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Just about to try a stripping run on a batch of Gerber wash...have to make room for some corn wash...ahem...

hi all,

Just chiming in to say I upped my temps from 70 to 80F degrees and my 20 liter gerber washes are finishing up in 5 days now rather than 10+. Thanks for the tip Rad. Lucky for me my fermenters are right next to a heater in a small room, so upping the temp was a snap. Amazing what a difference 10 degrees makes!

Just finsishing up the second half of my Gerber Multi-Grain strip...I have to admit this is quite sweet and very nice. Not as much bite as the tomato wash and seems to be very narrow in heads and tails. Im not sure, but it seems like it might be possible to let Gerber sit too long, I was piking up minor traces of vinegar when I opened it today which werent there three days ago. Could be just me, it finished very dry and not sweet at all. I did add one ingredient which I think might have helped, bit Im going to want to experiment with it a little more until Im sure it even worked.

SB

PS. Anyone else find themselves spending more time in the breakfast and cereals ailses at the supermarket thinking" Hmmm...wonder what that would taste like in a wash?"

ScottishBoy wrote:Anyone else find themselves spending more time in the breakfast and cereals ailses at the supermarket thinking" Hmmm...wonder what that would taste like in a wash?"

Hehe,
I'm sure I have no idea what you mean

ScottishBoy wrote:Anyone else find themselves spending more time in the breakfast and cereals ailses at the supermarket thinking" Hmmm...wonder what that would taste like in a wash?"

I do my research online so as not to be mistaken for a lurker in the grocery store aisles...

I cant tell ya the number of times my wife has told me to quit it or shut up when we walk in the market. Its gotten so bad she can see it in my eyes that im about to do a hmmmmmm..

The five phrases that have recently got me in trouble...

1. "Hey..All-Bran is on sale!"
2. "Is this the largest container of yeast you carry?"
3 "Are you sure these are 100% copper?"
4. 'I wonder what THAT would taste like?"
5. "Do you have any open bottles of Vodka that I could smell?"

What is the typical yield of drinkable hearts are people getting from a 5 gal run. I am ending up with about 650-750ml of 94% after making cuts. And about 800ml of feints, most of which comes from the tails side.
Does that sound reasonable?

Maynard wrote:What is the typical yield of drinkable hearts are people getting from a 5 gal run. I am ending up with about 650-750ml of 94% after making cuts. And about 800ml of feints, most of which comes from the tails side.
Does that sound reasonable?

That amount sounds a bit on the low side... With a 14% wash you should be collecting about 2.75 liters total in the 90%+ range using a reflux still... With foreshots, heads, and tails removed you should have considerably more spirits than you are collecting... I think I get about double what you are getting from that volume of wash and I barely collect and tails because they just aren't worth chasing after with my reflux column...

rad14701 wrote:Here is a picture of an All Bran wash on the left and a Gerber Barley wash on the right... The right jug is slightly tinted green... Both are bubbling away quite happily...

Can I ask what you made those airlocks out of?

mjdtexan wrote:Can I ask what you made those airlocks out of?

See this topic which describes the construction...

LWTCS wrote:

ScottishBoy wrote:Anyone else find themselves spending more time in the breakfast and cereals ailses at the supermarket thinking" Hmmm...wonder what that would taste like in a wash?"

Hehe,
I'm sure I have no idea what you mean

I look at stone fruits in the same way during the season, but purely on an academic level. I'm a bit like Goose; I never make likker and never will.

blanik

I got a 5 gal wash finishing up right now, didn't rally take care, just eyeballed and shit. If I don't have a hydrometer or what ever you guys use to find wash %, should I just run it when the bubbles are few and far between?

Run it till all bubbling has finished. While it bubbling it's producing etho.

blanik

Does anyone use EC-1118 with this recipe? What would be the correct amount per gallon in this recipe?
Thanks!

I have a batch with 1118 going right now and used about 2 of the small packages. It is going on its third week, so for me its ALOT slower. My bakers yeast batches take less than a week but i pinich much more when using that. The smell from the ferment is a ton different on this one though so I am curious what the taste difference is going to be.

I started this receipe just yesterday afternoon and am pleased in the way it is fermenting so far. I hope it is quick, but only time will tell.
I had to buy beechnut cereal instead of Gerber. I was beginning to think the store didn't have any barley, but I finally found it.
I wonder if the rice cereal would work the same way?

All of the flavors work equally as well because they are all vitamin and mineral fortified, UnclePaul...

I posted in the yeast section about the results so far with two different redstar yeasts. While mixing these up I got to thinking and that is sometimes trouble.
Could you use this barley in a all grain mix? Take cracked corn and do the entire process of boing, holding the temp to convert the starch and use the barley cereal instead of malted barley?
I live in a small town and our feed store doesn't carry barley and I'm already getting smiles when buying corn and propane.

UnclePaul wrote:I posted in the yeast section about the results so far with two different redstar yeasts. While mixing these up I got to thinking and that is sometimes trouble.
Could you use this barley in a all grain mix? Take cracked corn and do the entire process of boing, holding the temp to convert the starch and use the barley cereal instead of malted barley?
I live in a small town and our feed store doesn't carry barley and I'm already getting smiles when buying corn and propane.

I doubt that the small amount of barley would have any malting properties... I'd imagine any enzymes in the grain would have been killed off during the manufacturing process...

rad14701 wrote:All of the flavors work equally as well because they are all vitamin and mineral fortified, UnclePaul...

How do each of the different flavors effect the taste? i.e. does the barley give the wash a better taste over say the oatmeal or the rice? I can get Oatmeal and Rice at the local *Mart cheap (~$2 a box) but the barley I'd have to get at the supermarket and it's ~$5 a box, kinda high considering I paid $9 for 50# of cracked corn.



Unclepaul, I'd buy the two separate. Might be more effort, but this is a hobby where being discrete is the safer road. I bought 50# cracked corn and a bag of wild bird seed. Nothing suspicious there and Momma gets to feed the birds, win/win. Our local hardware store is under new management and have hired a bunch of young people that give you the puzzled look when just asking for stainless set screws. I could probably get a pile of copper fittings, some propane tanks filled, 100# of corn, 25# bag of sugar, some big pots, and a brick of yeast and they'd not have a clue but I'm still conscience of "what it looks like" and always come up with a viable cover story. I envy anyone who goes to the hardware store to get some "supplies" and a knowledgeable clerk clues onto what you're building and offers some sound and solid help because they've been doing it for years. Must be nice....

Hardest thing for me is walking in to my house with a 10 KG bag of sugar...Neighbor saw me twice so far and said..."you sure do make alot of wine" I answered "yeah..I'm trying to get alot put away for aging..tough to do"

Hardest part of the conversation was when he wanted to "talk shop" about it since he had made wine before. I apparently BS'd my way through it well since i have never made anything other than washes for distilling before

I have started bringing stuff in later in the evening when its dark and this seems to work.

My three carboys are still going at it strong. The first seems to be slowing down slightly. The second still has quite a bit of movement in the grain throughout the mix, but the third using that Quikrise yeast is still rolling and bubbling like a Phillipino volcano!
The best way to describe it would be to think of a kid blowing bubbles thru a straw into a drink, non stop.

Nightforce wrote:

rad14701 wrote:All of the flavors work equally as well because they are all vitamin and mineral fortified, UnclePaul...

How do each of the different flavors effect the taste? i.e. does the barley give the wash a better taste over say the oatmeal or the rice? I can get Oatmeal and Rice at the local *Mart cheap (~$2 a box) but the barley I'd have to get at the supermarket and it's ~$5 a box, kinda high considering I paid $9 for 50# of cracked corn.

I can't say how much flavor carries over because I only use enough cereal to achieve a fast and complete ferment... I'm sure more cereal would impart more flavor, I've just never tried... They all make clean neutral spirits...


@UnclePaul

All of my ferments bubble constantly from start to finish with plain Fleischmann's active dry yeast... Just about all of my Gerber and All Bran washes finish in about 3 days and are clear enough to run on the 4th day...

rad14701 wrote:All of my ferments bubble constantly from start to finish with plain Fleischmann's active dry yeast... Just about all of my Gerber and All Bran washes finish in about 3 days and are clear enough to run on the 4th day...

+1

I do however like to give mine an extra day or so in the fridge.

The three carboys I've mixed with the barley cereal are still going at it. The two with the regular redstar are now to the point it's a few bubbles then a short break, back to a few bubbles then the break. But the Quikrise yeast is still going at it like a broken air hose. It has slowed from what it was in the beginning, but there is no break yet in the bubbling.
I have to admit that the odor from these carboys is very pleasant and I'm hoping that some of the taste does come over from my pot still.
I'm interested in seeing what it does.

I think you may find that All Bran has a better carry over for pot stilling.

No matter. It's all good.

Seven days to ferment out dry. I wish my corn would ferment to a finish like this did. I looked below the .099 on my hydrometer.
I let it sit another day and then started this morning putting some fire below it. I'm an early riser so by 4:00 I had the pot heating.
Now lets see what I get from the carboys.

Just chiming in to sound off and prove that I'm still here. Been doing multi-generational Gerber washes, in my 20 liter carboys. Dumping out about 1/2 the sludge at the bottom, refilling with fresh sugar water, more gerber, and a bit of backset. Just starting generation 4 doing this with one carboy, and the other one on generation 3 should be finished later this week. Good and easy. The later generations seem to slow down a bit, but I haven't measured anything to figure out why, could be PH I suppose. I made it a goal to make 100 gallons of wash from this recipe before moving on to more expensive washes so I could learn how to run my still properly. Funny thing is I think I'm already 30 gallons into this, with a still that's under 2 months old. Hopefully by the time I get 100 gallons under my belt, my cuts will be good enough that I won't be wasting that cracked corn. Gerber is a great recipe.

carl1078lewis wrote:Been doing multi-generational Gerber washes, in my 20 liter carboys. Dumping out about 1/2 the sludge at the bottom, refilling with fresh sugar water, more gerber, and a bit of backset. Just starting generation 4 doing this with one carboy, and the other one on generation 3 should be finished later this week. Good and easy. The later generations seem to slow down a bit, but I haven't measured anything to figure out why, could be PH I suppose.

Thanks for that feed back. It seems that lately some members have been inquiring about doing multiple generations with this recipe. Good to know that its a completely viable exercise. As noobsause previously mentioned, we just don't get much dialog about the multiple generation sugar wash.
Are you pot stilling?