StillSmart

Dave wrote:I checked the sg of my mash today, and it's reading 1037.....that's after 10 days fermenting, and it's still going strong! There was never any krausen to speak of, but I can see it's working well. I've noticed the corn meal falling to the bottom gradually over time, leaving a thin, milky looking liquid.
Does everything sound ok to you more experienced guys?

Thin milky liquid is fine, when the wash has fermented out and you have perhaps racked and allowed to settle, it should go virtually clear, if you can wait that long.
Sorry to forget where this post started, but if using corn meal I'm guessing that you want some flavour, so full steam ahead!

Robert.

Patient

adjective

1.....able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious

IMHO...this is the first rule of stilling.....I've waited for weeks for a wash to clear....then on the other hand, I've thought Feck it and banged it in the boiler..

Time to get another fermenter going so you can get you ahead.

There is nothing wrong with a many fermentered approach, if you have the space.

Robert.

My experience is more in wine and cider, but I did plenty of beer "back in the day".

I know it's chemistry and logic dictates that it be consistent and repeatable, but I'v had brews that everyone swears will take X days take less for me when my temp is lower (water perhaps?) and I've repeated recipe and procedure to within 1% and had brews last days shorter or longer or stall completely.

Just last night I got bored with a lentil/sugar wash that was making minimal progress after 2 weeks and was at 1050 and not quite the colour and smell I expected, racked it off red lentils (which I've had good success with) and chucked 10 minute boiled yellow split peas and a few grains of allinsons into new fermenter and it's trying to climb out of the fermenter and doing great.

I would bet I didn't change fermenter, equipment or hand hygiene when starting original wash. I'm slack about temp when throwing yeast, so maybe it was that. I don't check water ph, so maybe it was that. Maybe green allinsons tin is different to other colour tin?

My longwinded point is do try and be a wash ahead and do try different washes and don't be scared to rack a wash off and re-start it, same as watering back a duff distill and re-distilling.

Thanks guys. It's still going strong after 17 days, and it smells lovely. Gravity is dropping, so I'm going to let it do its thing!
I started another mash today...a 6 gallon one. I'm a bit shy as to tell you what I put in it tho....

No worries mate...I've had washes take 3 weeks before now...if it smells ok, then it's ok.

Now tell the brotherhood what you've put in this wash, if you don't you'll have to go sit in the corner...

I suspect his latest wash was laundry water and tadpoles!
It's one that I've been considering
Robert.

Funny I have just put one of those on!

25l Turkish delight. Sugar, and 2 tins of grape juice.

Ok, I'll tell y'all what I've got in my latest, er, wash! But first let me say how delighted I was with my first attempt at distilling! As I said previously, I got about a litre of 48% product. It was a bit harsh to drink neat, so I mixed it with a little bit of pomegranate juice, which was quite nice, however, I didn't have much of that, so I decided to oak the rest. I bought an oak log for 50p and sliced a piece off on my bandsaw, and cut it into cubes. Then I toasted half of the cubes with my blowtorch, and left the other half untoasted. I split my 'brandy' into two jars and threw the toasted cubes into one jar and the untoasted into the other jar. Still awake guys?..
Anyway, after only about 3 hours, both jars had taken on a lovely colour, the toasted one a bit more, understanderbly, so, I gave each jar a taste, and I was amazed at the difference in taste in only that short amount of time!!
By the next evening, both jars were very similar, so I put it all back in one jar. The taste was unbelievable! What started out as brandy had morphed into a lovely whisky...or brisky as I called it!
The bad news is....I finished it last night!!
I would love to recreate that same drink, but decided to try a different recipe this time, which brings me to my latest mash.
This all came out of my head, as do my curries, which usually end up being quite tasty.

3 litres of Apple and Raspberry juice
2 litres of Apple juice
2 litres of Cranberry juice
Large jar of Morrello cherries
! kilo of raisins
200grams of dried tamarind
3 kilos of sugar
made up to 6 gallons with hot water
A sachet of Wilko Gervin wine yeast, and 2 tespoons of Rithies wine yeast with nutrient.
I hydrated the yeast, and pitched it at 6pm yesterday, and by 10pm it was, to coin a phrase, nearly climbing out of the tub!
The raisins and the tamarind I soaked overnight and put through a blender, then wrapped the resulting slurry in a cheesecloth, put that in a colander, poured the liquids through it, then tied it up and it's now hanging in the mash.
The SG was 1060, which should give me about 8%abv, but I want 10%, So I'll need to add another kilo of sugar at some point.
Well, that's it really. It'll be interesting to see what transpires!

Mate, IMHO you are off your trolley.
But so bonkers that I find this attractive, it was the tamarind that clinched it, I struggle to use the stuff, never sure of where it fits, I taste it and think............. ?
I can't wait to see how this turns out for you.
ATB

Robert.

Thanks! You just reminded me, I forgot the tin of black treacle....never mind, next time, eh?

I love the,sound of that. I have no idea what tamarind is but it sounds exotic. Looking forward to hearing how this works out.

I just crept into my shed and lifted the lid just to hear it gurgling!! It's like a living thing trying to get out!!

'Tis nearly Halloween, and things gurgling in the shed is about right

Robert.