Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Pretty close Grantb

You are best of racking into another vessel , not your still, as the point of racking is to let the wash settle and the small particles sink to the bottom so they don’t scorch when put into the still. Then when you transfer the racked wash to the still you leave that sediment behind. If you do it all in the still the point of racking is not achieved. I hope that makes sense.

I will use my hot backset to dissolve my sugar when doing generations. The key of course is patience as if you tip the dissolved sugar and backset into the fermenter remains when it is too hot, above 35 degrees , you risk killing the yeast. Of course this is fixed by adding more yeast as you suggested mate.

Hope that helps

Wellsy wrote:Pretty close Grantb

You are best of racking into another vessel , not your still, as the point of racking is to let the wash settle and the small particles sink to the bottom so they don’t scorch when put into the still. Then when you transfer the racked wash to the still you leave that sediment behind. If you do it all in the still the point of racking is not achieved. I hope that makes sense.

I will use my hot backset to dissolve my sugar when doing generations. The key of course is patience as if you tip the dissolved sugar and backset into the fermenter remains when it is too hot, above 35 degrees , you risk killing the yeast. Of course this is fixed by adding more yeast as you suggested mate.

Hope that helps

Thanks Wellsy, this all makes perfect sense.

Thanks for your help mate.

Ok, I think it’s time to call in the cavalry.

I have had my second gen CFW fermenting for 12 days. Starting SG was 1.08 & it’s currently sitting on 1.05.

As the fermentation had slowed down considerably I pitched about 3/4 of a table spoon of yeast 2 days ago and a 1/4 teaspoon of DAP yesterday. On both occasions bubble action increased but then slowed right down again.

Any ideas what I can do to get it going again or should i just run and move onto the 3rd generation? :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

Ph :handgestures-thumbupleft: add some calcium carbonate. Your better off adding this each gen at start rather then "rescuing" the wash with it...

sounds like a PH problem.
backset & dunder are usually low PH/acidic so, especially when doing generations, it's a good idea to check PH levels before pitching yeast.
what % backset are you using?

bluc wrote:Ph :handgestures-thumbupleft: add some calcium carbonate. Your better off adding this each gen at start rather then "rescuing" the wash with it...

Thanks for the tip. How much calcium carbonate should I use?

howard wrote:sounds like a PH problem.
backset & dunder are usually low PH/acidic so, especially when doing generations, it's a good idea to check PH levels before pitching yeast.
what % backset are you using?

Used aprox 4 liters of backset which would be about 18%

GrantB wrote:

bluc wrote:Ph :handgestures-thumbupleft: add some calcium carbonate. Your better off adding this each gen at start rather then "rescuing" the wash with it...

Thanks for the tip. How much calcium carbonate should I use?

Have not done sugar head for while but used to use cup shell grit in 200l wash.(stockfeed store boil or bake first) :handgestures-thumbupleft:

If your having issues at 18% on gen three I would dial it right back to 5% . At 5% you should be able squeeze 10-15gens before issues.

Are you replacing some grain each gen? That helps stop ph crash too...

bluc wrote:

GrantB wrote:

bluc wrote:Ph :handgestures-thumbupleft: add some calcium carbonate. Your better off adding this each gen at start rather then "rescuing" the wash with it...

Thanks for the tip. How much calcium carbonate should I use?

Have not done sugar head for while but used to use cup shell grit in 200l wash.(stockfeed store boil or bake first) :handgestures-thumbupleft:

If your having issues at 18% on gen three I would dial it right back to 5% . At 5% you should be able squeeze 10-15gens before issues.

Are you replacing some grain each gen? That helps stop ph crash too...

This is the second gen and I added more cornflakes, but didn’t take any out (I will for the 3rd and subsequent generations).

I will keep an eye on the pH levels from here on in.

Thanks for the feedback Bluc. Will definitely take it onboard.

Taking it out is more for less sludge. Adding new adds flavour and buffers the wash(stops ph crash)

bluc wrote:Taking it out is more for less sludge. Adding new adds flavour and buffers the wash(stops ph crash)

Once I kick this one off again I will be sure to it for my gen 3.

Cheers

Ok, so I checked the pH and it was down at around 3.4 added some carbonate to bring it up around 4.6 and the wash is happily bubbling away again.

Thanks for your feedback gents. ^:)^

So generation 3 is still fermenting after 29 days with a SG of 1.028 (starting SG was 1.082), giving me a potential ABV just over 7%.

A stripping run which should produce about 3 litres of low wines, a total of about 10 litres for the 3 generations then run that through my pot still.

Generation 1 took 17 days (starting SG 1.08 final SG 1.022 potential ABV of 7.6) and after rebooting gen 2 it took 26 days (sSG 1.08 fSG 1.008 potential ABV of 9.45%).

I’ve got no idea what I’ve done wrong but I’m sure this isn’t the norm for fermenting times.

Hopefully I can get some decent flavour from what I’ve already produced. Then I’ll make

2nd time i've run this. First one back during covid days, I left it white, never got to drink it until I turned it into Fireball by adding cinnamon, some chilli flakes and sugar syrup. Pretty close, if not better than FB!!!!

Sooo, I decided to go again. 25L of Gen 1 quick, easy ferment, stripped yesterday down to ~15% and ended up with around 6L of product. G2 included 5L of backset and is happily bubbling away; new corn & new yeast..... pH insurance of chicken grit added.

Aiming to go 4Gs then spirit for hopefully ~10-12L of drinkable Fireball...... :happy-partydance:

In the interest of saving us, how much shell grit and on a scientific note did you measure pH? No biggie.

Had the same issue with long ferment and low yield on Gen 2, smelt good however!

chipboy wrote:In the interest of saving us, how much shell grit and on a scientific note did you measure pH? No biggie.

Had the same issue with long ferment and low yield on Gen 2, smelt good however!

i think that the oyster shell will only dissolve when the acidity gets high/PH low.
but i have never lost more than 3/4 of a cup in a 25l wash.

chipboy wrote:In the interest of saving us, how much shell grit and on a scientific note did you measure pH? No biggie.

Had the same issue with long ferment and low yield on Gen 2, smelt good however!

Didn't measure pH, as when I ran this, or a UJSSM, I had a stall re pH, so now I just throw in a couple of spoonfuls. G2 is still fermenting away nicely though...

Hi guys,

I've just opened my fermenter of gen 4 CFW that's sat for a couple of months, and the surface is covered in a white film.

I'm going to run it though the bubbler anyway, but can I continue with the generations with the trube, or should I ditch
it and start again?

Thanks in advance.

Regards
Mark

Its sounds like lacto wich is fine photo would help.

Hi Bluc,

I was thinking lacto from what I've read, this is my first infection.

Here's a photo, thanks.