needmorstuff

I am using mains water, I should get it tested really.

adjusted ph to 4 (maybe should have gone higher) add more trizyme, add nutrient, rehydrated another 70gm of yeast, added to 20L of wort starter didn't, well, start. Dumped the content back in the fermenter last night, this morning it was at room temp with no activity Ran it, got 27L at 30% abv from 280L of wort. Which is about a third of what I expected. It was a bad conversion, I'm sure of it. The enzyme rep didnt seem massively convincing and the literature don't seem to suggest it is targetted specifically to us. I can go back and use the llalemand products or I have just had a quote from ferm solutions for their Alapha Amylase and Gluco Amylase. I am a bit reticent to use ferm solutions when i have had success with the llalemand ones before.

plan for today when i get onsite If it doesn't seem to have an infection. Check temp, should be in the 25c range as thats ambient Add more enzymes to the wort. Add nutrients to the wort Make a big starter Repitch Going forward, maybe look for different enzyme supplier, or go back to llalemand, problem with them in past was short shelf life.

so do we think that given it's now in the 25c range re-pitching with fresh yeast may get the SG down? I could try that. If that fails I am thinking maybe my iodine testing process may be flawed? and conversion didn't fully occur.

got my new stills now so started 2 x new mashes. Heated 170l of water to 90c Added 37.5L of 90c water and 37.5L of 17c water to a vessel (was sanitised with starsan) Added 50kg of ground wheat (almost to flour) to the vessel Temp settled at 40c added 100GM of gypsum stirred it all up, nice and easy with mixer on drill, no lumps and no dough balls added water at 90c until total volume of added water was 170L Temp was at 65c ph was 6 (using a calibrated meter with temp adjust) Added 350ML of Murphy and sons trizyme https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/product/trizyme/and 350ml of glucanase https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/product/glucanase/ agitated several times over 90 mins, temp ended at 58c filtered some liquid through cloth *(the liquid was taken from the top of the mash, maybe I should have mixed it up?) Iodine test was brown from filtered liquid, but if I dropped a drop directly into the mash it went black cooled with submerged coil (that was removed from HLT) to 35c whilst cooling re-hydrated 70gm of Llalemand distillamax HT https://lallemanddistilling.com/en/eu/products/distilamax-ht/ in 700ml of boiled cooled water @ 35c for 30 mins Pitched yeast when wort was 35c SG was 1060 with temp at 35c Started well, krausen formed after 24 hours 48 hours in SG 1030, PH 4.2 72 hours SG 1030 PH 4 Krausen dropped 96 hours SG 1030 PH 3.7 ambient temp is 25c The yeast should work down to 3.5, but I have had stuck sugar washes before due to low PH. What's changed from my 1st attempt a while back is the enzymes, my location, i'm using SS 304 vessels. What do we think? raise ph and/or pitch more yeast? Or maybe it didn't fully convert? I love and hate this in equal measure 😉

this is what I am coming to understand.. I need to start the mash in the morning, actively cool, then pitch. I was just too busy that day.. need to focus on one task. Do we think this is dead then and needs ditching? Also - what about PH.. just leave it at 6.5 as adjusting it down and it then crashing to 3.5 (or lower) seems like i might be making my life harder for no reason and leaving ph alone may be a better approach.

So I mashed in twice this week. Here's my protocol.. moved 75 litres of 45c water into a vessel added 50kg wheat (ground to almost flour) mixed it all up quite easily added 100 litres of water at 95c overall temp dropped to 75c adjusted ph from 6.5 to 5.5 using 50ml of lactic acid added 350ml each of Murphs and sons trizyme and glucanase left overnight to cool in the morning it had a baby sick smell I presume an infection, and hoped that pitching yeast would kill it off rehydrated 70gm of llalemand distillamax HT in 700ml of water pitched yeast - but stupidly temp was at 40c! and tolerance of yeast is 37c. sg was 1066 (well it was 1060 but temp was 40c) two days in and gravity is 1060 @ 27c and there seems very little activity, my ph strips only go down to 3.5 and thats what they read.. I'm assuming it's too acidic for the yeast so tried to raise PH with little success. I've added 12 tablespoons of calcium cabonate so far (4 at a time) that i mix first on very hot water. It doesnt move PH at all.. I'm going to repitch yeast to see if it takes this time. Not a good start.

i can distill a grain in mash, I have a 300l still indirectly heated with an agitator, but then how do i handle cleaning of 100KG of wheat flour in the still after i distill it if i cant dump wheat sludge/solids to drain? I have a manual forklift for hoisting brewbags and have a food waste bin i can use my whole process is based around the removal of waste...

this AA works pretty instantly.. i could see with each extra dose it got a little thinner. I didnt really wait between. It's a new process i am getting to grips with, but yes - I have been adding wheat to hot water. Good advice on heat.. I'll try work that into my process. It's easy enough to mix out dough balls in a pot with 2 litres, not so easy in a 300L tank. Did you view my video? does that consistency seem ok? I am planning on using a brew bag as I'm limited on equipment and need to capture the spent wheat to dispose of it. Also my pump cant move solids. I have a HLT with internal elements, so was going to heat the water to 90c in their, pump water to another tank with the brew bag, add wheat into brew bag add enzymes etc, then after conversion - hoist bag, discard wheat, add yeast and ferment - pump to still and strip. I could heat half water to 50c, pump to another tank with the brew bag, add wheat into brew bag add enzymes etc, mix, add other half of water at say 70c to get a mash temp around 60c, add rest of enzymes - hoist bag, discard wheat, add yeast and ferment - pump to still and strip. I could alternatively get a mash pump with a flexible impeller, mix water and wheat at mains water temp, heat to 45c add enzymes, heat to 65c, pump to tank with brew bag, convert, hoist bag and ferment - pump to still and strip. I have done a 200L trial adding wheat to hot water and from memory it's a pain so if it's far easier mixing cold then this may be the way to go.

Tried this out, 500gm of milled wheat (almost to flour( with 1.75 litres of water. Heated water to 90c, added wheat, stirred. It went thick and porridge like. Adjusted ph to 5 with lactic acid Temp at 75c I had to add sixteen time the upper dosage of the high temp AA to get to this consistency. https://photos.app.goo.gl/7pXB2vRV1G29aSKL9 Does that still look to thick? I'll try the GA when it has cooled.

Yes, I had a moment of clarity, a common sense moment. I'm going to do a small trial in advance before mashing in the 300L. If I don't get a good conversion or it stays porridge like I will get some fresh enzymes with a decent expiry date.

I've got some GA and AA in liquid form that were opened 15 months ago and kept in the fridge. They are now 12 months past their best before date. They are llalemand. Now I'd like to use them but i also dont want a 300L wheat mash to deal with if they don't work. What do you guys/gals reckon are the chances they will still work if i dose a bit higher?

This is for vodka so those grains will have too much flavour. I have since purchased a baine Marie still and am just waiting for it.

Good advice, but advice.i would need to carefully consider factoring the crazy electricity prices

Some good perspective there silk, thank you

It's a question relating to purity I would stabilise during stripping and run the feints of and ditch them. Probably switch off at 40 proof Cut to 60 for the spirit run. Im not sure on my ceiling height yet, I'm sure I can fit the 16 plates I have so wondered how best to use the stripper that has 4 plates and the spirit still that has 16

If you strip on a 4 plate still then perform the spirit run on a 16 plate, does that equate to 20 plates and 22 distillations for a vodka?

Yeh that's what I'm now working toward

thanks for confirming

When using a still with internal heaters, is the addition of an agitator when distilling wash enough to prevent scorching? or is a jacketed heating approach in addition to agitation necessary.

thanks Richard, all good practice. Shame I don't yet have the equipment to allow me to fully succeed. I have considered trying to source a 2" TC attached agitator and somehow turn the 100l kettle to indirectly heated, but I just need to be patient and wait for my 300l still that is both jacketed and has an agitator.

Yes that's a good point. From 2 x 180l mash's I got 240litres if low wines that stripped are around 45 litres at 86 proof

I've run it all now.. I have since cleaned the elements and the still completely.. they are sparkly new. One of the strips I did let settle out, the first one I didn't. I am reticent to try again in this still and will probably wait until i have my still with agitator and jacketed heating. So, to my question - worth running it through the stripping still again and/or the bubble column? or just tip it because it's never going to be decent product. Everything I have read so far says tip it or use it for some other purpose.

I stripped 80l of this in a 100l kettle. I used a 3kw internal element set at around 2kw. I'm quite sure it has scorched. There is an acrid smell to the distillate. The element isn't all burnt up though. I did this twice, didn't really notice it on the first run, worse on the second run - which is weird because the second had been left to clear and i left the trub in the buckets I used to store prior to stripping it. My column will have 16 bubble plates, is there any point to a spirit run? or am I as well saving the energy costs and tipping it. In a few months i will have an indirectly heated stripping still with an agitator so at least i can move forward then... and this has been a valuable learning exercise for mashing and fermenting if nothing else.

I hadn't considered that, I was adjusting down to keep within the specs of the yeast and enzymes. Funnily enough on my 2nd ferment I did have a bit of a baby milk/puke smell... So not full on infection.. but definitely something going on, it did hit 35c and erupt out of my fermenter despite having loads of head space so conditions weren't perfect.