rad14701 wrote:For invert sugar, watch for the liquid to start turning a light straw color - usually 30 - 45 minutes at a low simmer...
Hey Rad I have read this many times. But all the batches I have made turned this color before I could even get it to simmer. Matter of fact its been turning that color as soon as I add the sugar and mix it in. But I have been still going through the process just to be safe. So why is like this? I assumed it was the sugar I was using?
Mine never turns quickly... Perhaps you're seeing too light of a straw color... When mine changes any minor bubbles disappear and the simmering state of the liquid totally changes... I've never checked the temperature to see id it changed at the same time, but have considered doing so... Might be the sugar, too...
I noticed the first couple I did had a yellowish tint to it from the getgo. Then quickly turned sort of a darker straw tint. But no different after simmering for 30 min. I think I will try a different brand next time I buy. Just to see. I've been buying the cheap Best Choice brand in 4 lbs bags. I can get it about 5 cents cheaper a pound in the small bags then the big ones down the street. It's always on sale. Even cheaper then Sams or Costco. I'm not going to worry about it to much. They all have fermented out good and turned out good. I just thought I would ask. Thanks.
I put on my first Gerber Saturday over a week ago. It is still bubbling. Slowly, from the beginning. I pitched my yeast at 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Maybe that was too much & killed of a lot of my yeast?
Odin.
"Great art is created only through diligent and painstaking effort to perfect and polish oneself." by Buddhist filosofer Daisaku Ikeda.
Just got the Gerber going myself. First bucket has the Gerber recipe and is cooling right now before I pitch the yeast. Second batch which will be the Turbo 48 is on the stove inverting, got about 25 minutes to go before I add it to the bucket. When I went to the store to pick up a couple of lemons, I bought some more cereal. They only had the gerber rice there in the big box, 3.75 for 16OZ.
Do you guys usually rack your wash and do a second clearing or just throw her in the boiler and go? I have a T500 reflux still so I was just thinking I would rack it gently and then start warming her up while I am putting the column together. Or maybe I will rack to a second container and let it settle a bit while I am running a cleaning run with just water, and a little vinegar?? I need to read that still cleaning thread today so I can be ready next week when it is go time.
Heading back to wally world, I have two that are about the same distance, so I will go to the other one today. Need an aquarium stick on thermometer for my second bucket, another sterilite tote to put all my junk in and stowe it so the wife wont be upset, and pick up a big ol turkey baster so I can take me some samplin's of my wash to get SG. I played with hyrdrometer last night, looks pretty straight forward. I have two of them actually, they sent me an extra one for some reason, I am not complaining.
Do I read correctly that you are inverting your sugar before adding it to a Turbo 48 yeast wash? Now if that is anything like Alcotec Turbo 48 ... please work with uninverted sugar if you want to get good results. If you run Alcotec T48 with inverted sugar, your mash temperature will get out of hand and start killing of your yeast, turing your mash green & giving it a BAD smell! I would only use an inverted sugar on any turbo yeast, if the recipe on the package explicitly states to do so ...
Odin.
"Great art is created only through diligent and painstaking effort to perfect and polish oneself." by Buddhist filosofer Daisaku Ikeda.
Yep you read it right, I am putting in a little less sugar than is required and I had initially planned on only putting in half the package to attempt to slow the fermentation down. Also, I have it sitting in a bin that I can fill with cool water to help keep the wash at a good temperature. I was reading elsewhere that folks have used inverted sugars with turbo, i do understand what you are saying tho. With easily digetible sugars, the yeast will get very fervent in their activity yielding increased heat.
Just waiting for the stuff to cool down, went to wally world and bought a turkey baster and aquarium thermometer tape for the side of the fermenters.
tomgndallas, Gerber Rice, as well as the rest of the flavors, only requires a single racking as the yeast tends to drop adequately in a short period of time...
And as for your comparative turbo yeast wash, you shouldn't have a thermal runaway problem with invert sugar if you keep the potential %ABV at 14% or below and only use half of the sachet of turbo yeast...
sounds good rad, much appreciated advice... less sugar in that second one only 10 lbs versus the 13 lbs recommendation. checked the SG on the gerber, rock solid at 1.080, which says that it estimates 11% ABV on the hydrometer? clever little thing. looking forward to this experiment, good thing next weekend is a three day holiday weekend. I am gonna be in some hooch and lovin it. The wife was helping get the samples and measuring the SG, she is excited too, thinks this whole thing is pretty cool. Gotta love that!
Pitched the yeast at 86F
More in about a week!! I will keep studyin' up in the mean time...keep it rollin'!
the turbo wash is about 1 blip a minute
the gerber is a bunch of bubbles every 10 secs or so, blip blip blip
temp at 76 F
Gonna check SG on the turbo tonite when I get back home and then give it a stir. Hopefully ready for the first distillation test by Saturday.
Hope the Gerber is done and ready for Monday holiday, that will be perfect.
hope I am not hijacking when I ask this question...
Been reading up on the forum and have seen mention of tossing a graham cracker in for flavor. Now I plan to reflux everything, so I am thinking it would not make a difference. what is the goal here if you are potstilling, some nice flavor carryover I am sure.
PM me with a link if there is a post I am missing.
turbo is done at .990, just stirred both washes up really good. gonna let them settle and be ready for stilling in the weekend, will let ya'll know how it goes!
turbo distilled out ok, now I have a baseline to compare, after aging for two weeks and chilling in the freezer it is drinkable diluted down to 100 proof...well shootable that is.
the gerber just got transferred to a secondary fermeter, so it can clear and complete fermentation. i left for a week to tend to family affairs, so now I am back at home and getting ready to hopefully distill on Monday or Tuesday. I checked the SG, it was a 1.00 down from 1.092 corrected from 1.08 at 78 degrees. I also pitched a tablespoon of epsom and a two teaspoons of disolved sugar to kickstart the final phase of the ferment. I did not add salts at the beginning as I did not have them at the time. Gave it a really good stir too, seeing a bubble or two a minute right now.
Next is the ALL bran, I am ready to do the 8 gallon batch, probably will get that rolling tonight...very exciting.
Also, I gave the Gerber wash a little taste, it aint bad at all. The turbo was not palatable whatsoever, and stuck up the house honestly, the wife did not turn her nose that much but she really likes the Gerber.
Awesome tried and true so far, thanks Rad! And to all you beginners out there, ditch the turbo, follow these recipes and have patience. It will pay out in dividends no doubt.
I hope any of you guys can help. I put on my first Gerber 3 weeks ago. It was slow to start from the beginning. Maybe, I thought, yeast was put in at too high a temp (95 degrees fahrenheit), so after 10 days I repitched yeast. Didn't change the tempo. After two weeks I took a reading. 1.030. Now, one week later, it is reading 1.021. Shit, if it continues in this way, it will be ready by Xmass!!! Still bubbling veeeeery slow. Any ideas how to speed up the process? If not, I will just strip it tomorrow and see what ABV I get out of it.
Odin.
"Great art is created only through diligent and painstaking effort to perfect and polish oneself." by Buddhist filosofer Daisaku Ikeda.
Gerber is running at 3 blips a minute, hope this thing is ready to distill on Monday or Tuesday, will check SG on Monday and report back. Off to post in the All bran, good luck to you all. Odin. Sorry to hear about the slow ferments, what are your stats? Temp, PH if you have it, starting SG, anything else? Maybe reposting the exact recipe and process will help to troubleshoot.
Odin wrote:I hope any of you guys can help. I put on my first Gerber 3 weeks ago. It was slow to start from the beginning. Maybe, I thought, yeast was put in at too high a temp (95 degrees fahrenheit), so after 10 days I repitched yeast. Didn't change the tempo. After two weeks I took a reading. 1.030. Now, one week later, it is reading 1.021. Shit, if it continues in this way, it will be ready by Xmass!!! Still bubbling veeeeery slow. Any ideas how to speed up the process? If not, I will just strip it tomorrow and see what ABV I get out of it.
Odin.
Odin's post made me think....
In this case, assuming that the wash is good in terms of nutrients and all of that, if you pitched at 95F and say half of your yeast died off, and only the strong survived, would not these just be consumed by the stronger yeast as the colony multiplied? Do you think that the yeast shutting down is a factor of alcohol percentage increasing, Odin, can you give us an estimate of that? I am curious if the environment has become toxic for some reason and is killing off the colony.
with the cooler months coming, I was thinking of making a modification on a future batch, but wanted to see if Rad had done any research on this already.
the gerber calls for active dry or bakers yeast. Rad, have you run this recipe with wine, or lager yeast? if I remember correctly, lagers like to ferment as low as 60F, and I believe that the wine yeasts like fermentation on the cooler side as well.
rad14701 wrote:tomgndallas, Gerber Rice, as well as the rest of the flavors, only requires a single racking as the yeast tends to drop adequately in a short period of time...
And as for your comparative turbo yeast wash, you shouldn't have a thermal runaway problem with invert sugar if you keep the potential %ABV at 14% or below and only use half of the sachet of turbo yeast...
Rad,
How many times are you typically racking your washes prior to stilling? should i be making this a focus as I am refluxing everything or is this mostly for pot stilling?
rad14701 wrote:tomgndallas, Gerber Rice, as well as the rest of the flavors, only requires a single racking as the yeast tends to drop adequately in a short period of time...
And as for your comparative turbo yeast wash, you shouldn't have a thermal runaway problem with invert sugar if you keep the potential %ABV at 14% or below and only use half of the sachet of turbo yeast...
Rad,
How many times are you typically racking your washes prior to stilling? should i be making this a focus as I am refluxing everything or is this mostly for pot stilling?
Just once, and usually directly into the boiler...
Thanks Rad, she is ready to go for tomorrow, just need to drain it in the still and go. I will be using my T500 reflux still. I should be able to collect about 1.7 liter or more of 93% spirit.
What is interesting is that I typically do cuts like you folks running a pot still. I take 10 jars and line them up and make 100 Ml cuts. when I am around the 5th or 6th collection, I do alot of sniffing and tasting diluted to 100 proof. I take what i think is best at that time and make a bottle to keep. then i segregate the start and the finish, minus the first 100 mL of course.
Do you do something like this? Sorry to hijack a little, this is my plan for my gerber, I am really looking forward to making some good likker with your recipe.
Next recipe will be another gerber, after my all bran finishes...
Here is what I am thinking
16 lbs sugar diluted in 2 gallons water, inverted with 2 tablespoons of citric acid at 180 to 200 F @ 30 minutes
8 cups of gerber rice in 1 gallon of water, boiled for 10 minutes
4 tbsp fermax yeast nutrient
8 tbsp of fleishmann's, started about an hour before pitching using the wash
aerate for an hour with bubble stone
these recipes are starting to flow now!
Rad, really interested in your insight on aging, good luck in your stilling everyone.
tomgndallas, most here use multiple small collection jars so they can blend after airing... I run an 8 liter boiler so I usually collect in about 200ml in ~9 jars, but some at the heads and tails ends only get filled with 100ml each and usually end up in my feints jar...
As for your recipe I hope you are describing a wash of at least 8 gallons in total volume as that 16 pounds of sugar would provide a potential of ~14.1% ABV... Aside from the water question the recipe sounds solid...
Odin wrote:Yeah, and if anybody has any ideas on why my Gerber is so slow, or how I could up the tempo ... much appreciated.
Odin.
Sorry about the delay in replying... I've never attempted to ferment any of the cereal washes under the low 70's and my fermentation closet usually holds at 76F - 78F year-round... I've only ever seen it drop into the 60's once during a cold snap in the dead of winter when there was no heat turned on in the apartment below mine... I've never had a Gerber wash drag out for very long even when only the basic ingredients were used... Epsom Salt and 20-20-20 (or similar NPK fertilizer) does speed things up considerably, however...
Thanx for the insight Rad. Might that be my problem, fermenting at around 22 degrees Centigrade? Somehow I do not have this problem with UJSSM or All Bran at the same temps. I did run a stripping run yesterday. Collected at what must have been originally a 9.5% Gerber wash. Smels pretty clean after this first run. Looking forward to the spirit run. Maybe I will buy one of those acquarium heaters, that help you to maintain a base temp of - say - 27 degrees centigrade in your fermentation bucket? Or should I switch recipe for obtaining a neutral? Like Birdwatchers?
Just started another batch of All Bran. That starts off much faster at same temp. Pitched at 25 degrees centigrade, put in some boiled yeast as additional nutrients ...
Odin.
"Great art is created only through diligent and painstaking effort to perfect and polish oneself." by Buddhist filosofer Daisaku Ikeda.
rad14701 wrote:tomgndallas, most here use multiple small collection jars so they can blend after airing... I run an 8 liter boiler so I usually collect in about 200ml in ~9 jars, but some at the heads and tails ends only get filled with 100ml each and usually end up in my feints jar...
As for your recipe I hope you are describing a wash of at least 8 gallons in total volume as that 16 pounds of sugar would provide a potential of ~14.1% ABV... Aside from the water question the recipe sounds solid...
whoops
you nailed it Rad, I was planning on the 8 gallon total volume wash again. so, even when you are running your reflux, you still collect heads and tails for the feints and then collect jars to be blended once aired, right? i am a big fan of three way communication so I like to repeat what I understand so I know we are communicating!
how long to you air your jars, my guess is an hour is too soon really to be trying, tasting and blending. I almost need a separate room for all of this, hmmm...maybe when I buy a house, I will look for one with a minibar and sink, the stillin room.haha.
tomgndallas wrote:how long to you air your jars, my guess is an hour is too soon really to be trying, tasting and blending. I almost need a separate room for all of this, hmmm...maybe when I buy a house, I will look for one with a minibar and sink, the stillin room.haha.
guess i was reading too fast, bout 2 days then start giving her the sniff test and taste.
day off from work, stilling my gerber...Rad you are a genius!! i am at 400 ml and this is the cleanest smelling neutral by far. think the other stuff is just going to go into a feints jar or a cleaning jar. Amazing, I am sooo happy!!
I took the 2nd jar and the total volume of the 7th and just added it to a feints jar. The 3rd and 4th are very clean. The 5th and 6th are also, but had a slight taste of cardboard honestly on the back end. Did multiple tastings. The second jar was buttery and nice, but I did not want to be tempted by no dang hangovers. I am loving this hobby so far. I can do a few shots and have no issues with fogginess the next day, it is great. Damn the commercial liquor industry and there poison...yes I had a few shots if you could not tell...haha.
the first set of neutral i diluted to 90 proof and will use this as a straight vodka for now. The second set I am not sure what to do with.
I will copy this post into another section as to not hijack on aging questions...
Rad, you are still the man! I am proud of this one. Can't wait to still my all bran
