Can you ferment for to long?

[Blackgrub79]

I have not distilled in a few months I believe it was last April or May that I began fermenting 24 gallons of wash 11 gallons of Suger and 11 gallons of corn with wheat or barley. Anyway, it's been sitting in a room away from light. I did one of them a few weeks ago corn the wash still smelled like wash and no mold or mildew in any place on the container. Never got around to It as when it hits the upper 90's+ kind of don't feel like being near heat.

Making sure there is no mold or mildew is this wash still alright to distill or should it just be dumbed out and restarted again? Does aging the wash do anything for it? Thanks for the advice

[jonnys_spirit]

Run it!

Cheers,
J

[Canuckwoods]

I often make many batches in the spring to get that one last run but then they sit all summer and they have been fine if anything I get a slightly better yield as the yeast have had a chance to eat everything.

[Blackgrub79]

I often make many batches in the spring to get that one last run but then they sit all summer and they have been fine if anything I get a slightly better yield as the yeast have had a chance to eat everything.

From what I was reading it seemed like that was the logical answer! Yet new to this and wanted to make sure I was not distilling something that would make me or who drank it sick.

Odd question can you take a wash leave it for a few months and then redo the whole fermentation process using that old wash to make a higher alcohol content? Take the wash that has been fermenting and use it to start another batch add the sugar or corn and barley and let it brew all over again.?

[Canuckwoods]

You can make a sugar head from the grain but trying to make it higher alcohol by adding sugar is just asking to make a bad batch don't go and get greedy on us.

[6 Row Joe]

I have not distilled in a few months I believe it was last April or May that I began fermenting 24 gallons of wash 11 gallons of Suger and 11 gallons of corn with wheat or barley. Anyway, it's been sitting in a room away from light. I did one of them a few weeks ago corn the wash still smelled like wash and no mold or mildew in any place on the container. Never got around to It as when it hits the upper 90's+ kind of don't feel like being near heat.

Making sure there is no mold or mildew is this wash still alright to distill or should it just be dumbed out and restarted again? Does aging the wash do anything for it? Thanks for the advice

Run it

[StillerBoy]

is this wash still alright to distill or should it just be dumbed out and restarted again?

As has been already stated, it's good to be run..

But, you need to get your priorities in line.. doing some thing then forgetting about it for months is not conductive to your development in the hobby.. yeah we can advocate of kind of response as to why, but that does change anything..

Either you want to distill or not. that's the question you need to answer before moving forward with more fermentation..

Mars

[Blackgrub79]

is this wash still alright to distill or should it just be dumbed out and restarted again?

As has been already stated, it's good to be run.

But, you need to get your priorities in line.. doing something and then forgetting about it for months is not conducive to your development in the hobby.. yeah we can advocate the kind of response as to why, but that does change anything.

Either you want to distill or not. that's the question you need to answer before moving forward with more fermentation.

Mars

I want to but when it's 100+ degrees out and you work in a building that has no AC for 12+ hours having to wear a uniform that is polyester and have to wash your uniform each day as salt and sweat make a nice white line along the back that can be seen!

I understand distill and all but when drinking 1 gallon of water and a gallon of Gatorade every day and your piss still is as yellow that's not good!

Also to distill or not is a hobby, not a job! What makes me money comes first I work so I can do my hobby I wish I could do my hobby as a way to pay bills but I can't!

Family and health before a hobby! No flame on you but if a hobby before my job would be one I could make money with like being an FFL dealer or a gunsmith, teaching SD firearm courses along with several other things.

I make money to support my family and hobby! I don't make money with my hobby to support my family! Hell, it's a loss anyway because I can pick up cheap whiskey for $15 a bottle.

To me, it's not about the cost of making a better drink! To me all it's about the experience and learning how to make this brew! I enjoy distilling yet not to the point that I'm laid up for a day or two missing work because of dehydration!

I did not know it was going to get to 98+ degrees in March or April around here! I already had to take two days off of work because I did distill when it was hot out and was dehydrated to the point I could not go to work and that was with no alcohol for 48 hours yet having to work in a hot prison for 12 hours. I did drink my usual 1 gallon of water and 1 gallon of sports drink and even had more that day!

Life before a hobby!? Come to Southwest Texas and we can talk!

Again no flame don't know were you live at all! If I was back in the Dakotas I could do it all year but not here!

[shadylane]

Making sure there is no mold or mildew is this wash still alright to distill or should it just be dumbed out and restarted again? Does aging the wash do anything for it? Thanks for the advice

Sounds good, I'd run it when the weather and life permits.
Don't know about aging a wash.
But I like to give it time to settle after fermentation is done.

On a side note.
Ya obviously did a good job on the hygiene.

[NZChris]

If it's an open fermenter you might have lost a lot of potential yield to angels and vinegar, but run it anyway to find out.

[BoomTown]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that if a mash is allowed to ferment longer than 5 days, some unwanted flavors develop in the spirits that result. Has anyone ever heard anything similar? If so, is it true?

[Wildcats]

Blackgrub79 those Texas prisons can get very hot with no air conditioning. Don't ask me how I know. . Graza east unit. McConnell unit. Just to name a few. I feel for you. Run the wash. Might be some of the best you ever did.

[Chucker]

I always have to brew when I can and then run it when I’m able as I’m frequently out of town for work. Nothing sits for excessively long but a couple of weeks extra settling time never seems to matter.
One thing I try to avoid is disturbing the co2 cap. I rarely check more than once to verify ferment activity. I can usually just listen at the bung or sneak a peek through it and see that the cap has turned. Avoiding air exposure keeps out anything wild. If it’s taken off well at the start, the rest will be pretty well set without any help from me.

[BoomTown]

is this wash still alright to distill or should it just be dumbed out and restarted again?

As has been already stated, it's good to be run..

But, you need to get your priorities in line.. doing some thing then forgetting about it for months is not conductive to your development in the hobby.. yeah we can advocate of kind of response as to why, but that does change anything..

Either you want to distill or not. that's the question you need to answer before moving forward with more fermentation..

Mars

Hey Stiller, that comment seems pretty harsh and judgmental. I thought we were to help where, when and how…not sure your comments contributes to those goals…but hey, it’s your mirror - enjoy.
Boomtown

[bilgriss]

Boomtown, when making beer, there's a point where yeast autolysis will start generating off flavors and negatively impacts the product. That's way further out than five days or two weeks, and before you ever reach that point, there are actually a number of potential off-flavors that yeast will actually clean up post-fermentation. So giving it a little time to take care of business when the ferment is done will often improve the product.

In distillation, the time element is even way more forgiving than for that homebrew. In fact, if you search deeply in the forum, you'll find a number of threads where there's supporting evidence that allowing the ferment significant time, and even oxidizing effects, might be a good thing. I don't know for certain whether that's true; I have some experiments I'd like to run some day - but you certainly don't need to worry about five days. Many of us with direct heating will even allow weeks beyond final fermentation for settling without any negative effects that I'm aware of.

[squigglefunk]

Hey Stiller, that comment seems pretty harsh and judgmental. I thought we were to help where, when and how…not sure your comments contributes to those goals…but hey, it’s your mirror - enjoy.
Boomtown

[BoomTown]

Boomtown, when making beer, there's a point where yeast autolysis will start generating off flavors and negatively impacts the product. That's way further out than five days or two weeks, and before you ever reach that point, there are actually a number of potential off-flavors that yeast will actually clean up post-fermentation. So giving it a little time to take care of business when the ferment is done will often improve the product.

In distillation, the time element is even way more forgiving than for that homebrew. In fact, if you search deeply in the forum, you'll find a number of threads where there's supporting evidence that allowing the ferment significant time, and even oxidizing effects, might be a good thing. I don't know for certain whether that's true; I have some experiments I'd like to run some day - but you certainly don't need to worry about five days. Many of us with direct heating will even allow weeks beyond final fermentation for settling without any negative effects that I'm aware of.

Good to know! Thanks

[Yummyrum]

Boomtown, when making beer, there's a point where yeast autolysis will start generating off flavors and negatively impacts the product. That's way further out than five days or two weeks, and before you ever reach that point, there are actually a number of potential off-flavors that yeast will actually clean up post-fermentation. So giving it a little time to take care of business when the ferment is done will often improve the product.

In distillation, the time element is even way more forgiving than for that homebrew. In fact, if you search deeply in the forum, you'll find a number of threads where there's supporting evidence that allowing the ferment significant time, and even oxidizing effects, might be a good thing. I don't know for certain whether that's true; I have some experiments I'd like to run some day - but you certainly don't need to worry about five days. Many of us with direct heating will even allow weeks beyond final fermentation for settling without any negative effects that I'm aware of.

Thanks Bilgriss

I’m not up with the theory on all that but I can agree I have found no ill effects from leaving ferments for long ….. weeks to months …. Before distilling .

[Goonshine]

Once it is done fermenting, I put it in the garage, pretty cold here, garage is about 3c, haven't gone months, but never had any problems running a month and a bit sitting in the cold.
It actually clears up nice and when I rack into the still it's nice looking mash.
More of an issue of me getting backed up running it that I don't get to it sooner. My original goal was to have something to run every weekend, but of course some fermentation takes longer then you plan, hence the back log.
I dunno what it's like in heat and buggy territory, so no help there.
I just ran some clear apple pie that was sitting for a month, mash smelled and tasted great, thumper juice was fantastic and slow cooked just before running, spot on pie taste, happy juice came out tasting fantastic like clear apple pie, but the stuff smells like lady parts... that's something I gotta deal with lol.