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I just couldn't find slaked lime anywhere locally. Would pelletized limestone work?

raketemensch wrote:I just couldn't find slaked lime anywhere locally. Would pelletized limestone work?

Its not the same thing....limestone is calcium carbonate (like oyster shells). Slaked lime (pickling lime) is calcium hydroxide.

The hydroxide is a much stonger (reactive) base than the carbonate. Calcium carbonate will work, but much slower, to neutralize the acids.

Try looking in the grocery store for "pickling lime"....it's food safe calcium hydroxide. But remember, it is stronger than the calcium carbonate (limestone), so add a little at a time (rehydrate it in a little water first) and check the pH. You'll soon know how much is the "magic dose".
ss

still_stirrin wrote:

raketemensch wrote:I just couldn't find slaked lime anywhere locally. Would pelletized limestone work?

Its not the same thing....limestone is calcium carbonate (like oyster shells). Slaked lime (pickling lime) is calcium hydroxide.

The hydroxide is a much stonger (reactive) base than the carbonate. Calcium carbonate will work, but much slower, to neutralize the acids.

Try looking in the grocery store for "pickling lime"....it's food safe calcium hydroxide. But remember, it is stronger than the calcium carbonate (limestone), so add a little at a time (rehydrate it in a little water first) and check the pH. You'll soon know how much is the "magic dose".
ss

The barrel (32g) has had over a pound of powdered/dissolved calcium carbonate in it for about 2 weeks now, and the ph didn't budge, it's somewhere between 2 and 3. I'll dig around for pickling lime, but I hadn't been able to find it so far.

Try building supplies. My local buys it by the pallet load and this is just a small country town.

hey all, just about to dive into cracked corn grains with this recipe

Just grabbed 20kg of all natural cracked corn and am wanting to give this a go. i want to spread it over 3 ferments rather than 2 and a bit given im doing 50L ferments so can i divide it by 3 making it 6.6kg of cracked corn per 50l ferments. maybe, after some advice...

Is this alright considering the original recipe used 8.4kg per 50l. I was thinking that the amount of sugar in the original recipe wash matched the amount of corn grains, ie 3.2kg sugar and 3.2kg corn, if i lower the corn to 6.6 do i then lower the sugar content also to 6.6kg, will it taste the same as the original recipe or will it be weak? does sugar content also affect the flavour carry over, im thinking myself maybe it might be same since im lowering sugar content. Wanting to put this down tomorrow the very latest, today wold be good.

Cheers
WTD

more sugar creates more alcohol, which thins the flavour.

That said if you keep the ratios the same, the flavour should be close to the same.

at the size you are talking, you should have a OG of 1.05, producing 7.8% alcohol, according to rad's calcs on the parent site... should be a nice clean fast ferment.
http://homedistiller.org/calcs/rad14701" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

WTD wrote:hey all, just about to dive into cracked corn grains with this recipe

Just grabbed 20kg of all natural cracked corn and am wanting to give this a go. i want to spread it over 3 ferments rather than 2 and a bit given im doing 50L ferments so can i divide it by 3 making it 6.6kg of cracked corn per 50l ferments. maybe, after some advice...

Are you sure you understand the method? UJSSM does not use the original amount of corn in subsequent generations

Just dip it out down to the top of the grain bed.
About 4-5' of water hose works as a siphon also.

Yea i understand, was going to use new grain each time but ive realised i don need to now, just to discard spent grain. Cheers guys.

also i use a siphon from a HBS always and attach it so it never goes into the shit on the bottom so i will do this again.

Only thing im going to do different is simmer at boiling point the corn for a hour or so to try extract a little more first time but i will most likely use the first batch as a vodka if it is weak.

Next few gens ill be adding in barley and either wheat or rye, rye preferably but its so much more expensive than wheat here in Australia.

I'm not sure about corn. I read both ways. I want to start my wash so I went to tractor supply and picked up 50 lbs. of cracked corn and sweet feed. Trying them both. Got to reading and it says it has preservites. Use it or not. I've seen it both ways in reading.

Use it

I have used hundreds of pounds of TSC cracked corn...no worries!

There it is. Ty

How about the sweet feed do you have a pic of that bag. If you use it. I started a batch then seen where it said now pellets. I bought pellets from TSC. Should I toss it.

Some have used the sweet feed with pellets,but say that the flavor isn't great and its hard to separate the liquid from the mush.
I wouldn't use it but if its already fermented and you can separate it,run it and see what you get.

Ive made quite a few generations of uj last year. Still have it untouched on oak. What i left white ive been using for "insert your fruit here" pie. I think the aged uj is great, but with fruit it seems to get a bitter taste. I think the corn flavors dont jive well with some fruits like blue or raspberry. Strawberry and apple was good.

Anyhow.....i run a pot still that can go as pot, single or double thumper. Woild i be better off to maybe triple run the uj diluted with water for the mixer likker or just go with a sugar wash for that?

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So quick question. Do I stir my mash and aerate after adding my backsets and sugar?

newbie1982 wrote:So quick question. Do I stir my mash and aerate after adding my backsets and sugar?

Yes,stir like hell,boiled backset is oxygen depleted.

Wtfdskin,
For something to add fruit flavor to read odins cornflakes thread but substitute rice crispies for the cornflakes. Hit it with a yeast bomb. Comes out relatively neutral flavored for a pot still. For apple pie try rum.

newbie1982 wrote:So quick question. Do I stir my mash and aerate after adding my backsets and sugar?

I aerate the makeup water, dump the backset onto the sugar, add the makeup water to get my desired OG, wait for the temperature to come right for my yeast, then dump it onto 2/3rds of the trub and new corn and stir the bejeesus out of it for some more aeration.

Something that ife been doing lately is when I remove some spent grains I make sure to get some of the yeast bed and freeze it to use later in yeast bombs.
Jbt

well i messed something up!!!!
so i finished my first run used my backsets to dissolve my sugar let it cool and filled my bucket back up back up.
i think i might have added to much sugar my OG reading is 1.082
am i going to be ok or do i need to do something???

The backset rised the OG. Everything is ok. It is not sure if the sugar of the backset is fermentable. If not you will end with the same abv like always. Or you get a bit more. It's all fine.

so will my FG be higher also?

It could be lower.

WOW this thing has taken off like a rocket. got home about 3 hours after i put the air pump in. it's a 50 gallon fermenting barrel so im using a rubber grommet and some half inch cpvc pipe into a one gallon bucket full of water and it is bubbling so hard its shaking the pipe and little bucket

newbie1982 wrote:so will my FG be higher also?

Yes, if the sugar from the backset is still unfermentable. Probably it is unfermentable, because while stilling you cooked the mash and liquified the starch, but there were no enzymes to crack it down further. Liquified starch rises the gravity reading. Both before and after fermentation.

It's not necessary to boil the corn and is not a part of the recipe.

tp

ok so if there is liquid starch left in my backsets can i add some of this powder amalyse emzyme ive had sitting for a while when it cools to 150 degrees then add my sugar to convert some of that starch???

newbie1982 wrote:ok so if there is liquid starch left in my backsets can i add some of this powder amalyse emzyme ive had sitting for a while when it cools to 150 degrees then add my sugar to convert some of that starch???

Yes. But of course a real mashing process would lead to more conversion. If you have the powder at home, use it. The conversion will be limited, because the powder is only alpha-amylase probably, and probably it doesn't like the low pH of the backset very well.

Hey, Merry Christmas friends!!!