Jimbo's Single Malt AG Recipe

[Durhommer]

This is my cap on day one is this right

[Deplorable]

Looks fine, whats your temperature? Keep it under 75F

Two hours after pitching

14 hours after.

[Durhommer]

It was warmer than the room but 67. I can feel the propagation of yeast when I touch the barrel take more pics of the process along your way would ya its always nice to have visual learning with the words I whipped the shit out of mine to get air into it

[Deplorable]

Looks fine. Your ferment would have been faster if you made a starter, but its fine. My cap has completely fallen, and its down to 1.005 and still bubbling but starting to clear. I'll run it next weekend.

[Durhommer]

Looks good there I like to rack and let it settle before I run what do you do and your cap just fell no meddling with it?

[Deplorable]

Fell in slowly on its own. I won't rack, the first 10 gallons off the top will go straight into the still. I'll pull off the rest while that strips, squeeze the grains and run the rest cloudy. Low wines will get run the next day or whenever I have time. This my first AG, so I'm still not sure what to expect other than what I've read here. I run propane so I'm not concerned with a scorch from cloudy runs.

[Durhommer]

I use electric and I run them slow it works for me it's just the first time I've followed this recipe I've always squeeze before fermenting

[cg81]

Hey guys,

I'm currently working through my first attempt at this recipe and am wondering if I have an issue.
12g water
24lbs malt
4.5 tsp gypsum
18-20g DADY

Like a bonehead I forgot to take an OG. I posted some pics in another thread about some mold/powder that has formed on top and the consensus seems to be that it is fine. Its been around 75degrees the whole time. Today, the SG is about 1.02 and has a PH of 3.75. Normally I ferment in carboys with airlocks so can use those to gauge co2 but I did this batch in a brute can so its tough to tell. I don't really see any bubbling anymore. Have I stalled it out? Thoughts? Thanks!

[Deplorable]

My first 23 gallons finished at 1.000 and the 2nd at 1.002. Starting my 3rd tomorrow. Havent had a problem yet with one stalling. But I haven't had any growth in mine yet either.

[greggn]

Have I stalled it out? Thoughts? Thanks!

The pH is low and the temperature is too cool for DADY. I'd run it with a FG of 1.002 but you should better manage both properties in your next batch.

[Durhommer]

What they said run the clear beer then figure on how you're gonna get the slop beer clear

[Durhommer]

I use this loosely as my base for my ag runs and it works

[cees]

Hi, so I've tried this recipe for the 3rd time now but have some different strip run results than before..

I started with 40 liters of peated malt (on the grain) with an OG of 1.06, it finished fermenting in about 10 days at 1.008 so time to strip (and I might have been a little impatient waiting for the settlement of the 2nd pull from the mash) with my ss keg packed with 2 pieces of copper mesh.

Strip run started as clear distillate and after an hour or so it turned a little blueish (hard to notice, like a hue). I decided to stop and check my copper. The lowest copper mesh pack had all some sort of grayish droplets on it, it looked like tin solder droplets but then very 'watery'. I tried to search what it could be but found nothing, or maybe I'm using the wrong keywords

The gray 'droplets' on the copper.

My first and only thought was, there is too much yeast in the still (as I read before this can result in blue distillate?) so I decided to remove the copper from the still and see what happens... Pfff, the smell was unbearable, maybe like rotten eggs? Sulfite. So as a test (don't think this distillate is drinkable anymore) I returned the now rinsed copper and the stinky smell disappeared but as I expected the same grayish gunk was also on the copper again after the run finished.

Copper after rinsing with water.

The resulting distillate is not blue, a little hazy but that is to be expected. Afterwards I cleaned the copper with vinegar/water and this resulted in quite a blue hue in the water.

Copper in vinegar 30 minutes or so.

So I'm guessing too many yeast in the still, but I really have no clue what the grayish gunk is.. Between neutral runs I only clean the copper with water and dry it, maybe I should clean it more often with vinegar

What do you guys think?

[Durhommer]

I'd clean my entire still out steam run it with vinegar and water then do another sacrifice run that's about all I can say about that I've not had that cept for on my initial cleaning run a long time ago

[cg81]

Hey Guys,

I've done a few runs with this recipe now and I can't seem to get the FG below 1.03. This most recent run I tried bakers yeast instead of the DADY. the PH has dropped to about 3.5-3.7 on all of the attempts. I'm wondering if its the malt I'm using? Any thoughts?

[Deplorable]

1030? Or 1003?

[cg81]

1030? Or 1003?

1030

[Deplorable]

Hmmm. Ive run four 23-25 gallon batches of this and never had a ferment stick. Always finishes around 1.002 to 1.004 so I've never bothered to check pH on the finished ferment.

[StuNY]

Are you doing an iodine test to make sure your starches are all converted to sugars before you add the yeast? What is your starting gravity?

[cg81]

i did not do an iodine test no. SG was 1050 based on what i wrote down. I'm using the calc, heating the water to 165 before adding the malt, the only thing i find is it takes a while to cool it down to pitching temp so is it possible that being at the elevated temp for too long is messing something up? when i pitched the yeast it had a great ferment to start. its cleared out really good now but still the FG is at that. I've ran the other batches but not getting a whole ton out of them. Not sure where to go, if its possible to kickstart this ferment again or if this batch is done and i gotta try something new next time

[StuNY]

Well, as "deplorable" said, this recipe is not likely to stall and need a kick start so sounds like something else is off. I have made around 30 runs with it now and also don't even bother checking PH- it just works- like clockwork. It is a good idea when you are starting to use the iodine so you can be sure you got a good conversion to sugar. You can pick it up at any drugstore. Other than that I would guess you have some unhappy yeast. I use US-05 yeast for my batches, noticeable improvement in taste over DADY that I started with. Don't think that is your problem though. What is the PH of your water when you start?

[Deplorable]

If you started with a pH around 6.5 to 7 it could only be your conversion. Otherwise if your starting pH was too low you may have dropped too much and your yeast is pissed.

[cg81]

starting PH of the water, as i just checked is around 6.7 out of the tap

[Deplorable]

You must not have converted all starches.

[cg81]

You must not have converted all starches.

hmm ok. So I gotta let it sit longer before pitching the yeast?The iodine test can confirm before I pitch the yeast or ?

[Deplorable]

Thats correct. Take a small sample in a plastic cup, and add a drop of iodine in it if it disappears you have converted all starches. Black indicates starches still present.

[cg81]

Thats correct. Take a small sample in a plastic cup, and add a drop of iodine in it if it disappears you have converted all starches. Black indicates starches still present.

thanks. and if starches are still present I just need to give it more time? I follow the recipe pretty close, i usually keep it at mash temp for like 1.5 hrs then start cooling, which takes hours. Would I check it before i start cooling it?

[StuNY]

Also, not sure how you are set up but when you pour in the 165f water a couple things should happen. It should drop to around 148, and you should keep it as close to that temp as possible for about 90 minutes. Wrap it in blankets etc so it doesn't cool too fast. It wont convert if temp goes too low. Also stir it every 15-20 minutes for the first hour.
That is why the iodine is so important at first- cause then you KNOW it converted before adding the yeast and waiting a week to find out what you got.

[cg81]

Also, not sure how you are set up but when you pour in the 165f water a couple things should happen. It should drop to around 148, and you should keep it as close to that temp as possible for about 90 minutes. Wrap it in blankets etc so it doesn't cool too fast. It wont convert if temp goes too low. Also stir it every 15-20 minutes for the first hour.
That is why the iodine is so important at first- cause then you KNOW it converted before adding the yeast and waiting a week to find out what you got.

thats EXACTLY what i do and the temp it drops to. i wrap it in blankets and it maintains. I stir it as well. doesn't it seem weird that it wouldn't convert fully? Could it be the malt i'm using?

[StuNY]

Only the iodine will tell you for sure what is happening. When the blue/black color disappears you are good to go. If you still have a problem after that You would have to look into your water source. Something in there? Lots of chlorine? Water softener? Can't believe that would be it though.