[Kentucky shinner]

Tried and True section is what you need. Start simple.
Welcome to the board,
KS

[rubber duck]

Welcome aboard.

If you want to make booze make a still first. Messing around with trying to make a wash before making a still is putting the cart before the horse. Trust me if you go with rads gerber wash it's almost impossible to mess up.

If you want to learn about converting starch to sugar messing around with flour and enzymes is a total wast of time. Personally I wouldn't do a grain wash with just enzymes, malted grain has a lot more going on then just alpha and beta.

[davidwh]

Welcome Bos,

Having been through the novice phase, I would comment don'y try and re invent the the wheel first up. I tried 8 turbos over 4 brands and gave up on them after finding this site. I then dicked about with gains but could not get a "reasonble" result.
I now use Rad's allbran receipe... on wash 17 currently....Features....
Wash setup in under < 30mins
Simple readily avaliable ingedients
Fast wash start < 8 mins
Wash finishes in 3 -4 days depending on sugar volumes
Absolutely miles ahead in terms of taste
Airs and ages extremely well ( on day 110 for first batch)
Low cost, low effort reliable results.

Suggest a visit to the T&T section to find a receipe that suits you.
Good luck...enjoy the learning learning curve

cheers
dave

[Samohon]

Welcome to HD Bos, like the guy's say, keep it simple man.
Oh, and please be safe... Good luck to you...

[kent.golding]

Hi BosDistiller and welcome!

I can see a couple of red flags in your process:

1. You don't want to acidify the water, you want to acidify the mash. [SIMPLIFICATION WARNING!] The pH of the water is not important, what is important is the residual alkalinity of the water which can really only be determined by titration... More likely than not, your water is fine, and while the pH may be high, it may not be buffered, hence, the mash will bring down the pH all by itself, if not, adjust THEN (see below).
2. Filter your water through an activated carbon filter to remove the chlorine or chloramine (depends on what your municipal water supply uses). It wouldn't be a bad idea to get a water analysis, just give them a call.
3. Use malted barly as your enzyme source. What you want is a very light "base malt", pilsner malt woud be ideal, but pale ale would be my second choice. You're only going to need a pound or two and your best source would be a local brewpub. Crushed would be best, but you could do it in a food processor, just watch the heat build-up.
4. Gelatinize the flour with enough water to make a soupy slurry--the enzymes are going to need to get to the starch in order to reduce it. Make sure it is COOKED and not just hot, boil it and stir like crazy; it should taste cooked and not raw. You are trying to relase the starch so the enzymes can work on it.
5. Reduce the temperature of the flour adjunct to ~158-160*F. This is important--when you add the malt, you want the mash to stabilize at ~150-152*F because the amylase enzymes will start to denature at ~153-155*F; the higher you go the faster they "die" (denature), and with all that flour, you're going to want them working as long as they can. An hour would not be unreasonable.
6. MIX, MIX, MIX and MIX, you want a homogenous mixture where the malt/enzymes are evenly distributed. As you're mixing, you should feel some resistance with the spoon. Put a lid on it and wrap in a blanket to conserve heat. Taste it. It should taste like unsalted oatmeal...YUCK!
7. Wait about 15-minutes and stir it again. If you are getting conversion, the viscosity of the liquid should feel "slippery", now taste again. Is it sweet? If it is, you've just experienced magic, YUM! Check th pH now and see if it has dropped appreciably; if it has, wait until step 9 to adjust the pH. If not, lower th pH a bit but don't overshoot your target.
8. Put the blanket back on and wait ~45-min, then mix, taste again, and put a few drops of the mash liquid onto a white plate and put a single drop of iodine onto it (tincture, betadyne, it really doesn't matter). If the iodine does NOT change color, you have reduced the starch to fermentable sugars; If it turns blue, that indicates the presence of starch. Keep the malt husk out, it will ALWAYS turn blue
9. If all went well, cool to fermentation temperature and prepare for fermentation...
10. Otherwise, just use a tried and true recipe!

Hope this made sense,

harlan.

[MuleKicker]

cooled it down to around 70C and pitched my distillers yeast .

That is way to hot to pitch the yeast.