Forever fermenting cornflake recipe

[Cornbread]

Why didn't someone tell me that the cornflake recipe took forever to ferment.? I'm going on 3 weeks and the airlock is running about 4100 rpm. If I were to put this contraption in my diesel pickup, I would get 48 miles per bowl of cereal, if I added a sliced banana, it would go to 53 miles per bowl. (These results are from Cornell University...the same one that the dickhead "Old Duffer" used to quote).

Cornell University study by Cornbread using the Cornflake recipe..........How Corny can I get ?

[Dnderhead]

you got corn flakes with sugar? + you added sugar= alota sugar=long ferment

[Cornbread]

I didn't know cornflakes had sugar (much).My 5 gallon mash has 10 added pounds of sugar.......gulp!

[Dnderhead]

That is one use for a hydrometor.

[blanikdog]

That is one use for a hydrometor.

+1

blanik

[LWTCS]

Man I'm not sure whats going on with that ferment Cornbread.

I don't think any of my cornflake washes took more than a week.

Did you crush/grind, then cook the cereal with your inverted sugar?

[Cornbread]

Man I'm not sure whats going on with that ferment Cornbread.

I don't think any of my cornflake washes took more than a week.

Did you crush/grind, then cook the cereal with your inverted sugar?

Uh.........no........no inverted sugar.......no cooking...ground a pound of unsweetened off brand cornflakes to a fine powder. I did use Prestige WD with ag yeast ( ½ package) that had been in the refrigerator for a month. ....also used untested well water. Just followed recipe on forum somewhere.
Oh I remember something else. I threw in 2 ½ -3 cups of cracked deer corn about 3 hours later. I was experimenting with a mini food chopper my wife never opened from 3 Christmases ago to see if it would crack corn. It did good. My starting SG was 1.086. Just trying to make me corn likker with that corn taste. Been scared to try just plain old corn because someone said it scorched the bottom of their pot still. Thought I would wait and get a bag to tie inside of pot before trying that....also see how good this one racked out with that corn thrown in the bottom.

[Barney Fife]

So, what's the SG now?

Give the bucket a good strong shake; you may simply have a bunch of gas stuck under the trubs and it's slowly working its way up, fooling you into thinking the yeast are still munching away. Also, yeast can consume one another after the sugars are gone, creating off flavors, and they'll also begin consuming the alcohol itself if left to their own device. Best the check and stop 'em if the surgar's run out.

[Cornbread]

SG 1.016 (9% abv) Gave bucket a BIG sloshing shake or 2. Now picking airlock out of roof.

UPDATE: 15 hic-cups per minute thru airlock. ???

[HookLine]

Now picking airlock out of roof.

[Cornbread]

I put duct tape over the hole, maybe the wife won't notice.

[rad14701]

A wash with 10 pounds of sugar in ~5 gallons of water will have a rough potential %ABV of 13.4 and the cracked corn will only bump that up a very small amount... To still be getting a bubble every 4 seconds after 3 weeks is almost unheard of unless the wash went to sleep for part of that time period... At this rate you've got another week to wait... You could try adding 1/4 teaspoon of epsom salt to the wash but that will only reduce the remaining time by a day or so at best so it's probably best to just wait it out until it's done as-is...

What I would have done differently...

Invert the sugar (1:1 water:sugar by volume) for at least 15 minutes at a simmer...
Boil the cereal (2:1 water:cereal by volume, separate pot from the invert sugar), along with 1 teaspoon active dry yeast, for at least 15 minutes at a simmer...
Might as well boil the cracked corn along the way too, to help convert some starches to sugar, or leave it out...
Pitch yeast between 85F - 95F wash temperature...

Just tossing ingredients together at room temperature is an invitation for long ferments, with very few exceptions... This was not one of those exceptions...

[Barney Fife]

I'd rack it now, leaving a good gallon at the bottom along with the trubs, and start a new batch over it, while letting the rest clear for a day or two(or not). At 4 seconds/burp, I pretty give up and run it. Bigger distillers run their whiskeys before the ferment is done, also; for flavor, and because(I think I read this someplace) the yeast will begin to consume alcohol when the sugars begin to run low.

[rad14701]

Agreed, Barney Fife, aside from the fact that 20% - 25% of the fermentable sugars are still in the wash... Coin-Flip on this one...

[Cornbread]

Thanks so much for everyone's help & input. It tastes a little like dry wine, but a touch too sweet. Doesn't smell bad or anything. I added hot water to my sugar and powdered cornflakes, stirred like crazy, then added room temperature water...then stirred like crazy (trying to aerate). Took temperature & it was only 72º F.
I added yeast anyway to top & let stand 10 minutes, then stirred in yeast & capped it. The room temperature has been a constant 72º F. Just checked SG again (6 hours after the big SHAKE) & it is still 1.016. The burps have increased lately to less than 3 seconds apart..........I think she gonna BLOW!!!!!!!! NEXT batch I try, I will invert the sugar(which I have never done before). Thanks so much everyone.

[Barney Fife]

Rad(and Corn), just because you -think- there may still be 20% of the sugars in the wash doesn't mean they were ever there. Cornflakes will fool the hydrometer, and it's easy to mis-read it anyhow. But hey, y'all enjoy watching the bubbler do its hypnotically slow dance; me, I say she's done. Make enough rum and you get a pretty good feel for where a wash is without relying 100% on the hydrometer, as there's not much sense measuring a molasses wash.

[Dnderhead]

"" as there's not much sense measuring a molasses ""
O?
1) you can compair one wash to the next, to see if you added more, the same or if you want a change
2) you can tell when the wash is finishd
3) you can tell how much alcohol is in a finished wash

[Barney Fife]

Yessir, it'll tell me how much alcohol I have, but I'll never know if it's done or not unless it's way off. A good, heavy rum wash can read 1.030 or more and be done; if I waited 'til it went to zero, I'd be one sober sumbitch <lol>.

As for comparing, I'm too loose with my dunder for to compare closely; I just measure what I put into the wash(sugar and/or molasses) and make sure to not go too greedy. I always keep my total sugars under 10lbs/5gallons, and quite often no more than 8lbs.

Back to the point, the cornflake wash is either done or very, very close to being done. Waiting another week or two to gain, what? 3-4 ounces of ethanol, is a poor return on effort. There comes a point of diminishing returns. And then there's the fact that he may be losing ethanol to the yeast...

[rad14701]

One reason for waiting is that once it finishes it will also clear... Most cereal washes will clear with a day or two after fermentation has ceased... By the time we all finish debating the subject the wash will be done anyway...

[Ayay]

I found waiting too long on a sugar/cereal wash will get more heads. Running it when the sugar is done is best and waiting for the yeasties to finish eating all the cereal will only get you more heads.

[Barney Fife]

They won't listen, Ayay....

[Cornbread]

OK....I racked it yesterday, my God what a mess on the bottom...yucko. I guess when Barney Fife said to give it a shake earlier in the week, I didn't know I had a 3 inch trub(icluding the cracked corn) on the bottom. I probably barely disturbed it when I sloshed it the other day. I poured the cracked corn outside to watch those damn black crows get drunk. I put lid back on and sat in warm room last night. When I took lid off today, the carbon monoxide liked to have knocked me out......both nostrils still burning & fizzing....LOL. When I opened this 6½ gallon container with 5½gallons of wash in it, little yellowish "blobs" floated to the top...about size of a quarter or nickel. (Trubs I guess)Then it fell back down to bottom. ???? I racked it again and still had a good bit on bottom. SG is still at 1.001 (like a couple or 3 days ago) (from start of 1.086). Still don't know what I did wrong. An old timer this morning told me that a large box of cornflakes wasn't enough???? I didn't tell him about the extra corn I added. I think it may be my untested well water. ANYWAY.......going to take a couple more days for this baby (better known as the over 3 week ferment) to settle..

[Dnderhead]

""SG is still at 1.001 (like a couple or 3 days ago""
if the FG does not change in 2-3 days it is probly finished, what evers is in the wash is making the reading off.
a hydro. is only acerate with water and sugar- or water and alcohol, any thing other than that can cause "off" readings.

[Barney Fife]

The little up and down, 25 cent sized floaties are little clumps of solids, in your case, cornflakes clumping back together, and they fill up with the gas, float to the surface where the gas bubble(s) bursts, and the floaty sinks back. Fun to watch when you're all f*&$ed up and you find yourself starring at the demijohn.... A good shake will break up the clumps, or, if you're gun shy now,(<lol>), agitate it with a big spoon in an up/down motion and not roundy-round motion. Or ignore them; they're not hurting anything.

[blanikdog]

OK....I racked it yesterday, my God what a mess on the bottom...yucko. I guess when Barney Fife said to give it a shake earlier in the week, I didn't know I had a 3 inch trub(icluding the cracked corn) on the bottom. ...

Yup, I was stunned to see how much trub was in my Allbran wash. The chooks loved it.

blanik

[LWTCS]

my Allbran wash

Did I miss your evaluation?

Did you like it?

Do tell.

[BillHoo]

Thanks so much for everyone's help & input. It tastes a little like dry wine, but a touch too sweet. Doesn't smell bad or anything. ........

I had the same result. I set my wash out to ferment back in May. Got hung up on a bunch of other things, got married and started moving into my wife's house, so my wash has been sitting in my apartment for 4 months!

I ran it through the still last night. 5 gallons of wash.

Got a half cup of heads that was milky. Then I started making 1 pint cuts which were all clear. I didn't have my alcohol meter, but I tasted each cut. Nice and smooth, reminds me of Dom Perignon without the bubbles and really sweet. Every cut was that way all the way down to the tails which started getting a slight bitter taste and has an oily sheen, but still pretty clear.

Til now, I've mostly been making grappa and the tails on that is usually really milky and greasy.

I'm going to swing by my place and get my alcohol meter so I can dilute appropriately with distilled water. I'll probably be mixing all the cuts together as it all tastes good, except for the last two tails.

I threw out all the spent cornflakes for the deer. They haven't touched it as of this morning.

I'm thinking of keeping some of the backset for mixing into my first batch of UJSSM

I might do this again next year.