Lentil Wash

[Spirits4BB]

The results I'm getting after help and advice from the lads on here are better than I expected..

[Still Brewing]

Glad its helping you as well mate.

I keep looking at big shiney pots and Q Max cutters now thinking it might be a good idea to build something bigger. Need to get a few runs under my belt before I think about it and I know it doesn't come cheap.

Anybody have a rough price idea for a homemade version that will do 25/50 litre runs.

[Spirits4BB]

Same here, love the look of those Bubble Caps, well tempted to build than just shell out for a T500.

Do you brew beer?

[Still Brewing]

I haven't brewed a lot in the last couple of years, mainly due to meds. I had nearly completed my All Grain build until I started having major back problems. Still got most of it as I want to finish it off, that was until I got the bug doing this.

I've always preferred drinking spirits. Beer bloats me right up and I've always wanted to have a go at a Whiskey so the all grain equipment will come in handy.

[Easydrinker]

Glad its helping you as well mate.

I keep looking at big shiney pots and Q Max cutters now thinking it might be a good idea to build something bigger. Need to get a few runs under my belt before I think about it and I know it doesn't come cheap.

Anybody have a rough price idea for a homemade version that will do 25/50 litre runs.

My home built SILLY still,a 30 litre air still,cost around £100,maybe £125 and much time to build.Details in the build your own section of this site.
Going for a Liebeg condenser would decrease cost and build time.
A lot of build your own seems to come down to ingenuity.
HTH

Robert.

[Still Brewing]

Just about to start my first Lentil Wash.

Have bought the rest of the bits needed including the digital ph meter which turned up a couple of days ago. To calibrate it I stuck it in some Tesco Ashbeck spring water which is 6.2 at source. Don't know how close their figures are but the ph tester was bang on the button.

I phoned my local water authority the other day to ask the ph of our water. They said it was 8.8 for my area so I now need your help please.

How much citric acid should I be looking to add to the wash to bring it down to the required numbers, considering my local report. Never bothered to do this before whilst winemaking but its something new to learn and I would prefer to get it the same as the post dictates.

Cheers.

[chill]

You can probably Google for a formula, but I just add some, stir, wait a couple of minutes, test, repeat.

Chuck

[Still Brewing]

Thanks Chuck

I sort of thought little by little but didn't know how strong it was. Just come out of the shed and had thoughts about an online calculator. I used one for homebrew over the years so I concluded that there must be something similar out there.

Cheers

[Still Brewing]

Just about completed my first wash with lentils.

Followed the recipe to the absolute letter and I have the following readings

SG is 1086 and will give me 11.4% abv, based on the wash being 20 degrees. Temperature adjusted to the 35 degrees it is gives me an SG of 1090 with an abv of 11.9. These are based on a drop to a final gravity of 1000.

Our tap water is 8.4
PH of the fermenting bin with everything but the yeast and any acids is now 6.4, still a little too high.

Added exactly one teaspoon of citric acid using measured scoop, PH now 4.4 !!

I know it was to add a little at a time and I thought I was doing right by only adding a teaspoon but I've obviously added far too much, or the ph tester is dodgy. Our tap water is supposed to be 8.8, not 8.4 so maybe I'm not that far wrong anyway, and the tester might be dodgy. It did give me a reading bang on for Ashbeck water at 6.2 from source though.

Shall I just bang the yeast in there and hope for the best, will it really make much difference in the long run. Or should I up it again.

Cheers

[chill]

That seems like a big drop for one teaspoon. I'd give it a good stir and measure again. If it is still low, start adding baking soda. Maybe 1/2 tsp at a time until you get a feel for how much the pH moves.

[Almanac]

Citric Acid should only be added in fractions of a teaspoon. Better to make several small additions to get where you want.

If you local water has a high pH you should consider water treatment - it's very simple - as the high reading could be due to high levels of Calcium Carbonate in the water. There's a booklet about Water Treatment in the Resources thread under "Distilling Booklets". Look it up and see if it helps your situation.

You pH meter is probably fine. Try testing your tap water and see if the pH of what you're actually getting is really that high.

[Still Brewing]

Thanks

My tap water is supposed to be 8.8 according to South West Water but when I tested it yesterday it was 8.4.

Will pick up some Calcium Carbonate as advised and use it sparingly !!.

Cheers

[Almanac]

Will pick up some Calcium Carbonate as advised and use it sparingly !!.

I'm assuming you know it's Sodium Bicarbonate you need and not Calcium Carbonate as you said.

[Spirits4BB]

Will pick up some Calcium Carbonate as advised and use it sparingly !!.

I'm assuming you know it's Sodium Bicarbonate you need and not Calcium Carbonate as you said.

Great advice.........

[Still Brewing]

Thanks for the advice once again, wish that I had seen it before I dumped Calcium Carbonate in it .

What a prat !!. I ended up binning it. Lesson learned and read up a lot more from this site and others.

In the meantime I now have another wash nearing the end of fermentation and its going very well. A couple of days ago it was down to SG 1010 but I have been stirring it daily as its struggling with the last bit. Now its down to SG 1008 so there is still life left in it.

I have kept it at a constant temperature of 30 degrees for most of the time. The only time it was turned off was overnight after one of the kids switched off the wrong plug, bless em.

Looking back at the original post I see that this wash tends to clear enough by itself. Just in case mine doesn't for whatever reason, are normal two bottle wine finings ok to use.

Thanks all.