Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

[friendly1uk]

{birdwatchers}My recipe for an 80 liter wash. Ingredients as follows:

3 cups tomato paste

Juice 3 lemons

Approx. 18 kg sugar

225 grams fresh regular bakers yeast. Buy in bulk at any good health food store.

water(I use spring well water)

Procedure:

Keep careful notes from start to finish for future reference.

Carefully mix paste, juice, say 14 kg sugar with 60 liters water at 30C. Measure SG.
(you are aiming for 1.09)

Carefully add water and sugar to bring mixture to 80 liter, WITH A SG 1.09.
Temperature of finished mixture should be 30C-35C to start.

You should now have 80 liters of mixed ingredients.

Carefully sprinkle 225 grams of yeast over surface, stirring in.
Place cover loosely, to let CO2 escape, keeping flying nasties out.
There is so much CO2 coming off; there is no need to worry about oxygen coming in contact.

Place bottomless styrofoam box over fermenter. Dangle lit lightbulb through small
hole in lid. Bulb must be strong enough to keep the mixture at a steady range of
30C-35C for entire fermentation. Size of bulb depends on room temperature. Stick
your digital thermometer through side of box to track inside temperature.

{A good idea would be to set up with water a day before you begin wash to determine
the size of light bulb to maintain water/wash in the 30-35C range.}



Check SG and temperature daily

Stir daily

On day three, syphon contents evenly into four 23 liter airlocked carboys.
(This step may not be nessesary and I may at some future date simply take the wash from start
to finish in the unairlocked storage container)

Check SG and temperature daily

Shake carboys gently daily.

After a total of 7-8 days SG should be .995. If not, wait until completion.


Note: After ten years of making 95% ethanol, and fine tuning my recipe after lots of
suggestions from people on this forum, this is what works for me. I'm always fine
tuning and welcome any comments or suggestions.

If any points above are not clear or you have questions, feel free to ask.

Cheers,

G
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PM me if you need a perfect sugar wash for ethanol ( birdwatcher)

Hello G.
Do you mind if I skip 120 posts and just ask if this is still the currant recipe? Neither yourself or the forum software reports any editing, but you do talk of changing it. If you have, perhaps edit this post so people can just drop on the thread and follow your very well respected recipe.

I don't know what spring well water is, It sounds like two different things? I think what I need to know is your target ph. I'm guessing that the lemon is only to accomplish this so I can't really follow the recipe exactly as I won't get your result. I lost a wash recently by switching from tap water to distilled and not correcting for it, So I need to know what your goal is to copy you.

I will post up what a ml (or so) of paste weighs when I get some. Then peeps can see what a cup is in the terms used when we buy the stuff using standard index units.

[Prairiepiss]

Its a basic recipe. Just make it as it says. You are trying to make it more difficult then it needs to be. If you would take the time. There is a link to a calculator just for this recipe. A page back or so.

The recipe was copied here from some older postings. To preserve it here. So why change it. And it is still a good recipe.

Spring well water is well water that is fed by a spring. Any good water will work.

[friendly1uk]

Calculator?
Oh that's real good of someone. I'm going to repeat the link here: http://shuggo.com/birdwatchers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
I was really made up when I saw a few units being used. But then tomato paste is still volumetric. I just got in with some. 200g jar. Your now picturing my situation. ah.

Now i have posted I have to measure.. I was gonna go bed, it's 2:36am.
omg it won't pour. Er water..dilution rate corrections when I use it.. erm.. I think I'm just gonna go bed.
It was all on it's own in tesco, well away from the tomato puree selection. Shelved up as tomato puree though. I got to checking the ingredients before I realised it was the real deal. Dawtona?

152ml this 200g jar contained.

I went from tap to distilled and lost 2 on the trot. Maybe it was a mineral issue not ph, as I never checked ph till I lost these two and wanted to know why. It was too low. I have hard water due to high calcium levels. That offers quite a bit of buffering. The distilled has nothing to keep it stable, it becomes all about the wart. I'm happy to believe it is all about the sugar and the citric barely touch's it though. I would just like to hear it.

He said he might change it. 1060 tastes better than 1090 he was told. Even good things evolve.

spring well water makes no sense. Are you digging a hole and waiting for a stream to fill it ? Perhaps through the water table, so it is your 'spring' ?
edit: do you mean there was a spring in a cave, so someone dug straight down to it?

[Prairiepiss]

It's quite common here to dig down to a natural spring. For a well. Natural springs do come from the ground. So it does make since to me. And if you ever taste the water from a spring fed well. It's some damn good stuff.

[Due51]

Day 5:
SG is .995
Temperature is 60deg F
Mash is clearing quite nicely.
I actually have 2 batches going: 5 gallons in a pale and about 2 gallons in a carboy. The pale has an airlock on it and shows no sign of activity. The carboy, however, has a blow off tube inserted into a pitcher of water and is still bubbling about once every 5 seconds. There is a little krausen visible in the carboy, but nothing in the pale. The mash in the pale sill has a strong apple cider smell. I don't know if that's a bad sign or not, even after doing a site search on "apple cider smell".

[carolina64]

I am using a single pot still , 5 gallon, I don't have setup to double still the spirits. Will save the good stuff and when I have enough, I will distill it again..New question, is it necessary to clean the still with water vinegar solution every so often if not using it every day or so..Thanks for you reply..
countryboy64

[OlympicMtDoo]

I am using a single pot still , 5 gallon, I don't have setup to double still the spirits. Will save the good stuff and when I have enough, I will distill it again..New question, is it necessary to clean the still with water vinegar solution every so often if not using it every day or so..Thanks for you reply..
countryboy64

No it is not necessary to do much extra cleanin if you are using your still a lot, rince it out good each time and you should be good to go after all you are steam cleaning the thing every run. It's going to be a little hard to get good drink runnin birdwatchers through a pot but i'm sure you can do allright if you run it twice, if it comes out a little harsh try oakin it a while.

[george_bryant_nz]

I think the health food stores in NZ must be the same as in AUS - different to a health food store in the US.

The only place I could find 'fresh yeast' was from the home brew shop (Lavlin EC1118) which was only $2.95 but it's a bit of a hike from where I am so I've stuck with the supermarket ingredients instead:

25L wash
1 Lemon - free from over the fence
250g tomato paste - $1.59
5kg bag white sugar - $5.59
pinch of epsom salts - $1.71 for 500g
75g active dried yeast - $3.99 for 130g

Mixed everything up and ended up with a SG of 1.08 (was going for the 1.06 but added too much sugar initially!). Sprinkled yeast on top @35Celcius and left it overnight. This morning room temp is currently 19C and fermenter is 26C. Something must be working because my loosely fitted lid kindly allowed some of the froth to drip onto the floor.



All up it's cost around $9.50 for what I think will be around a 11% wash (??). Being a beginner I've been using turbo yeasts at $6.95-$8.95 a shot plus finings @ $4.95 and either 'turbo sugar' @ $3.59/kg or dextrose @ $2/kg, sure it's given a quick easy clean product but now I've got a little bit of a stockpile built up so I can spend some time on this little experiment. Hopefully Santa will get that 23L carbouy down the chimney next week so I can siphon this of to settle while I crank up another batch.

Looking forward to doing my first stripping run and then a reflux run to see what the end product is like

I followed this last night and made it, forgot to check the SG....

Checked SG this morning and it was at around 1040....somethings not right is it?

[Prairiepiss]

Do you mean 1.040? Seams low to me. Maybe if you told us exactly what you did.

[george_bryant_nz]

Yes sorry 1.040.

I put in 5.5kg of sugar, 245g of tomato paste & 85ml of lemon juice into the fermenter.
The poured in a couple L of boiling water, stirred it all up.
Topped up the fermenter to 25L while keeping the wash at a temp of 30 degree Celcius.
Sprinkled over 70g of bakers yeast and then gave it all a stir.
Covered the fermenter with a tea towel.

There was a lot of activity last night and this morning.

[Prairiepiss]

1.084 is what it should have started out at. I doubt it dropped to 1.040 over night.

Either the sugar isn't mixed up good. And is sitting near the bottom. Or you hydrometer is way off.

[george_bryant_nz]

1.084 is what it should have started out at. I doubt it dropped to 1.040 over night.

Either the sugar isn't mixed up good. And is sitting near the bottom. Or you hydrometer is way off.

I will try another hydrometer, to be honest when I put down my cider the other day the SG was 1.040 as well so maybe the hydrometer is faulty.

I did get the reading after moving the wash from the kitchen to the garage this morning, do you think it getting shaken around could of made a difference? I will also try giving it another stir.

This is my first atempt at making birdwatchers wash and I'm rather excited because for the last 6 months I have been using Turbo yeast, carbon and clearing agents then running through carbon filters without ever being overly happy with the results.

[Prairiepiss]

Shaking it shouldn't make a difference. If it was all mixed up good to begin with.

You can test your hydrometer. First in water. 1.000 and then with a known sugar water mixture. Calculators on the parent site can help with the know sugar water mixtures. Remember they are calibrated for a certain temp.

Kinda sounds like a bad hydrometer.

[rad14701]

I have had Birdwatchers and several other recipes drop SG by half within 24 hours so this isn't totally unusual... From that point on it usually tends to slow, however... My batches usually take ~4 days to reach 0.99x or lower... YMMV...

[Prairiepiss]

I could see 24 hours. But he said he made it last night. So maybe a little over 12 hours? Just seemed a little less then likely. I could be wrong. I am from time to time.

But then again I never test mine after 12 or 24 hours if its working. only time I test that early is if its not working.

[george_bryant_nz]

I was going past the brewing shop on the way home from work so I purchased a new hydrometer.

Checked the wash just then and the reading was 1.063.

[NZChris]

Chuck your hydrometer in water at it's recommended temp. If it doesn't read 1.000 you know it's out and by how much.

Agitating wort can make a big difference to fermentation time in brewery scale vessels. I'm sure it would make a bit of difference on a small scale, but I wouldn't be recommending breaking into a sealed fermenter to do it, especially when fermentation is slow.

What paste did you use? I used Watties and it was very slow.

[george_bryant_nz]

I've already discarded the old coopers hydrometer.

The fermenter only has a tea towel over it.

I used watties as well as the Legos tomato paste I had was actually pizza sauce. The wash is bubbling away steady and is in my brew cabinet at 28degree Celsius at the moment.

Ok to just put the entire lot through my reflux still once final gravity is reached?

[NZChris]

I'd guess no, but I only run pots. I try to make neutral, not tomato schnapps, so I leave the dregs in the fermenter.

[george_bryant_nz]

You guess no or so?

I have a pot and reflux still, I see no mention in the directions as to what still to run the wash through.

Can someone please give me a clear answer. Thanks

[RidgebackDad]

I'd only pull down to just above the yeast layer. Don't know why you'd want the sediment in the boiler.

[george_bryant_nz]

I'd only pull down to just above the yeast layer. Don't know why you'd want the sediment in the boiler.

Sorry, is that post meant for me?

[Hound Dog]

You guess no or so?

I have a pot and reflux still, I see no mention in the directions as to what still to run the wash through.

Can someone please give me a clear answer. Thanks

If you have both stills you have the perfect setup to make a good neutral from this. Strip two batches of wash down in your pot still and just collect everything as "low wines". Dilute the "low wines" down to 35% and run it in your reflux still making your cuts and you will be good.

[rad14701]

You guess no or so?

I have a pot and reflux still, I see no mention in the directions as to what still to run the wash through.

Can someone please give me a clear answer. Thanks

Birdwatchers is intended to be used to produce neutral spirits so a reflux column would be the best tool for the job... Pot stilling could take several distillations in order to make clean quazi-neutral spirits...

[Due51]

I boiled up two 5 gallon batches last night for my first real run through my Boka. I got 1.088 in one pale and 1.092 in the other. In the lower SG I pitched the yeast using a starter from the boil (after letting it cool). In the higher SG I just sprinkled the yeast on top. The one I sprinkled on top is showing much more activity than the other. We'll see how it all shakes out.

[RidgebackDad]

I'd only pull down to just above the yeast layer. Don't know why you'd want the sediment in the boiler.

Sorry, is that post meant for me?

Yes it was.

[carolina64]

Hello Birdwatcher, My questions seems so foolish, but if I am not sure or unlearned I need to ask. I made a 10 gallon wash of your recipe and went exactly by your conversion chart on your link. My first SG reading was 1.1 at 70 degrees, the instructions say add 1 because its set to read at 60 degree temp. Adding 1, since scale is going up to me I am saying 1.9, today is early day eight and reading .2, add one I am saying .1. I guess you can see I am wondering if I am reading the triple scale hydrometer correct. I have kept ferment at constant 70 degrees. Can you shed light on my reading or give me a link on how to read it.l I have looked but found nothing for green rookie, this is my first wash to run and keep. I have a single pot still, so I am going to run 1st distill and keep everything except the foreshots, after collecting everything from the 10 gallon ferment, I will re-run everything and try separate heads, hearts and tails, keep hearts and save fients for later run with new wash..Am I on target here, my first one. Thanks for your patience I know this is so immature.
One more thing: I think you said, .990 was 12%ABV..how do you calculate that?
Carolina64

[OlympicMtDoo]

Hi Carolina, I do a ton of birdwatchers without issue sticking strictly to the tried and true recipe. I shoot for 75f when I have every thing mixed up for a temp to pitch my yeast so that is the temp at which I take my first SG reading and to be honest I usually remember to take it then about half of the time. If you have followed the recipe it is going to be right. I have never worried about being so exact about the reading here to worry about temp compensation. I go a little bit by my hydrometer to tell me when it's done but really it is just conformation because after you've done it a while you'll know by taste time and just looking at it when it's done. I do watch it a little to see how things are going along as the ferment is working. Go to the parent site and look at the CALC link there is a calc table for specific gravity for sugar washes, look at that and spend some time expanding your read there and it should help a lot. You could have a bum hydrometer to, not likely but it could be, just saying that because if you follow the birdwatchers recipe exactly it is pretty hard to foul it up. I use an ferment barrel with a lid that I can remove without an air lock so I can stir it now and then and keep a good eye on it, you can tell by taste when it's dry and it will clear pretty good too. Keep at it, we all start somewhere. OMD Oh and your starting gravity should be 1.09 not 1.9 and finish at 0.995

[OlympicMtDoo]

http://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Hydrometer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow Here is another great link to explain all you ever wanted to know about hydrometers but were afraid to ask.

[george_bryant_nz]

Wash is at 1.000 but still bubbling away. If at .995 it is still bubbling, should I wait for it to stop bubbling before distilling