Gerber

[W.S.C.beachman]

Ok so I messed up right off the bat. LOL I put double the amount of Gerber for a 4 gallon wash. What would be the best thing to do? My plan is to put the same amount of yeast and call it good. I highly doubt that is the right thing to do. Oh and by the way this is my very fist wash ever. Sunday morning watching my baby girl and doin chores and tryin to make a wash. hahahaha
Oh yah and should I even deal with the PH at all?

Also I have 3 differnt kinds of yeast hear.
Red Star Quick rise fast acting dry yeast
Fleischmann's Rapid Rise active yeast
Lalvin EC-1118

Which one!!!

[rad14701]

W.S.C.beachman, the additional Gerber won't cause problems... It'll just provide additional nutrients which may reduce the time to ferment... I've never tried more, just less, but more might also impart additional flavor if you're pot stilling...

[W.S.C.beachman]

I was waiting for you to reply. Cool it is bubblin pretty damn good right now, and yes its the pot you looked at. My Ph is at around 5ish and I did not check with the triple scale hydro meter. I already air locked it should I pull the lid off and check those measurements? Oh if I am posting in the wrong place please tell me, I don't want to piss any one off and it seams as though some around hear get finicky about things.

[W.S.C.beachman]

Ok into ferment 5hrs and its bubbling out the airlock at about 2 blup blup's a second, very short intermittently i might add.
Cool!!!

[piratesteve]

well this one looks promising.

the last wash i did was birdwatchers, and when i got to the farm to check on it, looked like it ended up sticking.

Like the sounds of this one tho, just got back from the store, and gonna mix up a few pails tonight.

In need of some quick wash to play with this weekend to get running my reflux still down....

thanks yet again rad...

pirate steve

[Orange79]

It seems like all of the single grain Gerber cereals have similar ingredients and nutrients. Has anyone tried the Oatmeal or Rice flavors and had the same success as the Barley?

[LWTCS]

yes they work well

[rad14701]

I've had virtually identical results with Barley, Rice, and Mixed Grain flavors... Most of the nutrients have been added as supplements...

[piratesteve]

well its been about 20 hours since i pitched the yeast, and they are still going like crazy..... Even the smell of the co2 is pleasant as opposed to some of the other washes ive tried. even using the exact same yeast.......

[piratesteve]

Well, I couldnt believe at how fast that wash fermented. So I went and bought a plastic 45 gallon drum, and got a nice big batch brewing . Amazing wash recipe. Cant wait to have a taste of the final product!!!

[Cornbread]

Well, I couldnt believe at how fast that wash fermented. So I went and bought a plastic 45 gallon drum, and got a nice big batch brewing . Amazing wash recipe. Cant wait to have a taste of the final product!!!

sounds like ya gonna have enuf to invite us all over for a small taste each!

[piratesteve]

Its what I do.... Love to share with my friends and family.
And its especially appreciated by all right now, as most of my circle has been out of work due to the economic slowdown over here.

But yeah cornbread, catch a plane, and hop on a dogsled, and come stop by my igloo eh?

[Cornbread]

do them Eskimos wear any panties if I were to bring some Starwberry panty dropper with me? ( I ain't putting no pink bow in a polar bears fur). Y'all do have sheep don't cha?

[radio11]

Cornbread,no sheep up here,not gota nuf wool on em come winter,gota find ya a dutch girl.

[JeepJunkie]

After several 5 gal. batches of gerber, i've decided to follow Piratesteve's lead and make a good big batch. 55 gal drum with 40 gallons of gerber in it, i can't wait.... Since my still is only 15.5 gallons (12 gal w/ a bit of head space) I'll have to make multi runs outta this one batch, the question i have is will the wash go bad if it just sits in fermenter a week or two?

[rad14701]

It's nice to see folks having success with this simple recipe... While it was intended to be a wash for novices to get started without running into problems and as an alternative to those supposedly foolproof turbo washes, it sounds like it has also been deemed suitable for large batch runs... The largest batch I've made was 5 gallons (20 liters) so I'll be interested to hear how large batches perform...

It might be worthwhile to also try the All Bran recipe for large batches as it is even cheaper than Gerber and performs equally as well, if not better... Start small like with Gerber before trying larger batches... Again, the largest All Bran wash I've tried is 5 gallons (20 liters)...

[piratesteve]

Well, my large batch(120L) is taking longer to die off. This time I even inverted the sugar. But I think this may be due to a higher sugar ratio in the wash. As I did not measure so accurately this time. Kind of eyeballed based on what weight of sugar I used last time. OOOPS

And I think Its time I really start keeping some better logs of what Im doing here for future refernce...

And thanks for the suggestion rad, Ill be trying a test batch of the all-bran this weekend, alongside my first rum!!!!

[rad14701]

Never eyeball, piratesteve, as you'll only get into trouble that way - as you are discovering... If you think you have too much sugar you might be able to draw off several gallons into another container and then top both off with water, unless the ferment is almost done...

I did have one batch of Gerber that originally had a low potential %ABV that finished fast so I added more sugar... Big mistake...!!! A wash of about 11% ABV that fermented very rapidly plodded along agonizingly slow when I added enough sugar to still remain below 14% ABV... I won't try stepped additions again after that experiment... I wrote it off as being bitten by greed... Once bitten, twice shy...

[piratesteve]

well i gave my barell a swirl befor i went to sleep last night, and i woke this morning to silence. My wash is finally spent. Took about 90 hours for this one.

And my days of eyeballing are most defianatley over. Time to take a little more measurements. and start recording this properly. start doing some of my own experiments and keeping the variables low.

[ORR]

Thanks Rad for the great recipe, did my first run 2 weeks ago.It turned out great took 5 days until she was done at 10.6%. Put 12 gallon in the keg and got 2.5 gallon at around 98%.Siponed the rest from the fermeter into the carboy for the next run witch will be this saturday as i got another batch cooking.

*15 gallon water
*60 level cups sugar
*30 tablespoons Fleischmanns Active Dry yeast
* 4 - 8 oz. Box's Gerber Rice cereal

[EuroStiller]

Don't know if anybody posted this, or if anybody cares, but the word Gerber in French means: to puke or vomit! I thought it was funny when I passed the topic title, so I had to post my two cents. Good luck to those making a mash with it!

EuroStiller- The Doctor

[rad14701]

Don't know if anybody posted this, or if anybody cares, but the word Gerber in French means: to puke or vomit! I thought it was funny when I passed the topic title, so I had to post my two cents. Good luck to those making a mash with it!

EuroStiller- The Doctor

Always interesting to hear about foreign interpretations of words around the world... Here in the US the word Gerber is a surname, part of several manufacturer names, and even a town, to list only a few uses...

As an aside, I was chuckling just last night while watching a show on TV that had a segment filmed in Australia... One of the Australians had to have subtitles and translations for his entire dialog while the balance of the Australians were totally understandable without... But, then again, that even happens with some US citizens as well when people can't break away from their deeply ingrained hillbilly or ghetto lingo...

[ScottishBoy]

well i gave my barell a swirl befor i went to sleep last night, and i woke this morning to silence. My wash is finally spent. Took about 90 hours for this one.

And my days of eyeballing are most defianatley over. Time to take a little more measurements. and start recording this properly. start doing some of my own experiments and keeping the variables low.

I am suffering from the same plight. Im sitting at about a week and it's finally starting to calm down. Im guessing that the combination of minerals in my water, the alkalinity, and possibly too much sugur made the ferment slow...but it smells SOOOO good! The first time I opened it a few days ago, I was immediately greeted by the wafting smell of fresh alcohol coming off the top. Still sweet though, so Im thinking too much sugar. Possibly a new yeast, or just less sugar.

Had to sneak a little. Hell, I could drink this right now. I might try racking and bottling just a few liters to see how it ages out.

I know...Im bad.

SB

[carl1078lewis]

Will this recipe benefit (finish faster) from any or all of the following items, added when inverting the sugar (per 4 liters of wash)?

0.5 teaspoons / 2.5ml "nutritional" yeast (not alive anymore)
0.25 teaspoon / 1ml epsom salt
0.25 teaspoon /1 ml vitamin B supplement (from the homebrew shop)

I ask because I have all these things sitting around already, and am out of buckets to ferment more Gerber washes in, and would like to speed up future ferments using this recipe if at all possible. I have one wash that's 8 days old and still bubbling every 3 seconds or so. The temp in the room I'm fermenting in isn't too low (70 F/21 C). I'm using the 'real' Gerber baby food and know that it's fortified with nutrients and minerals, just wondering if any of these other items would be helpful.

[rad14701]

carl1078lewis, I usually add my nutrient yeast (active yeast to be boiled) in with my boiled cereal... I don't boil my epsom salt or my fertilizer... A B Complex vitamin, or any B vitamins, will help... If you can keep the temperature closer to 75F or above you will have less sluggish ferments...

[piratesteve]

Well I have to say that this is my favorite sugar wash to date. Finished distilling the last batch this weekend, and the resulting spirits were very neutral but slightly sweet.

Definatley a hit with my liver. Going to try out a recipe for some kahlua with some of my product. but for the most part, it tastes so good Im just gonna leave it be!

[ScottishBoy]

Hey Rad,
I have a question? You mentioned that you keep your buckets around 78 Deg F. Do you heat them in any way? Like a belt or a Heating Pad?
If so, what do you use?

SB

[piratesteve]

I personally wrap my buckets with an electric balnket as Im in the cold north. but its gonna depend on where you live. I hear that some people have issues trying to keep them cool enough.

hope that helps

[kiwistiller]

+1 on the electric blankets. they're great because it's adjustable heat. I use a single elec blanket for all my (4) fermenters, with a blanket over the whole lot it keeps them, depending upon settings, between 20-30*C. I'm keeping it at 28-30 these days. Things freeze in the shed over winter, so I'm pretty happy with that for a $16 solution.

[rad14701]

Hey Rad,
I have a question? You mentioned that you keep your buckets around 78 Deg F. Do you heat them in any way? Like a belt or a Heating Pad?
If so, what do you use?

SB

My washes are kept in the office closet of my apartment which gets rising heat from the utility room directly below... The temperature sits rock solid at 78F for pretty much the entire year... It only drops during the coldest days of winter to the low 70's... If you are where it gets colder then any form of heat will suffice, whether electric blanket, heat tape, immersion heater, or some other method...

It's almost freezing outside (the puddles have are iced over) and with my heat turned completely off the temperature in the closet is 78F and the rest of the apartment is at 74F... Just took the AC unit out of the window on Monday after using it on Sunday night... Heat around here ain't the problem as long as the furnace and hot water tanks are working, cooling is... I like the ambient temperature for indoor living to be between 65F - 68F, personally, but never see temperatures that low...