Gerber

[redfrog]

" batch was done in a few days then some take a month"
the temperature
the amount and type of sugar
the type and amount of nutrients.. (including whats in the water)
the type and amount of yeast
last but not least how you hold your ..........................head?

and

I have a feeling some people just run it without checking to see if it's done. They read it should finish in 7 days so on day 8 they are running it finished or not. Hell, there are almost daily posts about "is it done yet?" or "how do I know if it's done?" so there are probably 10X that many just thinking it's done and running it without asking or checking.

I let my Gerber go a month or more, I don't even shake the bucket or open it at all, just let it sit and forget it's even there. Mead has given me this level of patience! If you make mead or wine you know quality = time so you learn quickly to wait OR the best bottle you drink will always be your last. If you want to run it sooner you probably can but why, why risk having a scortched or puking run. Just relax and start another ferment, then when you decide it's time to run the first you already have another ferment halfway done.

+1, +1

Total newb at this but did 3, 5 gal. batches of this so far (3rd will be run this weekend):
1st batch kept bubling like crazy for like 5 days, ran it on the 7th. Fermentation was def not done as mash was still a bit sweet (so was the distillate) and very tiny bubbles were still forming. Think I didnt convert the sugar well enough while doing the recipe... not sure
2nd batch stopped bubbling after 2 days and came out pretty nice when distilled on the 7th day (low wines, doing stripping runs as practice on a detuned boka)
3rd did about the same as the 2nd, added a cup of sugar on the third day, started back up for a day or so then died down again. So things are looking up for this weekend I hope...
I do not have a hydrometer (yet) but can def see how minute details can affect the fermentation process... and how a newb like me is not able to wait to run his batch even when there are still blatant signs of yeasties activity

praticing the art of sitting on my hands is what I have to do I guess... a full month? my god, dont think i can do it! loll

frog

[rad14701]

Sorry about the delay in responding in this topic folks... Real life has gotten in the way as I will discuss in the Off Topic Discussion forum...

This recipe will plod along quite nicely if it has enough Gerber cereal in it for nutrients... If temperatures are kept steady in the 75F/24C - 85F/30C range... I have also discussed the use of Epsom Salt and 20-20-20 (or DAP) to speed things along... Another item to check if any wash gets slow is the pH because a rapid drop in pH will confuse the yeast colony and make them lazy... I can only attest that this wash works well with the proportions and nutrients discussed throughout this topic...

[kaziel]

Hi all, I've just wanna to say that recently I've made my first "no-turbo" wash (before I was distilling old wines and couple of turbo sugar washes - not happy with the results of turbo product though). Being not able to get gerber - I've used (with the help of my wife) rice baby's cereal.

1st wash:
5kg of table sugar
22L of wather
10g citric acid
240g of baby cereal
100g of boiled baker yeast
100g of fresh baker yeast (in bulk)
Starting BLG 18 at finish -2 in 10 days

2nd wash:
5kg of table sugar
23L of wather
10g citric acid
240g of baby cereal
1kg of malted rice (malted using enzymes)
1 hipped table spoon of dap
100g of fresh baker yeast (in bulk)
finished with -4blg within 6 days .

Hope to distill both on a pot still when my better half will live town - maybe next weekend.
Best part of this is I can get all of the ingredients needed for this in my village (no Internet orders and waiting for the friendly postman) .
This recipe rocks thanks rad - u da man.

[redfrog]

this recipe rocks indeed!
did my first spirit run 2 weeks ago using the low wines from 4 5gal batches . Didnt have much volume from each since these were my first attemps at running/fermenting so many batches didnt fully ferment and i didnt collect much tails in the first stripping runs either. Finally bought an hydro for the 4th batch. Ran the first 3 within 7 days thinking they were tru but now know it takes them at very least 10 days, i use basic recipe cereal/sugar/water.

washes were all gerber mixed grain and fruits exept for the first which was gerber wheat biscuit... just by tasting the low wines, mixed grain and fruit seems much better, or maybe it was just my me getting better at the process after the first few times (threw away 2 wheatbiscuit runs since i was running my thing wrong , thank you HD )... anyway did the cuts while stripping evry batch, basically for practice i thought, since evrything was going in the spirit run anyway, but I ended up adding baking soda to my heads and tails jars or evry jar that i thought had smell "wrong", letting them sit until the spirit run, 1 or 2 weeks.

so did the spirit run, did the cuts (and i think i made a hell of a good job at it if i can say so myself), was a bit skeptical for a few days but after aging for 2 weeks, this stuff is awesome

made some strawberry and blueberry panty dropper (basically tastes like cool aid... at 35% might want to water it down so the chicks dont drop along with the panties ) and have some 65% sitting on charred cherry wood that seems to be coming along nicely. The rest of it i juste watered down to about 45% and use as sippin boose since i really enjoy the taste of it as is.

Again great recipe(s) rad - I'm now trying my hand at all bran, got 2 ferments going, should be running the first one tomorow!

redfrog

edit: i use a 2" x 24" detuned on a 24L ss pot, havent tried reflux mode yet (if i ever, i mean i like how its now and where it is going... in time i guess). Thought id mention it

[toast860]

i want to make a bananna one with my pot still, i really like whiskey so i dont want to turn netural,. any one?

[kaziel]

i want to make a bananna one with my pot still, i really like whiskey so i dont want to turn netural,. any one?

Banana brandy? I don't think thats the best recipe for that, maybe if you want to make neutral and then add some banana concentrate and distill again as in http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 11&t=33428.

[toast860]

that great link i was just trying tio see if i can save a lil money. didnt think it would be good cuz it sounds like there just calling it a sugar wash but was worth asking . thanks again for the link i have problably searched a dozen time for a post like that

[toast860]

nvm mind i just scanned thru it. its for mixing with netrual i already read that one. i run a pot still..

[kaziel]

So maybe make Gerber recipe strip few batches rerun striped ones (spirit ones) make cuts and then mix banana concentrate with collected hearts and then distill in your pot still. 2 years ago I've made banana wine turned out pretty good if you want I can search for that recipe. You could distill that to have something like banana brandy. Cheers.

[kaziel]

So maybe make Gerber recipe strip few batches rerun striped ones (spirit run) make cuts and then mix banana concentrate with collected hearts and then distill in your pot still. 2 years ago I've made banana wine turned out pretty good if you want I can search for that recipe. You could distill that to have something like banana brandy. Cheers.

[the fojizzle]

Hey guys,
I just did my first run on my boka! Ran the vinegar/water run thru it and everything was fine. I decided for my first run I would try the gerber! A few questions. 1- as my first sacrificial run do I have to throw the end product out or can I do a stripping run and use that to do a second run? 2- once my air lock stops bubbling on this mash do I have to wait 7 days to run it ( I'm to impatient and wanna do this!!!)? 3- I put the mash in yesterday and its in the garage wrapped in a blanket but its slowed down quite a bit today, is that normal? Thanks and sorry for the newbie questions! By the way thanks for all of you veterans out there posting info up here and giving us new guys the confidence to go out and try this shizz!!

[mystakilla]

All your answers are definetly in the forums somewhere, however I can help you with a few.
Its recommended to toss the sacrificial run cause there will still be crap from the cleanout in it.
The temperature is going to play along with the fermentation process, if its to cold the yeast will go dormant if its to hot they die.

Did you check your SG?

[the fojizzle]

Thanks for the answer. I'm in Southern California and when I say cold, I mean 63deg. So I don't know if that qualifies as cold, but to me it's freezing! Lol! I did not check the sg yet because I though I was supposed to do that post fermentation and then I could maybe adjust it by taking a sample and adding more ingredients to the sample to see if the yeast still had some fight in it? Not true?
Thanks

[the fojizzle]

So went out to the garage and timed the bubbling. Maybe isn't going that slow? Maybe you guys can tell me? It bubbled 50 times in one minute. Slower than when it first started but that still seems pretty good right?

[mystakilla]

Its doing fine, just leave it alone and let it do its thing

[rad14701]

Most yeast like the 75F - 85F range... 63F would slow most yeast strains down quite a bit, especially bakers yeast... And yeast doesn't like temperature fluctuations either...

You should always consider your first alcohol laden run as sacrificial for any new or recently modified still... Essentially, any time you solder, braze, or weld... It doesn't have to be a full boiler charge, but enough for at least a good half hour of running at temperature...

[the fojizzle]

Sweet! Thanks mystilla!!

[the fojizzle]

Ok. So mayb ill just bring it indoors. It just stuck up the whole garage yesterday with sweet smelling nectar of the gods, that's all!!
Thanks again guys! And I should wait seven days dyer it's done before running it? I was jut afraid of letting sit to long and having it go bad on me. I didn't know how long tht stuff could sit in there?

[the fojizzle]

Thanks rad! I ended up submerging the entire bucket in my deep sink filled with hot water and it perked up almost instantaneously! I then dried off the bucket and rolled a batt of insulation around it. It seems to be happily bubbling away again! Very interesting how those little buggers are touchy like that!

[redfrog]

Thanks rad! I ended up submerging the entire bucket in my deep sink filled with hot water and it perked up almost instantaneously! I then dried off the bucket and rolled a batt of insulation around it. It seems to be happily bubbling away again! Very interesting how those little buggers are touchy like that!

that gives me an idea
think i'll pour a nice hot bath next time i run so i can put the bucket containing the remaining lees and water in there until i add the sweetened and cooled backset(usually overnight in this case).
Tried a few multiple generations so far and they all took much longuer to finish up than first gens.
I suspect cooling down of the lees while sitting there (adding cold tap water to it too duh ) caused my yeasties to fall asleep.
Nice warm bath might just be what the need to start up strong on next generation

keep yall posted

cheers

[mick3b1g]

Been reading through this thread page by page. I want to try a 10 gallon run and Im a bit confused on the recipe math for the yeast on 10 gallons. The OP has 2 tablespoons for 1 gal which I take would be 20 tablespoons for 10 gallons. Is this too much??? There was a page where someone posted there 10 gallon recipe but had 20 teaspoons of yeast rather than tablespoons..My question is what would be a good ratio for the yeast on a 10 gallon recipe?

Mick

[rad14701]

Been reading through this thread page by page. I want to try a 10 gallon run and Im a bit confused on the recipe math for the yeast on 10 gallons. The OP has 2 tablespoons for 1 gal which I take would be 20 tablespoons for 10 gallons. Is this too much??? There was a page where someone posted there 10 gallon recipe but had 20 teaspoons of yeast rather than tablespoons..My question is what would be a good ratio for the yeast on a 10 gallon recipe?

Mick

Your choice... You can go with the original measurements, scaled up, or any proportion thereof... You could pitch a single 5 - 7 gram sachet if yeast if you like... The difference is in the lag time and total time to ferment to dry... This recipe was developed to help ween novices off of turbo yeast but can be tweaked to your own personal preferences...

[smitty7775]

I'm gonna try this recipe next...just went
to wal mart, and i suspect the word is out
in my neck of the woods. the whole shelf
was bare of gerber barley...either the babies
around here are some barley eating brats
or i got some secret buddies around here.

I got the mix grain box 8oz for 2 bucks.

Smitty

[mystakilla]

I couldn't find that around my area either, I seen the mixed grain but wasn't sure if anyone has tried it or not, let us know how it turns out.

[wv_hillbilly]

Same result for me today, went out, and no Barley what so ever. So I moved on, it was just one store, I'll try a couple of other, if i can't find it, I may try the multigrain.

[rad14701]

It's hit and miss around here to find Barley flavor... That's the only one I notice not being on the shelves all the time...

[the fojizzle]

Hey guys,
First off I'm very excited to now have run two gerber washes and everything went great! I ran my boka in potstill mode with no packing open valve beginning to end. I collected foreshots and everything else went into a gallon carboy. My question is should I run a spirit run (diluted of course) to clean it up a bit or can I age as is? I would like more of a whiskey flavor to it and I wanna eventually age some of it with oak. Also, if I do run it again should I pack the column and run it reflux? I didn't know what you guys would recommend for this recipe. Thanks

[wv_hillbilly]

Anybody got any results on the mixed grain yet? There is an abundance of this stuff around here, and I figure I'm going to try it unless I stumble upon the barley next time I'm out at the store. Just seeing if anyone else has and how it turned out.

[rad14701]

Hey guys,
First off I'm very excited to now have run two gerber washes and everything went great! I ran my boka in potstill mode with no packing open valve beginning to end. I collected foreshots and everything else went into a gallon carboy. My question is should I run a spirit run (diluted of course) to clean it up a bit or can I age as is? I would like more of a whiskey flavor to it and I wanna eventually age some of it with oak. Also, if I do run it again should I pack the column and run it reflux? I didn't know what you guys would recommend for this recipe. Thanks

Dilute to 35% - 40% and reflux it... Unless you like it as-is, without any other cuts... I wouldn't...

[Bubbashine]

I need a little help. This is my first attempt at a mash. This is what I did. 5 gallon water dispenser containe, I heated abot 2 gallon to approx 140F. I added 5lbs of sugar and a box of Gerber Barley. Stir it pretty good. I then dumped the back into the bottle and let it cool to about 80F. At that time I added 3 tbls of fleischmanns rapid rise bread machine yeast.. I the shook the hell out of it. I let it sit for 2 days and noticed that the bubbles were very slow. I then added a fishtank heater as the temp was about 50F. I maintained about 90F from this point. Its been another 2 days, and still no big or fast bubbles. As of right now Hydrometer is less than 0, ph is 6.0 and Iodine test turned no color. I tried to add another 3 tbls of yeast( thinking I killed the yeast. Shook it pretty good and got really good bubbles. Once the broke, it went back to barely any. What am I doing wrong? Sorry for the long post but I wanted to be accurate.
Thanks,
Bubba.