StillSmart

yes from what i have read the yield is lower than turbos ect,but you overcome this by having a few on at once i guess,you could probably have 2-3 25L washes of this going for the price of one store bought Turbo yeast,carbon,clearing and dextose ect.maybe a dollar or 2 more.But then theres no need to carbon filter the finished product either,so saving all round.Dont know if i wont carbon filter yet,maybe once i get it all sussed!

I guess i could up all the ingredients,but the whole idea of these washes is not to stress the yeast,so shooting for a 10-12%abv wash once cleared.I guess if its quantity that is the main thing then either a huuuge fermenter of this recipe or just sticking to turbos and filter filter filter.

Im starting out small first(25L hah!) till i get it bang on.

Oh and good to see you over here Bundy...

hi marc83,

ive been followong your posts with some interest on this wash, i have done a couple of bakers yeast washes and i must say ive been very impressed with the quality of the finished spirit. sure it takes 3 times as long as a turbo to ferment but its a quarter of the price per wash and, as i said, is very good spirit.
cheers, hoppin

Cheers hoppin,i just checked mine out and its exactly 5 days since starting and the SG is 0988.Very stoked.Now the clearing,bout another week i guess.I started another one yesterday,After an hour the was an inch thick head on it,not even going to check the SG throughout this one,will just check it in 5 days time.

Did you run your spirit through the carbon filter?oh and did you do a stripping run or just a normal reflux run?The boys over at HD reckon yeah de-tune my still to become a pot still and get enough washes through then do a spirit run on what i have stripped.I think i will do that,get the purest spirit i can,then maybe thats why they dont carbon filter it.

Now the clearing,bout another week i guess.

> about right, just whenever its clear depens on temperature assuming you use turboclear or simmilar, read somewhere that egg white does the same job but never wanted to waste a wash testing it.
will just check it in 5 days time.

> I never bother stirring but for the first two or three days I leave the top so it just sits on the top, if i didnt have a lil-un in the house i think i\'d just cover it with a teatowel or something till the third day.
Did you run your spirit through the carbon filter?

>Yes, always, at least twice
oh and did you do a stripping run or just a normal reflux run?

>reflux, i wish lol
The boys over at HD reckon yeah de-tune my still to become a pot still and get enough washes through then do a spirit run on what i have stripped.I think i will do that,get the purest spirit i can,then maybe thats why they dont carbon filter it.

> I distil all the wash,(chucking the heads, then the tails less than 15%) and separate it into two demijohns <40% and > 40%

Once I fill demijohn at > 40% I distill it again, once maybe twice till i\'m left with all 75-80+, filter it a couple of times then drink lots

It sound like a long process but it will be worth it.

GL

Your right not to waste a wash trying egg white to clear it, lol i did and 1 it only slightly cleared it and 2 it was impossible to distil because of the protein in it.

Hey hangover,

I am just going to use time to clear my wash,if it takes a couple weeks then so be it.

Why did you filter your spirit twice?surely not being a turbo there are no unknown ingredients,so a strip plus reflux run and it should be fine to drink,once diluted of course.Read allot about others saying it doesnt need it,unless you collected tails in the main collection and it smelt funky?

I think just cos of habit i will run it through my filter once(never had to run through more than that) and put it down to age.

Cheers

Marc

Yeah, just because it isn\'t a turbo doesn\'t mean you can\'t get off tastes if you try to be greedy - ditch the first bit and the last bit and you\'ll be fine, a run through carbon never hurts but try a bit first so you can get an idea of how it differs. It\'s perfectly possible to get a good clean brew without carbon filtering, takes a little more skill/patience and wastes a bit more - better to lose a bit of good with the bad than end up with bad in the good!

Im never greedy with my collection,if i go that way theres a chance it could taint the lot,then i wouldnt be happy.I have a bit of stock built up and a couple of birdwatchers washes on the go so im not bothered.And depending on what i get,ie the smell and taste etc,i will run it through my filter,i would probably be wary of the drink if i didnt filter it truth be told,but will think bout that when i get to it.

Cheers

Marc

I haver a DIY filter so the spirit runs through very quickly, probably about 1L per 20 mins.

For the price of a carbon i just like to maker sure its as nice as I can make it.

and it is lol
Yes i loose the first dunno maybe 20-40ml and anything less than about 15-20% after the good stuff

i decided to have a go with this, here is my slight variation (as i am numpty and didnt read it too closely)
200g tomatoe puree ( asda double concentrate) i thought this was a 300g tube

60ml lemon juice

1tsp epsom salts

5.5kg sugar

21l water

90g dryied active bakers yeast
Start sg of 1085. Bubbling away nicely 2hours later

Hey foRUM warrior,that should ferment out nicely.Pretty much the same as mine.

I have mine at a starting SG1075,Ferments out to 0980-0990 every time.Yours should go well.

Keep an eye on the wash temp,keep it up around 28 degrees(i just wrap mine in a warm blanket and the heat it generates is kept in for the entire ferment) and it should finish in a week.Another week to clear after that.

gotta say its going like a trooper atm as good as a SS triple
i have actually bought some wine finings (wilkingsons cost less than £1) by looking at the ingreedients it looks almost identical to a turbo clear.

I just let mine clear naturally,but i strip all of them first...I guess wine finings will clear it nicely.

Well i just finished my spirit run,Ended up with 20L of low wines at 35%abv.Re-packed my column,and put the cooling lines back to standard except for making Teddysad\'s mod to the cooling inlet as in this link
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 46&t=13264
And on advice from my local HBS,i also wrapped the boiler with an old camping foam mattress(one of those 1/4 inch thick foam ones) and got stuck in.
I collected 100 ml of foreshots,approx 200 ml of heads,then collected approx 6.2L @ 92%abv.

The drop off into tails was quite sudden,as you would expect with low wines so once Alc% dropped below 85% i stopped collecting into my drinkin booze.Didnt bother collecting tails.
Now i am guessing i may have been able to collect more but with my CM Still i think i done ok.I should get around 14L of 40% out of it.And even though it doesnt need carbon filtering i think i will put mine through the essencia filter,just for piece of mind.
Overall i think it is a nice easy recipe which has to be experimented at least once.The strip runs you do gives you a bit of insight intop how your still really works.

I will be putting on a triple distilled yeast when time comes,just for ease and time factors,maybe when i have alot more spare time on my hands i can muck around doing these alternatives,wouldnt mind buying/building a proper pot still for making future bourbons.

hey marc, what size was your initial wash?