Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Thanks for the info Chriss.

I just use bicarb of soda to manage the pH. 1 teaspoon in a 25L wash will raise the pH by around 0.5. Don't go overboard though or you'll stress the yeast - 1 tsp/day should be enough.

I also add 1 tsp just before pitching the yeast, to give the wash a pH buffer. I try to keep the pH of a wash destined for neutral at around 4.5 to minimise unwanted esters.

Quick question on temps.
Should I inkbird this wash to 30 degrees?

Sure won't hurt, not sure what your weather is like, but not needed here right now lols, bloody heatwave :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Finally the correct use for a pid :))

I've moved onto a TFFV variant but even so, with baker's yeast I run it at 32C, which is in the middle of it's temp profile - reduces unwanted esters at that temp. Meaning larger hearts cut.

Well stripped that 60 litre fermenter of TPW that took close to 3 months to ferment due to the cold weather and got 11 litres @55% and 1 litre @ 30% Put down another TPW yesterday 12kg's of sugar and a tub of leggo's tomato paste and had to add some citric acid as the ph was 7.4 :teasing-tease: for added mesaure chucked in a oyster shell to use as a buffer and when thats fermented after stripping I'll have to enough to do a full spirit run over 4 plates and a 500mm packed section off SS scubbers.

I'm even tempted to triple distill it depending on the output from the spirit run or just do 2 more ferments and strip runs followed by a spirit run to get a full boiler of hearts, as I use the neutral for macerations a triple distilling TPW will be a good ingredient for the macerations.

Cheers Bryan

Well put that second ferment down 2 weeks ago and noticed over the last 2 days the airlock had really slowed down :angry-banghead: did a gravity check and at 1040 still only halfway :angry-banghead: Calibrated my digi ph tester in some 4 and 7 ph buffers and found the ferment was 3.5 ph :scared-eek: so got some bicarb soda and raised the ph to 4.5 and now the airlock is going off it's tit's again :laughing-rolling:

So if your ferment does slow down time to check the ph as this can and will be a ferment stopper for sure.

Cheers Bryan

Hey folks, just thought I would let you know I tried 2 TPW and had great success. I did one with normal raw woolies sugar and the other with Dextrose. I forgot about adding extra dextrose and it did not give up as much.

I have a question, I noticed a faint smell of Tomato paste at the end, Is that normal? (I ran it through my T500)

I ran it through a filter and disappeared and the end result was so much cleaning than turbo yeast. I will never go back. I loved it so much I put another done and am currently experimenting with my own version of the weetbix wash just to see.

Nice work Donkey I am sure you will be equally impressed with the wheat bix all bran wash as well mate :)

I have found tomato comes over reliably right before tails and the flavour is easy to cut out.
Tomato paste is an awesome yeast nutrient in other washs also...

Hi! I've got my first TPW settling at the moment.
I accidentally made a couple of changes to the process. It seems to be working despite that....

My tweaks:
4kg white sugar
1kg of castor sugar -
25lt Tasmanian spring water water
200g organic tomato paste (Aldi)
1/4tsp Citric Acid
And 50g bakers yeast

Start SG 1.600
I had to move the fermenter, so the yeast sloshed around and mixed in... I put in the aquarium heater set to 28 degrees in, sealed up the olive barrel, and popped in the airlock.

On day two I double checked the calculator and realised I needed 30g more yeast, so sprinkled that on top.

Day 2 (24 hours in) SG 1.300
Day 3 SG 1.100
Day 4 SG 0.990
It's now day six, SG 0.990, and fermentation has ended.
I'm letting it settle for a few days before I do my first ever T500 run.
Exciting times!

It's been great reading your comments sitting in my yeasty smelling shed.

I'll let you know how the distillation goes.

no need to distill, it's already 80% abv. :?
please send me some of that tasmanian spring water :))

Good Luck Bastard
Just remember take your time and enjoy the experience, nothing quite like the build up to your first run.
Nervousness and excitement you won’t look back after this one :)

I am freaking out a little.

Making sure I've got everything... Need to do a Saturday morning sausage sandwich run to get the last bits and pieces. If it's settled enough it'll be going through the reflux on Sunday.

howard wrote:no need to distill, it's already 80% abv. :?
please send me some of that tasmanian spring water :))

I bought it in 10lt boxes from Woollies!

Tpw made it to moonshiners is now infamous :laughing-rolling:

Which episode is that Bluc, I am struggling to find any new seasons, I only ever saw it on Foxtel.

I understand it is simply made for tv and not an instructional guide, unless of course you are on face book and then it makes sense, but it is entertaining watching how wrong some can get it and are then surprised when it fails

Welcome to AD TheBastardGrant.

I would have expected with the amount of sugar and water you used that it would be somewhere around the 1.07 mark. Are you sure your hydrometer isn't broken or maybe you are misreading it? Not having a go at you; the way these things are marked, they can be a bit confusing to read at first. To with an SG of 1.6 would require 40kg of sugar in 25 litres of water!

Mixing the yeast in won't hurt it, some people sprinkle it on top, others chuck it in and give it good stir. I've done both, never had a problem.

You probably could have gotten away withe 50g of yeast - one of the great things about yeast is that it multiplies so it would have still fermented out. Might have taken a little longer but it would still have done the job.

Good luck with your first run, let us know how it goes.

Please pop into the Welcome Centre and introduce yourself. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Wellsy wrote:Which episode is that Bluc, I am struggling to find any new seasons, I only ever saw it on Foxtel.

I understand it is simply made for tv and not an instructional guide, unless of course you are on face book and then it makes sense, but it is entertaining watching how wrong some can get it and are then surprised when it fails

I posted a very small clip on our facebook page
Its S10E13 Hog Heaven

Thanks Stig, I will have a search.
No longer on Facebook, just way to many people with no life, or no idea, so I left.
Some may say that is one less :laughing-rolling:

TheBastardGrant wrote:

howard wrote:no need to distill, it's already 80% abv. :?
please send me some of that tasmanian spring water :))

I bought it in 10lt boxes from Woollies!

ahh, i thought you lived by a babbling brook on the apple isle :smile:
it's not a bad price if your tap water is rubbish.
BTW i was hinting that your OG reading was probably 1.060 and not 1.6

maths isn't my strong point but 1.6 OG - 0.990 FG = 0.61
0.61 x 131.25 = 80.06%
if that's correct, i'm off to woolies right now to get some of that magic water :-D
good luck with your run