Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi folks,
Just a quick question or two about a UJ ferment that I have sitting in the shed. It’s a gen 2 and is currently dry at .986. Really pleased with that but I can’t distill it as we have no power due to the fires. Is there a time frame where either the corn or the yeast bed becomes an issue? I know that if power comes on in a couple of days, I’ll run the wash, add sugar backset etc and see if the yeast takes off again. If it doesn’t, I’ll add some more to get it started. Not so sure about the con bed though. Any comments or thought would be appreciated. May have to wait for a couple off weeks before the power issue is sorted.

Cheers

Les

Hey Les, hope your power comes back soon mate. We are all thinking of you folks affected by the fires. Best wishes from up north. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

This should be no problem just leave it closed and it will last ages. When you start gen 3 it will pay to scoop out some of the grain bed and replace with some fresh corn. I have had dry ferments sit a couple months with no drama.

:text-+1:

Sweet guys. Thanks for that. Can’t wait to get a few more gens done and get onto a spirit run. Might hit you guys up with a question or two at that point.

Cheers

Les

Got the power back on late yesterday. Ready to strip gen 2 of the UJ. Will throw the gen one low wines in and go for it later today. Sitting here sipping on a coffee and the old brain started to hurt. Some where in the back paddock of my mind I remember reading something about saving and freezing some backset for use in the future rather than starting a new gen 1 from scratch. I am guessing that the makeup of the backset will change slightly with each generation, so my question to you wizards is what backset generation would you save if any? Looking forward to hear what you have to say.

Cheers

Les

Quite simply the oldest one you have, as you say the flavour (oils n esters) builds up over the gens

I wouldnt worry about it too much until you decide you need the fermenter for something else, it could be some insurance if you have a batch go bad for whatever reason, but you can always do a sour starter (search for that, its on here somewhere). I would wait a few gens (gen 5-6) and then stash some in the freezer if you have the room

Thanks RC. That’s what I was hoping to hear. Might throw some eye fillet out to make room for the backset

Best send it to me I will dispose of it for you :shifty:

bluc wrote:Best send it to me I will dispose of it for you :shifty:

Absolutely :laughing-rolling:

Just put down gen 4 of a UJ. While I was cleaning up after stripping gen 3, I added sugar to backset in another fermenter. Popped my heat exchanger coil into the backset and ran some water through the coil. After about half an hour, the backset/ sugar was down to 32 degrees. Was pleased to be able to get gen 4 underway without waiting around for hours or using frozen water bottles etc. to cool things down. It’s good to have a couple of uses for the coil. It’s ended up being a real time saver.

Cheers

Les

lols, might have to do the same, my tank water was 30 degrees this week, did SFA to cool my mashes down

Well, I’m finally running the spirit run on gens 1 to 4 on the UJ. Decided to put the first few litres into jars and when the taste and smell gets yummy, start dumping into a Demi. Can’t keep my finger out of the stream. Already starting to taste so gooood. Will revert back to jars when abv drops to about 70%. Currently running at about 79% and should hold there for quite a while. It’s going to be a long day. Thank god it’s raining outside. My question is: How do you stop sampling this stuff? I’ll be a mess by the end of the day at this rate.

Hi Folks

Gen 6 of a UJSSM has only just finished fermenting. Each generation appears to take a little longer than the previous one to finish. Is this normal? I’m guessing that the continual addition of backset may have something to do with it. This last batch took 13 days to ferment dry and it’s final gravity was at about 1.000. Haven’t checked the PH but I reckon that it may becoming a little to acidic. Gen 7 may be my last until I start again. Is there anything that I can do to improve the situation or is this just the way it pans out?

Thanks in advance.

Les

I dont do ujssm spefically but use same prinipal. Ph handiling Depends a lot on the water source. Mine does not handle low ph well so I only use backset when renewing the grain bed. Re using The grain bed also adds sour mash flavour not just backset :handgestures-thumbupleft: