Lentil Wash

[Easydrinker]

I'm not having any difficulty getting my lentils so far just commenting that things are changing in our world and that things that were available everywhere are now quite rare.

Locally to me,the Lidl and Aldi price war red lentils,I am horrified to see the best price at 95p/half kilo.
I grew up eating these in various dishes,and regarded them as cheap foodstuff.
It is indeed a changing world,and I need to work harder to keep up with it.
Robert.

One day I'll get the hang of proper quote posting on this site,and make it look good,like most other people!

[chill]

Janie Mac! I finally tried this. I ferment in a large lidded container with about 14" of head room above the liquid. I started this last evening and came down this morning to a pool of sugar water and lentil sludge on the floor! I have NEVER seen any wash GO like this one! I added 5 tsp of DAP at the start, perhaps that got it a tad over excited!

I found some of Scarecrow's original work on this, interesting reading if you are so inclined.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 38&t=11567

Thank you Aidan, this one is a keeper!

Edit: less than 24 hours later the head has dropped and it is at 1.060. By my reckoning about half of the sugar has been consumed.

Chuck

[Iain]

Holy moly ... yeast starter .. 500g sugar , 4 litres water, 4 tsp lentils and 4 tsp of dried baking yeast ... 20 mins and its going all mutant like on me .. I reckon I will have to beat it down before bed I reckon !!!

Iain

[Easydrinker]

quote="chill"

I found some of Scarecrow's original work on this, interesting reading if you are so inclined.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 38&t=11567

Chuck[/quote]

Indeed interesting reading,thanks for putting it in front of me.
Robert.

Obviously not got the hang of this quote thing yet,sometimes it works fine,others not.
C'est la vie say the old folks..................

[Corps012588]

What quantity of lentils would be needed for a 60ltr wash please?
If I do this it will be double run through my airstill.
Thanks in advance

[Almanac]

The recipe I posted here came from Scarecrow and I used 400g in a 25lt wash. Since then I have modified it slightly and I now use 500g but I also use the yeast cake and lentils for three generations

So, in terms of scaling up I'd say 500g would be sufficient for one generation at 60lt.

AM

[chill]

I have a wash on with whole (green) lentils. I'd soaked and then boiled them so they started to open up. It seems to be going much slower than the red lentils did. That might be due to a slight temperature drop, or something in the hulls may be slowing the yeast down. More experimentation is needed, but I wanted to let others know.

Chuck

[Corps012588]

That's great. Thanks Aidan.
Is this really as simple as it sounds?!
I can't believe how much this is going to cut the cost of a wash.
The whole wash is going to be around the £9 mark!
Think I'm just going to use 11kg of sugar.
Can't wait now!

[Cherry Yidaki]

Do you use your ph buffer with the lentil wash? Are buffers considered part of a recipe, or outside it? Gathering up my gumption and materials to start another big wash and want to do the red lentils thing - if I can find them here.

Speaking of which, will other lentils - heck, other dried beans, work similarly well, or have red lentils some unique attribute making them the crème de la lègume for sugar washes?

[Corps012588]

Just set 60ltr of this off and 10 minutes after pitching the yeast there is already movement in the airlock!!!!!!!!

[chill]

Buffers are not part of a recipe. They are an adjunct to deal with localized problems from yeast strain, water, or whatever it is that causes ph to dive.

See scarecrow's original research (link earlier in this thread) for other legumes. Red lentils are cheap, common, and easy for the yeast to access. Legumes with the covering on need to be cooked. They may (in the wash I have used them in) slow down the ferment some.

Chuck

[Almanac]

Do you use your ph buffer with the lentil wash? Are buffers considered part of a recipe, or outside it? ........

Speaking of which, will other lentils - heck, other dried beans, work similarly well, or have red lentils some unique attribute making them the crème de la lègume for sugar washes?

Sorry CY, I started using the Lentil recipe because I was having huge, self made, problems with the pH of the washes I was doing because of too much messing with those recipes. Since taking up to Lentil recipe I haven't had a problem with pH. However, if you are using a pH buffer it is an adjunct and not part of the recipe.

I think most legumes should work once they're soaked in hot water first.

AM

[Corps012588]

Is it absolutely essential this is kept at 30oC?
I don't have any way of heating my barrel and the thermometer strip is reading 26/28oC
Will this matter?
I don't mind if it just means it will take an extra day or two to ferment out dry.

[chill]

I have fermented two at about 19C. It is slower.

[Almanac]

It works really well at 30oC and lower temps are fine too but as Chuck said just slower

So what it's at will be fine, there's nothing wrong with slower.

AM