Home Distiller

The tub has not been needed and its rocking at a burp a second!
House smells like bread baking and wife is looking interested with the ice tea vodka posts>

Hook line and sinker!

Hello. Newbie to the forum. I started this wash using 5 & 1/2 gallons distilled water, 8 lbs cane sugar, 1 tsp Fermax yeast food, 1 tsp gypsum, 1 tsp citric acid, and pinch of epsom salts. It went together in under 15 minutes. Beginning SG 1076. It started bubbling the airlock on the bucket within 45 minutes. I will let you know how it progresses. Plan is to rack it to a carboy when the bubbling eases up to clarify. Hopefully this will be when the SG drops in the 960 range. I have built a pot still and will run it after it clears. I am somewhat experienced in making wine, but this will be my first attempt at distilling and making spirits. So far so good. This rescipe is taking off like expected. I will post again when i have more news.

Sorry. Forgot to mention that I'm using distillers yeast. The bucket is rocking and rolling. Pleased with the onset.

Day two. WPOSW bucket still percolating strongly through the airlock. (I'm smiling.) Plan for the day is to "season" the new still with first a run of vinegar and then a sacrificial alcohol run using some cheap and disgusting undrank commercial hooch leftover from New Years last year. I am still new at all this and although the still is made of all brand new materials, I am concerned about my wash picking up flavors or impurities from the manufacturing process. Am I worrying needlessly? To answer my own question, I don't think it would hurt. I'm going to do it anyway. I also want to get a feel for how it all operates and how to deal with leaks in the closed system. This way, when the time comes, the equipment will be good to go to run the sugar wash. I have to say, I am kinda excited and looking forward to all this.

so i made the sugar mash and distilled and yelled about 3.5 liters of a neutral spirit. How much do i dellute the product to make vodka. about half and half? how much final product should you get from a 5.5 gallon run? this was my first run at this and just some basic questions

I am BY NO MEANS an expert. And there are a lot of "ifs" in your post. Did you follow the recipe exactly? What kind of yeast? What was your beginning and ending SG? What kind of still? I am just going to take a guess here and just throw out what is on my mind. Assuming you followed the recipe and you let it finish to dry, best case you might be in the ballpark of 18-20% abv. This means that about a fifth of what you distilled was alcohol or somewhere in the neighborhood of a gallon. So three and a half liters seems quite plausible. You probably tossed a little bit early on in the heads and then some tails. You are probably good. As far as dilution, I am not qualified to answer that yet. Still concerned with obtaining the neutral spirit yet.

starting 1.070 finishing just under 1 and yes i followed the recipe to the t i did not have time to still so it sat in the fermenting bucket for a little over a month. i used baking yeast.

Again, from one newbie to another, three and a half liters certainly sounds like you were in the ballpark as far as yield. There are formulas on this forum that will calculate expected yield. An old moonshiner once told me that you won't find hydrometers or proofing at a still site. They just know and trust what their yield should be and rely on taste, smell, and sight to know what to keep, when to start, and stop, not on some newfangled piece of equipment. That made sense to me. As far as dilution goes, I would like to hear a experienced distiller weigh in because I'd like to know the best answer too. Hey, good luck my friend!

My WPOSW has been going for over 2 weeks now. Still working, but MAN this is taking forever. Its slowed down to .010 every 3 days.

Looking for a little advice, I started WPOSW about a week and a half ago. Over the past few days it has slowed down and has completely stopped at 1.020. It started at 1.077. Any suggestions? Is it done? The BLG is 6, and both have remained unchanged over the last 3 days.

Slowninja wrote:My WPOSW has been going for over 2 weeks now. Still working, but MAN this is taking forever. Its slowed down to .010 every 3 days.

I used to have that problem until I started adding potassium carbonate to raise the pH. Baking soda also works, but foams and more is needed.

It's amazing, but the work of the yeasties drops the pH and when it falls below 2.7, the yeast become dormant, or at least seem to become sluggish.

After 12-24 hours into fermentation, Whitelabs (http://www.whitelabs.com/distilling/dis ... #Re:_Vodka) recommends adding potassium carbonate when using plain sugar washes to remedy the situation I just described.

Being a newbie, mprourke and I would both like an answer to the following question " When using WPOSW, what is the best dilution you have found that would yield a decent homebrew vodka?"

Inquiring minds want to know.

Finally got around to sampling my WPOSW rum. Bold flavor and very smooth to sip. Makes an awesome cubra libre at 110 proof. Used 1 quart and made some apple pie. quite different from my sweetfedd variety. can't say i like it better or at all for that matter...will have to sample more soon. will probably do another run with some backset and then put some up on oak for long term flavoring. Planning on a white sugar nuetral run soon.

I've not checked it because it is still gassing off bubble after bubble steadily through the airlock. Nice active fermentation. So I have resisted the urge to mess with it. I assume so far so good. Cleaning test run on the pot still went fine.

running WPOSW through my internal reflux model harvesting 93 % through the hearts...32 ozs so far and still consistent..YEAH!
column temp 72.6-72.9

Hi,
I started this wash one week ago today, and took a reading tonight , first time I opened it , and no activity since yesterday.
It was yellowish and I could not see the bottom, with a sour taste, not sweet at all.
I dont have a container to rack it in, at least not all of it. Will get a carboy tomorrow and rack it.
I read it at .995 at 65F.
Since this is the very first recipe I tried EVER... I am clueless .

What do my observations indicate to ya'll? My initial reading was 1.045 I think.

reckless kelly wrote:Hi,
I started this wash one week ago today, and took a reading tonight , first time I opened it , and no activity since yesterday.
It was yellowish and I could not see the bottom, with a sour taste, not sweet at all.
I dont have a container to rack it in, at least not all of it. Will get a carboy tomorrow and rack it.
I read it at .995 at 65F.
Since this is the very first recipe I tried EVER... I am clueless .

What do my observations indicate to ya'll? My initial reading was 1.045 I think.

Sour taste indicates its done, .995 reading indicates its done. The reason it fermented as quickly as it did is the relatively low starting gravity of 1.045. Winos has a tendency to stall due to lack of nutrients so starting at 1.045 wasnt a bad call at all. When I have done it starting at 1.060 it takes 2 to 3 weeks at 80F.

Nice work.

cheers
stilly

Thanks stilly!
Was worried the low starting sg was going to be an issue ,

I did read through the forums here and knew the .999 or so was good.
But did not see anything on the color.But I am sure I missed it.

And the other posts took longer , so was worried about that too.
Thanks for the help and thanks for the attaboy

Reckless, when you rack it, rack it back and forth a few times, that will help get some of the C02 out of it and it may clear quicker. Winos makes a very fine neutral, but you really need to let it clear, if you can put it somewhere cool for a week or longer it should clear up dramatically.

If you read thru alot of the Winos posts in this thread you probably figured out that some folks have trouble with slow or stalled ferments. As I mentioned before that is mostly due to lack of nutrients, but the lack of nutrients also is what keeps the taste clean, so its a double edge sword.

If you want to experience another wash that will take off like a bat of hell try Death Wish Wheat Germ or Rad's All Bran with the epsoms salts for nutrients. Both of those will yield in the 10% range and finish within a week if you follow directions. I highly recommend aerating any wash for as long as your arm and hand can take it, really makes a difference on how fast they take off and run.

Have fun, stay safe
cheers
stilly

Thanks gain.
Stirring after yeast or after racking?
I know I saw this. Let me look, dont tell me. Pretty sure its after racking.

I have two more questions,
This has been clearing for a week, and I have racked it twice and it is clearing.
I stirred it like a madman both times. Do I use a airlock?
Will it be clear like water? Or just transparent yellowish?
It sure smells good.

Thanks.

just transparent yellowish?...yes..

Aloha everyone,
Newbie here with a few questions about WPOSW wash. I'm interested in using this recipe as my first wash, would this be a good first wash? Also a question about yeast, is Crosby & Bakers super starter yeast a suitable distillers yeast for this recipe. Is it possible to stop the fermentation process? As id like to get about 15% ABV, seeing as most say a lower abv offers a more netrual taste. And could anyone tell what the terms clearing and racking mean? Last thing, I'm almost done with my reflux still build and would like to get my first wash distilled by mid feb. When should I begin fermenting this wash to allow for full fermentation, clearing and racking?

Thank!
AlohaBrew

15% is a high ABV to shoot for with your first wash. I know you want as much as you can out of it but it can also throw in different problems when you stress your yeast above 14%. To keep it simple shoot for 10-12% for a first wash and build on what you learn with that. Nothing as bad as having yoour first wash stall cause you got a little greedy

Why would you want to stop the ferment? Reason I ask is if you dont let it run to dryness and then you charge your still you will have unfermented sugars left in the pot - and if you dont know why this isnt ideal - read up on it.

Clearing - the process after fermentation where you let any solids fall to the bottom. Cold crashing it helps in this and I usually sit mine out in the shop and let the cold do the work for me for 24-48 hours. It wont ever get crystal clear but the solids will fall.

Racking - moving the wash from one vessel to another or to the still. This is done with a racking cane or just a piece of 6ft flex tubing.

A ferment can go to dryness in 3 days or 3 weeks. So many variables play into when a wash is done that its hard to say. Temps, Yeast, %ABV, all kinds of stuff. I usually plan mine out to take two weeks - most never take that long but I plan around my ferment not the other way around though it would be nice now wouldnt it?!

Thanks Dnderhead.
And stilly and all who have helped.
This place is awesome. The wash is ready , my still is ready , need a water pump and I get to do my first run.

reckless kelly wrote:I have two more questions,
This has been clearing for a week, and I have racked it twice and it is clearing.
I stirred it like a madman both times. Do I use a airlock?
Will it be clear like water? Or just transparent yellowish?
It sure smells good.

Thanks.

Glad to hear it worked out. About racking and clearing, when I rack the wash from fermenter to bucket I slosh it around and maybe decant it back and forth a few times. After that I leave it alone for as long as I can or until I am sure its clear. I run on internal electric element so I like clear washes. Nothing clears like Winos left to sit for a few weeks in a cool place, it looks like spring water. If you want a little flavor and have external heating you don't need to let it clear so much. Once again congrats on the successful ferment.

cheers
stilly

Hey Wineo - What happens when the SG gets over 1.085? I can tell you what happened with mine, but it may not be related. I had a mash of around 1.10 and when I heated up the VP still the column temperature went past 192 - and stayed around 194 - 196. When I measured the proof I got around 170. That isn't good enough, so I'll re-run that in my next effort. What do you suppose caused the low proof? Is this the problem you were trying to avoid with the initial SG? I will cut back the amount of sugar to control the SG.
thanks in advance

Hey all. I just racked my first attempt at this recipe and have a few useful hints and a question. First off the well water I used happened to be very alkaline at about 7 to 7.5ph. I wasn't aware of that when I started and it resulted in a stuck ferment. Anyway I did a quadruple batch and followed the recipe to the letter with the exception of the gypsum. 24 gal. water, 32 lbs. sugar, 4 tsp. citric acid and DAP, and 1/2 tsp. Epsom salts as well as 1 cup of bakers yeast. I measured the sugar and water on an old digital hospital scale that reads 10ths and the total weight of the barrel was 227.8 lbs. It bubbled slowly for a couple of days and stopped. I stirred it and added more yeast, bubbled slowly for a day and quit again. I discovered my PH problem and added 6 more tsp. of citric acid and got into the 5 range, stirred the crap out of it and added another cup of yeast. It took off like a rocket. I did this batch with PH test strips and have recently bought a digital meter. Since it was 65 degrees in the ferment room I wrapped it with an electric blanket and it went a bit faster yet at 80 to 85 degrees. Took 4 days of hard bubbling and 3 of tapering off to a trickle. Interesting thing, upon completion of fermenting the barrel weighed 211.4 lbs. A loss of 16.4 lbs. My question is, can I measure alcohol conversion by weight? I wasn't too accurate when I measured specific gravity when I started but it was close to 1.060 (corrected) and finished at.990. Anyway it's clearing now, gonna clean out my new still pretty soon! (GRIN)

Old Fart in the wind

Old Fart wrote:Hey all. I just racked my first attempt at this recipe and have a few useful hints and a question. I discovered my PH problem and added 6 more tsp. of citric acid and got into the 5 range, stirred the crap out of it and added another cup of yeast. It took off like a rocket. I did this batch with PH test strips and have recently bought a digital meter.

This confirms my advice that with sugar washes: WATCH the pH. Different water will have different pH values and yeast are sensitive to the pH of their environment. And, as the yeasties do their thing, they naturally lower the pH. So a wash that starts with an acceptable pH can drop to below the danger level in the middle of the ferment, causing the yeasties to become dormant or die.

I cant get DAP can i use ammonium phosphate? Its basically yeast nutrient http://www.amazon.com/Yeast-Nutrient-1- ... misc_img_z" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow ????