Ted's Fast Fermenting Vodka

[zed255]

I always give my still a good rinse, so I'm my case I doubt cleanliness, or lack thereof, causes cloudy low wines. I have only ever gotten cloudy low wines when going deep into a strip and it occurs sooner with things like rum or whiskey. I have also done 'on the fly' tails reprocessing and ended up with crystal clear low wines when doing so.

[Garouda]

In fact, you should stop when you see some white traces floating at the surface of your distillate, tails bring flavour, fusel bring a wet dog or wet cardboard bad smell.

[Yummyrum]

Low wines can be cloudy. Depends on what it is and how deep you go. Don't worry and all will be well on the spirit run.

I’d agree with that zed . In most cases anyone doing Teds will be stripping it and then refluxing it .

There would be a small minority that will make Teds n a Pot still for both strip and spirit possibly even triple distilling . Thats about the only time I would thing going too far on a strip will be a problem .

[old_chook]

Thanks all. I really appreciate the reassurance.
I always hose out after use (and dry)
The strip started clear and was most of the way through.
It got a little opalescent right at the end.
After I finish the two all-grain ferments and strips that I have going, I will make a couple more FFV batches and combine the 4 FFV low-wine batches for a spirit run.
.

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

I disagree. First 500ml of heads cleans or all the previous oils. Zed255 is giving good advise.

[Garouda]

I disagree. First 500ml of heads cleans or all the previous oils. Zed255 is giving good advice.

I guess you meant "cleans off"
That's true, but it's always better to work with well rinsed equipment. I always flush the column, the parrot, and the Liebig condenser with a gardening hose, the water comes out milky then becomes clear, not a big issue.

[Rrmuf]

Its just deep tails and I doubt it's a cause for concern related to cleanliness unless something puked. No worries. On to the spirit run!

[guest5234]

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

must try this, is it common to for vodka to age 6 weeks on oak chips, if so how much per gallon.

[still_stirrin]

… must try this, is it common to for vodka to age 6 weeks on oak chips, if so how much per gallon.

Nope. Not common at all. In fact, most vodka is left white, or even poured over activated charcoal to remove even more of the flavors that may still be present.

Oaking a “neutral spirit” would make something else … some sort of a brown spirit. But it wouldn’t be a whiskey unless you decided to call it that.
ss

[guest5234]

Love the fast ferment

[guest5234]

Must try this, just need to find a 120 litre plastic barrel so I can make large batch

[guest5234]

Sorry it its a daft question, Is the multivitamin tablet a special homebrew tablet or just the ones humans take.

[kennstminet]

I think you can use any B Vitamin Complex pills.
I determine the required number of pills by its Vitamin B1 content and aim for 0.6 mg B1 per liter of wash.
If a pill has 1 mg B1 and my wash is 60 liter, I use 60 * 0,6 = 36 mg B1. This results for me in 36 / 1 = 36 pills.
There are products available with higher B1 per pill, resulting in a lower number of pills.
This is by no means a justified suggestion for everybody, it only describes how I do it.

[Garouda]

Sorry it is a daft question, Is the multivitamin tablet a special home-brew tablet or just the ones humans take.

In fact, there are already B vitamins in your bran, what yeasts mainly need are group B vitamins. B1 is the most important one, take the cheapest B vitamins complex at your pharmacist's.
I always make 70-litre batches with success and I crush three tablets, one tablet contains B1 (Thiamine Disulphide) 100 mg; B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride) 200 mg; B12 (Cyanocobalamin) 200 mcg (micrograms !). Do not make pseudo rocket science calculations, it's not necessary...

[kennstminet]

Sorry it is a daft question, Is the multivitamin tablet a special home-brew tablet or just the ones humans take.

In fact, there are already B vitamins in your bran, what yeasts mainly need are group B vitamins. B1 is the most important one, take the cheapest B vitamins complex at your pharmacist's.
I always make 70-litre batches with success and I crush three tablets, one tablet contains B1 (Thiamine Disulphide) 100 mg; B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride) 200 mg; B12 (Cyanocobalamin) 200 mcg (micrograms !). Do not make pseudo rocket science calculations, it's not necessary...

You are using slightly more than 4 mg B1 per litre. I do not think that an overdosage will hurt.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will look for tablets with 100 mg B1. I could not find it in my local shop.

[Garouda]

You are using slightly more than 4 mg B1 per litre. I do not think that an overdosage will hurt.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will look for tablets with 100 mg B1. I could not find it in my local shop.

In fact the tablets I'm using are a mix of those 3 vitamins, and I have produced several hectolitres of TFFV wash following that method.

[madmace]

Just wondering if bakers yeast would be the only yeast that works well for this.
I have distillers yeast, thinkin that might do the trick as well
Am I mistaken
Have a brain fart
Or just missing something
Also have yellow bird angel on hand as well
Any input is appreciated

[Sporacle]

Just wondering if bakers yeast would be the only yeast that works well for this.
I have distillers yeast, thinkin that might do the trick as well
Am I mistaken
Have a brain fart
Or just missing something
Also have yellow bird angel on hand as well
Any input is appreciated

As long as the temp parameters of the yeast is maintained any yeast will work, budget and flavour profiles aside.
Don't waste the Angel, as there is no starch to convert.

[buchrob]

To streamline things, cook the "porridge" ahead of time: bran, nutrients... all the dry stuff except for the yeast and sugar plus a little water. For example: if you regularly use ~20 l/~ 5 gal brew buckets, make up enough to do 4 (or #) of them. Let cool then freeze in 4 (or #) individual containers.

Come time for mashing, water + sugar + thawed porridge + yeast is really easy.

Advantage: only one messy, sticky pot to clean up for several batches. Bonus: feeezing and thawing the porridge probably breaks up the fibre cells, making things easier for the yeast, since my last batch fermented from 1.06 in 2 days using DADY.

Using a brew bag and racking from between the bag and bucket wall leaves wash that will cold crash very quickly.

[Garouda]

To streamline things, cook the "porridge" ahead of time: bran, nutrients... all the dry stuff except for the yeast and sugar plus a little water. For example: if you regularly use ~20 l/~ 5 gal brew buckets, make up enough to do 4 (or #) of them. Let cool then freeze in 4 (or #) individual containers.

Come time for mashing, water + sugar + thawed porridge + yeast is really easy.

Advantage: only one messy, sticky pot to clean up for several batches. Bonus: feeezing and thawing the porridge probably breaks up the fibre cells, making things easier for the yeast, since my last batch fermented from 1.06 in 2 days using DADY.

Using a brew bag and racking from between the bag and bucket wall leaves wash that will cold crash very quickly.

Be careful, bran can easily overflow...
Thanks to the fact I'm using a stainless steel 98 litres (50Hx50Ø) fermenter, I like to use as much boiling water as possible, so I pour 5k sugar in a large stock cooking pot (9 litres), and 7 kg in an even larger one (12 litres), add water, bring it to boil and pour the boiling sugar mixture into the fermenter, I boil then the bran following Ted's explanation, I have it for free, so I pour 500 grs in one pot and 500 grs in the second one. The T° in my fermenter reaches then > 85 °C, good for sanitizing the whole stuff. The next day when it reaches room T°, I add fresh water up to the target volume of 70 litres, add nutrients, vitamins, and activated yeast, I use then a large whisk to oxygenate the wort. I also use a BIAB bag for my mango wine, but do not see the advantage of having one here, the tap fitted with a filter leaves the yeasts and the bran at the bottom of the fermenter when I transfer everything into plastic carboys to take it all down to the distillery and let it decant for another day or two…

[LogDog]

I'm curious how much final product everyone is keeping from their runs. I just did my first 24-gallon wash of TFFV and, after stripping and spirit runs, yielded about 6.5 liters of distillate at about 85% ABV. I am pretty new to this hobby and still learning how to make good cuts, but am curious what kinds of yields other people are getting with this recipe. I assume yields are going to be lower with a neutral spirit like vodka, whereas whiskeys and other flavored spirits will have higher yields since we're going deeper into heads and tails for flavor? Any thoughts?

[Yummyrum]

Recipes like this are really intended to be run through a Reflux still . Also because they are relatively clean washes , they don’t produce too much heads and tails as “flavoured “ washes and mashes like Rums or Whiskeys do .

As a good reflux still can really compress the fractions , the hearts cut is actually quite large .

From a 180 litre wash , I can expect around 12-13 litres @ 95% abv …….. thats about 30litres of 40%

Although you could double or triple distill this wash in a Pot still , the yield of “clean “ hearts will be relatively small compared to what you’d get using a reflux still .

[Garouda]

I can confirm Yummyrum's yields, I'm using a Ø 3" VM still and usually mix the result of 3 stripping runs of 70-litre batches in one spirit run which gives me about 14.5 litres @ 95% ABV from 210 litres in total, which is close to the 13 litres Yummy reaches from his 180 litres...

[STILL WORKIN]

I'm cooking12 gal tedsad now. First 2lt for the fire pit.
Charged 50lt Tedsad in the pot and 8lt winos and 1lt 40% spirit in the thumper. Stripping with thumper and gin basket. 70% running into 36lt SS carboy. Have another 80lt. to run yet.
I did'nt like the mess of the wheat. However, the flavour is Very good off the worm and the worm just mite make it.Pushing a lot of heat.
I collect to 30% (just my #) . Running with a thumper is a very big bonus. The abv is about 10 points higher. The gin basket was on so good or bad it stayed. It can stay and i get to learn it too.
I too run my rig without the thumper for about the first 5 or 6 cooks just to learn the pot and the importance of the water.
Got close to 8lt I think just looking at it. Cant wait for the spirit run. Done 2hrs 30 min.

I believe that if it were not for all the conversations on Home Distillers I don't think I would be in my shed.
Thanks guys and gals. I love reading.

Cheers!

STILL WORKIN

[OlympicMtDoo]

I see you mention a mess with the wheat Still Workin, could you expand on that a little? I was going to put up a Teddy's fast wash yesterday and ended up with the biggest damn mess I've ever made in connection with this hobby. I have read a fair amount on this thread and I may have missed something, this was my first try at Teddys but I couldn't find plain wheat bran, I live in the country near a small town that does not have a brew shop. I used to go to a brew shop in Olympia, WA about a half hour drive from me but they have now moved another half hour further away. So I bought Kellogs All Bran, it says it's all wheat bran. Holly shit what a damn mess, first I boil the whole mess over and completely make a huge mess all over the stove, floor everything. The big problem though was the mixture just turned to this awful nasty slime, I mean I wouldn't put that shit in anything that I use to ferment with. What the hell went wrong? I mean this stuff was just like the slime on Ghost busters WTF, I bailed mid stream and now have a batch of bird watchers going but damn. Guess I've never boiled wheat bran before. In Teds recipe it says the bran mix becomes a thin porridge when boiled, mine turned into a thick snot.

[NZChris]

The answers are in the original post. Advice not to use breakfast cereal is in the OP. Where to look for it is in the OP.

I get wheat bran in the baking section of the local supermarket.

[Bradster68]

Recipes like this are really intended to be run through a Reflux still . Also because they are relatively clean washes , they don’t produce too much heads and tails as “flavoured “ washes and mashes like Rums or Whiskeys do .

As a good reflux still can really compress the fractions , the hearts cut is actually quite large .

From a 180 litre wash , I can expect around 12-13 litres @ 95% abv …….. thats about 30litres of 40%

Although you could double or triple distill this wash in a Pot still , the yield of “clean “ hearts will be relatively small compared to what you’d get using a reflux still .

+1. Iv been pot stilling my Ted's and is a huge pain in the A.....
I'm almost ready to build a reflux still to eliminate the time and headache.
Lots to learn in the reflux operating though.
The build, the process. The type. I'm narrowing down my options 1 step at a time and acquiring hardware and knowledge.
I definitely like the sweet taste of the Ted's I get back for a vodka. But also want a high proof neutral for other needs.

[NZChris]

+1. Iv been pot stilling my Ted's and is a huge pain in the A.....

Why?

Double pot stilling it should make a very nice wheat flavored vodka unless you mess up the cuts. Maybe wheat flavored vodka made from your local bran isn't to your tastes, in which case, you should be using a different method/recipe/bran.

What is the end product that you are wanting to make with it?

[Bradster68]

Yes it does produce a very sweet taste. I like the flavor alot and haven't tried another recipe"yet" because of the sweetness. Iv actually had friend's who don't care for vodka sample it and be very surprised. But I'm wanting to make a high proof neutral for other recipes and for some tinctures that my wife makes.
So I should have said for neutral making not vodka

[guest5234]

Made this and it tasted very good, carbon filtered it nd it is up there with the very best vodkas on the market, so smooth I can drink it with just ice