gladitooktheredpill wrote:Here's one for you. I followed your directions with my first batch (20 liters) and ended up with about a 40 pounder of 40% vodka. Now I've made a second batch multiplying your recipe by 4, and the hydrometer is reading 1.56 which converts, according to the hydrometer, to about 7% alcohol potential. Am I missing something?
Yes, perhaps a brain cell or two. Or perhaps I'm such a rookie and so eager that I just jumped the gun, not knowing any better. I think what I did was distill my concoction before it was fully fermented. The second batch I make in exactly the same manner, with the exception of using 4 packets of Lalvin 1118, and it's still working after almost 4 full days. I harvested the other batch after about two.
AND, actually the hydrometer reading would have been 1.056, not 1.56. Still that does give me an oddly low potential alcohol.
Reminder to self: do what you've been advised and spit out the testers.
My two 5 gallon batches (used the formula on page 5 and scaled it up) are still going after 5 days and as of today, they both have a SG of 1.040 (they both started at 1.085) Think I may need to invest in an aquarium heater (or two) if I was going to use this recipe again. Not that the recipe is bad, but I'm no where near the 72 hours that other folks have had.
All Bran is awesome!! i only ran it once, and when i did my cuts & blending i added a bit too much tails. over a month later i still have a pint left and the flavor is great. You can really taste the cereal. this stuff would be great for breakfast Think i need to make another batch to take camping this summer.
20 lbs sugar
2 boxes generic bran cereal
1/4 cup DAP
2 jars fleischmann's active dry yeast
placed the crushed bran & sugar into my fermenter. added 5 gallons boiling water, and mixed real good for about 5 mins. added cold water up to the 11 gallon mark, mixed in the DAP., gave it a good stir. Pitched the yeast
The airlock started going crazy within 10 mins and has been going strong
I have done this recipe 1 other time,and really liked the wheat taste in a single run off a pot still
1/4 cup of DAP? Please tell me tats a typo? That's way to much for a 11 gal ferment. And you really shouldn't need it with this recipe anyway. The cereal provides the nutrients. The only thing you mite add is Epson salts. And just a pinch of it.
Prairiepiss wrote:1/4 cup of DAP? Please tell me tats a typo? That's way to much for a 11 gal ferment. And you really shouldn't need it with this recipe anyway. The cereal provides the nutrients. The only thing you mite add is Epson salts. And just a pinch of it.
+1
And it also sounds like a healthy dose of yeast unless those were very small jars...
If he is using the 4 oz jars of yeast like I was? I figured it up when I started my 12 gallon batches. And by your original per gallon recipe that's about right. If you upscale. Boiling half a jar and pitching the rest. But I dropped it down to one jar. Boiling 1/4 of the jar and pitching 3/4 of it.
So I would say if your going by the recipe its pretty close. But real world for the bigger batches. It's overkill.
Prairiepiss wrote:1/4 cup of DAP? Please tell me tats a typo? That's way to much for a 11 gal ferment. And you really shouldn't need it with this recipe anyway. The cereal provides the nutrients. The only thing you mite add is Epson salts. And just a pinch of it.
what will happen if i added to much? will it turn out like a turbo?
crazyk78 wrote:Can someone advise what the Epsom does compared to the DAP as well? can you use both
Thanks
+1 Dnderhead
But this recipe doesn't call for DAP. Nor does it need it. The all bran is the nutrients. A small not of Epson salt really is all that is needed other then the cereal.
I have run Rad's All Bran quite a few times now, and love the quality vodka I can get from it.
I have also been considering an All Grain vodka using wheat, as I'm looking at all grain equipment for single malt scotch style whiskey.
Has anyone compared their own all grain wheat vodka to what they achieve with the All Bran recipe?
I know the All Bran does achieve a good mouth feel, but am curious if there's any improvement with all grain, and worth the expensive...considering I reflux distill at 93%ish I have my doubts that there will be any noticeable difference...
Brendan wrote:
I have also been considering an All Grain vodka using wheat, . . .
Just thought I'd throw this out there -- be aware going in that wheat will foam a lot (a WHOLE lot). You may (or may not, but I sure did) get very vigorous fermentations that may/will clog your airlocks and subsequently shoot them skywards. I've had some disasterous experiences with wheat and just wanted you to be aware.
just wondering if I missed it somewhere.Does anyone know of or has tried a cornflake version of this.I am guessing it might be good but Im not the versed in it.Any feedback would help
thanks
madmace wrote:just wondering if I missed it somewhere.Does anyone know of or has tried a cornflake version of this.I am guessing it might be good but Im not the versed in it.Any feedback would help
thanks
Both Corn Flakes and Special K have been used... The main difference is that All Bran has greater amounts of fortified vitamins and minerals which is why it works so well... Back when this recipe was being developed, by adjusting ingredients, I did a comparison of dozens of different breakfast cereals and baby cereals, hence the Gerber recipe, and All Bran and Total won out for fortifications...
And I tried adding cornflakes to the all bran recipe. For more of a proper grain bill. But I kept the all bran for the nutrients. Worked good and has actually aged very well. Good stuff.
Is there anyway to fix a ferment that seems to be at a snail pace.
I read the recipe on page 5 and inverted 4kg of sugar with 4 litres of water, Simmered 1000ml of crushed bran with 2 litres of water. Then mixed together with 10 litres of water to make 16 litre wash. While i was waiting for it to cool, I read a little more in this tread and it seems i should have added only 6 litres of water as the 4kg of suger counts as 4000ml.
Not noing what to do I inverted another 1 kg of sugar in 1 litre of water and added to the mixture and waited for it to cool. When the mixture reached 95F I Pitched 9 tablespoons of yeast and 3/4 a teaspon of epson salts and aerated for a minute.
The wine and beer hydrometer i have showed a SR GR of 1.110 at 95F before the Yeast was pitched.
18 hours later the ferment isn't bubbling. There looks to be an inch of foam at the top of the mixture yet no bubbles from the vent.
Reading the hydrometer instructions again it seems i missed adding a .003 adjustment for 95F temperature. So i guess the starting SR GR was 1.113. The table that was supplied with the hydrometer states a SR GR of 1.115 is abv of 15.5 so i guess 1.113 is about an abv 15.2.
Any ideas what i can do to get this fermenting process going properly ?
HighlandWee wrote:Is there anyway to fix a ferment that seems to be at a snail pace.
<SNIP>
Any ideas what i can do to get this fermenting process going properly ?
Are you using an airlock and, if so, is there any activity at all...??? If you have foam on top then it is probably working... Can you smell CO2 coming off the wash...???
The potential ABV is a bit high but not enough to kill most yeasts... You could add a bit more water if there is room for it in the fermenter... Have you tried taking a SG reading...???
rad14701 wrote:Are you using an airlock and, if so, is there any activity at all...??? If you have foam on top then it is probably working... Can you smell CO2 coming off the wash...???
Yes I have an airlock, a tube from the fermenting pail to a plastic milk container half full of water. There is pressure on the lid of the pail from the ferment, a slight depress gets the airlock bubbling, not much activity at all after the press of the pail lid.
rad14701 wrote:The potential ABV is a bit high but not enough to kill most yeasts... You could add a bit more water if there is room for it in the fermenter... Have you tried taking a SG reading...???
I threw in some more water like you suggested and a tablespoon more of yeast and gave it a stir.
The airlock is bubbling at 5 a seconds now.. Thank you for your help
HighlandWee wrote:Yes I have an airlock, a tube from the fermenting pail to a plastic milk container half full of water. There is pressure on the lid of the pail from the ferment, a slight depress gets the airlock bubbling, not much activity at all after the press of the pail lid.
My guess is that you have a slight leak in the seal on the lid of your bucket that lets CO2 escape rather that forcing its way through the air lock... You could try running some taping around the lid and bucket to make a secondary external seal to see if that helps... Even the best bucket lids with synthetic seals in them only have a 50% sealing rate at best... The fact that you can force CO2 through the air lock by depressing the lid proves that yours is not sealing completely...
Since I have not brewed for awhile I figured I'd try the All Bran recipe just to give my new equipment a run through since I dont have any distilling equipment just yet I decided to throw some hops (Saaz) in the recipe just to see what it tasted like right after the ferment.
I used Fleischman's bread yeast
Aside from being a bit yeasty and slightly funky not in a terrible way after all this is straight after fermentation but Id say it tastes very much like a vodka and orange juice, in fact with a little fining and with a bit less yeasty flavor Id almost say Id find it acceptable straight from the secondary
I did however put it on the stove and do a basic wok distill just enough to pull a few ounces of foreshots and heads and pasteurize the yeast but there were no big hangover effects though I didn't drink too much of it as well.
I just made some new All Bran. Made me 25 liters of around 12% basic beer, using some 3 liters of backset from previous runs. I upped the All Bran a bit. Like a bit over 1 cup per gallon. I wanted to try a new approach. Well, for me at least. Pot distilling only once and making cuts on that. So I distilled slow, slower, slowest. Like that I was able to collect a narrow hearts cut of around 2 liters of 45%. First tastings made me wonder ... "is this going to be okay?". Now, a few days of rest later, it tastes pretty awesome! The yield ain't much, but running my big girl slow gave me a good enough abv. And taste, as it turns out.
Anyone else have experience on potdistilling only once?
Odin.
"Great art is created only through diligent and painstaking effort to perfect and polish oneself." by Buddhist filosofer Daisaku Ikeda.
Odin wrote:Anyone else have experience on potdistilling only once?Odin.
Yeah, that's the only way I do it. Totally enjoy the product. Rad's All Bran is a tough one to beat. If'n you can let it set a spell, it just gets better.
I'm going to double distill some BW, though. Saving up some stripping runs now.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."
--Mark Twain
Think i need to make another batch to take camping this summer.
now i have too much nutrients for my yeast...
