All Bran Recipe

[rad14701]

drpotoroo, if you feel that your wash needs more yeast then I'd suggest using a small amount of your existing wash to make a starter with the new yeast... Use the wash in place of the standard warm water and sugar as the original directions may have stated, but do heat the wash up to at least the recommended temperature or only a few degrees warmer... Let the yeast colony rehydrate and grow for at least 15 - 30 minutes and then mix it back into the wash at as close a temperature (+- 5 degrees F) as the wash is... Drastic differences in temperature between the starter and wash will shock the new colony and slow things down...

[mtblackdog]

Rad-What are your thoughts of Raisin Bran on this recipe?

[LWTCS]

Rad-What are your thoughts of Raisin Bran on this recipe?

Sorry for butting in.....Works good.......taste good.
Just check your vitamin content and hunt yer self down the best deal ($) with the most nutes...Some buys/ brands are better than others. But conceptually this recipe scales and takes modifications exceptionally well.......Its like a tough lil bullfrog.....

[mtblackdog]

Right on. Thanks! Just finishing up the original batch. I will give the raisin version a go.

[waylyn]

Thanks Prairiepiss, the only yeast I have at the moment is Alinsons dried active, don't know if it's any good for this tho?

I hear what your saying stilly

Got a wash that's been going since 28/02/12 and is giving a good 2 sec blurp every 31 secs on average, the sg is just over 1 temp is 25c now I have a belt added to it, should I let it continue or call it a day, my thinking is to let it run a couple of days and check the sg again and hopefully the next run will be faster with the aid of thebelt from the start.

[mtblackdog]

My last one has been going since 3/2 bubbling about every 30 seconds this morning. Im just gonna leave it. The way I have always seen it, if its bubbling its living and let em do their thing. Im guessing they will be stuffed in a day or so and then I will let it sit and clear for a couple days in the fermenters and then rack into my carboys after that for another few days of clear. Patience Grasshopper.

[waylyn]

I think i'll follow you on this one, I just don't get the fast reaction a lot of other members are geting, never mind it's worth the wait

[sparky marky]

I think i'll follow you on this one, I just don't get the fast reaction a lot of other members are geting, never mind it's worth the wait

How much yeast are you using?
I use 5kg sugar and 500g all bran topped up to 25l. I then pitch 60g allinsons bread yeast (64p for a little 120g yellow tin)
I ferment at 27 degrees.
It finishes between .998 and 1.001 at day 6 or 7. I normally set a wash going on a Friday and will distill it exactly two weeks later once it has settled down. Refluxed to 95-96% I get a vodka that tastes almost exactly like Russian standard (however I'm convinced that mine is cleaner because if i drink a lot of it, the Russian standard gIves me a wooly head the next day)

[mtblackdog]

Day 7 in my first fermenter and is .998 and a bubble about every minute. Second fermenter is day six and still bubbling about every 15 seconds. Sure smells good. Im gonna rack off into Carboys and let it sit for a month or so until I have time to run it. Throwing in a raisin bran on the next wash. I go to the local Grocery and buy 5 gallons of Montana Spring Water in blue plastic Carboys and then when the wash is done I just put it back into the Carboys that the spring water comes out of. Makes a nice system for storage and racking.

[waylyn]

56 ltr batch as follows, I used 14kg of sugar inverted,800gms of all bran 49 gms of boiled yeast compound 3.5 teaspoons of epson salts,pitched the yeast 196 gms @ 36c and two tbs of DAP this one started good but the temp dropped to 20-22c then I added the belt to heat it, seems a little better but still taking forever

Just did a check and it's just a tad above 1 and 25c

[sparky marky]

It's probably a little slow because of the amount of sugar.. when people say they have 4 or 5 day ferments they probably use 5kg or less per 25l.
You will still be making tasty spirit with 14kg of sugar... It'll just take a little longer

[waylyn]

Fair enough, I have started another one off
Braz recipe,56 LTR ALL BRAN just increased the amounts hope it's correct.
12lb Sugar (inverted)

13 oz All Bran cover with hot water, bring to a boil then simmer 15 min.

3.5 tsp bakers yeast (boiled with the All Bran)

3/4 cup bakers yeast piched @ 36c
no 20-20 or dap.
it stareted ok but not continuious and now it's every 4-5 seconds so not bad at all it's been going 60 hours now so i will have to wait and see, not bothered about the time as long as it's good quality

[mtblackdog]

56 liters ? If so, Im not sure you used enough sugar. I used 10lbs of sugar to 5 gallons of water and it worked like a champ. Just racked it to by carboys. Turned out great, smells good and taste good. Even put a little on ice and sat in the 65 degree sun here in Montana today. Haven't run it yet but if the wash is this good, cant imaging the rest wont be.

[LWTCS]

Feeya like the beer yer gonna love the spirit

[Braz]

Fair enough, I have started another one off
Braz recipe,56 LTR ALL BRAN just increased the amounts hope it's correct.
12lb Sugar (inverted)

I too think you are light on the sugar. Figure about .4 lb per liter. For a 56 liter wash you should have around 22 lb sugar to get a starting SG around 1.08 or 1.09

[waylyn]

Fair enough I will up it on the next run

[mtblackdog]

Getting ready to run a batch of raisin bran, and was gonna add a 12 oz jar of Grandmas Molasses, how much of my 10 pounds of sugar to 5 gallons of water should I subtract by adding the molasses? Im thinking 2 pounds?

[RiskyWhiskey]

Just ran my first batch of All Bran using the recipe on page 5 of this thread scaled up to a 25L wash. I substituted WalMart brand Bran Flakes (100% in the vitamins and minerals category, just like All Bran or Total cereals). My wash fermented dry in 72 hours. I used Miracle Gro Tomato fertilizer, but have since understood that ferts with urea-based nitrogen aren't good for distilling. I found a replacement at Lowe's called Better-Gro Orchid Plus that's 20-14-13 and no urea.

Since this was my first run, I pot stilled and collected in 200ml batches. Collected a total of 3.2L ranging from 80% in foreshots/heads down to about 30% in tails. I'm about to head out to start trying to make cuts on these fractions, pitching the first 200ml collected as fores.

[waylyn]

Just ran my 56ltr batch in pot mode, after I threw just over 450 ml of nasties I collected the first 3lts and averaged out at 65abv the next 3 ltrs averaged out @ 58 then the next 1.5 liters averaged out @ 48abv and the next 1.5 liters 45abv then finally I collected 1150mls @ 39 abv the next 200 ml started to become oily but still collected a further 1.5 liters inc the 200ml oily @ 38 abv. My question is Im need to add a clean AllBran neutral to my gin to dilute down to 43% but whenever I get nar that abv I collect oils this is in pot mode, any idaes for the best way to reduce voume without adding water but still have a quality product

[Odin]

Take narrow cuts, add quality water!



Odin.

[waylyn]

Would tap water do it if it was put through a brita filter, or just buy some mineral water?

[Odin]

I used to distill water, but somehow found that a lot of work. Since then, I bought a Brita filter and it works magically! Brita filtered water would be perfect!

Odin.

[waylyn]

Thanks again

[drpotoroo]

Thanks for the tips on getting my brew up to pace. In the end I just rehydrated some yeast and added on top (hadn't read rad's suggestion of a starter at that point) and gave it all a vigorous stir. The pace picked back up but it is still going to be a long wait. I recently ran a batch I made up the recipe for myself (before I found the tried and true recipes) that stopped after a month without completely fermenting all the sugars. It finished at 7% and the spirits I got out of it still tasted very clean. I threw the backset back on the yeast and it's fermenting away again. So I'm not going to worry myself about this one taking a while.

[drpotoroo]

So my brew finished with an SG of 0.998 from a starting 1.101 just shy of one month after I started. I was impatient and distilled my 16 litres of wash in four batches without letting it fully clear first. Doesn't seem to have been a problem. I've triple-distilled it in my Still Spirits Air Still. I got 4.5 litres of 40% spirit before taking cuts in the third run. I haven't quite run the whole lot yet, but it looks like I'll get 3.4 litres good to drink and around 1 litre of feints.

For any other Aussies out there, I substituted weetbix for the all bran in equal quantities. Seems to have worked well. I had a slower, but complete, ferment, and I didn't use any epsom salts, DAP or 20-20-20.

[Viocot]

Waiting on my third batch of this recipe. First 2 were 1 gallon batches and the third I scaled to 4 gallons. I pretty much went by the recipe on the 1st page. Trying to read this whole thread..... currently on page 47. The first 2 batches worked great, and fermented and cleared within a week. I didn't boil the cereal for the first 2 but tried it on the third. I also reduced the amount of yeast in the 4 gallon since I'm in no rush and if I'm correct the amount is just to speed up fermentation. I only used 3 packets. It's been bubbling for 2 weeks now and only has a gravity of 1.024. The S.G. was 1.058(think I messed up the sugar/water ratio). Seems to be really slow but I am in no hurry. What has me a bit concerned is when I checked the gravity yesterday it kinda had the consistency of snot. I'm kinda hoping this is just the gooey cereal slop I poured into the wash being suspended by the fermenting yeast. Otherwise the look, smell and taste seem fine. So just a few questions.

1. Is a slimy consistency normal mid-fermentation?
2. Is it ok for it to take 3 weeks to ferment?
3. Could the cereal have lowered my S.G. since I boiled it or did I just most likely mess up the ratio?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Rad for this simple and tasty recipe(that I somehow messed up lol). So much for idiot-proof.... I pot stilled the 1st 2 batches stripping and spirit runs. Tasted great with a touch of wheat flavor.

[rad14701]

Viocot, I'm a bit concerned about the snot consistency of your wash... You didn't mention the wash temperature so I'll assume it to be in proper range... I prefer to use ample yeast so as to help eliminate the possibility of infection as well as to hasten fermentation...

[Viocot]

Viocot, I'm a bit concerned about the snot consistency of your wash... You didn't mention the wash temperature so I'll assume it to be in proper range... I prefer to use ample yeast so as to help eliminate the possibility of infection as well as to hasten fermentation...

The temp is sittin around 72deg f or 22deg c. I checked the gravity again today and it's 1.018 and still bubbling. The stringiness of it has got me wanting to just toss it . Never ran into that before. Gotta stop trying to pinch pennies and just pitch the proper amount of yeast per your recipe on the next one. Can't see what else could have went wrong other than the small amount of yeast pitched allowed some sort of infection to get in there. My smaller 1 gallon batches never had this problem(though i used the amount specified in the recipe). Thanks for your input.

[Oxbo Rene]

I've done a couple ferments (wposw) that smelled terrible (like vinegar), stripped em and the product came out OK......
just sayin ...............

[gladitooktheredpill]

Here's one for you. I followed your directions with my first batch (20 liters) and ended up with about a 40 pounder of 40% vodka. Now I've made a second batch multiplying your recipe by 4, and the hydrometer is reading 1.56 which converts, according to the hydrometer, to about 7% alcohol potential. Am I missing something?