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Stijepovic wrote:So I made the mistake of using 16.6 pounds of sugar instead of what was recommend. All my other ingredients are the same and I used a half a cup of bakers yeast. What will be the outcome?

16.6 pounds in how much water...??? There are many helpful calculators on the parent site that will help you with many facets of this hobby, including sugar washes...

I am wanting to follow this exactly, the problem is my well water is very hard. Has a ph of about 8.8 .. I suspect I should not add the gypsum. Should I also increase the citric acid any? My ph meter recently broke so can't test PH anymore till my new meter comes in.

When you say 6 gallons you mean 23l? as in 6 US gallons ? Am I assuming wrong.

Any other suggestions?

I want to get 2 6 gallon washing going ASAP to make some Gin.

My GH and KH are as follows:
GH 225 mg/l
KH 190 mg/l

B

I'd follow it as written. But just do one batch to see how it goes.

My ph always drops drastically by day two unless I use something to buffer it. Which is why I say do a trial batch and make adjustments accordingly.

Just started 2 6g Wineos sugar wash. Its started at 1.080 in 10 minutes its already started fermenting pretty good. Temp of the wash is 90f and house is 75f

I used RODI water to make the wash and followed the recipe exactly.

EDIT: OMG is this ever a vigorously fermenting. Was foaming over its fermenting so hard. About a 6" cap on it!!!! WOW Took an 1/2 gallon out of each to give more space.

Measured SG at 24 hours. was 1.050 so this is sure fermenting fast!
B

bitter wrote:Just started 2 6g Wineos sugar wash. Its started at 1.080 in 10 minutes its already started fermenting pretty good. Temp of the wash is 90f and house is 75f

I used RODI water to make the wash and followed the recipe exactly.

EDIT: OMG is this ever a vigorously fermenting. Was foaming over its fermenting so hard. About a 6" cap on it!!!! WOW Took an 1/2 gallon out of each to give more space.

Measured SG at 24 hours. was 1.050 so this is sure fermenting fast!
B

48 hours or so at 1.030 fermentation is slowing.. wish my ph meter was not dead.. would check things... But temp is down to 71f so with bakers yeast that is surely slowing things down.

Edit: Day 3 1.022 Still going at over 1 per second in both. I was surprised they are both going at the same rate. Temp is back upto 75F too

B

Just measured and its still going along nicely its now down to 1.002 looks liek this is going to finish at .990 as its still fermenting along nicely.

Edit July4: Just checked and the washes are down to .990 but still going along... so will wait till they finish and clear. This wash is really working nice it is sour now... but very clean tasting.

B

Ran this off on the weekend. Boy it sure is neutral. Last bit I ran in pot sill mode in the boka and was still pretty good (Going in next batch). So got about 5L of drinkable 65% after cutting it. I have about 4l of feints from the run also. I find my yield is lower then a lot of other people... in terms of what I keep.. I think I am just picky.. As some as I get a hint of tails it all goes for feints.

B

So I have been doing this one for a while now and have worked out the following maybe it will help someone.

Like Wineo mentioned, I to use city water, not ideal but I get it to work just fine.

For a 5 gallon batch, (the original recipe called for 6 gallons water and 8lbs sugar). I use 5 gallons water and 7lbs sugar
I heat 2 gallons to 120F, pour all the dry ingredients from the original recipe into the carboy other than the yeast at this point and then add the hot water. Shake it well until dissolved and goes clear and I don't see any solids at all.
At this point I fill the carboy using a garden hose and sprayer, this aerates the crap out of it and brings the temp down to around 90F.
Check the SG, almost always 1.060 +/- 5 every time.
I made one adjustment to the yeast. I use 2/3 cup distillers yeast and 2 tbsp of bread yeast and just sprinkle it right in slowly allowing the yeast re-hydrate at its own pace.
Starts bubbling in about 15 minutes.
Usually in 4 days SG is down to 1.000 and .995 to .990 in 5.

I really think sprayer is the difference, aeration to me is critical on this one. I discovered that after the first couple tries and some heavy reading. I have been using the sprayer on all my mashes/washes every since.

Again this is only what works for me for this one.

the garden hose / spray nozzle is my secret weapon.

I don't have citric acid but I got some acid blend I bought for cider and wine. Would you recommend using that or buy a bit of citric? Or just use a bit of lemon juice instead. I do want it a neutral as possible but don't wanna buy citric acid if I don't have to

It works even without any acid. But anyway, citric acid is one of the things, what will be usefull often.
...and does not cost much.

Do you find off flavours coming across from using the hose?

I only have 5 gallon buckets. Does anyone have it broken down to use in 5 gallon buckets? I am thinking this would be great for blending with different flavors for this summer.

BTR Kentucky wrote: Does anyone have it broken down to use in 5 gallon buckets?

Here's a baseline calculator for you. Go forth and and ferment.

Please note the bottom line.

http://shuggo.com/birdwatchers/calculator.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I used to do about 8 lbs sugar leaving about 2" of head space in the bucket... So maybe 4.5 gallons of water.

Did you leave the rest of the ingredients exact? I was going to check the weight of each ingredient then do the math from there for 5 gallons.

Hmmm, I didn't do anything overly technical.

They key to success with this wash is reasonable SG, adequate nutrients, good healthy yeast bomb, and keep the PH from crashing.

Some of this you'll have to figure out on your own as you go. So with that being said here is what works for me.

8 lbs sugar (inverted if you like),
water to fill the bucket
leaving some head room,
about a tablespoon of DAP,
1 Vitamin B complex (crushed),
2 small sea shells,
About a 1/4 cup of DADY yeast (sprinkled on top until it hydrates on its own),
Keep temp around 85f.

Edit: that's just what works for me. Others may do it differently. I don't bother with the gypsum (depends on your water chemistry)

I forgot oxygen. You want to aerate real good before pitching your yeast.

This is not an overly complicate recipe and it preforms well with variations in proportions... I use roughly 1oz of tomato paste or 3oz of tomato puree and 1.5 - 2 pounds of sugar per gallon... I've never bothered trying the calculator because I can do math quite well in my head... There's no exact science to the original recipe... It works and is repeatable, plain and simple...

Followed the recipe. It'll be two weeks fermenting come Thursday. Tested it today and SG is only 1.040. The OG was 1.070. Any ideas as to why it's taking this long? I've been watching it and up until two days ago it was very very active. But then it died down and now it's still moving airlock but slowly and I can still see some bits of yeast moving but it looks like it's become real slow. I assumed it was done so I tested it. Was surprised to see 1.040

PH and/or Temperature.

Hmm, I don't normally test ph. I know we got warmer Temps here last couple days. Idk..I've done the all bran with lalvin 1118 and that was super slow. Just was hoping to see this one finished in two weeks since I used so much DADY

Dady likes the mid 80's. My basement is around 62-65f. I have to heat mine up usually with a sugar head. The All Grains seem to generate enough heat on there own.

Very strange thing yesterday afternoon I poured the test sample back into the carboy I go up there today and there seems to be more activity. I know the pouring back caused a stir but didnt expect it to get things kicking back up like that. I didn't know DADY liked warmer temps. Right now the house is probably 68.

I'd look into a way to warm up those carboy's. If nothing else just wrap a blanket around them.

I use an aquarium heater but indirectly. Put my bucket in a big cooler then fill with water and heat the water with the aquarium heater.

Kegg_jam wrote:I'd look into a way to warm up those carboy's. If nothing else just wrap a blanket around them.

I use an aquarium heater but indirectly. Put my bucket in a big cooler then fill with water and heat the water with the aquarium heater.

Why do you use the heat indirectly?

crazyk78 wrote:

Kegg_jam wrote:I'd look into a way to warm up those carboy's. If nothing else just wrap a blanket around them.

I use an aquarium heater but indirectly. Put my bucket in a big cooler then fill with water and heat the water with the aquarium heater.

Why do you use the heat indirectly?

Most indirect heating is done so that the fermenter remains sealed up so the airlock works... Less chance of contamination... And some folks heat more than one fermenter at a time with a single heat source that way too...

rad14701 wrote:

crazyk78 wrote:

Kegg_jam wrote:I'd look into a way to warm up those carboy's. If nothing else just wrap a blanket around them.

I use an aquarium heater but indirectly. Put my bucket in a big cooler then fill with water and heat the water with the aquarium heater.

Why do you use the heat indirectly?

Most indirect heating is done so that the fermenter remains sealed up so the airlock works... Less chance of contamination... And some folks heat more than one fermenter at a time with a single heat source that way too...

Yeah, I can do 2 buckets at a time. Plus I don't have to cut a hole in the lid for the power cord or risk scorching the mash/wash if something goes wrong with the heater.

Following what you said abt warmer temps and dady, I just used a tower heater, wrapped carboy in a blanket and shut the door. Room temp is abt 76. I do think I see more activity. Be checking gravity sunday, see where I'm at

Gravity only at 1.030 from 1.040 a week ago?! Any one have any suggestions? Started this on 3/17 at 1.070. Wonder what the heck is taking so long