Small, Cheap, Amateur Mash

TheGodfather · Post by **TheGodfather** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:43 pm

I have started a very small batch of mash, about 3L total, it is made up of simple ingredients alot like the ones from that http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/moon1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow site. Corn startch, more than half full water, about 2 table spoons of bakers yeast, and some yeast nutrient. I think i screwed it up already because i was getting impatient and i added the yeast to soon, the temp of the water may have been about 35 or so. In order to correct my mistake i added more yeast to the mixture and stirred then sealed. in the initial hour there was a fair bit of bubbles and foam, but not much. Currently, about 4 or hours in there are only a few larger bubles and smaller ones around the edge, but not much.

Has this attempt gone to hell? should i not even bother waiting a week? or is there any thing i can do to fix this mess.

knuklehead · Post by **knuklehead** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:50 pm

How are you converting the starch? When you say you sealed it, are you allowing the gas to escape via some sort of airlock? All you will see is small bubbles and you should be able to hear it fizzing when you put your ear up against it if it is infact working.

TheGodfather · Post by **TheGodfather** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:55 pm

I do not know what you mean when you say converting the startch.

My seal has a hole for gas vent.

....there are almost no more bubbles in my mash.

TheGodfather · Post by **TheGodfather** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:56 pm

however at closer inspection i do hear a fizzing noise

knuklehead · Post by **knuklehead** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:57 pm

Did you add sugar to the wash? Enzymes will convert the starch to fermentable sugars. If you just used water, corn starch and yeast it will not ferment.

TheGodfather · Post by **TheGodfather** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:05 pm

well i added some suger, to the intial yeast "activation" not much though

TheGodfather · Post by **TheGodfather** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:09 pm

Is it too late to add some sugar now?

TheGodfather · Post by **TheGodfather** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:09 pm

Is it too late to add some sugar now? i thought that the corn startch contained enough sugars.

knuklehead · Post by **knuklehead** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:14 pm

You can not add sugar now no. You will just kill the yeast. Yeast can not ferment starch, it must first be converted to sugars. Check out this link
http://homedistiller.org onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow There is a lot of info on there that you will find useful so have a long read.

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:31 pm

One of us is confused, Godfather! I checked out the site you referenced, and could find nothing about cornstarch. Never heard of anyone using cornstarch. Might work, don't know. I do know that yeast will not convert cornstarch to alcohol. The initial fermentation was because of the sugar you used to start with...when it ran out, the yeasts went dormant. If everything smells OK, I wouldn't think all should be lost, even if just as an experiment. If it doesn't smell funky, add about a pound of malted barley, cracked corn, anything you can get without preservatives. This will give you the necessary enzymes to convert the starch to sugar. Trouble is, you should heat this to about 150 deg. (F) for efficient conversion. Others on this site do not heat, and that should work, albeit slower, but in this case, with dormant yeast all about, I think I would heat it. The current yeast will die. No problem, restart the fermentation just as you did in the beginning. Good Luck!