Noodle Neutral.

[tomgndallas]

noodle neutral was at .990 today when I checked it, so it fermented out really well in 7 days about. The wash was pretty clear, I just racked it to a secondary to let it clear really good before stilling. talk about some "ring around the fermeneter" though...whew. disposing of the neutral lees is a bit more challenging than a nice WPOSW by far, but hey if you can't stand the heat, don't be stillin....see?

looking forward to running it soon, i reclaimed about 4 gallons of wash, a little more. Stilling my all spirit run now, and drinking the last one. Smooth yes, but honestly a little bit of aftertaste...it is slight, almost bitter. I will have to see if this distillation is the same. I cleaned the crap out of the packing, well, did a vinegar water rinse really good, and then did it again right before I stilled. Rinsed with clean hot water as well.

I wonder, will tap water affect the taste in a negative way? I did not have any purified with me, figured the still would clean out most of that.

Anywho, cheers friends.

[mash rookie]

Tap water should not affect distillate taste. It would affect the ferment if it PH is too high or low or particularly high chlorine level that can kill yeast.

[Dnderhead]

particularly high chlorine level that can kill yeast."
if it has chlorine draw water the day before.leave it open so it can evaporate..
in high amounts it can kill or slow yeast..in lower amounts it can leave a "cardboard" flavor

[mash rookie]

particularly high chlorine level that can kill yeast."
if it has chlorine draw water the day before.leave it open so it can evaporate..
in high amounts it can kill or slow yeast..in lower amounts it can leave a "cardboard" flavor

Dunder,
Would that cardboard flavor be in the wash? Would it carry over in to the distillate? People talk about the wet cardboard taste in tails.
I have never experienced that flavor. Any association there?

I use tap water on every wash and don’t have problems. I once did a side by side with tap and bottled water and they finished at the same time so I figured my water was okay. I did just get a rain barrel so that I can try rain water in my washes.

I learn something new from you every damn day.
MR

[Dnderhead]

Chlorophenols result from the reaction of chlorine-based sanitizers (bleach) or chlorine in water with phenol compounds and have very low taste thresholds
these are often described as cardboard,medical,or band aid.

[Prairiepiss]

I don't get the wet cardboard smell in the tails either. And again my smeller ain't that great. But my wife (the official smeller) describes it as smelling like a hobo and deep tails as a dead hobo.

[tomgndallas]

i just had a chilled glass of fresh cuts. i used tap water to cut the all spirit run down to 30%. I tossed the first 200, and then saved in a "not to be used for consumption" other stuff jar for the next 400. I ran my T500 outlet temp at 53 to 54 C this time. the heads that came out smelled really strong. Must have concentrated them a bit on the first part of the run. I then collected 200 Ml over 9 jars.

when i sampled cuts today, i found that the 6 to 9 jars were the cleanest. no sweet heads smell or taste...this time the heads in the earlier jars were really sweet, very noticeable. i diluted to 80 proof instead of 90, had about a half a rocks glass full left so i just tossed some ice in and that is what I have been sipping for the last hour. very nice!!! so i guess on this still, just adding tap water is fine to an all spirit. no reason to wig out.

up coming experiments will be to mess with my still and play with packing a little. i am thinking of getting some copper mesh from milehidistilling next week. i think i will run the copper saddles in the top, the ceramics in the middle, and then the last 4 or 5 inches of the still i will put more copper. I will only do this on the all spirit run to really try to make the spirit super clean. is that dumb? maybe it makes more sense to do it on the initial wash, then you get cleaner initial spirit to build up inventory, then run the still normal and enjoy some bad ass cuts later.

you thoughts master?

[rad14701]

tomgndallas, how neutral would you call your spirits...??? Vodka, or more neutral yet...???

[tomgndallas]

vodka, yes since there is a slight sweet finish and light aftertaste to it. it is definitely not a perfectly clean and pure ethanol, but that last double distill was the cleanest so far. i am leaps and bounds better than that first turbo i ran, whew, i just felt a shudder run down my spine.

what were you thinking rad? any additional advice?

i am looking forward to building up another all spirit inventory and see if i can duplicate the results. scientific method of course says you have to get consistent results three times before you can say it was not a fluke. so far my controls will be, gallon and half of spirit, tap water dilute down to 30%. clean the crap out of the packing, and run it at 53 to 54 C on the outlet. If i get really clean spirits out on the 6, 7, 8th and 9th collection again, i know that it is the sweet spot for this run.

[mash rookie]

tomgndallas, how neutral would you call your spirits...??? Vodka, or more neutral yet...???

It is good to here Toms report. Thank you Tom.

It is on my list to do a ten gallon noodle wash. My small run made it difficult to really separate cuts well but from what little I collected it seemed pretty tasteless. (good) With your all bran I could taste the wheat when run through my flute. It tasted like sweet feed to me. Birdwatchers tasted terrible through the flute. I haven’t tried Wino’s

I cant abandon this idea until I know for sure. I am convinced that it will ferment out well without added nutrients if I start correctly. That is my thinking for getting the cleanest neutral. Maybe I will knock up again today while running my flute experiments.

One of the things that was a problem was the trub. Almost floating jello type mush, it made it difficult to siphon. It may require racking through a strainer to a secondary and additional clearing time.


MR

[Bushman]

One of the things that was a problem was the trub. Almost floating jello type mush, it made it difficult to siphon. It may require racking through a strainer to a secondary and additional clearing time.

You couldn't get it to settle even putting it in a cool location for a while?

[mash rookie]

One of the things that was a problem was the trub. Almost floating jello type mush, it made it difficult to siphon. It may require racking through a strainer to a secondary and additional clearing time.

You couldn't get it to settle even putting it in a cool location for a while?

I dont remember if I set it outside. I know it was several days after it quit working before I ran it. After the first effort I will make sure that I do it next time. The boiled noodles are mushy and want to float.

MR

[rad14701]

I strained the trub from my noodle wash through a white sock, into a secondary, and squeezed what liquid I could out... Once that cleared I added it to the main racked wash... I was surprised at how much additional wash I retrieved...

[Odin]

I strained the trub from my noodle wash through a white sock, into a secondary, and squeezed what liquid I could out... Once that cleared I added it to the main racked wash... I was surprised at how much additional wash I retrieved...

Rad, really, thru a white sock? Is that before or after u played tennis in them? Ehm ... now I finally know where that "wet carbon" tails taste & smell comes from!

[tomgndallas]

haha, too funny. I did not even think to strain them. just siphoned down as far as i could and left the rest in there. i am sure i lost a bit, but i was more concerned with noodle chunks and cloudy wash.

[rad14701]

I strained the trub from my noodle wash through a white sock, into a secondary, and squeezed what liquid I could out... Once that cleared I added it to the main racked wash... I was surprised at how much additional wash I retrieved...

Rad, really, thru a white sock? Is that before or after u played tennis in them? Ehm ... now I finally know where that "wet carbon" tails taste & smell comes from!

I have a whole pack of socks that don't fit me right so I have plenty of new ones to sacrifice to the cause...

[Odin]

Rad,

So at least you try those socks on ... before using them as filters, right? I mean, how otherwise would you know they do not fit you.

MR,

Now on topic: can it be that noodles are pretty high on protein and that this influences fermentation times? I remember (correctly?) that they are made with eggs ...

Odin.

[Dnderhead]

noodles are made of semolina flour witch is high in protein,,most are "fortified" but this can very,,if egg noodles then they have eggs
but these spoil and are dated.(more likely found in freezer or fresh)

[mash rookie]

I used Semolina (wheat flour) noodles. If you can make wheat whiskey why cant you make wheat flour vodka? They don’t state if they are fortified or not. I went by the nutrients listed for daily requirements. I don’t know if they have been added or that is what is natural occurring from the wheat flour. The noodles are much higher in carbohydrates than protein.

I got out my trusty pencil and paper. I compared nutritional information to other known recipes and calculated the amount of noodles necessary. I added the lemons. Vitamin C was the only thing missing.

I wasn’t rocket science. I didn’t even use a calculator. It will work.

[tomgndallas]

tomgndallas, how neutral would you call your spirits...??? Vodka, or more neutral yet...???

It is good to here Toms report. Thank you Tom.

It is on my list to do a ten gallon noodle wash. My small run made it difficult to really separate cuts well but from what little I collected it seemed pretty tasteless. (good) With your all bran I could taste the wheat when run through my flute. It tasted like sweet feed to me. Birdwatchers tasted terrible through the flute. I haven’t tried Wino’s


MR

Anytime MR, that is what the forumis allabout, sharing through experience. I am curious why your BW tasted bad via flute. did u strip it first then run it? i think you would like the WPOSW. simple and clean. that will be one of my next ones to run.

[The Baker]

Rad,

So at least you try those socks on ... before using them as filters, right? I mean, how otherwise would you know they do not fit you.

Odin.

While we are talking of socks and filters....

Local vet was telling of a farmer who got some free milk for his calves but it had chocolate in it....
So he filtered it through a sock.
And the dog ate the sock!
The vet had to take the dog apart to get the sock out!

[Odin]

Now the all important question is ... does Rad have a dog?

[tomgndallas]

quick update, this wash turned out great. stilling now, very nice clean tasting spirits coming off. i am very pleased overall...ramen noodles, who'da thunk it?

[YukonJack]

MR,

Did you ever have a chance to do your planned second attempt on this recipe? If so, how did it turn out? Any additional changes?

[drpotoroo]

In this experimental wash, are the noodles still in shape, or have they disintegrated? May make a difference to how much nutrients the yeast can unlock from them?

[mash rookie]

I actually forgot all about it until you guys tickled the thread. I will try it again for my next neutral wash.

The noodles were boiled in to a mush so that the yeast could munch on them. I screwed up by not making a good yeast starter and not oxygenating my wash. Two necessary things I would normally do with a high target ABV wash. The wash stalled before it finished for that reason. I will duplicate the experiment on a larger scale using distillers yeast.

[YukonJack]

Great, I look forward to the update. I am very curious as to how it turns out. Thanks

YJ

[mash rookie]

BUMP.

I have finally had the opportunity to knock up another batch. Recognizing the mistakes I made on the first effort I hope to have better success this time and make a great neutral wash. I am working with a larger batch this time. I have a four inch packed column to test. It should make some good fuel.

Here is my recipe for a twelve gallon wash. 12.3% potential alcohol

4 cups of Penne Ragate noodles
20 lbs sugar
¼ cup lemon concentrate
1 whole lemon
10 gallons water
¼ cup distillers yeast.

Procedure.
Boil the crap out of the noods for an hour or more in a BOP before mixing to a slurry with an electric mixer.
Wake up ¼ cup yeast with 4 cups tepid water.95deg?
Use hot noodle slop to melt 20 lbs of sugar.
Add lemon concentrate. Squeeze lemon. Throw the whole damn thing in.
Throw everything into 15 gallon fermenter and add cool water until 80 degrees and 12 gallons full.
Throw in cutting torch head with oxygen flowing to oxygenate wash for twenty minutes.
Pitch ½ of awake yeast. Feed the other half 1 cup of wash and cover.
The next morning add second half of yeast. Say prayer to fermentation gods and cover.

Ill get back to you…

[mash rookie]

Plus 24 hours. Boiling like crazy in the fermenter. This morning I pitched the second half of yeast that got to grow a bit over night. It is interesting to watch it sitting next to some UJ. This has a nice floating cap of noodles and is producing small rapid bubbles. The UJ as usual, is clear on top and producing big belches every second or so.

Is this a case of old dog farts when he wants to? Young dog farts when ever he can?

[LWTCS]

Is this a case of old dog farts when he wants to? Young dog farts when ever he can?

Ya know,,,,some how that seems like a legitimate observation