Ted's Fast Fermenting Vodka

[MartinCash]

I often chuck in some copper scrubbies into the boiler to act as nucleation sites (smoother boil) and to remove sulphides. I also have copper in the vapour path, so I can't comment on whether it has a sulfide-removing effect or not.

[howie]

i removed the copper mesh today and they were covered in gunk (patina?).
maybe not quite as much as after a reflux spirit run.
a couple of hours in some brewsan and the copper is shiny again.

[Rrmuf]

Well, that suggests to me that it is doing it's job in the boiler too! So I fall back to Salty's axiom: "the more, the better"
I have a bunch of 1/2" copper left overs: I think I will cut it up, clean it up and dump it in.
Thanks.

[Garouda]

Larb with lao kao (white alcohol) which in fact is rum...
Regarding copper, I have quite a long copper pipe plus a copper Liebig, it should do the job.

1m40 for the pipe plus 68 cm for the Liebig, a 45° elbow to separate gas burner and Liebig outlet...

Anyway, I'm going to have copper mesh in the fractionating column for the purification run. I have some copper pipe over but I need to keep some for the bubblers in my next project (Ø 6" 6 or 7 plates column).
I'm decanting my second batch (3x 23l) this afternoon

One cannot move a 100-litre fermenter with 69 litres wash inside...

and will quicly prepare a new one because temperatures are rising now. The plan is to mix three stripping runs in one purification run. If temperatures aren't too high, I'd like afterwards to make some rum with molasses which I already have.

[Garouda]

a couple of hours in some brewsan and the copper is shiny again.

Just salt plus vinegar...

[maka]

i'm on my 3rd run of this and man it is good.
however having brutal PH crash.
follow recipe to a T
by end of day 3 PH drops down to almost 3
raise it back up to 5 with baking soda and it finishes in a day or two.

anyone else have this?

i think I'm going to leave it next time at 6.25 PH and see what happens.

[Teddysad]

Yes if you are starting at 6.25 try leaving the citric acid out. Your local water may be giving you a lower starting point. Sea shells or egg shells suspended in the wash will also help buffer against a pH drop.

for rapid raising of pH potassium bicarb is better than sodium and is kinder on the yeast

Glad you like it.

[Garouda]

I finished my spirit run two days ago I started with 50 litres @ 40% low wines in the boiler and ended with 8 litres neutral @ 95%.
I made three 69-litre batches (3x 23l Ted's recipe). Each stripping run gave me about 16-17 litres of low wines, I collected down to 20% ABV.
The problem doing so are the heavy alcohols in the product condenser, but I let the heads rinse what remained after I cleaned the condenser.
This stuff is really neutral! Indeed, my VM still as a good reflux ratio even with the 1" gate valve fully open. (3"->1").
The way I ran my VM.
Preheating, about > 1 hour.
I opened the reflux cooling water as soon as I noticed some reflux (sight glass)
I reduced the gas burner;
I left the column balancing for at least one hour and a half;
I then opened the valve 1 1/2 turn and collected the first 600ml.
Closed the valve for five minutes;
I then opened it further a bit 2 1/2 turns and collected 1000 ml.
So in total, I removed some 1600ml as heads (incl. foreshots).
I closed the valve, let the column equilibrate for ten minutes, then opened the valve step by step up to full open and started collecting in 700ml bottles, I got 10 of them, plus one 1000ml bottle in position number 5. Eight litres @ 95% in total.
As soon as the t° raised and the product started to have a strong smell, I stopped collecting, because I wanted a pure neutral, no tails. The hydrometer still indicated 94.5% ABV though.
There's one additional bottle #12 which will go in my next spirit run (rum). I will discard the remaining feints.
Indeed, it's a very cheap recipe, overall less than 59AUD, so it's 7.32 AUD/l @95% ABV...
No problem at all, it's a great recipe. I don't have that pH drop, maybe because I'm using water from my deep well. It has iron and some minerals like Mg in it.
I don't know whether my output is in line with what other people can achieve with this recipe, Anyway, for a first step, I'm very happy with the result.
Next step from those 8 litres, 4 litres as gin - pot still and gin basket, and 4 litres as Pastis - maceration...
Thanks again Ted.

[tiramisu]

158 posts on grain neutral spirit/neutral grain spirit.
It would be nice to make some gin.

[Garouda]

158 posts on grain neutral spirit/neutral grain spirit.
It would be nice to make some gin.

If you read my entire post up to the end , this is what I'm doing right now, but it's difficult to identify the right recipe for a vapour infusion gin...

[artooks]

Hi,

I tried this recipe a few years ago, and this time I wanted to change a few things and try it, the last time when I did it, it did not ferment very aggressively so I thought I could do the full 30 liter in my fermenter, anyway here is the recipe with the small changes I made. I did not wanted to use multivitamin, maybe it is because of the vitamin that I used, it gave a strange taste in the final product so instead I opted for boiled yeast, I did not use any citric acid, and to cope with ph I am thinking to introduce Oyster shells tomorrow, basically 24 hrs after the fermentation started, and I did use DAP a bit more since the one that I use calls for 5 gram per 10 lt wash, and everything else is basically the same, I will report back once I get the results here is some pictures.

Ingredients ( for a 30lt wash)
* 27.03 lt Water
* 4.8 kg Sugar
* 326g Wheat Bran
* 34 gram Boiled Yeast
* 7.5 gr Epsom Salt
* 15 gr DAP
* 66 gr Bakers Yeast
* 3 Oyster Shell

SG: 1.061
Potantial Alcohol ABV: % 9.4

[artooks]

[artooks]

Hi this is how it looks like after 1.5 hrs.

[artooks]

Hi Everyone,

As I said in my previous post that this time I did the recipe with full 30 total liters in my fermenter leaving only a small headspace, this is usually what I do with other recipes as well, the reason that I did not leave more headroom this time is because when I did this recipe first time it did not foam up, so I was basically convinced that I could use it as full, so after 6 hrs I introduced 3 big sea scallops in the wash and it has been now 14 hrs since I first pitched the yeast the activity was quite fast after 1 hrs and as I shared in the pictures there was very little foaming up at the top, but I can confirm there is no problem and I do not think that after this time it will foam up in the next day so basically It could be done fully in the fermenter leaving only 2 inches (5cm) headroom.

This is how it looks like after 14 hrs pitching.

[artooks]

Hi,

In just 24 hrs the OG went from 1.061 to 1.025 which is quite fast.

[artooks]

Day 2 current gravity @ 0.998

[artooks]

Hi Everyone,

Today I took an early reading because the activity on the airlock has been slow down, and I also calculated the duration since pitching the yeast and I can confirm that in just 2 days 15 hrs and 19 minutes the Gravity went down from 1.061 to 0.992, this is insane, I have never had a quick ferment like this one, great recipe.Can't wait to distill and try it out.

[artooks]

Hi,

I can confirm that in just three days gravity went from 1.061 to 0.990 this in very quick. Normally my other ferments takes about 6-7 days when starting from 1.070 this is really nice. Thanks Ted.

[wpkluck]

i'm on my 3rd run of this and man it is good.
however having brutal PH crash.
follow recipe to a T
by end of day 3 PH drops down to almost 3
raise it back up to 5 with baking soda and it finishes in a day or two.

anyone else have this?

i think I'm going to leave it next time at 6.25 PH and see what happens.

Is a pH crash worrisome, after three days? I thought this thing fermented out in three days. That would mean it’s not an issue, just run it, right?

I’m looking forward to trying it myself!

[artooks]

i'm on my 3rd run of this and man it is good.
however having brutal PH crash.
follow recipe to a T
by end of day 3 PH drops down to almost 3
raise it back up to 5 with baking soda and it finishes in a day or two.

anyone else have this?

i think I'm going to leave it next time at 6.25 PH and see what happens.

Is a pH crash worrisome, after three days? I thought this thing fermented out in three days. That would mean it’s not an issue, just run it, right?

I’m looking forward to trying it myself!

Hi,

I always use sea scallops in my washes you can use sea shells its ok because they self regulate the ph in the wash, if PH drops below 3 than the wash becomes too acidic for the yeast to ferment and they slow down and eventually stop fermenting, I suggest you to use sea shells to overcome this problem, since using scallops I never had Ph out of hand.

[wpkluck]

I always use sea scallops in my washes you can use sea shells its ok because they self regulate the ph in the wash, if PH drops below 3 than the wash becomes too acidic for the yeast to ferment and they slow down and eventually stop fermenting, I suggest you to use sea shells to overcome this problem, since using scallops I never had Ph out of hand.

I use oyster shells myself. I was just commenting because they said the pH crashes on day three. By day three, ferment shouldn’t be an issue, it should be done. That’s part of the beauty of this recipe.

[MartinCash]

It's never crashed for me following the recipe exactly and with no mods.

A lot will depend on your brewing water and what buffering capacity it might have.

[Teddysad]

pH lowers more the longer a fermentation takes as the released CO2 bonds with water to slowly build up carbonic acid. A fast ferment such as this does not usually have time to let that buildup of acid occur. However as others have said a calcium carbonate buffer will resist that drop. Suitable sources are: sea shells, scallops, oyster etc, and even crushed egg shells. If the shells are crushed, suspending them in a small porous bag in the wash is the best
Artooks, may I suggest you do use the multivitamin for best effect (your yeast will thank you). Also don't go crazy with precise weights when scaling up

[artooks]

pH lowers more the longer a fermentation takes as the released CO2 bonds with water to slowly build up carbonic acid. A fast ferment such as this does not usually have time to let that buildup of acid occur. However as others have said a calcium carbonate buffer will resist that drop. Suitable sources are: sea shells, scallops, oyster etc, and even crushed egg shells. If the shells are crushed, suspending them in a small porous bag in the wash is the best
Artooks, may I suggest you do use the multivitamin for best effect (your yeast will thank you). Also don't go crazy with precise weights when scaling up

Thank you Teddysad, As I mentioned before I did not had a good experience with B Vitamin. that I used somehow there was a weird taste in the final product and when I did not use it I did not experience that, but I will try a different brand Dear Teddysad isn't is a similar case to use boiled yeast instead of Multivitamin ? as far as I know It is a good source of Vitamin B do you share this information ? Also do you recommend to use Sea shells to control PH or can it be done without it ? Thanks

[NZChris]

You only need shells if you have a history of pH stalls.

I've used Vegemite instead of vitamin B for over 30 years, but that is made out of yeast and I only use it because I'm too lazy to keep some yeast to boil for the next wash.

[Yummyrum]

I did not had a good experience with B Vitamin. that I used somehow there was a weird taste in the final product and when I did not use it I did not experience that, but I will try a different brand

LOL , this happened to me too , in my case I used a Mens Multivitamin capsule that unfortunately had fish oil in it . It stank and the fish distilled over .

I just use a mix of B1, B6 , B12 tablets now....basically any B vites that's out of date in the medical box Mrs Yummy has thrown out . Seems to work OK .

[Garouda]

I just use a mix of B1, B6 , B12 tablets now....basically any B vites that's out of date in the medical box Mrs Yummy has thrown out . Seems to work OK.

This is what I'm using too, one tablet ⇾ 23l wash... The carbonic acid issue will occur if the CO2 pressure is too high, but as soon as you release it and gently stir your wash, it's gone. I proceed that way because I do not use an airlock. So far, I made three 69-litre batches of Ted's recipe without any problem.

[Rrmuf]

So many people using this recipe successfully: Why is it not a T&T?

[MartinCash]

So many people using this recipe successfully: Why is it not a T&T?

I've been wondering that myself.

[stmaus]

Yes, maybe the fact that there is relatively little activity on this thread (and fewer posts) counts against it. But that is only because the recipe is clear and simple, and it really works and produces a great product.