Ted's Fast Fermenting Vodka

[Teddysad]

For those looking for a fast ferment, a little time spent during the preparation stage pays huge dividends in shortening the time for a ferment.
Here is my routine for a fast Vodka at very low cost with no carbon filtering or added clearing compounds.
The secret is in the DAP - di-ammonium phosphate which should be available at a HBS or winemaker supply store along with the Multivitamin.

Ingredients ( for a 23l wash)
4kg Sugar
250g wheat bran
1 Multivitamin tablet
Pinch Epsom salts
½ tsp DAP
Citric acid
50g bakers yeast

I source the bran from the local Stockfood Co ( 5kg bag for $6.50) however most supermarkets will have it as baking bran or miller's bran. This is not the All-Bran breakfast cereal but works out so much less expensive. at a few cents per wash.

In a large pot (5 litre or bigger) bring 2 to 3 litres of water to the boil (I boil it in the jug first to save time)
Add the 250g of bran, stir, bring back to the boil then simmer for 30 minutes stirring from time to time. It becomes a thin porridge
Dissolve the sugar in warm water and add to the fermenter with cool water to bring quantity up to 20 litres.
Add the crushed MV tab, Epsom salts and DAP.
Once the bran has simmered for 30 mins, add it to the fermenter.
I then adjust the pH to around 5 with the citric acid usually takes about ½ a tsp.
Rehydrate the yeast in 100ml water and add to the mix. Making sure the start temp is below 30C
Stir well ( I use a stick blender to thoroughly aerate it.)
Leave plenty of headroom as this takes off like a rocket. I use a 30l fermenter
Do NOT seal for at least 24 hours as a thick foamy cap will form within an hour. I put it under an airlock only after 36 hrs so I can monitor progress.
This produces a fast ferment ( normally dry to .990 within 3 to 4 days). The start SG is around 1060 so the yeast is not pushed hard to produce off-flavours
Rack off and allow to stand for a couple of days to clear before distilling.
I find this has a nice slightly wheaty taste and is much nicer than the tomato paste based wash and twice as fast to ferment.
Can also be oaked.
I have also tried multi generations with a drop in results. It is so low cost that I have found it not worth saving and reusing the trub, - that goes onto the compost.

Update: After stripping and then a spirit run I have had several litres of this sitting on uncharred oak dominos at 65% for 6 weeks.
Watered down a litre to test and it came through very nicely with a good flavour

I consistently get speeds of 84 to 96 hours from start to dry.

Mk II Version

As above but 200g of bran and 100g kibbled rye
This have turned out to be even better - just as fast but with a little more bite/flavour in the end result. It depends on the finish you want in your vodka.

Note: I always strip several ferments through the pot still column and add them together for a slow spirit run through the reflux column

[InglisHill]

+1

I have done this and it is quick, as Teddy says. The final product is also very good.

The first time I did it I did not follow the recipe exactly and had very standard results. Following what is said and it works a treat.

A great ferment by a local kiwi that deserves t&t in my opinion.

[artooks]

Thank you very much Ted for this great recipe, I think this recipe deserves a thumbs up, I did 2 batches with great success, I did a stripping run with pot still and spirit with reflux, it is a very good recipe, hope some others try this, it is also very simple as well, highly recommend it.

[pounsfos]

Hi Teddy, this is an amazing recipe.

I was watching Jesse on his youtube channel thing Stillit, and thought I'd give it a go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQGOfbKFNt0&t=494s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I Usually run my molasses wash
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=55389

I ferment dry in 5 days
my recipe for 200l:
25kg White sugar (biggest bag I can find, makes for easy measuring )
2.5Kg Wheat Bran
2 Tablespoons DAP
2 Tablespoons Epsolm Salt
5 B vitamin Tablets (30 in a bottle so 6 ferments worth)
2 Tablespoons Citric Acid to mainly remove the Chlorine from the water

Under $20 for everything, it will last you a while.

This is my new favourite And I have done 4 ferments with it, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good recipe.
Also Everytime you mix the ingredients, you feel like a mad scientist , also is a good recipe for anyone knew wanting to learn more about what yeast need for good healthy ferments.
Takes me 1.5 hours to boil all the bran ( 3x 5 litre pot.... )
Makes the house smell like baking

[Yummyrum]

pounsfos , Teds sure is a good recipe .

Only thing I found was make sure you don't use Multivitamin capsules with fish oil in them ...that fish stink comes over in the distillate .
B Vit tabs are the go .....crush them up

[CrazyCanadian]

I thought I read somewhere (but cannot now find) that the yeast in the recipe is used as nutrient for the final yeast that is pitched. In other words, follow the recipe, including that yeast, but then add your final yeast at the end as you would normally. Yes? No?

[Yummyrum]

I thought I read somewhere (but cannot now find) that the yeast in the recipe is used as nutrient for the final yeast that is pitched. In other words, follow the recipe, including that yeast, but then add your final yeast at the end as you would normally. Yes? No?

CrazyC , can't see how you figured that from this recipe . Sure in some other recipes a pile of yeast is boiled up with the othe ingreadients as a yeast nutrient for the real yeast that is pitched ..... but .... in Teds recipe here , the DAP , multivit and to an extent the bran are the yeast nutrient . The 50 g of yeast is pitched to start the ferrmentation .

[bitter]

Nice should try this for my next neutral

[JumpJet]

What’s the status of this recipe. The thread has gone dead. Has it been moved to tried and true or just died out.

Jump

It looks interesting. Might give it a shot.

[fizzix]

What’s the status of this recipe. The thread has gone dead. Has it been moved to tried and true or just died out.

Not sure what you mean, JumpJet. The thread is alive and simply hadn't received any recent comments is all. You just revived it, and I'm glad you did.

I like this alternative to tomato paste and it's claim to speed. Thanks, Teddysad.

[Saltbush Bill]

What’s the status of this recipe. The thread has gone dead. Has it been moved to tried and true or just died out.

I have no idea , but I hear through the grapevine from those who make a lot of neutral that it is one of the better recipes out there.
Ive never tried it personally but intend to very soon.

[Teddysad]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdasuam ... dex=2&t=2s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[North State Shine]

Ted, appreciate the recipe!

[corene1]

It looks a lot like Tater's death wish wheat germ recipe. viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4909

[Fruit Squeezer]

<----- Thumbs up from this guy

I've made a few batches of Ted's FFV.
Per 6 GAL:
Instead of bran, I use:
3/4lb white wheat,
3/4 lb red wheat,
1/4lb oats, all sparged and converted.
8 Lb sugar (4kg)
Fermented on the grain to 9%ABV
I pitch the yeast starter @ 100°F

As advertized, it takes off like a rocket !
Finishes to 0.997 in 3 days if you keep the fermenter warm. No airlock, just set a lid on top.

I run it single-run, and it's good enough to drink like that.
I haven't saved up enough low wines to do a sirit run, but with good cuts, the single run in a 2"lm is very clean..
I did a generational second batch with it and bottled it @ 100pf. It got even better!

[Eclecticon]

Started this today with 60 liters and a aquarium heater. Seems to work fine. The pinch and tablespoon, are they meant as real measurements as in 1 tbs or 1 pinch = x grammes?

Not a lot of DAP, but running smooth.

The double amount of yeast is only to shorten the duration I suppose?

[fizzix]

... The pinch and tablespoon, are they meant as real measurements as in 1 tbs or 1 pinch = x grammes? ...
The double amount of yeast is only to shorten the duration I suppose?

Frankly the only things I accurately measure are grain and sugar and water. The rest is all pinches and spoonsful by the seat of my shorts.
And "double the yeast" I take as overwhelming any immediate infections and as ferment insurance. A 'shorten the duration' doesn't necessarily work that way.

[Kareltje]

I am going to spiritrun some Teddy's (beresnelle) bearlyfast running wodka tomorrow.
I put the bran, salts, eggeshells in one pan and boil it.
Put the sugar and the lemonjuice in another pan and boil it. (hoping the sugar will be inverted partially)
Put some water with a lot of air in a vessel, add the branmash, a vitaminpill, the sugarsolution and fill up with a spray of water.
Then sprinkle the dry yeast over the fluid and keep it at 24 degr C.

Apart from the amount of sugar (1.75 kg) and the total amount of wash (1 L) I only measure the other ingredients to divide my purchases of bran (350 gr) and lemonjuice (200 ml) in four parts.

Double the yeast does not halve the fermenting time. Giving the yeast time and opportunity (food and oxygen) to multiply does.

[Eclecticon]

... The pinch and tablespoon, are they meant as real measurements as in 1 tbs or 1 pinch = x grammes? ...
The double amount of yeast is only to shorten the duration I suppose?

Frankly the only things I accurately measure are grain and sugar and water. The rest is all pinches and spoonsful by the seat of my shorts.
And "double the yeast" I take as overwhelming any immediate infections and as ferment insurance. A 'shorten the duration' doesn't necessarily work that way.

Thanks!

[GCB3]

Thanks for this’s recipe, Teddy. The aroma of the wheat bran and bakers yeast is wonderful.

I started two identical 15 gal washes Saturday afternoon following your recipe to a “T” except I always add 6 half oyster shells to a sugar wash. Both had OG of 1.075. On day two I sealed them with airlocks and set temp to 85*F. They were bubbling so fast, they both sounded like machine guns! I’ve just let them be until an hour ago (90 hrs). Both have essentially stopped bubbling.

Fermenter #1 has finished dry at FG= 0.990. Fermenter #2 tastes dry but is reading 1.030. Both have a pH of 5.
I’m going to take the heat and insulation off of #1 and let it start clearing and let #2 run a few more days. It seems weird to get such differing results using all the same ingredients and running them simultaneously. Never seen that before, I don’t believe.

[GCB3]

Well, 24 hrs later, Fermenter #2 is reading 0.992. I must have screwed up my reading yesterday. I can’t imagine it dropped from 1.030 in 24 hrs without hardly a chirp from the airlock. The good news is they are both clearing and waiting on me now.

[Saltbush Bill]

You cant rely on an airlock to tell you if something is fermenting , they are notorious for leaking....as are fermenter lids.

[GCB3]

Thanks for the reminder, SB.

[Jimbeamfreak]

I love this recipe im on my second 100L and 200L washes
I get up to 3l @ 94% when i run a 30 litre wash through my Boka

[Teddysad]

I love this recipe im on my second 100L and 200L washes
I get up to 3l @ 94% when i run a 30 litre wash through my Boka

You are onto it. Welcome to the many happy users of the recipe

[Rochdaleguy]

Hi,

Really want to try this out.
For MK2 version could I use Rye flakes instead of kibbled rye?
Also do any of the grains need putting through mill grinder first or just throw them in as they are?

[Teddysad]

The bran is already fine and those rye flakes will be fine

[NZChris]

Bran doesn't come with the starch from the grains, but flakes and kibbled does, so I wouldn't be in a hurry to try Rochdaleguy's MK2 because of the risk of burn on.

[Teddysad]

It is fine if the rye is only a small amount (50g) for a bit more flavour

[CaptMorgan]

I love this recipe! I need some DAP, without it, my ferments take almost 2 weeks. I ferment inside at about 70f during the day and 65 at night. I use gfs saf-instant bakers yeast. Maybe i should try a different yeast?
This thread needs bumped up anyway. I vote for adding to to tried & true.