Lentil Wash

[Easydrinker]

Mate,mine smells of roses,or so it seems when I lift the lid.
Feed the chickens.Win,win.
The worms in my hybrid wormery/composter hate it though,seem to get drunk and just idle for a few days,-hey maybe they actually love it...

Robert.

[Spirits4BB]

The worms in my hybrid wormery/composter hate it though,seem to get drunk and just idle for a few days,-hey maybe they actually love it...

Robert.

Wow, chilled out worms and they already look stress free..
Suppose it it takes away the pain when dicky birds are tugging on them... lol

[Easydrinker]

The chucks don't get a look at those worms,if I can help it!
While said worms don't like lentil wash waste - maybe too acidic?,they seem to love the alcohol soaked waste from my Southern Comfort clone,as evinced today,nom,nom.

Robert.

[Almanac]

This recipe came about because I had been faffing around with pH buffers, Nutrients and the like trying to develop a consistently reliable recipe for making clean neutral but the more I tried the worse it got.

TPW, DWWG, Birdwatchers, Rinky Dinky, etc, etc., I got bogged down trying to sort out levels of nutrients, Vitamin B, water quality, Epsom Salts etc, a bit of this & a bit of that In the end it was a lost cause and I threw my hat at it.

Scarecrow suggested my problems could all be resolved with a simple wash and so entered the Lentil Wash Recipe.

It's not a Turbo so it doesn't go super fast but it will ferment out to between 11 - 12%, it does not produce off flavours, and if the original recipe is followed the yeast colony get all the nutrients they need.

Getting a chain of fermenters running to take account of the length of the ferment has allowed me to have washes starting up while others are being stripped, adding the low wines to my storage, and spirit runs every third week.

N.B. The recipe should be limited to 5Kg and, with the wash properly aerated, the yeast can happily be reduced to 30g.

With the launch of the Tronozymol Wash thread it seems Groundhog Day has restarted

[Easydrinker]

The chucks don't get a look at those worms,if I can help it!
While said worms don't like lentil wash waste - maybe too acidic?,they seem to love the alcohol soaked waste from my Southern Comfort clone,as evinced today,nom,nom.

Robert.

OK,I'll correct that statement,seems that this time the worms didn't like it,many perished,- the rest climbed to the top of the bin and were seen jumping for freedom.
Maybe drunk?

Anyway,agreeing with AM here,5Kg sugar and some lentils or pulses is a good recipe,my staple these days for a neutral.

I am looking forward to Groundhog Day running again though,I have fallen asleep to that movie so many times!

Robert.

[Still Brewing]

I will be starting this wash a little later on today but have a couple of questions if I may.

I popped into my local supermarket and bought the lentils. These are red split ones. Are these the ones to use.

Just phoned our local water authority and they told me that the PH of our water is 8.33. What additives and in what quantities should I be using to adjust the wash.

I don't own a PH meter but for this wash I will borrow a friends. What meter would you all advise I buy.

Thanks.

[chill]

Those lentils are fine, pretty much any pulse should do. Baking soda will bring down the pH. Add a little, measure, repeat until you get to around 5.0

Chuck

[Still Brewing]

Thanks again Chuck.

Wash has to wait as my friends PH meter is no longer working. Is there a favourite that most of you all out there use. Not looking for anything too expensive but I don't mind spending if its going to last.

[chill]

I buy cheap Chinese paper strips off of eBay. Accurate enough for me.

[Mash]

EBay do good ph pens..... from China of course.

[Easydrinker]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-Pock ... 20cb8e47ae

This is the one that I use,seems fairly ubiquitous on this forum,and is shipped from the UK,not chinaland.

Robert.

[Mash]

Yup. That's the one. Had it for years.

[Spirits4BB]

Second lentil wash going on tomorrow........ <<<HAPPY DAYS>>>

[Icefever]

Yup. That's the one. Had it for years.

Yup...ditto here..same one, same seller...had mine middle of last year...it puts you in the PH ball park.

[Still Brewing]

After all of your advice, I have joined the club and bought one. In the meantime I popped into a local hydroponics shop today and bought a cheap testing kit. Its a 'Growth Technology' one that includes the indicator fluid and screw top testing tube.

The guy at the shop assured me that it will be accurate to .2 so that is close enough for me until the new one turns up.

I have owned this Airstill for about three years now but as my first attempts were following the other method, I really didn't have much hope for it. Since joining this forum, and especially in the last couple of weeks, my enthusiasm has began to grow again and thanks to you all it won't be long before I have managed to produce some decent neutral.