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Rednick69 wrote:Is there anyway I can attempt this without being able to know the SG?

Yes follow the recipe.
Stick a finger in it when you have mixed the ingredients. Make a metal note of how sweet it tastes.
When it finishes fermenting taste it again and note what it tastes like. It should be dry almost sour.
If it is its done and ready.
Do you think all the old moonshiners walked around with a hydrometer or refractometer in their back pocket?
They seemed to manage pretty well without , mostly we can to.

fizzix wrote: The refractometer is quick and easy.
The hydrometer can give a better reading with pulpy mashes.

Fizz , is that a typo

Mine is going super slow again. I added oyster shells and the PH is around 5. I just ordered a seed heater, so I'm hoping that will work to warm these 22 gallons up. I'd like to be stilling this stuff by weekend.

How clear should a wash be before distilling? I'm from the wine making world where you clear the wine extensively before bottling. I understand scorching is a concern, but does that mean a product should be clear before going into the boiler or can there be a haze to it?

You’re not drinking the wash . A bit of cloudy won’t hurt .

Budapest8485 wrote:How clear should a wash be before distilling?

Haze is typical, it’s the globs of tomato pasted and yeast that I’m trying to keep off the elements (and the trub). I doubt you want or need to invest the time and effort to get it clear. If you’re unsure, just run it and see. If it scorches in your rig this time, filter it some next time.

Yummyrum wrote:

fizzix wrote: The refractometer is quick and easy.
The hydrometer can give a better reading with pulpy mashes.

Fizz , is that a typo

Yes it was. Corrected. Thanks for the catch.

22 gallons of Birdwatchers. I have done everything right and the SG hasn't dropped! 1.07 SG, 4.8 pH, 80 degrees. Baker's yeast!

I'm going to get some champagne yeast and try to salvage the situation.

All else being correct, your yeast is no good. Buy some fresh bakers, hydrate and repitch.

Expat wrote:All else being correct, your yeast is no good. Buy some fresh bakers, hydrate and repitch.

I'm going to the wine shop and getting the champagne yeast. That stuff has never failed me and doesn't need the extra heat.

I added red star champagne yeast to one of the buckets and EC-118 to the others. I also put https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064 ... UTF8&psc=1 in one of the EC-118 buckets.

Now it's a race to dry...I'll report the results. I'm guessing it'll take a week or two.

Nutrient and the selection of yeast made a big difference.

Red star pasteur champagne is finishing up in the next day or two, while EC-118 has probably 5 more days to go. The bucket without nutrient added has hardly moved in SG.

So the results are in. Use yellow packet pasteur champagne with FERMAX for the fastest ferment. EC-118 has a reputation of being a workhorse, but it got it's butt kicked this time.

Can I use this yeast?
Anyone using it?

Does it eat sugar and piss alcohol?

Homebrew wrote:Can I use this yeast?
Anyone using it?

It'll work, but how high it will take the ABV is in question. Untested, so it might not be able to handle higher ABV. Why risk it?

Budapest8485 wrote:

Homebrew wrote:Can I use this yeast?
Anyone using it?

It'll work, but how high it will take the ABV is in question. Untested, so it might not be able to handle higher ABV. Why risk it?

It’s a bakers yeast. It will work fine. No reason to push your ABV above 10% anyway or youll end up with a sub par product anyway.

+1 on what BoisBlancBoy says

I've been using it works great especially in temps around 27°c

Lee

28 gallons of BWs. Smells like a bakery in my house after 3 stripping runs in one day. My column smells of bread. Those hot backsets probably cleared any grease build-up on my kitchen plumbing drain line. I have a pair of insulated rubber gloves ordered for next time I do this...

The positive: I have about 3.5 gallons of low wines for a spirit run this weekend. I'm going to say it's about 40% abv on average.

Now I water it back with distilled water, pack that column mesh, and run it low and slow after 30 minutes of equalizing in full reflux.

I've rain 5 stripping runs and 1 spirit run. All of my runs have a certain smell to them. It's not a bad smell, but it's not present in commercial vodkas. I can't describe it...my friend said it smells like sugar. I didn't know sugar has a smell to it so I can't say for sure that's an accurate description. Maybe a caramel or butterscotch note to it? More butterscotch I think. I don't think I had scorching in my boiler, but if it is caramel that makes me wonder. While doing the spirit run last night, I was thinking I smelled black licorice or anise...but I don't have a great nose.

Is this an indication of needing to carbon filter? There's not much posted on this site about that topic. Most of the commercial producers I've read about mention carbon filtering in their process.

If butterscotch it might be diacetyl from the ferment.

MtRainier wrote:If butterscotch it might be diacetyl from the ferment.

Interesting... I just read some about it. All these ferments were slow, so maybe that's where it's coming from. I didn't try for high abv, so that wasn't the problem. I've left the jars open the last 1.5 days and I don't notice much now. I'll have someone with a better nose take a whiff and see if it's still present.

Hi Guys New to this Forum and to stilling,
made 2x 25ltr washes on Sunday using 1/2 Birdwatchers recipe, Wash was sitting on 34degC when I went to bed and both washes in a fridge that switches on when ambient air inside fridge hits 28degC.
Both washes frothed over during the night. How can I prevent this from happening? What is causing this to happen?

Thanks for advise

Alnz wrote:Both washes frothed over during the night. How can I prevent this from happening? What is causing this to happen?

Sounds like they are happy washes. Put less in each fermenter , leave some head room. To much in fermenter. Could pull the heat back a bit to slow them down.

Did a 5 gal BW seven days ago, it started at 1.07 and now it .990 I'm thinking of brewing it tomorrow but I still have 10 burps per minute on the carboy. Is it ok to throw into the still?

BENTCAP wrote:...but I still have 10 burps per minute on the carboy. Is it ok to throw into the still?

Wait till it stops (any day now I’d imagine). You’ll be happy you did.
ss

Getting ready to Charge Pot with BW but the numbers are low. sg .992 , 10% , 5 abv should I proceed or what? My fermenting temp were a little low because of the season, was the yeast stressed ( Fleishmens). I'm not looking for Dragons Breath just something tasty.

Feels good to be doing runs again as I haven't had time since last winter

So today I'm stripping ~50 gallons of birdwaters that's been sitting & waiting patiently since September

Might need tomorrow as well, but stripping runs go quick and just about run themselves

Hi Guys,

Just set off 2 x 25ltr Birdwatchers wash for the first time, followed the recipe to the letter, SG at 1.07 and pitched the yeast at 32c , bubbling nicely already so first of all thanks to Birdwatcher and all you guys for the brilliant information on these pages!!

Even after reading this whole thread and the novice distillers though i do need a couple of things clarifying if possible.

I've moved from the evil turbo's which i've used for 9 months, when using the turbo all i did after fermentation was de gas, leave to clear, rack, leave to clear then rack to boiler and then reflux in my T500 at a steady 55c discarding the first 100ml and collecting everything else at between 92-94 abv, i then diluted to 47 abv and ran 3 times through a carbon filter to get my finished neutral. From what i've read the process is different for the Birdwatchers so my questions are ( sorry if they appear noob, i think i've ended up confusing myself with too much reading ).

Q1. I'm aware that i can still just reflux/ spirit run this through my T500 so would this be exactly the same process as the turbo's, ie discard the first 100ml and then simply collect everything else at a steady 55c, then dilute and filter.

Q2. I have an Alembic head for the T500, a lot of posts talk about stripping first before the spirit run to reduce the volume by approx 80% and i like the idea of this process unfortunately i've got confused with the cutting, i'm sure i've seen posts that say cut/discard while stripping and some that say cut/discard while doing the spirit run, 'i've made Gin so i do understand about cutting and blending. Could someone just clarify the correct process for stripping and cutting the Birdwatcher Wash before the spirit run.

Thanks in advance and again apologies if the questions are stupid.

Scotch Trooper wrote:Hi Guys,

Just set off 2 x 25ltr Birdwatchers wash for the first time, followed the recipe to the letter, SG at 1.07 and pitched the yeast at 32c , bubbling nicely already so first of all thanks to Birdwatcher and all you guys for the brilliant information on these pages!!

Even after reading this whole thread and the novice distillers though i do need a couple of things clarifying if possible.

I've moved from the evil turbo's which i've used for 9 months, when using the turbo all i did after fermentation was de gas, leave to clear, rack, leave to clear then rack to boiler and then reflux in my T500 at a steady 55c discarding the first 100ml and collecting everything else at between 92-94 abv, i then diluted to 47 abv and ran 3 times through a carbon filter to get my finished neutral. From what i've read the process is different for the Birdwatchers so my questions are ( sorry if they appear noob, i think i've ended up confusing myself with too much reading ).

Q1. I'm aware that i can still just reflux/ spirit run this through my T500 so would this be exactly the same process as the turbo's, ie discard the first 100ml and then simply collect everything else at a steady 55c, then dilute and filter.

Q2. I have an Alembic head for the T500, a lot of posts talk about stripping first before the spirit run to reduce the volume by approx 80% and i like the idea of this process unfortunately i've got confused with the cutting, i'm sure i've seen posts that say cut/discard while stripping and some that say cut/discard while doing the spirit run, 'i've made Gin so i do understand about cutting and blending. Could someone just clarify the correct process for stripping and cutting the Birdwatcher Wash before the spirit run.

Thanks in advance and again apologies if the questions are stupid.

Hi Scotch

In regards to Q1

yes it's just the same but your output will be half of that of the turbo I usually discard the first 250ml. In regards to the 55°c I presume that's the temperature of the cooling water on the exit. The temperature can be useful when first starting out but we recommend that you learn to do it at a speed ie 2 drops a second or constant stream etc it will improve your understanding.

In regards to Q2

Stripping can help speed things up. There's no need to do cuts on a stripping run I personally discard the fores and collect until the total abv of the low wines is 35%/40% for a neutral. Usually save 3/4 of these to do 1 spirit run.
I don't know if you have seen this but it's a guide for making cuts and collect in small jars throughout the run.
viewtopic.php?t=11640

Personally I no longer find the need to filter since I stopped using turbo's

Regards

Lee

Perfect, thanks Lee!

I do remember reading that guide but it was at the end of a marathon reading session so I reckon I didn’t absorb much

So to clarify...... I’ll strip my 2 x 25ltr Birdwatchers discarding the first 200 - 250ml then collect down to 20%, i’ll save these and put another 2 Birdwatchers on and strip until I have 4 ( suspect that will give me approx 20ltrs at approx 40%abv ). I’ll then complete a spirit run. Another silly question ( last one )....Due to discarding and cleaning on a stripping run do I still need to discard on a spirit run?

Thanks again

Scotch