All Bran Recipe

[short bus]

Every box I find locally is 17.3 oz. (490 grams). I hope you can find the same. I crush it in the bag with a large upright soup can. If you are not careful you will pop the bag and end up possibly making a mess. I gotta keep the wife happy! It must not bother her too much, she brings me AB and sugar everytime she goes to the store! She is definitely a keeper!

Shorty

[thorson]

Thanks! Short Bus! I will be making this tonight!...I live alone, but have to keep the mess down anyway...or I gotta pick it up myself haha

[short bus]

Good luck amigo! AB has been very, very good to me I hope it is just as good for you!

Shorty

[friendly1uk]

My Kellog's All Bran washes seem slow compered to the Sweetfeed washes I just did.
Here is what I have brewing......

50L wash
1 large box Kellog's All Bran, cooked x 30 minutes.
15Kg or so of sugar, inverted.
3 tsp 20-20-20 fert.
1 tsp White Labs Yeast Nutrient
5 tablespoons Instaferm bakers yeast. Used 1/3 of this to make a yeast starter.

Yeast starter pitched when wash 90-95 degrees.

I have two of these going. One with a starting SG of 1.070, and the other batch was 1.082.
They started fermenting fast, with that crusty head for the first day, then that head dissipated and the fermenting seems to have slowed.
The washes are not cold, one has an aquarium heater in it, the other is next to a warm woodstove.

Yesterday, I checked the PH. They were both 3.5, so I adjusted the PH up to 4.0 with baking soda. I also added 1 tsp of Epsom salts at the same time.
Today I checked the SG........one is at 1.050 and the other is at 1.070. I added another 2 tablespoons of dry yeast to each today also. Five hours later, no change noted. My primary fermenters are 20 gallon buckets with lids, no air locks. I can hear the fizzing, and still smell C02 when I remove the lids to inspect the progress, it just *seems* slow compared to the SF washes and the BW's washes. This is day three.

What do you think?

At the blink of an eye, I would think 10kg of sugar enough. My hydrometer wouldn't even measure 15kg. I'm not sure how your sg can be such. However 15kg is going to take a bit longer than a more typical amount of sugar.


As I'm here..
I have liked this one, although a cup of crushed bran could be a whole box tbh. Kellogs all bran is not flakes here either, so I have been messing around to get a recipe I can repeat accurately.

4L of tap water
800g white table sugar
60g of bran flakes, not fortified in any way.
1g of yeast food
1.5g of citric is required to get my water down to a ph of 4.9 (which will rise as citric is not very persistent)
The sg at this point is just short of 70 (1070 I imagine)
25g of dried active bakers yeast

I sit this in the lounge (design temperature of 23c in the uk) and it stops fizzing during day 7. Meter says 990 (0.99 I guess)
I get 8-900ml stripping down to ~20%.

[Hound Dog]

I have been using this recipe with Frosted Mini Wheats and have really liked it. I finally got around to making a batch with the Total Cereal flakes. I blended it, proofed some and let it settle for about a week and a half and finally sampled some last night. It was smoother than the miniwheats but I got more flavor carry over during this run (used one box per 15 gallons). This gave the liquor a heavier mouth feel also. Not bad but not as good as what I had been running. A big factor also is that this is the first time I ran lava rock. I should not have changed two large factors at the same time. I may pull my lava rock, repack with copper and rerun this batch to see if it improves it. It is just so surprising that when you run liquor off in the 92-94% range that you still get flavor. I am constantly learning.

Well, since I was not that happy with this batch using the Total Cereal flakes, I dumped everything back in my boiler, added two gallons of feints from past mini wheats runs,proofed it down to 35% and re-ran it. This is the best batch yet! Don't know if it was the double distillation or using the feints or what but damn it's good!

[russman]

Fired up a 6 gallon batch, and I think I'll use the last of my cereal for another 4 gallon batch.

5 cups All Bran original
21 cups sugar
3/4 cups Red Star yeast
inverted the sugar 50/50 with water, tossed the bran in for a few minutes, added it into my 8 gallon fermenter then topped off with cold water.

SG 1.80
PH 6.0
tossed the yeast at 92 degrees

It was blasting away within 30 minutes and is blowing a steady stream of bubbles.

[russman]

Fired up a 6 gallon batch, and I think I'll use the last of my cereal for another 4 gallon batch.

5 cups All Bran original
21 cups sugar
3/4 cups Red Star yeast
inverted the sugar 50/50 with water, tossed the bran in for a few minutes, added it into my 8 gallon fermenter then topped off with cold water.

SG 1.80
PH 6.0
tossed the yeast at 92 degrees

It was blasting away within 30 minutes and is blowing a steady stream of bubbles.

The box of All Bran had 8 cups of cereal and I couldn't just let 3 cups sit there so I scrounged up a cup of Rice Chex and a cup of Mini Wheats and tossed together another 6 gallon batch.....
Both are, in the words of my beloved and departed (Moonshiner and Bootlegger) Grandpa', "Blowin' ta beat the band Rusty... they're a' blowin ta beat the band!"

[russman]

I also took a sip before the yeast........ I tastes like sweet tea!

[Kennylee]

I 'm on my 3rd batch of AB love this stuff, it's easy and fast.
I haven't had much luck at ABV over 12% so I shoot for 10%. I started a batch Mon. night and it looks like it will be done tonight, 72 hours man that's fast.
The last 2 runs I ran in pot still mode cut it to 62% and aged it with toasted oak and it's some good stuff, but this run I'm going to strip it and add my feints from the first 2 runs and reflux it for some neutral.

[Prairiepiss]

Sounds good.

I would suggest trying it even lower. Like 8% ABV. Not to help with the fermenting so much as the taste of the final product. I find it to be much better when the ferment is kept at or below 8% ABV. You mite not. But its worth a try. This holds true with all recipes. Especially sugar wash recipes.

[Odin]

+1!!!

One of the best advises anyone can get.

Odin.

[Kennylee]

Sounds good.

I would suggest trying it even lower. Like 8% ABV. Not to help with the fermenting so much as the taste of the final product. I find it to be much better when the ferment is kept at or below 8% ABV. You mite not. But its worth a try. This holds true with all recipes. Especially sugar wash recipes.

I will try that, no need to be greedy, cerel, sugar, water and yeast are cheap enough, and i'm after quality vs quantity.
A friend of mine used some kind of grain and sugar mash and turbo yeast to end up at 20% that he thinks is good, but it taste like jet fuel to me.
Thanks for the advice.

[rad14701]

Sounds good.

I would suggest trying it even lower. Like 8% ABV. Not to help with the fermenting so much as the taste of the final product. I find it to be much better when the ferment is kept at or below 8% ABV. You mite not. But its worth a try. This holds true with all recipes. Especially sugar wash recipes.

I will try that, no need to be greedy, cerel, sugar, water and yeast are cheap enough, and i'm after quality vs quantity.
A friend of mine used some kind of grain and sugar mash and turbo yeast to end up at 20% that he thinks is good, but it taste like jet fuel to me.
Thanks for the advice.

If you want flavored spirits then shooting for a lower potential %ABV wash is the way to go... For neutral spirits you can still shoot for 14%...

Your friend obviously doesn't know that turbo yeast should only be used with sugar water... When used with grains or cereals it produces too much heat which causes excessive off tastes and smells as well as increasing Foreshots, Heads, and Tails, proportionately, and less Hearts...

[russman]

I'm ready to strip 9 gallons, I want to go sourmash with the next round....

I read the Uncle Jesse thread but I have a question here... Do I need to add more cereal? I can't find a clear answer to that one.....

Thanks

[russman]

I tossed some 80 degree water a couple of cups of sugar into my fermenters to keep the yeast alive until I get my backset. Wow! in 30 minutes they were going to town.... I had no idea the yeast would perk up that fast....

[Prairiepiss]

I would add more cereal. Its not like the corn used in UJSSM.

[russman]

I would add more cereal. Its not like the corn used in UJSSM.

Thanks

[rad14701]

I've gotten two batches when using an entire large box of All Bran in 5 gallon washes... Haven't tried going further yet...

[russman]

I've gotten two batches when using an entire large box of All Bran in 5 gallon washes... Haven't tried going further yet...

I used just over half a box for 6 gallons, I'll add more, no harm in more flavor!

[Loosely]

I started my first AB wash on Sunday and the activity is amazing. Within 10 minutes of the yeast going in it started with some big burps, then quickly settled into a constant stream of bubbles. It had calmed down slightly the next morning but it's still more lively than anything else I've used. I have high hopes for this (makes the laundry smell nice, too!). I used the recipe from page 4 of this thread, scaled up to 26 litres.

Couple of questions for the more experienced among us. What's the purpose of inverting the sugar? I ask mainly for reasons of convenience; I don't have a pot big enough for the quantity of syrup needed for a 26l run so I had to split it over two pots (I know, not really a big deal). The recipe I used didn't call for any lemon juice or citric acid (or if it did I missed it), and from other reading I've done it seems it's a bit unpredictable just how much inversion simple boiling achieves. What difference does using invert rather than 'normal' sugar make to the recipe? Could I just use dextrose without the extra step?

The recipe calls for bran measured in cups, but the actual amount you use will vary depending on what form it's in to start with. The 'twig' form takes up so much room in a cup; flakes probably take up more for the same weight, and crushed bran takes up considerably less, so a cup of crushed bran will weigh quite a bit more than a cup of twigs or flakes. Scaling Rad's recipe up, I used six cups of twigs, which came to around 600 grams. Early indications are that's not a bad quantity, but I'd be interested in comments from others. A few posts in this thread talk about crushing the bran before boiling it, but given the stuff forms mush pretty much as soon as the water starts soaking into it I wouldn't bother.

Thanks to Rad and everybody else who's contributed to this. I've been getting impatient with sugar washes running really slowly; this one looks like I might actually be able to build up some surplus product at last!

[rad14701]

Worth posting again from my personal notes...

Inverting Granular Sugar

Inverted sugar is created by combining a sugar syrup with a small amount of acid (such as cream of tartar or lemon juice) and heating. This inverts, or breaks down, the sucrose into its two components, glucose and fructose, thereby reducing the size of the sugar crystals.

Method #1 - 1:1 Ratio

• Bring eight pints (16 cups) of water to a boil.
• Add eight pounds (16 cups) of granulated sugar and stir the mixture to completely dissolve all of the sugar.
• Once dissolved cream of tarter is added to the mixture. One teaspoon to one gallon of syrup is sufficient to invert the sugar in the syrup.
• When using eight pints of water and eight pounds of sugar you need to add one and a half teaspoons of cream of tarter because you will end up with a gallon and a half of syrup.
• It is important that you boil the mixture for twenty minutes to invert as much as the sucrose as possible. Be sure to stir the mixture a lot and don't let it sit or it will carmalize in the bottom of the pot.

Method #2 - 2:1 Ratio

Invert sugar is made by mixing two parts sugar to one part water, adding two teaspoons lemon juice per pound of sugar. This is brought almost to a boil and then reduced to a vigorous simmer for about 30 minutes (do NOT allow to boil).

For 1 pound invert sugar:

• 2 cups finely granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Expand the recipe above to make the amount required by a particular recipe. For example, to make 2-1/2 pounds of invert sugar, use 5 cups sugar, 2-1/2 cups water and 5 tsp lemon juice. Make the invert sugar at least 2 hours ahead of time (to give it sufficient time to cool).

Method #3 - 4:1 Ratio

• Dissolve 8 lbs (16 cups) of sugar in 2 pints (4 cups) of water with 1/2 tsp of citric or tartaric acid.
• Bring to a boil and stir for 30 minutes.
• Add water to make up to 1 gallon batch.
• With this recipe, there is approx. 1 lb of sugar in each pint. Use 1-1/4 pints for each lb of Table Sugar called for in a recipe.

Sugar Syrup

Sugar syrup can be made in various densities:

• Thin: 3 parts water to 1 part sugar
• Medium: 2 parts water to 1 part sugar
• Heavy: 1 part water to 1 part sugar

Generic Proportions Per pound of sugar (2 cups)

• 1/8 teaspoon citric or tartaric acid
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Inverting sugar - From WikiPedia

Inverted sugar syrup can be easily made by adding roughly one gram of citric acid or ascorbic acid per kilogram of sugar. Cream of tartar (one gram per kilogram) or fresh lemon juice (10 millilitres per kilogram) may also be used.

The mixture is boiled for 20 minutes, and will convert enough of the sucrose to effectively prevent crystallization, without giving a noticeably sour taste. Invert sugar syrup may also be produced without the use of acids or enzymes by thermal means alone: two parts granulated sucrose and one part water simmered for five to seven minutes will convert a modest portion to invert sugar.

All inverted sugar syrups are created from hydrolysing sucrose to glucose (dextrose) and fructose by heating a sucrose solution, then relying on time alone, with the catalytic properties of an acid or enzymes used to speed the reaction. Commercially prepared acid catalysed solutions are neutralised when the desired level of inversion is reached.

All constituent sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose) support fermentation, so invert sugar solutions may be fermented as readily as sucrose solutions.

[rad14701]

As for the measurements, I go by crushed cereal measurements for all of my recipes...

[Prairiepiss]

The bran flakes break down better if crushed. I got lazy and decided to not crush them one time. The flakes got a little soft. Them promptly stuck together. Making it harder to mix them up better. Don't have this problem when they are crushed up. The last time I made it. I ran them through my grain mill. That was nice. And worked great.

[russman]

I stripped a little over 9 gallons this morning in my pot still and netted 8 quarts before I got below 20%. I have another 14 gallons sourmashing now. I'm not sure yet if I will charge my still with the 8 quarts I have or wait and combine them with the low wines from the 1st Gen sourmash.... Decisions decisions.....

[hilbilly]

My AB ferments have been slow, so I must be missing something. I make neutrals with it so I'm not after the taste but I have noticed the neutrals are smoother and have a nicer mouth feel than the tomato paste sugar wash.

I make 75 l batches in the fermenter. I take 800g of AB, crush it up and heat it in a pot with hot water for about 30 minutes. While that's heating up I put hot water into the fermenter and add 17 kg of sugar to the hot water, mix it until dissolved, then add the AB, then cold water to top off the fermenter, check the temp and SG and when the temp is around 30* C I pitch the Red Star bakers yeast and stir a bit. The starting SG is usually around 1.084. This wash has been going for 10 days and is now at 1.000 but still working away. The one before this went for 9 days before it hit 1.000 and has now been sitting in carboys (for 12 days). The bubbling has slowed way down and it will likely get stripped tomorrow.

What am I missing to get those fast ferments.

Edit: I try to keep the temp of the wash around 26 to 28*C.

[rad14701]

My AB ferments have been slow, so I must be missing something. I make neutrals with it so I'm not after the taste but I have noticed the neutrals are smoother and have a nicer mouth feel than the tomato paste sugar wash.

I make 75 l batches in the fermenter. I take 800g of AB, crush it up and heat it in a pot with hot water for about 30 minutes. While that's heating up I put hot water into the fermenter and add 17 kg of sugar to the hot water, mix it until dissolved, then add the AB, then cold water to top off the fermenter, check the temp and SG and when the temp is around 30* C I pitch the Red Star bakers yeast and stir a bit. The starting SG is usually around 1.084. This wash has been going for 10 days and is now at 1.000 but still working away. The one before this went for 9 days before it hit 1.000 and has now been sitting in carboys (for 12 days). The bubbling has slowed way down and it will likely get stripped tomorrow.

What am I missing to get those fast ferments.

Edit: I try to keep the temp of the wash around 26 to 28*C.

I add more in all of my sugar washes to improve (speed) fermentation... "More" being Epsom Salt, 30-10-10, and baking soda... I also pitch more yeast when I want faster ferments... Even without major tweaking my 5 gallon washes rarely take more than 7 days...

[hilbilly]

Will Epsom salts and baking soda help by themselves or do I need the fertilizer too. I tried to find some before with no luck and there's no way I will be able get any around here this time of year. The ground is covered in white stuff.

[rad14701]

Will Epsom salts and baking soda help by themselves or do I need the fertilizer too. I tried to find some before with no luck and there's no way I will be able get any around here this time of year. The ground is covered in white stuff.

Give them a shot... I use 1/2 teaspoon of each per gallon... It sounds like a lot but all I can say is it works... I've used different proportions and may try again with another experimental neutral recipe I just ran a boiler of today...

[Prairiepiss]

I only use a pinch of Epson salt. Nothing else. Works fine for me.

[hilbilly]

Maybe I'm shy on the AB with only 800g (1.75 lbs) for a 20 gal batch.