Is my mash ready?

Production methods from starch to sugars.

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Whitecap72
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Is my mash ready?

Post by Whitecap72 »

Hi all. So I made up a 12 gallon sweet feed mash 8 days ago. I'm fermenting in a 20 gallon food grade garbage can. Been 60degrees in the garage pretty steady. When I pull the lid off and look at it, I can see it bubble every now and then, and there is a head of grain on top. What's the best way to tell if it's ready to distill? Never ran a feed mash before, only fruit washes.
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Soft batch
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Soft batch »

Hydrometer, a cheap necessary investment! Short of that, if it's bubbling the yeast is still working - wait until it stops bubbling and the wash clears - the cap will sink.
60 degrees is too cool for most yeast - if you have a yeast that works at that temp, it will be slow.
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acfixer69
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by acfixer69 »

Taste it if it's sour/dry it's done if it's sweet it's not. Fermenting at 60 F is sloooow even with ale yeast.

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jon1163
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by jon1163 »

+1 on watching for the grain cap to sink and for sure get a hydrometer. This might sound kind of silly but I would get a cheap stethoscope and just listen to the side of the fermenter. You'll hear it bubbling away and you'll notice and marked difference when it stops. If you're not deaf you can put your ear to it as well. It's fun to listen to but maybe I'm just easily entertained.
Whitecap72
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Whitecap72 »

I have a spirits hydrometer, and use it for proofing. What am i looking for to see if its done. I used bread yeast.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Soft batch »

You need a brewers (aka Mash) hydrometer, which measures sugar content (more or less).

See http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 61&t=42746

A spirit hydrometer measures the alcohol content AFTER distilling
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Whitecap72 »

Ok, i have 1 of those too. I just took a reading with the spirits hydrometer and it was below the zero mark on the tralle lines. I tasted the mash too, and its not at all sweet..
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Soft batch »

Bread yeast at 60 will take a couple months to ferment, if at all. It's optimum temp is low to mid 80's. You'll need to warm it up - aquarium heater, brew belt, heat lamp.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Soft batch »

If it's below zero, it is ready to go!
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Whitecap72 »

It was below zero on the spirits hydrometer. You thinks it's ready? It didn't taste sweet, and smells like beer wart.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by acfixer69 »

Whitecap72 wrote:Ok, i have 1 of those too. I just took a reading with the spirits hydrometer and it was below the zero mark on the tralle lines. I tasted the mash too, and its not at all sweet..
s

I'd run it now.

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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by still_stirrin »

I think it wise to find your brewer’s hydrometer and check the gravity for real.

I think you’re not done really, especially if it smells like a beer wort. If it was close to finished it would smell sour, like lemonade. So check it before racking to the boiler. And warming it up will give the brewers yeast a “kick in the seat of the pants”.

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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Soft batch »

A spirit hydrometer is worthless in a wash, in an undistilled wash will always be below zero as it contains more than just alcohol and water.

Both hydrometers look similar but are completely different instruments. A spirit hydrometer is calibrated to measure the alcohol to water ratio in a solution with the assumption that the solution only contains water and alcohol (no sugars, starches, yeast, etc). A spirit hydrometer show a scale 0-100. Zero on a spirit hydrometer means it has no alcohol content.

A brewing hydrometer measures specific gravity (impurities) in relation to pure water - in our world, we are measuring sugar content. The scale on a brewing hydrometer is typically .990 to 1.200. 1.00 on brewing hydrometer means it is equal in density to pure water. A typical wash will actually go below zero when it's done fermenting due the solution containing water + alcohol(lighter than water) instead of water + sugars (heavier than water).

Technically the baseline 1.000 on the brewers and 0 on the spirit hydrometer are the same (pure H2O) - but are scaled in different directions.

Edited to correct baseline
Last edited by Soft batch on Sat Jan 13, 2018 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by still_stirrin »

Soft batch wrote:...Technically zero on both hydrometers are the same (pure H2O) - but are scaled in different directions.
Almost....water with a brewer’s hydrometer is 1.000 (or zero alcohol “potential”, I guess). But the point you’ve made is 100% correct. For the OP, a spirit hydrometer is the wrong tool to measure a ferment’s progress. A brewer’s hydrometer is the correct tool.

But to the OP, I really suspect you’re not done yet, so make sure you check the gravity with the right tool. You really can’t judge progress by the bubble activity, especially if you’re looking at the bubbles forming in the fermenter. If the wash is too cool to ferment, activity may slow down to a crawl. But you may still have more fermentable material in your wash and you don’t want to dump that down the drain because of a lack of patience.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Whitecap72 »

Ok, so I found my brewers hydrometer. It came out at 1.021 is it ready to distill?
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Soft batch »

NO - should be 1.000 or below. You still have a good amount of sugars to ferment.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Whitecap72 »

Ok, thank you. I'll wait it out. Time for a heater, or move my fermenter into the kitchen.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by still_stirrin »

Whitecap72 wrote:Ok, thank you. I'll wait it out. Time for a heater, or move my fermenter into the kitchen.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Whitecap72 »

Moved my fermenter into the corner of the kitchen, yeast should be happy again.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Honest_Liberty »

having trouble finding the right way to search for this answer:

my Booner's casual is reading 0.000 but I'm still seeing bubbling activity. the cap fell and it appears to be cleaning (definitively separated already) but if it could go to .996 or .994 I'd feel much better as my SG was only 1.040 at 1.4 #/gallon.

Thoughts? I may also have still fatigue. I've run almost a dozen strips and a few spirit runs since November. Today is the best day I have to run it considering time constraints, but the way the top was bubbling, I don't want to leave any alcohol behind.
image25.jpg
Last edited by Honest_Liberty on Fri Mar 05, 2021 7:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sweetfeed 100 proof for drinking white
All grain bourbon for testing my patience
Whatever else is left goes to the Homefree, because, I hate waste
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Re: Is my mash ready?

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Honest_Liberty wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:47 am having trouble finding the right way to search for this answer:

my Booner's casual is reading 0.000 but I'm still seeing bubbling activity. the cap fell and it appears to be cleaning (definitively separated already) but if it could go to .996 or .994 I'd feel much better as my SG was only 1.040 at 1.4 #/gallon.

Thoughts? I may also have still fatigue. I've run almost a dozen strips and a few spirit runs since November. Today is the best day I have to run it considering time constraints, but the way the top was bubbling, I don't want to leave any alcohol behind.
I left my bourbon on the grain for a week after it looked done on the hydrometer. Then racked and squeezed, and left it for another 2 to 3 weeks before I stripped it, and another three weeks before I ran the spirit run. Take a break. It will be there when you get back.
Last edited by Deplorable on Thu Mar 04, 2021 6:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by River Rat »

Whitecap72 wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:08 pm Been 60degrees in the garage pretty steady.
If you make a little tent around your fermenter (I use reflective insulation) a light bulb should get it plenty warm enough. My building is steady at about 45*F right now and one 100W bulb on a drop cord is keeping a 20 gallon ferment at 78*.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Honest_Liberty »

Deplorable wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 1:33 pm I left my bourbon on the grain for a week after it looked done on the hydrometer. Then racked and squeezed, and left it for another 2 to 3 weeks before I stripped it, and another three weeks before I ran the spirit run. Take a break. It will be there when you get back.
You sanitized before you strained?
I'd be concerned with sanitation on the stuff I won't through the mop wringer, even though I greatly sanitize.
Sweetfeed 100 proof for drinking white
All grain bourbon for testing my patience
Whatever else is left goes to the Homefree, because, I hate waste
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Deplorable »

When I squeeze, I spray down the mop wringer with star-san solution and leave it sit while I rack of the cleared wash into clean buckets also sprayed down with star-san.

Aside from a hot soapy water wash to remove any solids, that's all I do in the way of sanitization.
I make up a bucket full of solution to soak siphon hoses and racking pump.
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

You may get a lacto. But remember the brewer's motto. Nothing that can harm you will grow in fermented beer :thumbup:
"Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond."
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Re: Is my mash ready?

Post by Limp »

I’m in the same situation. My mash has been fermenting for about 6 days now. My hydrometer reading was 0, but my mash is still
Bubbling. I used bread yeast. My mash is in my kitchen. My house stays at 74 degrees. After reading some of these reply’s, I wonder if I need to put a blanket around my fermenter and increase the temperature.
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