vodak wash not fermenting/ still design

[ethanol+]

I am doing my first wash. For my was I used 40 kg of white sugar, 1kg of brewers debittered yeast, 22 grams of wyeast nutrient, I added the yeast to the sugar water when it came down to temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. its been 5 hours and my air lock hasn't started to bubble yet. Can any one help me figure out what is going on. I think maybe the debittered yeast isn't good or working. I have some turbo yeast packs that I can throw in the wash barrel but I don't know if mixing yeast is going to work or not.

I am from Ontario, I don't have my still built yet because its the long weekend and the plumbing supplier is closed. On Tuesday I am going to pick up my parts. I am using a full sized keg as my boiler. I have an 8" hole cut in the top of it and I am bolting a stainless steel mixing bole to it and then iam going to silver solder a 3" copper pipe to it that will stand 6 feet tall, 5 feet of copper mesh packing and then the condenser at the top. I am still in the midst of deciding weather to go with the boka design or offset condenser. Some feed back on that would be nice. Would it be beneficial to add a second condenser on the take off tube? not sure if its a good idea or not.
Thank you in advance for your advice and iam looking forward to hearing every ones advice.

[T-Pee]

Welcome to HD. I would say your putting the cart before the horse. Please take a step back and read this sub forum homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=46

I'd say the cart went over the cliff before the horse got out of the barn more like.

Man, you gotta slow down before you hurt yourself or someone else. Please take a GOOD read (no skimming either) of the Forum Trilogy links in my signature before you take another step. We do want you to be safe and successful and this is the beginning of The Path.

Welcome to HD!

tp

[W Pappy]

Welcome friend, WOW I'm with you guys! Friend you need to go read all the Trilogy that wash ain't gonna work like that Hint 'Birdwatchers' Take that turbo use it for your sac run and get rid of the rest and never use it again.Go read read and read some more and you will come back thanking chucker and Tp, be safe and have fun.

[bearriver]

Haha!

Pappy found an actual GOOD use for turbo yeast.

How about a round of applause?

[T-Pee]

Waste not want not. True on both counts.

tp

[ethanol+]

I did do a lot of reading on the beginners forum. I realise I purchased the wrong yeast, I ended up using the turbo yeast and it bubbling like crazy. I had to take of the air lock it was to much for it. I figured that I should start the wash because its going to take a couple days to finish and that would give me enough time to finish building my still, I will post some pictures of my set up when its completed.

[Zak Griffin]

40kg of sugar? A kilo of yeast? That's gunna make a whoooooooole lot of barely consumable spirit!

[MitchyBourbon]

J just out of curiosity, how much water did you use?

Don't get too discouraged by the response your getting. Nobody here just woke up one day and knew everything there is to know. We don't expect that. We do however want people to do there best to understand enough of the basics so we get the impression that you have the basics.

Keep working at it.

[superdaveva]

Welcome aboard. Instead of that mixing bowl you could get a milk can top that you can clamp your riser to, check out easy flange in the search, there a lot stronger too. Do some reading its all in here. Good luck and enjoy

[ethanol+]

i appreciate every one's comments and opinions, to answer MitchyBourbon's Question i used 200 liters of water.

[Doogie]

i appreciate every one's comments and opinions, to answer MitchyBourbon's Question i used 200 liters of water.

While yer ratio is fine (SG = 1.077 @ 11%), that is friggin nuts on quantity - while it will probably take 2 week or so to ferment the thing out at least you have plenty for your sacrificial runs. This will give you time to build the still. Remember the wash will rocket off then slow down ... but it will take you a while to make that still - looks easy until you actually have to do it (unless you have built them before or are a metalsmith, then it takes a little less time)

Of course, you will run a water/vinegar test first to ensure the condensers (yes, you will need a secondary) are working properly and the joints are all perfectly sealed - right? Then run a sacrificial run until the still is producing clear distillate without little floaties and chunks of crud.

Mighty ambitious ... 200L wash ... it would be more advisable to build a smaller wash in case you botch it - nothing like pouring out 200L of liquid.

Welcome anyways from a fellow Ontario dude ...

[ethanol+]

Hey Doogie, thanks for the advice. I am waiting for the Easter weekend to be over with so i can go and get the copper i need. That is a lot of wash, i figured i would do a couple runs to figure out what I am doing and that's the size of my fermenter so i figured i would fill it and then i have lot of wash to learn with. I am a plumber so the construction of the column should be to difficult for me lol. I am still deciding if i should do a bokabob design or of set condensder/ Nixon stone head. I don't care to much about price or build difficulty i am more concerned about ease of use.

[ethanol+]

J just out of curiosity, how much water did you use?

Don't get too discouraged by the response your getting. Nobody here just woke up one day and knew everything there is to know. We don't expect that. We do however want people to do there best to understand enough of the basics so we get the impression that you have the basics.

Keep working at it.

Thanks for the encouragement its appreciated. How did you know my name started with a j

[Doogie]

Well, if you are familiar with copper work from your trade, a boka slant plate is nice and simple. The issue will be not the boka plates, but the condensor (coil, shotgun, that flex pipe thingies the kids are using in their stills now a days) - that is the harder part to build. An easy one may be to look for rad's concentric hybrid condensor - like a beefed up liebig with packing in it ... worked fine for me on 1.5", dunno how it will translate to 3".

One nice thing about the excess wash is I suggest, as part of the learning curve, and the fact that you will have a lot of flux in there is to run a vinegar then a couple of sacrifical runs just to get all that clean (and as such, dont put your packing in until your final cleaning run ). Dont drink it.

Good luck!

[ethanol+]

thanks for the advice I appreciate it, i will post a few pics when this thing is done. I have a log book for all the times, temperatures, quantities and results that i will post aswell.

[MitchyBourbon]

J just out of curiosity, how much water did you use?

Don't get too discouraged by the response your getting. Nobody here just woke up one day and knew everything there is to know. We don't expect that. We do however want people to do there best to understand enough of the basics so we get the impression that you have the basics.

Keep working at it.

Thanks for the encouragement its appreciated. How did you know my name started with a j

I didn't, that was j just a type-o.

[ethanol+]

J just out of curiosity, how much water did you use?

Don't get too discouraged by the response your getting. Nobody here just woke up one day and knew everything there is to know. We don't expect that. We do however want people to do there best to understand enough of the basics so we get the impression that you have the basics.

Keep working at it.

Thanks for the encouragement its appreciated. How did you know my name started with a j

I didn't, that was j just a type-o.

Haha Lol, I was like how the hell did he know that hahahaha. Mystery solved

[W Pappy]

hahaha Ol MB he gots the gift you knows.

[ethanol+]

I just took the lid of my fermenter to take a temperature reading and its at 28 Celsius. Is it supposed to smell like white wine ?

[T-Pee]

Well, essentially that's what it is!

tp

[skow69]

WWhat is brewers debittered yeast?

[skow69]

oh, and welcome.

[ethanol+]

WWhat is brewers debittered yeast?

If I am correct its brewers yeast that has gone through a process to make it less bitter, people use it as a health supplement. ( I accidently purchased some thinking it was yeast and used it in my wash)

This yeast is actually a recovered by-product of the beer brewing process, having absorbed vitamins and nutrients from other ingredients used in brewing beer such as grain, malt and hops.
Brewer’s yeast should not be confused with baker’s yeast, which is used to make bread rise. Brewer’s yeast is an inactive yeast, meaning the yeast cells are not live and have no fermentation or leavening power.

[Doogie]

Ah, so you used dead yeasties? Dunno about if Zombie yeasties will work ... I would just repitch with new yeast ... help them out a bit first by making a starter (water, yeast, sugar - wait for it to foam and run like hell to get it in the fermenter) and also (before the yeast) aerate the wash so the orgy can start for your new yeasties

[W Pappy]

Boy them new yeast will eat those other fellas up it will be a buffet in there.

[ethanol+]

I ended up pitching the turbo yeast pack I had in there and it went off like a bomb, lesson learned don't buy dead yeast from bulk barn, I will definitely read the boxes a little closer

[W Pappy]

I ended up pitching the turbo yeast pack I had in there and it went off like a bomb, lesson learned don't buy dead yeast from bulk barn, I will definitely read the boxes a little closer

Well hold on those dead yeast will come in handy!! You just need to learn how to use them what did you learn in this experiment?

[skow69]

Har! Har!