StillSmart

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-04-25T01:10:16+00:00

Mate, (its not my TPW recipe )
to be honest its been MANY moons since I did strips or spirit runs in the airstill. I use 40l washes in the potstill now and do 30l lowwines runs.

Anyway, given your plan to run lowwines at 30%abv, (and assuming you have an airstill) I reckon the mozr/AidanMac cuts guide is an excellent reference point and more than suitable for you here. Just remember to take all your spirit in small sized jars...that way, once aired etc, you'll get to know LOTS about the fractions.
IMHO, TPW hearts are very 'neutral' smelling and tails are quite funky smelling BTW.

Statistics: Posted by Frank — Thu Apr 25, 2013 1:10 am

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-04-24T07:11:51+00:00

Frank,

Used your tpw recipe.

Any guidance on heads, hearts and tails.

Plan to strip it as per Mozr's chart. 1.5 litres of everything, then cut to 30% for a spirit run.

Statistics: Posted by amaark — Wed Apr 24, 2013 7:11 am

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-02-05T22:46:26+00:00

Tbh frank, there is a couple of things that are different from previous times are:

1. I have sacked the heat plate now and use a fish tank heater, which held a consistent temp through the brewing stage which also helped with it finishing brewing quickly. I mention this as reading in previous posts it's mentioned that if it's not finished brewing it won't clear correctly.

2. It's really cold here at the moment so when its finished brewing, I degass then put outside, then next day degas again then bring in to settle. Then the next day I rack off to a new barrel then this went back outside again for a few days to clear.

I'm going to follow this again and see if I get the same results. Also now once it's degassed and into another barrel I can get the next one to start brewing. Which means instead of taking a month all in I'm getting nearly 4 litres every 2 weeks. This should give me chance to build a stock up.......maybe

Statistics: Posted by Jonc26uk — Tue Feb 05, 2013 10:46 pm

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-02-05T22:28:31+00:00

Mate, good result I'd say. Did you do anything different this time that might 'explain' the clearer ferment result?

Statistics: Posted by Frank — Tue Feb 05, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-02-05T18:37:35+00:00

Well the wash cleared extremely well, and managed to double distill it, got 3.6 litres of'40% neutral overall which is ok. Was thinking of substituting the bakers yeast with a pack of champagne yeast this time and increasing the sugar to 6kg, see what that brings me

Statistics: Posted by Jonc26uk — Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:37 pm

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-02-02T08:10:13+00:00

Mate,
IMHO you have done more than enough to have a decent wash here. I've never had a clear TPW in about 50 ferments; I am satisfied with making sure it is fully fermented and 'settled'.
Assuming its not too 'offsmelling' (TPW can get a bit 'funky' on the nose) then all should be good....especially if you apply the same careful method through your distilling and maturing.

Statistics: Posted by Frank — Sat Feb 02, 2013 8:10 am

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-02-01T16:15:12+00:00

Hi frank

When my wash finishes I degass it then making use of our weather I leave outside for a couple of days, I degass again on the second day. I then syphon into another barrel and let this clear in that. But I look at pics on here of cleared washes and none of mine look as clear as them? Even leaving them for over a week to clear.

Have started my second tpw now and will hopefully get to distill the first sometime next week

Statistics: Posted by Jonc26uk — Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:15 pm

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-01-31T17:33:43+00:00

Frank, my guess is that it is either the amount of tomato paste or the quality (how condensed). I only recall making this once, mine was distinctly pink! My regular sugar washes end up yellowish.

Chuck

Statistics: Posted by chill — Thu Jan 31, 2013 5:33 pm

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-01-31T09:13:38+00:00

@Jonc26uk
mate if you are truly keen on making sure its 'cleared' then carefully rack it off to a separate container and wait some more...meanwhile the constant FG is your friend here and a consistently, semi-transparent wash with an obvious 'sludgeline' at the base is a good guide too.....just please remember to pour it carefully into your boiler too!

(and Chuck, I've found this finished wash to be coloured from pink though to pale yellow ....so could that be temp or wait time or )

Statistics: Posted by Frank — Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:13 am

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-01-29T01:10:50+00:00

It should look like Rosé wine.

Statistics: Posted by chill — Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:10 am

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-01-28T22:17:22+00:00

Right tow finished at 0.990 after 8 days, so have degassed and stuck it outside to clear, now my question is as it has a red tinge to it how do u tell if it's cleared correctly???

Statistics: Posted by Jonc26uk — Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:17 pm

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-01-19T18:15:12+00:00

You can get cheap ph papers off of eBay. No need to go all scientific on this.

Chuck

Statistics: Posted by chill — Sat Jan 19, 2013 6:15 pm

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-01-19T09:01:44+00:00

Thanks again everyone, ended up using 5kg of sugar in 21l of Water , as the sg ended up at 1.076 which from reading is a gud start point, temp is a constant 26oC and got to admit its bubbling like a trooper

I also chucked the whole 200g double concentrate tomato paste in. Will update thread when it finishes.

I haven't got a ph meter so will have to just go with it this time but will get myself on eBay now

Statistics: Posted by Jonc26uk — Sat Jan 19, 2013 9:01 am

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-01-19T06:51:30+00:00

I use 5kg sugar in 20l with a sprinkle of bicarb, 200g Tom paste, 1 lemon juice and about 70g dried bakers yeast that is stirred in at the start. My start temp may be anything up to 35Deg C and I leave the fermenter lid ajar for a few hours (as its kicks off with a vigorous start). I never degas by stirring the wash, but I do rack it off and I also give it a shake in the boiler prior to heatup. This ferment takes about a week from start (ie yeast pitching) to finish (ie constant FG).
I love TPW (Birdwatchers)as its a reliable, cheap and suitable wash for neutral....limited offtastes/offsmells and subtle everytime

+1 on the pH and nutrients comments too BTW

Statistics: Posted by Frank — Sat Jan 19, 2013 6:51 am

Re: Couple of questions for my first tpw

2013-01-19T02:21:11+00:00

That might depend on local water. A ferment slowing at 1.005 suggests that the pH has dropped too low (add some baking soda, it will foam like mad so beware!) or it has run out of nutrients.

Chuck

Statistics: Posted by chill — Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:21 am