Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Cool, thanks mate. I’ll get the hang of what I have first and then talk to you about upgrades after that. I think I’m down on the May Day weekend, somewhere near, I’ll try to drop in for a yarn and buy some oak
Cheers mate

Can i please be a pain and ask (as i've been inbetween houses and all my stuff was in storage for almost 3 yrs and i haven't run my still in about 5 years :wtf: ) as i'm mixing up 2 batches of TPW and i've spent all morning looking thru the forums and can't find what i'm looking for, can you pls tell me how long the TPW takes to ferment? also how many days after its done do you wait for it to clear to run it? I have my old LM still that I'm going to run it thru. Oh and I am in the process of reviving my old project of building a bubble plate still.

Scottyd well as the weather is getting cooler ferments do tend to take longer and a hydrometer is what one needs to check the state of the ferment, so basically when the airlock slows down do a FG check and check for 3 days running to see if hasn't changed then just leave it for a week to clear and your good to go. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

RuddyCrazy wrote:Scottyd well as the weather is getting cooler ferments do tend to take longer and a hydrometer is what one needs to check the state of the ferment, so basically when the airlock slows down do a FG check and check for 3 days running to see if hasn't changed then just leave it for a week to clear and your good to go. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Ah thanks Ruddy. I'll grab out the hydrometer later in the week so its handy and ready... Cheers

Ah when I mixed the first batch this morning I stirred in the sugar and tomatoe paste etc... which was at 11am, I just looked at them both now as they are both bubbling away nicely, however the first one has a thick white line at the bottom and I'm wondering if its undissolved sugar? Can i pop the lid and give it a stir at this point??

Taking the lid off now won’t be a problem mate as fermentation is just starting and there will be a new CO2 layer on top of the fermenter within half an hour of putting the lid back on

Wellsy wrote:Taking the lid off now won’t be a problem mate as fermentation is just starting and there will be a new CO2 layer on top of the fermenter within half an hour of putting the lid back on

Sweet thanks Wellsy

Yep gave it a stir and there was most of the sugar on the bottom. Took at least 10mins of stirring and scrapping the sugar off the bottom, but its all mixed in now.
So trap for new guys lol... stir the crap out of it when adding sugar to the hot water :laughing-rolling:

Scottyd just totally invert the sugar into the warm/hot water and keep mixing it until it nice and clear as this will show all the sugar has dissolved. I just use a 15 litre stock pot for the sugar inversion and depending on the ferments warmth sometimes I just put the stockpot in a tub of cold water to cool it down before throwing it in the fermenter. When doing generations this is a must but for TPW a mix of inverted sugar and warm cold water can get the yeast addition as soon as it's filled with no lumps to worry about.

RuddyCrazy wrote:Scottyd just totally invert the sugar into the warm/hot water and keep mixing it until it nice and clear as this will show all the sugar has dissolved. I just use a 15 litre stock pot for the sugar inversion and depending on the ferments warmth sometimes I just put the stockpot in a tub of cold water to cool it down before throwing it in the fermenter. When doing generations this is a must but for TPW a mix of inverted sugar and warm cold water can get the yeast addition as soon as it's filled with no lumps to worry about.

Ah ok, i'll be rereading this and doing it when i mix my next washes. :handgestures-thumbupleft: :text-thankyoublue:

When you add yeast, do you spend a lot of time mixing? as I get the yeast balling up on the surface and I can't get it all to mix in completely.

scottyd72 wrote:

RuddyCrazy wrote:Scottyd just totally invert the sugar into the warm/hot water and keep mixing it until it nice and clear as this will show all the sugar has dissolved. I just use a 15 litre stock pot for the sugar inversion and depending on the ferments warmth sometimes I just put the stockpot in a tub of cold water to cool it down before throwing it in the fermenter. When doing generations this is a must but for TPW a mix of inverted sugar and warm cold water can get the yeast addition as soon as it's filled with no lumps to worry about.

Ah ok, i'll be rereading this and doing it when i mix my next washes. :handgestures-thumbupleft: :text-thankyoublue:

When you add yeast, do you spend a lot of time mixing? as I get the yeast balling up on the surface and I can't get it all to mix in completely.

Yep once the yeast is added a real good mix is needed to get the oxygen into the wash as the yeasties do it need to spawn, also throwing in a cleaned oyster shell will act as ph buffer for the wash and peace of mind.

i've found that by putting about 3 or 4 litres of near boiling water in my 25l fermenter is enough to dissolve the sugar required for an FFV/TPW
mix until it's clear and no sugar granules are left.
then when i top it up with filtered tap water, the temp is about right for bakers yeast.

howard wrote:i've found that by putting about 3 or 4 litres of near boiling water in my 25l fermenter is enough to dissolve the sugar required for an FFV/TPW
mix until it's clear and no sugar granules are left.
then when i top it up with filtered tap water, the temp is about right for bakers yeast.

Hi guys. I am fairly new at this. I have just put down two TPW. One has 50% bore water in it. My hot water to melt the sugar was from my hot water system which is rain water. It was bubbling by the time I put the lid on. The other wash took longer. Had the usual trouble with PH but found chalk seems to do the job. I have found bentonite (cheap cat litter) seemed to help settle the last wash I made and it seems to make a cleaner smelling alcohol. With a T500 and no exposed element it doesn't seem to need to be perfectly clear to run through the still. I have had no trouble with puking. Any comments or help greatly appreciated.

put my very first batch down the other day, definitely pumping out CO2 maxed the sensor out in about 2 seconds flat

scottyd72 wrote:Yep gave it a stir and there was most of the sugar on the bottom. Took at least 10mins of stirring and scrapping the sugar off the bottom, but its all mixed in now.
So trap for new guys lol... stir the crap out of it when adding sugar to the hot water :laughing-rolling:

TPWapr2023_stir.jpg

Just checked my two batches and they have pretty much finished fermenting :)

Day 17 of my very first TPW all activity seems to have ceased but the CO2 sensor still maxes out, as Julius Sumner Miller says, why is this so.

harold01 wrote:Day 17 of my very first TPW all activity seems to have ceased but the CO2 sensor still maxes out, as Julius Sumner Miller says, why is this so.

where is the inlet of the sensor?
if it is near the bottom of the unit it will be detecting the co2 that has pooled on the top of the fermenter.
co2 is heavier than air and will sit in that lid as it cascades out of the airlock.

17 days should be be long enough to finish a wash and be cleared nicely.
do you keep it at a constant temp? (is that a insulated box or old fridge in the background?)
it's probably better to go off hydrometer readings than perceived activity or a co2 sensor.
hopefully the fermenter is jammed full of co2, as this protects the wash from infection.
no bubbling of the airlock does not mean the yeast have finished cleaning up their own shit (as Julius Sumner Miller probably didn't mention :smile: )

Howard
It is an old fridge converted and temp controlled.
This morning opened it up and blew it out with a cordless blower, sat the co2 sensor back in which was reading normal, closed the doors and it had maxed out again in about two minutes, sg is checked with a refractometer and has been at 1022 for days.
Refractometer says all good and done.
Co2 sensor says there is still a lot of farting going on.
Got me beat.

harold01 wrote:Howard
It is an old fridge converted and temp controlled.
This morning opened it up and blew it out with a cordless blower, sat the co2 sensor back in which was reading normal, closed the doors and it had maxed out again in about two minutes, sg is checked with a refractometer and has been at 1022 for days.
Refractometer says all good and done.
Co2 sensor says there is still a lot of farting going on.
Got me beat.

a reading of 1.022?
i thought a TPW would go down below 1.000(?)
refractometers are not accurate in the presence of alcohol (they will read high), did you correct the reading?
how does it compare with a current hydrometer reading?
how does it taste and is it clear?

scottyd72 wrote:

RuddyCrazy wrote:Scottyd just totally invert the sugar into the warm/hot water and keep mixing it until it nice and clear as this will show all the sugar has dissolved. I just use a 15 litre stock pot for the sugar inversion and depending on the ferments warmth sometimes I just put the stockpot in a tub of cold water to cool it down before throwing it in the fermenter. When doing generations this is a must but for TPW a mix of inverted sugar and warm cold water can get the yeast addition as soon as it's filled with no lumps to worry about.

Ah ok, i'll be rereading this and doing it when i mix my next washes. :handgestures-thumbupleft: :text-thankyoublue:

When you add yeast, do you spend a lot of time mixing? as I get the yeast balling up on the surface and I can't get it all to mix in completely.

When you do invert the sugar, adding the citric acid to the water before adding sugar, will invert the sugar much quicker.