StillSmart

hi,
ive made a tomato paste wash over a week ago, using 22lts water, 6 kilos of sugar a tube of tomato paste, the juice of a lemon, and half a tin of allinsons bakers yeast.
after a initial great start, the wash has slowed down to virtually no bubbles, the hydrometer is about halfway, or on the blue! still a long way to go, am i doing everything right? this is my first tpw so just needing a bit of advice, thanks
kevin

The hydrometer reading you're looking for should be 0.990 or less so you've a bit to go.

Temp is usually what slows things down. Try to keep the temp constant between day and night. I use a sleeping bag, cut in two, to insulate my ferments from swings in ambient temps and make sure the bottom of the fermenter is not on anything that would draw heat out, like a tiled or concrete floor.

I find my ferments do well between 15oC-23oC

At this time of year 10-14 days would not be terribly unusual

Given time I'm sure your TPW will come home safely - patience is a bitch!

AM

thanks for the adciceaidanmac, ive covered the buckets and they seem to be still fermenting slowly could you tell me how to clear a tomato paste wash? do you let it settle naturally, or is it best to use something?
thanks,
kevin

With any wash you have two main options for clearing - Time or Finings.

With either option the first thing you have to do is degas the wash completely and everyone has their own favorite method. Mine is to stir briskly with a big catering hand whisk until there's no fizz left and I do this twice for two days.

The Time option: Once degassed the wash will clear if left in a cold place and given time - usually a few days.

Finings: Also after degassing you can opt to use finings like Turbo Klar from any good HBS. Finings are usually a two part liquid addition that you stir gently into the wash and again wait a day or two.

If you use finings you will not be able to re-use your yeast cake but if you're a beginner I wouldn't worry about that just yet.

My personal preference is to simply degas thoroughly then leave to clear naturally.

AM

Another option is to rack it off of the yeast cake, then de-gas and clear that. This prevents off flavours from the decaying dead yeast and also lets you re-use them, if you are so inclined. I do for special yeast.


Chuck