Okay so shortly after getting my still built i put together my first batch. Just used what i had laying around the house. But it seemed to work alright. Now i dont have a brew store near by and ive put too much money into building my still at the moment, so obtaining tools to measure the sg and abv isnt going to happen for a while. Anyways... heres what i tossed together. I used the gerber recipe as a guide.
5 gallons water, tap
Ab 6 pounds sugar, rest of an open 10# bag
3 cups cream of wheat
A big squirt of lime juice, no lemon in the house
8 tb of bakers yeast, cant remember the brand
So heated the water up to a low boil. Added sugar, cream of wheat, and lime juice. Boiled on low for 30 min. Let it cool to 90f. Pitched the yeast. Left it uncovered and watched it work. Well ab 30 min later it was going. Soon i had ab 4in foamed up and it was ab to boil over. So i covered it with a stainless bowl an let it do its thing. Well ab 36 hours later it seamed to be done. Smelt like a wine and stopped bubbling, kinda. So i strained it the best i could. Cream of wheat isnt so easy to strain. Then i tossed it in the pot, fired up my burner and i was stillin now. I decided to run it through my pot still head with the liebig condenser first. Mind u this was just my first run so i didnt plan on drinkin it. Well took almost an hour exactly to heat up and for the first drops to start coming out. I wasnt running this fast and dirty, i needed to play with it to see how it works. so slow and steady at first, putting out a couple drops per second. Tossed out the first 250ml, being a lil over cautious. Let it run slow like this for the next hour, checking the smell of things and its ability to ignite. That was fun. After that hour i turned up the heat and let it go. Checked the smell of things until it seemed like it was loosing its strength. All in all i collected ab 2-750ml bottles, minus the first 250ml i tossed. I dont know if that sounds like too much for this size of a wash but hey i was having fun. well it was but a couple hours later and i had to start another batch. So i ran on down the feed store and picked some cracked corn. Looked at the ingredients in it and saw it had soybean oil. Wasnt sure if this would be okay. Looked up the forum real quick on my smart phone, gotta love technology and this forum. Quick search found a thread saying it would be okay. So off i went. Hit up the grocery store for more sugar on the way home. Got to the house and looked up UJSSM recipe. once again I love this forum. Put together 2-5 gallon batches. now its just a waiting game. This has to be one of the most addicting things i have ever come across. I just want to thanks again to all who have helped but this site and forum together.
first ferment and run done
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Re: first ferment and run done
Bstillin, congratulations... Your numbers don't sound all that out of line for a first run... You wash had a potential yield of ~8.5% ABV so your collected spirits are within range... As long as you stick with some of the Tried and True recipes until you have a grasp of things you should do just fine...