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Hi Guys,

Been making Birdwatchers Sugar wash and using bakers yeast, First batch took about 3 weeks to ferment at ambiant temp of approx 28c.

It's now winter down under and my latest batch has been slowly bubbling for near to a month. Starting to get thirsty.

Question is. Is there another yeast I can use to speed the fermantation at lower temps? It's fermenting at about 20c.

Love this hobby

How much bakers yeast are you using, I started out trying to be economical and suffered the same result as you.
I now buy my yeast in 250g - 500g packets and use 1/4 cup minimum in a 25 litre wash.
Larger packets are available.
Ferments now only take a few days.


Cheers.

About 70 Grams for 25 litres of wash. ( 6.5 US gals )

I feel for you thats a nice summers day hear. I stagger ferments once a week start another one I mite have 4-5 maybe 6 or 8 going at a time
depending how busy i want to be and if it gits cold as-20/-30/ or even -40 c I rap them in electric blankets, heat tape, fish tank heaters and some
take in the house.

le0n wrote:About 70 Grams for 25 litres of wash. ( 6.5 US gals )

Try doubling that amount of yeast in your next wash and see what happens. It certainly won't do any harm, and it won't cost much more either.

Could it be something other than the amount of the yeast? I use about 70 grams of baker's yeast for 25 liters and I've never had a problem fermenting out in about a week. Do you aerate during the ferment? In my washes, I have found that to be significant in speeding along the process.

No I don't airate during the ferment. Just make sure i give it plenty of airation before I pitch in the yeast.

Wouldn't airation during fermentation defeat the purpose of having an air lock unless you used co2.



Love this hobby

Some say that aerating during fermentation will decrease the amount of alcohol and the quality of the wash. I have not experienced this. Some stir during ferment. It seems that this could have the same effect, but maybe I'm wrong. I have found temperature more important to the fermentation quality.

I have now made beer, wine and distillate. Wine benefits from some air during fermentation as we are going to high ABV and the yeast, you want to be strong and plentiful. Beer I try not to airate because beer can lose a lot quickly and can get infected more readily. Distillate fermentation is the most lax. I am not saying that you can be a dirty pig and not think of sanitation, but we are mearly removing the alcohol and so you aren't drinking the first final product (beer/wine) but rather the biproduct of the yeast. So give it a little shake just to keep the yeast going and if all else fails then add more yeast.

A starter helps with yeast. 1/4 cup 100*F water with a spoonful of sugar added and then put the yeast in. Just gets em moving a little better.

Tried using about 250 grms as against 70 grms of bakers yeast in my last ferment. Achieved 10% ABV in the wash in 14 days instead of over 5 weeks. Much the same ambient temp. Thinking because I pitch the yeast in at over 30c the larger amount of yeast gets to work quicker and harder there fore speeding up the time for fermentation. Good advice & thanks.

Getting approx 1 bottle of 1125 mls of 40% neutral spirit for each kilo of white sugar used in the wash.


Love this hobby

Aeration during the first 2-3 days helps get the yeast established. Under aerobic conditions the yeast multiply. You're right though if you continue to provide oxygen you'll never get alc.I let mine cool to room temp. then aerate for 1/ 2 hour & pitch. The next day I aerate again. This helps things get started. Now, that I am trying larger batches-100L-.I have increased each aeration to two hours each. I don't know if 2 hours is necessary; I'm just assuming it its as I've got 10 x the volume and just a small aerator. All other things being equal the only stuck ferment I have had was when I got lazy and skipped the aeration.

Another thing that will move fermentation along is sugar concentration. The lower the sugar content the faster the ferment. Days vs. weeks. Try a lower sugar recipe such as Wineo's. Birdwatcher's although not high in sugar is higher. Also, larger batches produce more heat. In very large batches the wort must be refrigerated to prevent overheating the yeast.If you tried a larger batch and merely insulated it, this might provide sufficent heat to keep the yeast happy. However, I'm not sure what brought up the question of temp. I'll have to re-read the thread. 20-28 C is pretty much room temp isn't it?

Hook is correct also. Over-pitching yeast will essentially do what aeration accomplishes; provide lots of yeast to do the job. I do both as a bit of over-kill. It doesn't hurt and seems to help. There an added bonus in that if the yeast are established early there is little chance for an errant wild strain to get established to foul the mix.

Sorry, just realised how old the thread is. Problem is already solved. I should read more thoroughly next time.

For control, as per Dnderhead I use a fish tank tube heater to keep “all” at the correct temperature, makes life easier, good results.

Regards Travis

Frankenstill.

“Still” learning as I go along