Putting older posts here. Going to try to keep the novice forum pruned about 90 days work. The 'good' old stuff is going to be put into appropriate forums.
Wash info: 15 l H2o; Aprox. 2 kg sugar= 1.090 sg ; 1/2 cup Tomato Paste; 1/4 cup lime juice; 47 grams bakers yeast; Pinch of epson salt; Sorry for the mix of english and metric.
This is third time I've run this formula. They have averaged 12 days to get to 1.00 sg. and end result was 3 liters at 30 abv. Room temps were between 16-21c.
Using an airlock after day 3. It has a nice thick foam when I seal bucket. Airlock bubbles every 4 seconds or less for the first 5 days when bubbles have slowed to about every 15 seconds. Checked sg = 1.05. Wash still sweet. No wine smell. At 13 days out the sg= 1.04 . Bubbles every 25 seconds and semi-sweet. I do mix wash every 24 hrs.......Why so slow???Important Info:
Dnderhead wrote:quit mixing! and rap something around the fermenter.16-21c is on the cool side for bakers/bread yeast.
Ok with winter over a higher temp will be np...
I'm confused by the "quit mixing!".....The birdwatcher recipe and most others say "stir daily" ???...So I should leave it be? Is this going to be the case with all washes ?
First, the ideal temperature range for washes utilizing bakers yeast is closer to 24C/75F - 30C/85F as opposed to your 16C/61F - 21C/70F range... Those cooler temperatures are part of the reason why the ferment is taking soooooo long...
Second, all of that lemon juice in combination with the acidic tomato paste is very likely dropping the pH of the wash into the extreme low ranges for fermentation... You really don't need the lemon juice unless using it to invert the sugar and if it is used in that manner it would be neutralized prior to pitching yeast so the pH wouldn't be effected... If you want to up the pH you should add approximately 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, per gallon, minimum, to bring the pH back up... I use this method as part of my Birdwatchers tweaking and my washes regularly finish to dry in under 5 days at 26C/78F... And it's never too late to add the baking soda, but watch for foaming...
Hope this helps, and I'm almost positive that it will...
