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i tried making my first sugar wash yesterday.

dissolved 10 lbs. sugar in 3 gallons water.
moved dissolved sugar water to 5 gallon container and added 1.5 more gallons bringing my total to 4.5 gallons.
added 1 small can tomato paste and a small amount of lemon juice
started yeast in a bowl of warm water with a tablespoon of sugar and 2 packets of bakers yeast.
waited for sugar mixture to cool to 80* F, then added yeast mixture.
12 hours later added 1 more lb of sugar and handful of cornmeal.

now its been 24 hours and my attempted mixture is barely, and i mean barely bubbling (like the bubbles on the inside of a glass of soda). no foam at all. ive just used the 5 gallon bucket's lid loosely on the bucket.

now i know this is by no means carefully made or meaured, it was more of a test just to see if it would work that easily. and im sure i have a great deal of problems, but anybody have any ideas or suggestions for me?

also, and i know i will be told to read read read, but may i ask what sg is? i havent been able to locate what exactly it means.

Based upon your mixture, your wash would have an SG (specific gravity) of 1.102 and a theoretical potential yield of 15.7%...

What this means is you blew your yeast up as soon as you put them in and when you added in the next pound of sugar you killed off any stragglers.

Millions upon millions of tiny explosions caused by too much osmotic pressure... if you listen carefully you can hear them (or at least George Bush supposedly can)... oh the humanity!

Baker's yeast is not very alcohol tolerant, and even specially bred turbo yeast strains can choke on that much sugar added in at one time.

Plus you had no DAP (diammonium phosphate) or magnesium sulfate (epsom salts) in the mix to give them something other than sugar to eat... tomato sauce and lemon juice really don't cut it.

I suggest you take your wash, split it into THREE equal portions in 5 gallon buckets and add in two packs of bakers yeast in each one along with a tablespoon of magnesium sulfate, a crushed multivitamin or two, and another can of tomato paste and see what happens.

NO MORE SUGAR.

by the way thank you very much for the help.

^^mistake^^

for the magnesium sulfate would it be acceptable to use epsom salt? if not where can u get it?

so seperate it into 3 portions, add 2 packets of yeast to each (should i just sprinkle in or should i start it with water and sugar?), add 1 table spoon magnesium sulfate to each, add 2 multivitamins to each (should i crush them and dissolve in water first? or just drop them in? or crush and sprinkle in?), and add one can tomato paste to each.

should i add more water? or leave the three portions the size they are.

this helps me fix my problem, but what exactly was the cause of it?

if im understanding your suggestion and the meaning of sg (thank you by the way), i basically made my mixture too dense too quickly for the yeast and basically crushed it, suffocated it, smothered it. that along with not having enough nutrient for it. am i close?

what should i have done different from the beginning?

If your fermenter is 5 gallons,You should have used 7 1/2 pounds of sugar.You should keep the sg at 1080,no higher.
Use wine yeast,{lalvin 1116,1118,or red star champagne} Use 2 packs,and make a 1/2 gallon starter with a 1/4 cup of sugar,and a pinch of DAP.Use at least 3 tsps of DAP in the fermenter,and only use a pinch of epsom salts.
Use some kind of vitiman,Ferment K,Yeast energizer,or a multivitiman If you use a multivitiman,crush it into a powder,and boil it with your sugar.WITHOUT IRON.{Iron causes bad flavors.Too much epsom salts will also.}
Boil your sugar for at least 15 minutes,and put 4 tsps of citric acid in it,to invert the sugar,and to acidify the wash.Dixiedrifter is right,your yeast blew up from too much sugar.You can split up that wash like he said,and repinch it,but use a starter.Use 2 cups of that wash,with 2-6 cups of water,and pinch some new yeast,and let it grow,and get going real good,before you use it.
wineo[/u]

ok, i split the mix into 3 parts, took 2 cups of the mix and added 2 cups water with some multivitamin, 1 tblspoon epsom salt, 1 packet yeast, and some tomato paste, shook vigoursly in a bottle, and put back into the mix.

i did this for each of the three portions and i have the same outcome, very very small bubbles continuously (barely visable) and no foam.

im thinking scrap this first attempt and take my time and do the next one right, suggestions?

Is that you Bo Duke?

What's the temperature of your wash? How long you waitin' before panickin'? If you want instant results, go to the liquor store. This hobby takes time. My first sugar wash took a month and a half to finish. But it did finish.

Do you have three 5 gallon containers with five gallons of wash in them now? Did you top off each of the three with plain water? Did you add more sugar? Did your yeast starter have a foam top? Did you aerate your washes? Do you print out the directions and follow them when you are doing your stuff? Have you read the parent site or just skimmed it? Have you bought yourself a copy of "The Complete Distiller" or "Making Corn Whiskey"?

The problems you are having indicates to me that you are not following directions. This really isn't a good hobby for people who don't like to follow directions. You can kill yourself, burn down your house, blow up your house or worse kill or maim some innocent bystander. Follow directions. Learn the basics. Learn your still. Then experiment.

DestrutoMutt wrote:Is that you Bo Duke?

.

I was thinking the same thing .. But hey i could be worng ..

PM me.

G

I thought it was too...sounds really familiar....