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I don't know how people put up with it!

distilled my first UJSM wash 4 days ago, and I'm finding it SO frustrating waiting for the second one to finish fermenting... hell, to be honest, I kind of anticipated that, and used the backwash to restart the original, and also a second wash.

But still... I just can't wait to see how this turns out, while I sleep I hear the ferments bubbling away.

Oh well, I guess I should just relax and accept that the final product is just going to taste that much better with the anticipation.....

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The wait will be worth it. I'm sure you tasted some of the sweet mash so when you get some sour mash you'll know and appreciate the difference.

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How did you know! I carefully saved all the product from the first run to add back into the second sour run, but, couldn't resist having SOME of it...

half the reason I'm getting impatient, it was sooo nice.

..Chuck..

It sounds like you just need more fermenters going.If you get enough going at one time,you will be saying the opposite.Just start more and stagger the start date by a few days.You will always have something to run.Ive got 22 gallons going now in 4 fermenters,and have 5 gallons of first run waiting for a 2nd.Its all going to be vodka,and when its done,Ill fire up the 20 gallon fermenter and make some irish whiskey.

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Geez butch.. with posts like that you're gettin me all pumped up and ready to go... I've still got a bit to wait though... I'm lookin forward to it though.

Butch,

The nice thing about this hobby, as good as you got it on your second gereration, if you keep practicing it WILL get even better than that.

Yes, I like you can not see how the HELL I drank most of the store bought swill I used to, prior to figuring out how easy it was (well not easy, but if someone who is all thumbs like me can do it, ..... well, you get the picture.)

It certainly will get better. You will get better at your fermenting. You will get better at your still'in. You will get better at your aging. and you will get better at your "sampling" HAHAHA. Sounds like the banjo helps out with the long sampling sessions also

H.

Amen, You are in for a greater treat with every run. Well maybe some learning curves and mistakes. Part of the fun.

Like cooking your first perfect pot roast. Tommorrow, another cut or animal. Takes a bit of adoption to get each perfect.

Butch,the funny thing about this hobby is that a year from now you will wonder how you drank the stuff you made when you first started.It just gets better,the more you practice and learn.Until you taste the better stuff,you wont know what your missing.

wineo wrote:Butch,the funny thing about this hobby is that a year from now you will wonder how you drank the stuff you made when you first started.It just gets better,the more you practice and learn.Until you taste the better stuff,you wont know what your missing.

I did not want to spoil the surprise

Butch, I would recommend you put up 1/2 a bottle of the stuff from now. Pull that out after you have done 15 to 20 run. Try that 1/2 bottle, which has aged quite a bit, against some of the stuff you are producing then. It will really show the difference. Even with the extra aging, your spirit produced after more experience, can be significantly better!

H.

Well,

Thanks to all for the great source of information. Finally did the second run of my fresh corn UJSM... and... its fantastic... Looking forward to seeing how it improves on Oak.

and I FINALLY found a grain supply store today and got some cracked maize, will start a new wash with that once I get some more yeast, but the fresh corn wash yeast looks happy ready for the backwash and more sugar

I only got about 1 and a half litres at 70%-60%, collect rest as feints for the batch fermenting upstairs.

But, from approx 20 litres of wash, is that a sign that I'm not using enough sugar/corn/what? I used fresh corn (4 kg's) and 3 kg's of sugar with 20 litres of water for both runs of the mash... not enough sugar? effect of the use of fresh corn instead of grain? (3kg's of grain would be significantly more corn as fresh corn is full of liquid?)

Anyhow! thanks! can't wait to taste this aged! Already like it more than JD's, its quite sweet, with a nice corn taste to it.

I use 3 kg of sugar to about 15 kg of water. The corn is really not much of a source of fermentable sugars as it is not mashed. It's there for the flavor.

My basic rule of thumb is that I should be getting a final drinking product of about 1 liter of 40% per kg of sugar used. (This does not inlcude heads and tails).

Thus, it sounds to me like there's something wrong in your run, or the fermentation had not finished (did you check the SG?).

From a 15 liter wash of UJSM, during the stripping run(1st run) I will collect about 5 liters (down to about 20%) that will be somwhere around a total 40% ABV. With this, I do a second run that will net me somewhere like 1.7 liters of 70-72 % body that I dillute to 40 percent (basically ending up with anywhere between 2.7 and 3 liters of drinkable product). The heads and tails I keep for later runs.

So, it strikes me that your getting a little too little.

Aidas

Yeh, the figures didn't seem right to me either.

I started 2 washes at once... and I'm leaving the second one longer, however, they were both just bubbling "occasionally"... like, 1 burb through the air lock in 2-3 minutes. It had been fermenting for 7 days at a reasonably constant temp of around 30 degrees.

Getting a SG was proving very hard, the top of the wash has about a inch of corn, theres about a inch at the top, and an inch at the bottom... and thats not counting all the particles/bits of corn in the liquid part... getting an accurate SG really seemed difficult.

So I eventually decided to split my luck, distill one of the washes, and leave the other one for another 3-4 days and see what the difference was.

Maybe I cut my tails too soon, its still producing alcohol, have another 1.5 litres at 40% so far, but plan to use it all as feints... I just decided to stop at 60%, it was still tasting good.

Well, I'll see how it goes letting the second wash ferment longer. I think I need one of those vintometer things to get a accurate SG on a fresh corn wash though, its just so full of particulate matter.

Its good to get some confirmation my suspicions it was a bit light were justified. I'll definately ferment longer and I'm going to set up another 2 washes going, as I want to produce enough that I'm never tempted to break open one I'm aging and to have plenty to give to friends.

EDIT : Yep, I think I did the tail cuts too early, got about 2.5 litres of feints for next run, I was collecting into one container, suspect that a good portion of that would probably have been good. Oh well, half the fun of this hobby is learning

Oh well, I think I've had a few to many... taste tests... of the un-aged product for 1 night, its all on oak now (bought a butane torch to char my wood bits, hopefully that goes well).

just waiting for the backwash/sugar/some new cracked maize to cool enough to add back in.

I find it amusing how strongly the old mash ferments after just having water added while I distill. Does the alcohol content slow down the distillation? so when you add water after taking off the wash for distilling, it speeds back up again with the lower alcohol levels?

This hobby is so addictive, I'm starting to think about a cooked grain wash already, well, that comes second to my strong desire to find a bunch of cheap fruit when I'm back home in orchard territory for xmas.

Conclusion..

First batch hadn't finished fermenting, or something else I didn't realise went wrong.

The other batch, after another 3 days additional fermenting time, has definately produced the expected amount.

One other possibility, is loss/death of yeast??? the first batch was run once already and was the second run with a backset.... the other batch, was technically its first run, however it started with some of batch #1's backset.

Been continuing to read, something I'm sure won't stop, and worried I may have deprived the restarted yeast from a good oxygenation....

Anyhow, in that 3 days since distilling the first batch, I have drunk the 330mls that "I" got, put 1 Liter away... kind of as a.. keepsake to open in the future as a memory of my first foray into making my own booze. And the remainder was given away, and consumed rather rapidly, by friends. I am quite proud to say they drank it all in one sitting and all reported being very happy with it.

Now, the 1 liter I put away... currently it has some Oak with it, but I'm wondering if, and if so, when, I should remove the oak, re-seal, and leave it. Was kind of "guessing" 2 weeks, as I don't want to damage it by over oaking it using oak chips when it can't really breath (like with a barrel).

belialNZ wrote:Conclusion..

Now, the 1 liter I put away... currently it has some Oak with it, but I'm wondering if, and if so, when, I should remove the oak, re-seal, and leave it. Was kind of "guessing" 2 weeks, as I don't want to damage it by over oaking it using oak chips when it can't really breath (like with a barrel).

I realize how hard this is going to be for you and you will just have to come up with a strategey to overcome your fears but ............. you will have to periodically taste it to determine the moment for storage.
Good luck.

tracker0945 wrote: I realize how hard this is going to be for you and you will just have to come up with a strategey to overcome your fears but ............. you will have to periodically taste it to determine the moment for storage.
Good luck.

OH NO!!!

I have to periodically taste it...

how ever will I cope...

belialNZ wrote: OH NO!!!

I have to periodically taste it...

how ever will I cope...

Tough job, eh?

After much trial and error, I've come to keeping mine on wood for two months.

Of course, this will depend on surface contact area, level of toast etc., so there's no hard and fast answer.

Aidas