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Hello everyone,
I am new to this forum and new to fermentation as well. I have just joined today, and did my presentation (after realizing that I had missed that step, sorry).

I have just started my first batch of plain sugar wash, with ingredients I could get a hold of during this lockdown period, being stuck visiting family in Morocco, for an undefined period of time...Off course, in Montreal where I live, I can buy all specialized ingredients for this, but here, I had to work with what's available a the grocery/home improvment store...
So I have tried to follow Wineo's Plane Ol Sugar Wash recipe:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6782&hilit=Wineos+ ... Sugar+Wash

with the following adaptation based on available ingredients for a 20L wash:

- 8 lbs of sugar
- 200g of tomato paste double concentrate
- 8 tsp of fertilizer 14-7-14 (to get close to the 5 tsp of 26 N source)
- Juice of 2 small lemons
- 1 cup of baker's dry yeast.
(I do not have access to epsom salts or gypsum)...

I followed the procedure, pooring the yeast at 85F, waited 20 min, gave it a good steer, poored the wash in the keg, and placed my air lock, then put the keg in a climate controlled room at 75F. Then I went to sleep, and about 6 hours later, bubbles are going real fast, at 4-5 bubbles every 2 seconds, constantly. I have a feeling, from what I read in the forum, that this could be too much too soon ?? I cheated in the yeast quantity, in fact I double it, I put 1 cup (250 g) instead of 1/2 a cup, is that the reason it is going crazy so early in the process ? Is there a drawback to putting too much yeast ? can it stall prematurely for some reason ? As I finish this post, my wash has been started approximately 20 hours ago, still going at the same constant speed (4-5 bubbles every 2 seconds).

Thank you very much for your answers, please bear with the newbee...

Cheers !

This is certainly not a winos recipe.

I don’t think too much yeast . These sugar washes usually get very active with a healthy dose of fresh yeast .

The gypsum is there as a pH buffer . It may or may not make any difference without it depending on your water .

You have used Tomato paste making it a kinda “Birdwatchers “ recipe . His one doesn’t use gypsum ( calcium carbonate) .

Epsom salts ( Magnesium Sulfate) is used in most recipes as the yeast need it to be healthy . I always use it but on several occasions forgot and didn't seem to effect the outcome .

Keep it at the right temp and I’m sure it will finish just fine .

Incidentally ,Epsom salts ( Magnesium Sulfate) can be found in Supermarkets , Chemist shops , Garden supply shops and rural supply stores .

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Tue Apr 28, 2020 5:19 pm I don’t think too much yeast . These sugar washes usually get very active with a healthy dose of fresh yeast .

Incidentally ,Epsom salts ( Magnesium Sulfate) can be found in Supermarkets , Chemist shops , Garden supply shops and rural supply stores .

Just a note: I have used 1 cup dry yeast (not fresh yeast), I don't know whether that makes a difference ?

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Tue Apr 28, 2020 5:19 pm I don’t think too much yeast . These sugar washes usually get very active with a healthy dose of fresh yeast .

Keep it at the right temp and I’m sure it will finish just fine .

Incidentally ,Epsom salts ( Magnesium Sulfate) can be found in Supermarkets , Chemist shops , Garden supply shops and rural supply stores .

Temperature is more or less 77F average (I have a curve showing that). after 30 hours, the frequency of bubbles has slowed a bit, it is now at 3-4 bubbles every 5-6 seconds, instead of every 2-3 seconds, but it is still bubbling constantly. Where I am write now, I dot not have access to a hydrometer. From experience, how long do you guys think this will take ?

77F is a bit cool for baker's yeast, so it might be a bit slow. If you are plotting the temperature, it will fall when the yeast runs out of food.

NZChris wrote: ↑Tue Apr 28, 2020 10:24 pm 77F is a bit cool for baker's yeast, so it might be a bit slow. If you are plotting the temperature, it will fall when the yeast runs out of food.

I am actually tracing room temperature, thanks to the AC unit, not fermenter temp. I can adjust it higher, would 80 or 85 work ? I read in this forum that yeast doesn't like sudden spikes or drops in temp though ...?

Hi everyone,
So this the third day of activity in my first sugar wash, and the activity has slowed down considerably, today I have counted a few bubbles every minute or two...should I consider that it is stalling prematurely, or does the 3-day period sound about right in my case ?

Sounds about right . Don’t think its stalled . . RT he bilk of the activity happens over first few days then it takes a few more ti finish it right off . The more sugar you use, the longer it takes . I’d leave it at least a week .
You can have a taste if you want , it should be sour not sweet . If its still very sweet then its not done . But after 3 days of rapid fermentation , I’m betting there won’t be much sweetness left .

Keep the temp up and leave it .

Ahouari wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:03 pm So this the third day of activity in my first sugar wash, and the activity has slowed down considerably, today I have counted a few bubbles every minute or two..

Where are these bubbles you are counting , on the surface of the wash or coming through a airlock? you cant trust an airlock to tell you whats happening with a wash, if that is what you are doing.

[/quote]
Where are these bubbles you are counting , on the surface of the wash or coming through a airlock? you cant trust an airlock to tell you whats happening with a wash, if that is what you are doing.
[/quote]

I am counting the bubbles coming out of the airlock. One particular thing that happened to me is that I hadn't paid attention, in the first 5 hours, of a second, tiny hole in the plug, I'd say about 1/5th of an inch, so I had a little bit of oxygen coming in I guess...not sure if that would have a negative impact on the process...

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 1:23 pm You can have a taste if you want , it should be sour not sweet . If its still very sweet then its not done . But after 3 days of rapid fermentation , I’m betting there won’t be much sweetness left .

Keep the temp up and leave it .

To have a taste, I would have to remove the airlock plug, wouldn't that alter the process by entering oxygen into the keg? This is the part that I do not understand at all, the aerobic vs anaerobic, shouldn't the fermenter be air tight at all times, for the process to be complete and effective?

I does not matter if you take the lid off, never ever try to guess what is happening to a ferment by looking at the airlock bubbles. Both lids and airlocks are notorious for leaking, airlock bubbles are often not a good indication of what is actually happening inside the fermenter.
I see people making this mistake over and over again.
Get the lid off and have a look whats happening inside, get your ear near it and listen, stick a finger in and have a taste, use your senses.

I dont even want to talk about yeast!!!I'm in the process of moving and so I'm at work and my daughter is at the old place packing and cleaning so her doof self is cleaning out the fridge and throws away the last few mls of my liquid enzymes and about 150 grams Nottingham ale yeast and a quarter pound(twojars) of bread machine yeast! I was sick!! But I couldn't be mad she thought she was helping (fucking teenyboppers with the airpods and ticktoks) oh well I made some overtime so guess I'll buy a vaccum sealer bags and a brick of Nottingham

Good morning Guys,
Something came up. Like I explained in the original post, I am stuck in Morocco visiting family, all air travel in and out of here is stoped to combat the virus. So I am and doing this thinking I have time...

Well, the Canadian Embassy called me in the middle of the night, to offer to repatriate me in a special flight tomorrow !! So this is excellent news, I am finally going home, after a month of being stuck.

Excellent news except for my very first batch of sugar wash that I have to leave behind. This is day 4, I either distill it today or I never know how it really did! So what do you think? Is it worth trying after only 4 days?

Distil it.

Strip it, throwing away the first 150ml foreshot, then run until you have 40% abv in the collection vesel, then spirit run it.

If you don't have time to do both runs, collect into jars and try and pick out a nice cut from the middle to leave behind for your friends.

Ok, got it, 2 runs, one rough, one precise. I fired up the still. I only have access to a gas stove here, I need to be careful with vapors. Just because I need to plan this giving that I have my flight in 24 hours, what is the approximate time for a first run ?

Guys,
I think I am about to give up on this batch...my temp sensor is crap, it gets stuck at 140 F, no matter how hot the vapors are...I finished a simple dirty run and kept all bottles, from the darkest to the transparent one. Is there anyway to separate methanol, ethanol, and propanol without a thermometer ?? If not, all I can do is give up, I have to fly to Canada tomorrow afternoon...

It would be best to not try to do more than what you have done in the circumstanced you are in..

Best to wait until you arrive back to Canada, then with what you have experience, restart anew..

But this time, do follow the recipe as it's suppose to be done..

Mars

StillerBoy wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2020 10:17 am It would be best to not try to do more than what you have done in the circumstanced you are in..

Best to wait until you arrive back to Canada, then with what you have experience, restart anew..

But this time, do follow the recipe as it's suppose to be done..

Mars

Thanks StillerBoy,
Good advice. I know a brewing store in my neighborhood in Montreal that has pretty much everything I could need, it is going to be so much easier...
Cheers.

Put tape over the thermometer. Run watching the output stream instead.

Be careful in homebrew stores, especially when you know as little as you do. I have heard owners giving their customers bad advice, they sell stuff that you don't need and what you do need you can generally get cheaper elsewhere.

Use the time off to learn what stripping runs do and how to run them, then do the same for spirit runs and how to cut them.
Get an alcometer. There are cheap sets of three plus a thermometer available online.

If your goal is to maximize attenuation and alcohol percentage, you really can't use too much yeast IMO when fermenting small (under 50 gallons of wort/wash). Worse case scenerio, some of it blows out the fermenter in a very active fermentation.

I use a third cup for 20 gallon ferments fixing to do a 40 gallon rum with a half cup in a few just for shits and grins...you know why the hell not