Home Distiller

Posted: **Fri Oct 09, 2015 4:16 pm**

rgreen2002, I'll go out on a limb and suggest that the yeast colony is overly pH sensitive... Get the pH back into a healthier range and fermentation should resume... Apparently different amounts of yeast, cereal, and nutrients made it into each bucket, potentially creating pH variations between buckets... I've had the similar things happen after splitting a wash into multiple fermenters...

What are the wash temperatures of each bucket...???

Posted: **Fri Oct 09, 2015 4:22 pm**

ahhh yeast... the most undependably dependable organisms... 3 hours later (I guess it needed 27 hours) my last bucket is running smooth.

rad...thanks for checking in!

Posted: **Mon Oct 12, 2015 4:51 pm**

Well... one of the three buckets is done and racked off...

: She came along nicely

: Just a shade under 1.000

I hope she continues to make me proud.

Posted: **Mon Oct 12, 2015 4:54 pm**

rgreen2002 wrote:I hope she continues to make me proud.

She looks like Mountain Dew, but she tastes like nectar of the gods.

Posted: **Wed Nov 18, 2015 10:53 pm**

This is probably a silly question, but is the 1cup of All Bran measured as 1cup before or after the crush? Should the cereal be ground in a food processor before measuring?

Posted: **Wed Nov 18, 2015 10:56 pm**

The recipe says 1 cup of crushed all bran.

Posted: **Thu Nov 19, 2015 6:10 am**

So I lurked for a few months before I decided to finally cave and make an account. This is the first batch of mash I'm attempting. Some quick notes about it:

4.5 Gals of Water
4 cups All Bran (sticks, not crushed)
8 LBS White sugar
1/4 tsp cooked yeast
7 TBLS Dry Active Yeast

Brought 2 Gals of water to a boil, mixed in all of the sugar, cooked at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Turned off the heat, mixed in All Bran and 1/4 tsp yeast
Let that "stew" for 20 minutes while cooling down
Added rest of water (2.5 Gals)
Allowed it to cool to 90 degrees before pitching yeast
Poured (aerated via pouring with fins) into 5 Gal carboy and capped at 9:30PM

This was all done last night, I checked on it around 10:30PM and there was a ton of activity in the carboy, it was really cool to see. My only concern is there is absolutely no movement with the air lock. I've got one of the standard, plastic, twin loop airlocks.
Checked it again this morning around 7:30AM, still no bubbles coming out of the lock, but the activity inside continues at the same rate.

Unfortunately my hydrometer should come in the mail today, so I can do a SG test, but everything I'm seeing inside the carboy points to some action.

Posted: **Thu Nov 19, 2015 7:35 am**

AllBlks36 wrote:So I lurked for a few months before I decided to finally cave and make an account. This is the first batch of mash I'm attempting. Some quick notes about it:

4.5 Gals of Water
4 cups All Bran (sticks, not crushed)
8 LBS White sugar
1/4 tsp cooked yeast
7 TBLS Dry Active Yeast

Brought 2 Gals of water to a boil, mixed in all of the sugar, cooked at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Turned off the heat, mixed in All Bran and 1/4 tsp yeast
Let that "stew" for 20 minutes while cooling down
Added rest of water (2.5 Gals)
Allowed it to cool to 90 degrees before pitching yeast
Poured (aerated via pouring with fins) into 5 Gal carboy and capped at 9:30PM

This was all done last night, I checked on it around 10:30PM and there was a ton of activity in the carboy, it was really cool to see. My only concern is there is absolutely no movement with the air lock. I've got one of the standard, plastic, twin loop airlocks.
Checked it again this morning around 7:30AM, still no bubbles coming out of the lock, but the activity inside continues at the same rate.

Unfortunately my hydrometer should come in the mail today, so I can do a SG test, but everything I'm seeing inside the carboy points to some action.

Welcome to one of my favorite places.... I'll tell you now before your hear it later... stop in the welcome center (http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=27) for a first post "Hello" and tell us about yourself.

As for your airlock. A pic of the setup might help. You may have a leak somewhere that the CO2 is escaping from preferentially so be sure its capped tightly. Other thought...is the air lock filled appropriately.

Check my signature and if you haven't already... have a look at the links. They're priceless when it comes to great information.

I'll step aside now and let the pros take over, your in good hands!

Posted: **Thu Nov 19, 2015 7:49 am**

rgreen2002 wrote:

Welcome to one of my favorite places.... I'll tell you now before your hear it later... stop in the welcome center (http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=27) for a first post "Hello" and tell us about yourself.

As for your airlock. A pic of the setup might help. You may have a leak somewhere that the CO2 is escaping from preferentially so be sure its capped tightly. Other thought...is the air lock filled appropriately.

Check my signature and if you haven't already... have a look at the links. They're priceless when it comes to great information.

I'll step aside now and let the pros take over, your in good hands!

Thanks for the reply! I'm planning on making a nice welcome post once I've completed my still! Have all the materials and will be building this weekend. After I do that I'll make a nice Hello post. I also plan on starting another 5 gallon batch this weekend.

I think the air lock could be part of the problem. For some reason the stopper was too small for the opening in the carboy, so I ended up taking the original plastic top of the carboy and drilling a hole in it to fit the stopper. Just to be sure I put a good amount of tape all around the stopper and the cap. But I'm guessing that's the issue.

Posted: **Thu Nov 19, 2015 8:35 am**

AllBlks36 wrote:
rgreen2002 wrote:

Thanks for the reply! I'm planning on making a nice welcome post once I've completed my still! Have all the materials and will be building this weekend. After I do that I'll make a nice Hello post. I also plan on starting another 5 gallon batch this weekend.

I think the air lock could be part of the problem. For some reason the stopper was too small for the opening in the carboy, so I ended up taking the original plastic top of the carboy and drilling a hole in it to fit the stopper. Just to be sure I put a good amount of tape all around the stopper and the cap. But I'm guessing that's the issue.

Looking forward to seeing you in the welcome center. Occasionally the little things make the biggest problems. Be careful with plastics as they are not recommended near the alcohol... see this link http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =35&t=5090 and rule 8. Plastic is frowned upon generally. And I hope the tape is PTFE...

I wrap my airlock with a little ptfe to ensure a good seal on the bucket as well.
Good luck

Posted: **Thu Nov 19, 2015 9:01 am**

rgreen2002 wrote:
AllBlks36 wrote:
rgreen2002 wrote:

Thanks for the reply! I'm planning on making a nice welcome post once I've completed my still! Have all the materials and will be building this weekend. After I do that I'll make a nice Hello post. I also plan on starting another 5 gallon batch this weekend.

I think the air lock could be part of the problem. For some reason the stopper was too small for the opening in the carboy, so I ended up taking the original plastic top of the carboy and drilling a hole in it to fit the stopper. Just to be sure I put a good amount of tape all around the stopper and the cap. But I'm guessing that's the issue.
Looking forward to seeing you in the welcome center. Occasionally the little things make the biggest problems. Be careful with plastics as they are not recommended near the alcohol... see this link http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =35&t=5090 and rule 8. Plastic is frowned upon generally. And I hope the tape is PTFE... I wrap my airlock with a little ptfe to ensure a good seal on the bucket as well.
Good luck

I'm using a food grade 5 gallon water jug for the fermentation. I had read a couple places that was OK. With the hydrometer I'm getting today will be a 5 gallon glass carboy that my next batch will go into!

Posted: **Thu Nov 19, 2015 8:40 pm**

Yup, some plastics are fine for a fermenter, just nothing but PTFE should be used where distilled vapor or liquid can touch it.

Posted: **Fri Nov 20, 2015 6:50 am**

raketemensch wrote:Yup, some plastics are fine for a fermenter, just nothing but PTFE should be used where distilled vapor or liquid can touch it.

This is what I had read, thanks for confirming.

The still is going to be a 5 gallon combo column/reflux, all copper. Very excited to get it put together! Should be done tomorrow!

Quick update on the fermenting. I must have some kind of leak somewhere. I took the top off and refitted a stoppped and airlock, put that one and wrapped it in some saran wrap to just to visualize the leak. Low and behold, there must be some kind of leak as some condensation has started to form under the saran wrap. The fermenting is still very active so I'm just going to let it be. There must be a least a little positive pressure in the carboy as my airlock is slightly favoring the outlet side (S-type plastic airlock). I don't think any air must be getting in, just slowly leaking out from somewhere near the top.

So obviously with no airlock activity, what are some signs of the fermentation being completed? Just no more activity in the carboy? As of 7:30am this morning, it was still going just as strong

Posted: **Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:28 am**

Just a quick update. Still has been built and a full welcome post will come Monday!

Found a home brewing store about 30 minutes away and decided to drop by for a visit. Picked up a proper sized stopper and another fermentation bucket and started another mash that I'll talk about in my welcome post.

With the proper stopper the airlock is giving me about 1 bubble/minute. For day 4 that's not too bad, I think the fermentation will be complete in the next 24 hours.

Posted: **Sun Nov 29, 2015 2:54 pm**

Hi Rad,
You asked long time ago about the percentage of allbran in Foreshots, Heads and Tails.
I don't know exactly how do you count it but these are my results.
I started with 30L of Low Wines at 35.5%ABV (with temperature correction)
So the total amount of alcohol is 10650 ml (10.65 L)
I got 1200 ml of Foreshots and Heads, (about 12%)
8220 ml of Hearts, (about 77%)
the rest, 1230 ml must be Tails (about 12%)

I'm curious about your method of calculation...
I would like to test allbran mixed with some potatoes too....
Thanks in advance

Posted: **Tue Dec 01, 2015 1:32 pm**

sergiolis, those are fairly decent numbers... I just went back through the results of several different runs of various recipes and the numbers are somewhat similar for straight wash in comparison to low wines when refluxed... However, my foreshots percentage is skewed because I always collect a full jar and it also contains early heads... A rough compilation would be:
[tr][th]Specific Cut[/th][th]% Total Vulume[/th][/tr] [tr][td]Foreshots[/td][td]6% - 8%[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Heads[/td][td]6% - 17%[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Hearts[/td][td]47% - 70%[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Tails[/td][td]8% - 35%[/td][/tr]

One item to note is that the tails cut may look larger in some instances because I sometimes change into pot still collection mode for tails... In actuality, tails should be in the 8% - 15% range when refluxing deep into the tails... I suppose the same could be said for heads...

Posted: **Tue Dec 01, 2015 6:53 pm**

Hi rad,
Nowadays I'm running with SPP and I could notice that Heads and Tails are more compressed in comparison with scrubbies.
Anyway the most difficult part for me is to cut the Heads. Tails is quite easy because they smell terrible but in my experience to distinguish with clarity between Heads and Hearts it's a bit more complicated. Maybe I'm sneaking in some Heads.
However, makes me happy to know our numbers are similar...
Would be interesting if someone write about their cuts.
Thanks for your patience rad. I've learned a lot with your advices

Posted: **Mon Jan 04, 2016 1:41 pm**

I tried the method listed above...the sugar never got really thick when I inverted it but certainly thicker than just plain sugar water. Ten minutes after and the airlock is hopping!

I can't wait to run this!

Posted: **Fri Jan 29, 2016 12:12 am**

First big ferment for me. I just scaled this up and got it started now.

In a 120L Rubbermaid brute

900g bran from the warehouse store
20kg sugar
~90L water
250g Fleischman's yeast

Interestingly enough I bought all of these things along with 36 mason jars and 6 packs of SS scrubbies at the same time. The gurl at the till remarked that it was a very random assortment of items. The old codger in the next line however just chuckled to himself and winked at me. I'm pretty sure he knew what was going on. Lol.

I ahd to leave the can in the garage becaues i dont have space in the house. I's about 5 degrees out so i had to insulate things to keep it warm. this morning i pulled the lid off and got a wonderful bready smell in the face. ive got a small amount of foam on top and things are looking good

Posted: **Fri Jan 29, 2016 4:32 pm**

Worried the yeast is going to get stressed its pumping out so much heat so I pulled the blankets off the top of the can. Just an old sleeping bag wrapped around the body of it now

Posted: **Fri Jan 29, 2016 5:32 pm**

Massassi wrote:Worried the yeast is going to get stressed its pumping out so much heat so I pulled the blankets off the top of the can. Just an old sleeping bag wrapped around the body of it now

Keep the temperature under 100F/38C and you should be fine... 75F/24C - 85F/30C is the desired range... The larger the wash the more heat it will produce...

Posted: **Mon Feb 01, 2016 4:46 pm**

Yeah, that's why I let it vent off some heat

Posted: **Wed Feb 03, 2016 4:16 pm**

I plan to run this all bran recipe, but I got to wondering if there was a recipe that included some measure of corn flakes also, perhaps for a flavor variation?

JS

Posted: **Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:15 am**

Jack Slapperaski wrote:I plan to run this all bran recipe, but I got to wondering if there was a recipe that included some measure of corn flakes also, perhaps for a flavor variation?

JS

With a bit of research you would have come across Odins Cornflake Whiskey recipe...

Posted: **Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:30 pm**

rad14701 wrote:
Jack Slapperaski wrote:I plan to run this all bran recipe, but I got to wondering if there was a recipe that included some measure of corn flakes also, perhaps for a flavor variation?

JS
With a bit of research you would have come across Odins Cornflake Whiskey recipe...

Actually, I did find this thread while I was researching the possibilities, just after I posted that question.... and I said to myself; self, I should go back and take out that question since I just found out all kinds of shit related to cereal mixes.....

I read that thread until the wee hours and I fell asleep... then I had weird dreams about a friend playing bagpipes in a turnip patch behind my house and my ex girlfriend was dancing naked....

Never eat a burrito before bedtime.

Posted: **Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:35 am**

"burrito"

Posted: **Tue Feb 16, 2016 11:52 am**

two weeks in and the ferment is still going. its not fast - but its steady. sounds like a glass of 7-up when i pop the lid on the brute. good thing i'm not in a rush?

Posted: **Wed Feb 17, 2016 3:30 pm**

Massassi wrote:two weeks in and the ferment is still going. its not fast - but its steady. sounds like a glass of 7-up when i pop the lid on the brute. good thing i'm not in a rush?

That's fairly slow for just about any sugarhead... I've had a few that took that long or longer due to temperatures or pH, and maybe one due to old weak yeast...

Posted: **Thu Feb 18, 2016 8:05 am**

it did get stuck because of cold so i brought it in, the yeast is just a bunch of old bread yeast in unopened jars. it should have been ok, but could have been less than ideal. no biggie. there are only so many days in a week that i have the time to run "The Device" anywayi'll just let it go until its done

Posted: **Tue Mar 29, 2016 2:34 pm**

I added some jalapenos to my batch. I think the yeast liked it because it took off bubbling like a possessed fermentation demon! But only bubbled for 4 days instead of regular 6-8 days.. Going to run it this weekend and see what i gots

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