Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

[hanon]

There is no question that yeast crashes out quicker in smaller vessels. I've transferred the yeast heavy bottom part of the same beer into various size jars and it always crashes out quicker in the smaller jars. I'm seeing the same thing with my recent wash. I might have to buy more gallon jugs just for crashing yeast.

[bearriver]

When I forget BW in my 100ml graduated for testing, by the next day it has cleared enough to look like water.

Never had the patience to wait on 50 gallons to do the same thing.

[Stilldrunk]

Just ran a birdwatchers 25L batch 2 nights ago, wanted to try it with out doing a stripping run, Just right in the reflux, I let it air out for 48 hours and mixed up a small amount of the hearts, taste great!

Anyone else ever try it with out the stripping run?

[rad14701]

Just ran a birdwatchers 25L batch 2 nights ago, wanted to try it with out doing a stripping run, Just right in the reflux, I let it air out for 48 hours and mixed up a small amount of the hearts, taste great!

Anyone else ever try it with out the stripping run?

I just ran off the six gallons I had clearing in secondaries on Saturday in reflux mode using marbles and it turned out great... Some of the cleanest neutral I've made in a while without doing a stripping run...

[Stilldrunk]

Just ran a birdwatchers 25L batch 2 nights ago, wanted to try it with out doing a stripping run, Just right in the reflux, I let it air out for 48 hours and mixed up a small amount of the hearts, taste great!

Anyone else ever try it with out the stripping run?

I just ran off the six gallons I had clearing in secondaries on Saturday in reflux mode using marbles and it turned out great... Some of the cleanest neutral I've made in a while without doing a stripping run...

Awesome! What size marbles?

[rad14701]

Just ran a birdwatchers 25L batch 2 nights ago, wanted to try it with out doing a stripping run, Just right in the reflux, I let it air out for 48 hours and mixed up a small amount of the hearts, taste great!

Anyone else ever try it with out the stripping run?

I just ran off the six gallons I had clearing in secondaries on Saturday in reflux mode using marbles and it turned out great... Some of the cleanest neutral I've made in a while without doing a stripping run...

Awesome! What size marbles?

They are standard marbles which measure ~.625" in diameter... Read the Glass Marbles for Reflux Column Structured Packing for more information...

[Aregularoutlaw]

Im using sugar and corn syrup for my mash and after the first day it seemed to be barely doing anything on day 3 I added tomato paste and ITS ALIVE lol Lots of bubbles snap crackle pops and foam on top And the smell of alcohol burns my nose now very excited

[T-Pee]

That's because the tomato paste provides nutrients for the yeast. You wouldn't do very well without them either.

tp

[DukeBoxer]

Quick question about this wash. Do you guys recycle feints from it? I've been reading Odin's pure whiskey thread and thinking that this wash with recycled feints might taste more and more like tomato each time.

[rad14701]

Quick question about this wash. Do you guys recycle feints from it? I've been reading Odin's pure whiskey thread and thinking that this wash with recycled feints might taste more and more like tomato each time.

I have never tasted tomato in the distilled spirits from Birdwatchers, or from any of the experimental recipes I have worked on that used tomato paste or puree... I mix all of my sugar wash feints together and never have any off tastes from any ingredient... Never...!!!

[DukeBoxer]

OK that's what I figured but I thought I'd ask anyway. Thanks Rad

[apdb]

I cut my recipe in half... But i still added three lemons by accident. Should i expect a problem or stuck ferment? Anyone else screw this up?
Aaron

[DukeBoxer]

I don't think a little extra lemon juice will make a difference, but that's just my opinion and I could be totally wrong. Think about the ratio of juice to the rest of the wash. It's a tiny percentage

[rad14701]

I cut my recipe in half... But i still added three lemons by accident. Should i expect a problem or stuck ferment? Anyone else screw this up?
Aaron

Extra lemon juice will merely lower the pH to some extent... You may want to check and adjust the pH if the ferment slows prematurely...

[apdb]

A couple hours after pitching yeast and my birdwatchers is all, "Yeah Bro!! High five"
Pretty forgiving recipe. Check back in a week.
Aaron

[Gandalf666]

TESTTABLE.PNG

]Hi,

my birdwatchers has gone really viscous, its the consistency of egg white. its also very frothy and coming through through the bubbler.

Some history, I generally make 6 25litre washes at a time. I aim for1.08 to 1.09 starting SG. Basic recipe is 6kgs white sugar, tsp epsom salts, tube of tomato puree 200gms pitch about 50gms DADY. The water is tap water from a reservoir made by damming a river. the starting pH is 5.....It takes off in about 4 hours and next day bubbles around 1or 2 a second. On day 3 or 4 the the pH is 3 so I add 3tsps of bicarbonate of soda, there is a thermostic controlled heater temperature of around 27C. w

They take between days 12 and 16 days to ferment out. I rack off wait a day I let cool add finings first 1tsp of Kieselsol then 60mins later 1tsp Gelatine. it clears in 1 or 2 days, I then rack off into the still. I must have made 50 25litres washes with no problem..
UNTIL NOW.

I did something different I used the sediment from the first racking off. Its about 50% yeast bits and the rest runny tomato puree. I thought I had beter test that it worked so I made up 25 litres normal recipe and added the 0.5l of sediment. It took a day to start and after 4 days was normally so I made 5 more 25 litre lots. I decided to add the bicarbonate of soda at the start rather than day 5 as it froths quite a lot and i have had some floods. So a few changes. Here is what happened


bin 1. test sample...sediment yeast std recipe day 6 pH3 Iadded 3tsp bicarbonate soda initial SG 1.09 now 1.058 Normal.

I made the next 5 batches on day 3 of sample 1 because that was behaving normally, by now the sediment amalgamated from 4 previous washes had settled some more and i poured of most of the liquid leaving mostly the yeast bits so another change

2. Day 2 Spewing thru bubbler loads of foam viscous( like egg white) Initally sg 1.09 pH 7 and bicarb added at start. Now day 3 sg too viscous to measure pH5
3. Day3 Spewing thru bubbler loads of foam viscous( like egg white) Initally sg 1.09 pH 7 and bicarb added at start. Now day 3 sg too viscous to measure pH3
4. Day3 Initially sg 1.086 pH8 this used normal DADY. Bicarb added at start ITS STALLED . Ph is 3 SG 1.058 so added 2tsp bicarb and new DADY.
5. Day3 Standard Recipe all O,K start sg 1.09 pH5 now sg 1.074 ph3added 3tsp bicarb
6.Day3 Standard recipe but bicarb added at start initial sg 1.07 pH 7 now sg 1.078 pH3 This is in a larger tub so had 7kgs sugar, i think the discrepancy in the sg is that all the sugar was not dissolved intially. its running OK..

Well a lot of information but you experts always ask for detail. The viscous ones are still bubbling

So Whats happened, there are a few refernces in this birdwatchers topic to viscuos wash but no explanation what caused the prroblem. The stalled one is a bit of a mystery see if it restarts.

The moral of all this dont change anything and if you do change one thing at a time.

My conclusion is that the removal of the liquid in the sediment is the common factor in the viscous washes. I also added the bicarb at the beginning rather than day 3 or 4 but the Ph of these washes was still 3 on the third day, so i added more bicarb.


ANY IDEAS WHATS HAPPENED

[NZChris]

It sounds like a thermophilic bacterial slime like I have seen in yoghurt and carrot ferments. It might be a good time to sterilize your equipment and start over.

[Gandalf666]

Thermophilic bacteria is a new one for me, I have just been reading about them, and the descriptions of the consequences are what I have got. especially the viscous gloopyness, Lysozyme enzyme is the recommended treatment, Its found in tears and egg white. I am going to throw away the two that are real viscous, but as an experiment will put some egg white in one of them and see what happens, I might just put some egg white in the ones that are OK as a prophylactic. Thanks Chris

[Gandalf666]

O.K Here's an update on the viscous washes. All have been tipped down the drain. Two stalled, Three went viscous (slimy), One looked O.K, but I did not want to risk it. Adding egg white did nothing. All the equipment is out in the yard being bleached. Lesson Learnt..... only use fresh yeast.

[mcmahon86]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum, and new to distilling. Quick question can this wash be ran once through a pot still and have a final product that's good to drink right away? Sorry if this is a bad place to post this. Thanks in advance.

[bearriver]

Go on over to the welcome center and introduce yourself mcmahon86.

Birdwatchers once through a pot still would taste pretty awful IMO. It would be completely safe to drink if you make good cuts.

Try the Sweet Feed recipe or Rad's Gerber/All Bran for a single pot still run.

[mcmahon86]

Thanks for the quick reply. So what would you do with a wash like this to make is taste better then? Thanks.

[NZChris]

Thanks for the quick reply. So what would you do with a wash like this to make is taste better then? Thanks.

I would do it by taking the time to read enough of the Birdwatchers thread to find the answer, then doing that.

[Undies]

Thanks for the quick reply. So what would you do with a wash like this to make is taste better then? Thanks.

Indeed, have a read. It's long, but it's the journey, not the destination.

Also, for a kick start, try here:
http://shuggo.com/birdwatchers/instructions.htm

Then here:
http://shuggo.com/birdwatchers/calculator.htm

[fred081646]

I don't know if it is safe to drink this wash but I really like it and have drank quite a bit. I have been doing it to 11%. I add a bit of real lemon and sugar to a glass with ice and down she goes. Would the wash taste better at say 8% or so? I know this sounds nuts but I like it.
Thanks Fred

[Maritimer]

fred, it is quite delicious. Next batch, I'm going to bottle some and let it clear and age. See if I can pass it off as wine.

M

[Diesel410]

Has anyone tried just well water ,Sugar and yeast? I was curious if it would work off to .990?

[Undies]

Has anyone tried just well water ,Sugar and yeast? I was curious if it would work off to .990?

I guess you would need to know both the pH and the nutrient levels to make sure they are within acceptable levels that the lemon juice and Tomato Paste provide.

[hanon]

I seriously doubt it. Yeast need nutrients. Maybe if you pitched a ridiculous amount of yeast, and it would probably be extremely slow. There is something called Winos Plain Sugar Wash that is going to be the closest to just water, sugar, and yeast. From my experience Rad's All Bran Sugar Wash is far and away the fastest, Birdwatchers is 2nd, and Winos is the slowest. I also find Bakers yeast to be much faster than other yeasts as well, but it could be partially due to the fact that I'm probably pitching a lot more cells with Bakers yeast since I can get it dirt cheap.

[Diesel410]

I think I'm going to try bird watchers. I'm just looking for a neutral to make some flavores for the holiday. I will have to run 2 or 3 times to get what I'm looking for since I'm pot stillin with no thumper