StillSmart

And now for the continuing story of...

"Beans In the WASH"

As i entered the fermenter room, the beautiful smell of fermentation slowly filled my nostrils. Unnwrapping the 15 gallon fermenters, layer upon layer of insulation allows me to feel the warmth radiating from the containers. I remove the lids and see a few floating lentils and a wash that's starting to clear a bit on the surface.

The floating hydrometer is sunk to just below the red ring on the scale... and reads .993 on both containers.. So it went from 1.070 to .993 is about 60 hours or 2 1/2 days... **** checked it again a couple hours after i removed the heat... washes were sitting at .990 FG

The taste of the final product/wash is slightly tart but little or no aftertaste. IT should make a fine vodka or neutral...

Thanks Aidanmac and Scarecrow for working together on this recipe...

Happy Stillin,

FS

will post the final Chapter of "Beans In The WASH" after the distill...

OK just started my FIRST Lentil Wash

Ingredients;
21lt water
5.5kg Sugar
400g Red Lentils.
50g Allinsons Bread Yeast

Starting SG 1.090 (added .5kg sugar by mistake )
PH is 4.8 added a little to my lemon juice hope thats ok
the temp is alittle high but will keep it at 30*c with immersion heater
The Lentils STINK wifey isn't going to like this one. Oh Well!
P.s.
midnight and i'm starting washes off i must be off my head!

will keep you posted on the next episode of "Lentil Wash"
Jag

If it stinks (like sulphur or boiled eggs), the temperature might be too high.

What sort of stink?

Can't say I've ever had a Lentil Wash that smelled of anything in particular really.

The extra half kilo of sugar will just mean the wash will take a little longer to finish but once it was aerated well the yeast will convert it all into ethanol for you

AM

sorry i think its just the normal smell of the lentils just the wifes sensitive nose

Jaggie wrote:sorry i think its just the normal smell of the lentils just the wifes sensitive nose

That sounds about right,maybe just a new smell.Resembling some sort of hitherto unknown vegetable,but not unpleasant.

Robert.

I have gotten some sulphur-y and other smells from my lentil wash, but I had an aquarium heater in it and added extra nutrients as just lentils ferments very, very slowly for me. I was probably pushing the yeast too much and that can create bad smells. The taste post-distill was not affected that I could tell. There were complaints from the wife, so I am going to work on identifying what specifically caused the problem.

Chuck

Wait till its heated.... then lets see what she says lmfao

Chuck, when you say " I was probably pushing the yeast too much and that can create bad smells" ,did you mean heat-wise?
I heat my lentil washes,only really needed at the end,without issue.
I also use a few extra nutrients,Raisins,DAP,Epsom salts.
I don't believe that you would use excessive sugar,so I'm ruling that out.
To me that only leaves maybe not pitching enough yeast?
Or insufficient oxygen in the wash,leading to a far longer anaerobic phase?
Good luck with working out just what caused the smells.

Robert.

I ferment in cool, but not cold, basement so I use an aquarium heater in the winter. I might have had it set a bit high. I also add DAP and Epsom salts but may have added too much, or added it all at once. I also have not been specifically oxygenating the wash. Writing this, I am suspecting the DAP Epsom salts as I did a lentil wash recently with a commercially packaged yeast and nutrient and I don't recall that smelling. I a pretty sure that I added enough yeast, it was about 2 Tbsp dry.

Chuck

I'm quite surprised about the use of DAP, Epsom salts and other Nutrients. the whole point of the Lentil wash is it's simplicity in that all the nutrients required are in the lentils.

Preparing a 25lt Lentil wash, mine contains;
400g pre-soaked Red Lentils,
5.5 Kg Sugar
60g Allinsons Yeast made into a starter for 3 hours.
21 Litres water at 30oC
The water is heavily aerated and treated to remove Calcium Carbonate (very little in our water)

Once pitched the wash acquires a 2" Krausen within 12 hours and this falls after approx 72 hours at which point the ferment is almost finished.

If I didn't pitch this in a 33Lt FV it would be all over the floor because it's so active. On a couple of occasions I have come across simple recipes that people were having problems with because of adding unnecessary ingredients.

I did it myself, some time ago, with the ubiquitous TPM. In trying to solve 'problems', that weren't really there, I ended up adding complex pH buffers which created problems and in the end I abandoned the TPM in favour of the Lentil Wash and after advice from a friend I learned not to tinker with the recipe.

If a proven wash recipe isn't performing, for you, as well as expected it will generally be down to one of two main causes;
1 Your water may contain bad carbonates that need to be removed and replaced with good carbonates (sounds complicated but really simple) or
2 Your yeast is not up to the job (yeast is so easily damaged in transit/ storage) This is why I always make up a yeast starter, which should be really vigorous, to prove the yeast is viable.

The sulphur type smell sounds like overfed and stressed yeast producing unwanted byproducts

Hope this helps in some way

AM

AM. Absolutely agree. If a recipe works. Follow the recipe.
I have learnt this by experience (bitter experience) time and time again
thinking... what if I just add/twaek this .. don't !! (at least not the first time)

Most obvious culprits for yeast produced H2s are .....

1. UNDER nutrition = yeast stressed.
2. Yeast bonding with sulphites already in the wash. Or over sulphite in the first place.

Which leads me onto.. is there any sulphite used in processing the lentils in the first place. I really don't know. I doubt it. Probably worth checking the label.

On rare occasions it can be a bacterial infection. Caused by bad hygiene but IMO I think this is rare.

Solutions.......

If the YAN was low (or you didn't add any nutrition) the additon of some should also solve the problem.

Stirring with a length of clean copper pipe will cure H2S - if it doesn't .....it isn't the smell you thought it was.


Finally........

This is a very distinctive smell. It smells like stink bombs and rotten eggs.

If you are fermenting indoors and H2S even starts being produced. You would want it out of the house. I don't think you need sensitive nose to detect it. It is a smell, we are predisposed to think of as a warning. It is after all toxic as well as being downright irritating

So my question is. Are we really sure this is hydrogen sulphide - or just another one of the smells of fermentation ( and there are many ).

Is it perhaps a bit like carpet glue or even pear drops ?

My FIRST Lentil Wash Update

Ingredients;
21lt water
5.5kg Sugar
400g Red Lentils.
50g Allinsons Bread Yeast

Starting SG 1.090 (added .5kg sugar by mistake )
PH is 4.8 added a little to my lemon juice hope thats ok
the temp is alittle high but will keep it at 30*c with immersion heater

OK wash has been fermenting for 7 Days straight STILL movement in the airlock so i guess i'll leave it. Checked the SG its just over 1.005 so its still got some time to run. Maybe i should have used more yeast ? anyway its no problems i can wait
Many thanks
Jag

More yeast would not have helped. 50g is already massive.
Yeast is self-levelling - it will only populate up to a maximum.
IMO you could get this through on 5g.

I think 'almost done' in seven days is about right.
I am amazed how people get this through in three days, even at 30° C