Home Distiller

Posted: **Sat Feb 18, 2012 5:51 pm**

when you make tomato sauce it is about 8/1,paste never made it.

Posted: **Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:55 am**

Just tried this recipe for my first ever ferment and distilling run. It was easy beyond belief. Ran it twice through my potstill trying to kill the smell of the wash before I realized theres no cleaning this up without a reflux still. I wound up building a bokakob, ran it again, and hot damn. Made the finest nuetral ive ever tasted. I am a complete novice been reading here for about a month, and have world class product my first time out. This will be my go to recipe for neutral, got my second batch started, ingredients for two more after that. My hat's off to Birdwatcher. This is a winner.

Posted: **Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:04 am**

So... I may need some help.

I started a 5 gallon Birdwatchers Wash last sunday, making this day eight. I did not have a hydrometer at the time, but it now reads 1.050, same as yesterday. As of now, it is still bubbling at a decent rate and if you stir it around it is still quite reactive. This is in a five gallon water jug, with 6oz paste, a juiced lemon, 2oz bakers yeast, 10lbs sugar, and water. Temp is around 70 degrees. I do not have a heatlamp or anything on it.

I think I am just impatient.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:13 am**

Boy did I screw something up.
I need some advice on my latest batch of birdwatchers recipe. I have made a couple of batches using this recipe before and they turned out great. However this time I got a bad taste. I know that I made a mistake when I was mixing things up. I forgot to add Epson salts. I did a stripping run then a sprit run with my 5 foot reflux column still.
I thought I had separated the nasties out and cut it off soon enough however this was the first time I had done a double distillation. Maybe there is a learning curve somewhere I need to know about. My question is if I ran this through the still again is there a chance that it will clear up the taste or am I stuck with what I have and have to resort to carbon and hope for the best. Makes a man want to cry when ya got a batch of vodka that looks so good but tastes not so good.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:41 am**

Did your wash finish completely (SG=1.000 or less)?

If so, I'd look to your stilling methods. Did you run too hot/too fast and not get enough reflux? Try diluting it to 30% and run it again - slow. You might be able to save it.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:44 am**

Yes the fermentation went by the numbers. Temprature was spot on, finished after about a week right on the numbers. In the past doing the single distlation my still always ran stable and predictable, 176- f all the way through then a sharp rise signaled the end. I cut it off at 180-f. I did notice that on the sprit run it ran a little diffrent. It ran a little higher temprature 178-f and a much slower rise at the end to the cut off of 180-f. If I run this batch again I think I will cut it off at the first sign of a temprature rise. Maybe that is what I did wrong.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:19 pm**

jwl, your Nixon Stone offset valved reflux should be capable of better temperatures and %ABV than you are getting...

Posted: **Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:46 am**

I think this wash is just about perfect for a beginner and it is my go to wash on neutrals. But what I wanted to share is this. The first time I made some of this wash I had a flash back to my more wilder younger years when I was a "guest of the state" for quite some time. When ever your room was checked buy our hosts would confiscate our extra sugar and look for hoarded Katchup for the simple fact it was the easiest way to make passsable tomato "wine"
Just saying that if it's easy enough to make in a tortilla bag under a bed any one can do it

Posted: **Sun Mar 11, 2012 8:06 pm**

cant get fresh lemons how much lemon juice to use for 1/2 of 80 liter .in other words gonna try 10 gallons for 1rst time w/this recipe.thanks

Posted: **Sun Mar 11, 2012 8:19 pm**

curtisbowling wrote:cant get fresh lemons how much lemon juice to use for 1/2 of 80 liter .in other words gonna try 10 gallons for 1rst time w/this recipe.thanks

Take the bottle, shake some on top. Boom, done. It isn't that important to get it exact. And you can't get fresh lemons? I go to chipotle and just fill a water cup with lemon wedges if I don't feel like going to the store

Don't worry, I've bought enough burritos off them to make it worth their while.

Posted: **Sun Mar 11, 2012 8:39 pm**

thanks,i live 40 miles from nowhere happen to have some lemon juice in fridge from last time went out to work and coulnt get limes for tequila,all other ingredients are basics the old lady keeps around gonna try 1/2 of recipe.been doin turbo and my work buddies love it but cant make it to work a lot of the time we work long hours 12-16 shifts in power plants 2-3 weeks at a time then take a few weeks off.thanks again gonna throw a couple tblspoons in.

Posted: **Mon Mar 12, 2012 1:20 pm**

Yeah, just make sure you take notes on how much you use and how the results end up. That way if you like it then next time you know what to do

I use a few slices and squeeze them, it usually varies every time exactly how much ends up in there

Posted: **Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:05 pm**

started last night at 2 am,10 gallons ,20 lbs sugar 1.5 cups tomato paste,25 tblsp lemon juice,15 packets fleishmans rapid rise high active yeast 3 3/4 oz.at 75 f 1.075 .stirred and checked tonight at 75f 1.060 bubbling away.wondering if after 3 days or when sg is correct,should i transfer to airlock carboys or let it ride need to prepare.in recipe you left this as a ?

Posted: **Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:35 pm**

This is my first everything.

New flute. New to fermenting. New to distilling.
Ok so that being said, lets say I have 50 liters of Birdwashers at 1.012 SG (started @1.09). I figure in a day or so it will be at .995 SG.

Do I have to wait for it to settle out after reaching .995 SG?
If so how long approximately?
Will you see a distinct layer of sediment?

I dont have a pot still, but could set up my flute with no plates and do a stripping run (isolate reflux condenser and use product condenser only). Is that necessary or can I run it with the plates in?

Just trying to put all the pieces together in my mind before filling the boiler.
Thanks Steve

Posted: **Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:47 pm**

Sungy wrote:This is my first everything.

New flute. New to fermenting. New to distilling.
Ok so that being said, lets say I have 50 liters of Birdwashers at 1.012 SG (started @1.09). I figure in a day or so it will be at .995 SG.

Do I have to wait for it to settle out after reaching .995 SG?

Not necessarily, but for better end product, yes

If so how long approximately?

Never done birdwatchers, but usually a couple of days.

Will you see a distinct layer of sediment?

Yes, the yeasties will be sound asleep on the floor.

I dont have a pot still, but could set up my flute with no plates and do a stripping run (isolate reflux condenser and use product condenser only). Is that necessary or can I run it with the plates in?

Dunno bout stripping runs with a flute. Don't see why not.

Just trying to put all the pieces together in my mind before filling the boiler.

The pieces will all fall into place after your first couple of runs. A light bulb goes off, and it all just 'clicks'...at least it did for me
Thanks Steve

Posted: **Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:01 pm**

Im not sure that a flute is the ideal tool for distilling a birdwatchers wash....a proper reflux still would do a better job. You would be better off running UJSM or Rum wash through the flute.
Depending on ambient room / air temp a birdwatchers could take anywere between 6 days and 2 weeks

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:13 pm**

my wash is at .988 and the still is getting work done so i can't run it for another couple days,
how low would it go?

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:00 pm**

As Rad once put it, "how long is a piece of string?"... The answer is, it all depends. Even if it ends where it is ow, you're in pretty good shape

Posted: **Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:40 am**

SO this is going to be my first wash. Want to try it with both turbo and reg. yeast. Has anyone used the turbo on this recipe? and if so how long before it is ready. Yes I know I know turbo is not going to be my yeast of choice but I bought some and now reading lots of post about the better taste of reg. yeast. Hey, I am a Newbie I am sure I will have lots of Hickups...but thanks to a great forum hope to have fun with this.

Tater wrote:{birdwatchers}My recipe for an 80 liter wash. Ingredients as follows:

3 cups tomato paste

Juice 3 lemons

Approx. 18 kg sugar

225 grams fresh regular bakers yeast. Buy in bulk at any good health food store.

water(I use spring well water)

Procedure:

Keep careful notes from start to finish for future reference.

Carefully mix paste, juice, say 14 kg sugar with 60 liters water at 30C. Measure SG.
(you are aiming for 1.09)

Carefully add water and sugar to bring mixture to 80 liter, WITH A SG 1.09.
Temperature of finished mixture should be 30C-35C to start.

You should now have 80 liters of mixed ingredients.

Carefully sprinkle 225 grams of yeast over surface, stirring in.
Place cover loosely, to let CO2 escape, keeping flying nasties out.
There is so much CO2 coming off; there is no need to worry about oxygen coming in contact.

Place bottomless styrofoam box over fermenter. Dangle lit lightbulb through small
hole in lid. Bulb must be strong enough to keep the mixture at a steady range of
30C-35C for entire fermentation. Size of bulb depends on room temperature. Stick
your digital thermometer through side of box to track inside temperature.

{A good idea would be to set up with water a day before you begin wash to determine
the size of light bulb to maintain water/wash in the 30-35C range.}

Check SG and temperature daily

Stir daily

On day three, syphon contents evenly into four 23 liter airlocked carboys.
(This step may not be nessesary and I may at some future date simply take the wash from start
to finish in the unairlocked storage container)

Check SG and temperature daily

Shake carboys gently daily.

After a total of 7-8 days SG should be .995. If not, wait until completion.

Note: After ten years of making 95% ethanol, and fine tuning my recipe after lots of
suggestions from people on this forum, this is what works for me. I'm always fine
tuning and welcome any comments or suggestions.

If any points above are not clear or you have questions, feel free to ask.

Cheers,

G
_________
_________________
PM me if you need a perfect sugar wash for ethanol

Posted: **Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:22 am**

Washashore wrote:As Rad once put it, "how long is a piece of string?"... The answer is, it all depends. Even if it ends where it is ow, you're in pretty good shape

watched a documentary yesterady called "how long is a piece of string",
it was great,

so here it goes... a string is infinite, it only has a measureable length when you are measuring it and after you measure it goes back to infinity, (quantum physics)

mathematically speaking because the string has a textured surface it would be a "fractal" which means the length is for ever being added on to by the multiplied power of 4/3ths,

Posted: **Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:02 pm**

I have run this several times but with out adding the Epsom salt.

I heated up the water and in another pot the back set from running a wash.

Mixed the tomato paste, lemon juice, salt in about a gallon of hot water, added
the rest of the hot water. Added enough cool water to bring the temp down to 106 range
and up to 6.5 gallons.

Tossed 2.5 oz of dry bakers yeast on top and stirred it in.

In less than a minute it started to burp - this can't be I thought to myself.

In 20 minutes both tubs were going like machine guns

3 days later they are still going pretty hard. I have never pitched this much yeast at most maybe an ounce.

Hope it comes out taste wise - we shall see

Coyote

Posted: **Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:22 pm**

SO this is going to be my first wash. Want to try it with both turbo and reg. yeast. Has anyone used the turbo on this recipe? and if so how long before it is ready. Yes I know I know turbo is not going to be my yeast of choice but I bought some and now reading lots of post about the better taste of reg. yeast. Hey, I am a Newbie I am sure I will have lots of Hickups...but thanks to a great forum hope to have fun with this.

hey mate, plenty of answers to this around here. If i may pre-empt the experts:

why bother using a turbo yeast with this recipe. its packed already with nutrients and ph adjusters so adding it to a birdwatcher recipe is just doubling up on everything but sugar. bad idea. it has been suggested that the best thing to do with this is to boil it to kill the yeast, and then you can use the resultant solution as a nutrient stock for a basic sugar wash.

I also have unwanted turbo packets and plan to do just that, my idea is simply add a boiled solution of the turbo to a wash of 25 litres water and 6 kg of sugar, and then adding 100 g of dried bakers yeast. It may appear that this process just simply replaces the "turbo" yeast strain with a tried and proven bakers yeast strain, which begs the question of whether the off flavours that the turbo yeasts produce are caused by the specific yeast strain used, or the nutrients and additives supplied with it in the packet. Its probably a combination of them both but at least by replacing the yeast one of those variables is removed. Only one way to find out if this idea works....

Posted: **Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:56 pm**

retlaw wrote:
Washashore wrote:mathematically speaking because the string has a textured surface it would be a "fractal" which means the length is for ever being added on to by the multiplied power of 4/3ths,

That sounds like surface area or circumference, not length.

... now, back to our regularly scheduled thread.

Posted: **Thu Mar 29, 2012 6:55 am**

I am adjusting the BW recipe to my particular needs ie: a 4.7 gal wash and was wondering if I added a 1/2 tsp 20-20-20 would the Epsom Salts become un-necessary? (never took chemistry

)

Posted: **Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:41 am**

seaguy wrote:I am adjusting the BW recipe to my particular needs ie: a 4.7 gal wash and was wondering if I added a 1/2 tsp 20-20-20 would the Epsom Salts become un-necessary? (never took chemistry )

Yup, the fert should be all ya need

Posted: **Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:28 am**

The fertilizer I use has the same magnesium sulfate so if I use 20-20-20 I use less or no Epsom Salt... I was hoping to mix up another batch of my tweaked Birdwatchers this week but it might be next week before that happens...

Posted: **Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:46 am**

Goose wrote:
SO this is going to be my first wash. Want to try it with both turbo and reg. yeast. Has anyone used the turbo on this recipe? and if so how long before it is ready. Yes I know I know turbo is not going to be my yeast of choice but I bought some and now reading lots of post about the better taste of reg. yeast. Hey, I am a Newbie I am sure I will have lots of Hickups...but thanks to a great forum hope to have fun with this.
hey mate, plenty of answers to this around here. If i may pre-empt the experts:

why bother using a turbo yeast with this recipe. its packed already with nutrients and ph adjusters so adding it to a birdwatcher recipe is just doubling up on everything but sugar. bad idea. it has been suggested that the best thing to do with this is to boil it to kill the yeast, and then you can use the resultant solution as a nutrient stock for a basic sugar wash.

I also have unwanted turbo packets and plan to do just that, my idea is simply add a boiled solution of the turbo to a wash of 25 litres water and 6 kg of sugar, and then adding 100 g of dried bakers yeast. It may appear that this process just simply replaces the "turbo" yeast strain with a tried and proven bakers yeast strain, which begs the question of whether the off flavours that the turbo yeasts produce are caused by the specific yeast strain used, or the nutrients and additives supplied with it in the packet. Its probably a combination of them both but at least by replacing the yeast one of those variables is removed. Only one way to find out if this idea works....

Down to 1.020 SG yesterday, can hardly wait. It was a week ago about 9 P.M. I started the wash

Posted: **Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:19 pm**

Hey Yama
Looks like your on your way to making some good BW.
This recipe is my go-to for making a really good neutral.
I give mine 3 weeks from start to finish including the clearing stage.
The bakers yeast i use ( Lowans ) likes it warmer than where i live so it drags a bit but gets there eventually.
I buy all the ingredients from woolworths supermarket and it ends up costing me less than $2 per bottle to make from a 27lt wash.
Happy drinkin

Posted: **Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:06 pm**

Andy Capp wrote:Hey Yama
Looks like your on your way to making some good BW.
This recipe is my go-to for making a really good neutral.
I give mine 3 weeks from start to finish including the clearing stage.
The bakers yeast i use ( Lowans ) likes it warmer than where i live so it drags a bit but gets there eventually.
I buy all the ingredients from woolworths supermarket and it ends up costing me less than $2 per bottle to make from a 27lt wash.
Happy drinkin

Wow you get your sugar cheap, eh? I like using brewer's yeast, especially ec1118. I find there's more final moonshine taste, less rum-y taste. Plus there's a higher yield as it can tolerate more alcohol, which makes the higher price worth it to me.

Posted: **Fri Mar 30, 2012 4:23 am**

Andy Capp wrote:Hey Yama
Looks like your on your way to making some good BW.
This recipe is my go-to for making a really good neutral.
I give mine 3 weeks from start to finish including the clearing stage.
The bakers yeast i use ( Lowans ) likes it warmer than where i live so it drags a bit but gets there eventually.
I buy all the ingredients from woolworths supermarket and it ends up costing me less than $2 per bottle to make from a 27lt wash.
Happy drinkin

I have a "work light" the metal type with a 60W bulb about 2" away with a blanket over it to keep it warm, right at 86F,, like a little baby,, LOL. Daughter broke my Hydrometer last night as she never saw it on the counter so off to buy a new one on lunch today. I am hoping it will be ready to go Sunday.

Home Distiller

Birdwatchers sugar wash recipe

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