Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Happy dayz are here again hey Bryan
Glad it turned up now it is time to join the party.
With all the spent grain after my last ferment getting chucked I am thinking I will just add some sugar next time and treat it like a BWKO, and get every last bit of goodness I can from the grains.

G'Day Guys,
Well just opened the yeast pack to put into a moccona jar so it can live in the fridge but man the smell of this stuff :teasing-tease: reminded me of time I worked at the local fertilizer plant as it bloody stinks :angry-banghead:

Now is this normal for this yeast to smell off ???

Cheers Bryan

RuddyCrazy wrote:G'Day Guys,
Well just opened the yeast pack to put into a moccona jar so it can live in the fridge but man the smell of this stuff :teasing-tease: reminded me of time I worked at the local fertilizer plant as it bloody stinks :angry-banghead:

Now is this normal for this yeast to smell off ???

Cheers Bryan

Yeah, it doesnt smell like 'normal' yeast. It does have a chemical element to the smell. Works a treat tho.

Cheers
J

smellyboy wrote:

RuddyCrazy wrote:G'Day Guys,
Well just opened the yeast pack to put into a moccona jar so it can live in the fridge but man the smell of this stuff :teasing-tease: reminded me of time I worked at the local fertilizer plant as it bloody stinks :angry-banghead:

Now is this normal for this yeast to smell off ???

Cheers Bryan

Yeah, it doesnt smell like 'normal' yeast. It does have a chemical element to the smell. Works a treat tho.

Cheers
J

Eh mate as this is your first post how about dropping into Welcome Centre and introduce yourself and tell us what gear you have :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan

If it smells like that Bryan you definitely have the correct stuff mate :)

Well had to go over Loby for a job interview so stopped in at 3 fodder stores looking for some cracked corn, 2 didn't have any and said they don't stock it :angry-banghead: where the third where I would of thought had it only had flaked maize and I asked if had pesticides and all that shit in :laughing-rolling: the reply was yep sure has and the label on the sack is not fit for human consumption :laughing-rolling: I did ask if he could get any in where I was told only if I ordered a ton of it :teasing-tease:

So I'll go try the local one where I got it before a few years ago and if thats no luck off for a country drive where I know a fodder place that have the stuff.

Cheers Bryan

Its funny how even the older people among us wont use the phone anymore... no wonder they stopped printing phone books, I miss them, free disposable heavy weights can be hard to come by around the house when your urban

RC Al wrote:Its funny how even the older people among us wont use the phone anymore... no wonder they stopped printing phone books, I miss them, free disposable heavy weights can be hard to come by around the house when your urban

Mate when one lives in the country it's great going out for drive with the window down listening to JJJ but the way summer is going here it's a case of winding up the window and putting the heater on :laughing-rolling: Now we still have some old phone books but the main problem when ringing a number from it 9 times out 10 the business has folded.

But i reckon if I put a message out in my local wastebook group there would be tons of the gear local :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Yes times are changing but just not here still live on a dirt road with no power or water connection and in 30 years time nothing would of changed :laughing-rolling: One just has to love progress :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

If I can't find any cracked corn then my first go with this yeast will be a single malt and go 10 kg's of barely in my 60 litre fermenter with say 40 grams of that yeast so I can get 2 ferments out of a 20kg sack and get enough to strip for a spirit run in my 4" pot still. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan

Good plan Bryan
The only thing is mate the yield is about 70% of what you normally get from the same sized sugar wash so you might need a third ferment mate to get the low wines needed. Well at least that is what I have found but it could just be me lol

Wellsy wrote:Good plan Bryan
The only thing is mate the yield is about 70% of what you normally get from the same sized sugar wash so you might need a third ferment mate to get the low wines needed. Well at least that is what I have found but it could just be me lol

If you throw in a kilo of sugar going to make no difference to the taste .

Thanks Wynnum

G'Day Guy's,
Well had to go and get some chook food so went into the Mt Barker fodder store and sure enough grabbed a 25kg sack of crushed maize pesticide free :handgestures-thumbupleft: Also grabbed 4kg's of white sugar to invert and hopefully increase the yield :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Now my plan is to boil say 20 litres of water and add 12.5kg of crushed corn then mix like crazy with my paint stirrer, have the fermenter insulated with a few sleeping bags to retain the heat and leave it for a couple of hours. Then invert the sugar and topup the fermenter with rainwater and check the ph, adjust if needed. now I'm not sure if adding the inverted sugar will affect the ph reading but i don't think it will. when I got the temp down to 30C hydrate the angel yeast then add to the fermenter. Then mix like crazy with the paint stirrer to aerate the wash.

Cheers Bryan

G'Day Guy's,
Well reading thru this thread the great man himself said for a 60 litre fermenter no more than 11kg's of corn so I'm going with a tad over 10kg's which I just put thru my corona mill to get a fine grist. now bluc has said with his ferments 50 grams of yeast per 10kg's of grain so thats the way I'll go but with the addition of 4kg's of inverted sugar.

Cheers Bryan

I have also pushed out to 15kg corn per 40l water 75-80g yeast..

bluc wrote:I have also pushed out to 15kg corn per 40l water 75-80g yeast..

I put my corn in after boiling 2 off tub using my 10 litre stock pot, I put the water in @95C and after giving it a good stir it thick as becoming something like a gooey paste :angry-banghead: boiled another stock pot and added it and it did thin out a tad so wrapped it up and left it. Gave it a stir every 30 minutes and after 2 hours it had thinned out some. Added the inverted sugar and topped it up with water then took a temp measurement and it was 55C, an hour later dropped to 51C so i reckon when close up the shed i'll put the blankets back on and add the yeast in the morning.

Cheers Bryan

G'day Guys,
Well it is time to tell whether this my first successful corn run as the last 2 attempts have been horse food :angry-banghead:



I filled it up to just above that rib and the fermenter is still 50C but how it has settled is a total new for me. Now looking on other pics this straight corn wash does have a huge cap so I left plenty of head room. I reckon I'll just leave it unwrapped as insulating it will keep the heat in and it is sealed to stop any infection. To be sure the fermenter was clean it got a good wash out and a scrub, put some low foam solution and gave it good scrub but it still smelt of the last TPW I did :angry-banghead: I gave it a good spray of the no rinse sanister and left it in the sun for a few hours.

To say I'm a happy camper with this new yeast the whole idea is when this is done strip it and see how much low wines are produced then do some barely and do the same but finding rye is a challenge I have set my mate who works at at local bottle shop. Gave him a blend of my single malt and when I finally got to see him this morning he said he tasted butterscotch and nut true nut flavour and he couldn't believe just how smooth it was.

Now with this new yeast by fermenting each ingredient and stripping it to combine in a spirit run for me will be a new process for me so I better order more of this yeast as I only have 500 grams :angry-banghead:

Honestly if i put some malt barely in that fermenter I would of done my first corn run so that is something to think about too as the mash tun just plain didnt work :angry-banghead: But as this yeast is the trial and full figures will be put up for Sam :handgestures-thumbupleft: on effiency but remember I did invert 4kgs of sugar and taking a refrectometer it did show just over 10 brix :-D

Cheers Bryan

RuddyCrazy wrote:

bluc wrote:I have also pushed out to 15kg corn per 40l water 75-80g yeast..

I put my corn in after boiling 2 off tub using my 10 litre stock pot, I put the water in @95C and after giving it a good stir it thick as becoming something like a gooey paste :angry-banghead: boiled another stock pot and added it and it did thin out a tad so wrapped it up and left it. Gave it a stir every 30 minutes and after 2 hours it had thinned out some. Added the inverted sugar and topped it up with water then took a temp measurement and it was 55C, an hour later dropped to 51C so i reckon when close up the shed i'll put the blankets back on and add the yeast in the morning.

Cheers Bryan

If you can get hold of some cheap crushed malted grain half kilo drop the temperature down to 72 C and add and that does a good job and turns from glue to liquid very quickly but going to need the angel yeast because the sugars are going to need extra enzymes to ferment
Has anyone used the high temperate .enzyme and then used the angel yeast.

wynnum1 wrote:

RuddyCrazy wrote:

bluc wrote:I have also pushed out to 15kg corn per 40l water 75-80g yeast..

I put my corn in after boiling 2 off tub using my 10 litre stock pot, I put the water in @95C and after giving it a good stir it thick as becoming something like a gooey paste :angry-banghead: boiled another stock pot and added it and it did thin out a tad so wrapped it up and left it. Gave it a stir every 30 minutes and after 2 hours it had thinned out some. Added the inverted sugar and topped it up with water then took a temp measurement and it was 55C, an hour later dropped to 51C so i reckon when close up the shed i'll put the blankets back on and add the yeast in the morning.

Cheers Bryan

If you can get hold of some cheap crushed malted grain half kilo drop the temperature down to 72 C and add and that does a good job and turns from glue to liquid very quickly but going to need the angel yeast because the sugars are going to need extra enzymes to ferment
Has anyone used the high temperate .enzyme and then used the angel yeast.

Thats a great idea wynnum :handgestures-thumbupleft: I had 3.5kgs of barely left over so soaking them now and i'll make some malt to use for the next batch just to see if this will work for me :handgestures-thumbupleft: As I only have one pack of this angel yeast if this method does work then thats the way Ill go for doing my AG runs.

Cheers Bryan

Well onto day 3 of this corn ferment and the airlock has finally settled down from a water inferno :laughing-rolling: to a bubble every 2-3 seconds, gave it the final stir this morning and man has the ferment thinned out with the corn bits ontop sinking and no resistance with the paint mixer at the bottom of the fermenter when starting :handgestures-thumbupleft: . The way this is going it will be finished in a couple of days but I will leave it for a week to fully settle before stripping, it will be interesting to see the yield as with my TPW off a full fermenter I get 11-12 litres to 55% on a strip run.

Depending on the yield I may just put another corn on as the ratio for a good whisky is over 50% of corn so by doing 2 ferments of corn to one of barely and a 30 litre ferment of rye (when I can find some :violin: ) may have finally go to an organic shop and talk to the hippies that run it and just ask, pay and walk out and not get caught for an hour babbling bullshit :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

With the 5kg's of corn left over I'll do a AG using the malt barley I'm making in my 25 litre fermenter and do several strip runs in my 2" pot still as well as the spirit run so in time I can compare the difference inbetween the angel yeast project. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan

So after 6 or so months of sitting, I got to some of my angel brews, the intention was to strip a bunch of base grains and mix to get to where I want flavour/ recipe wise for a spirit run. After chatting with a few old timers they said that method would only get you so far and you may as well just try where you want for a grain bill and adjust from there, everything will mix differently when mashed together vs separate (curries were mentioned lols), makes sense but I will still have a go at it with what ive stripped

I put down 2x 10kg of corn (cracked out of the bag and the other ground), 5kg of malted rye, 5 kg of barley and 5kg of oats. Well when I opened the oats, the only way I can describe the smell was sewerage, so I skipped that one lols. Everything else had a lacto infection, meh. Got to run the malted rye and 2 lots of corn through my newly built steam stripper!

Its pretty basic and I will be changing a couple of things, but overall I am happy with how things turned out even with the semi disastrous first run and a cleaning accident

So the first run was a bit ambitious, I put 15l of siphoned off wash into the boiler trying hard to not get any corn in there (honest) and the remaining 25l of slop in the thumper keg. On top of that went the 3 plate bubbler now with proper RC and still into my liebig. The first 2/3 of the run went well, rufluxed for a while and did a slow fores n heads take off and then up to a bout 2l/h for the remainder, I noticed the tumper changing sound and I shut it down to check on how it was going fill wise, it wasn't anywhere near full so I started up again. This is where things went a bit sideways, I was watching my plates load and I thought wow that steam is really misted up well, thats the best the its looked, then the product started to turn yellow and I had a burnt popcorn smell.. ahh crap must have been some corn in the main boiler.. Welll there sure was, as it turns out possibly 1/3 of the amount of corn husks that were in the thumper.. my boiling rocks actually got baked to the bottom of the keg and I put some discoloured patches in the base... sigh, that was my good squat keg...

That was enough for that evening. I am pretty sure all the smokey stuff was pretty close to tails anyways, so no huge loss of product, I haven't gone through the cuts on that lot yet so I cant give figures but maybe as much as 1.5-2L of 90+% hearts, the last few jars were progressively browner lols. Only aprox 6-7 litres used from the main boiler.

So next day, out and start cleaning stuff, smoke oil basically wipes off where you can reach, but I did a sac alc run to try and clear it out, seems to have worked for the most part. As the bubbler really looked like it needed a full strip, it and the krudded up keg got put to one side as a job for Ron and set up just the pot head to strip for the blending experiment.

Got a little more clever and use a biab bag to strain the ground corn via jugs and got solids free liquid into the boiler this time, this batch was a few litres bigger so 20 in the boiler and 25 in the thump and fired it up. Things went good for a while, then production started dropping off, tried a few things and then realised I was out of gas, hooked up another bottle and fired it all up again with no dramas. Had a few odd noises to wars the end which turned out to be the corn partially blocking up where the tube goes through the tee (judging by the pic). End result was 7L of 45% strip, stopped at around the 10% mark. I think it was a similar amount missing form the boiler again but forgot to note it down. 35 mins to drips, another hour or so until done, bout the same time as when I strip a 10% sugar wash (except I get 10+l of 40% out of that)

Then on to the rye, it was a much smaller batch, only 25l/5kg, it got drained for 2-3 mins in the biab and about a 5L jug of wet grain went in and another 4L of wash to cover the tube properly, 15l into the boiler and away we go. I think this one took just as long to fire up properly as the steam was bypassing the low fill in the thumper -less time to transfer the heat. Ended up with 3.76l of 45% strip and everything is still in the boilers so no transfer numbers.

I was pretty happy with that and cleaning stuff up as it was going dark when I dropped a SS 4-2 reducer on top of a 23l carboy, there was some language then lols

Still got some working out to do and 100% have to put a diffuser onto the end of the thump spear to break the steam bubbles up, Im thinking of uncentring the tube in the tee to make more clear room for solids, I will change the blow off valve around a bit, change the boiler to thump feed connection a bit and then onto some insulation