StillSmart

Just finished my first run of a wheatgerm mash i started 11,days ago i binned the first 20ml then collected 700ml at 45% ran it through my carbon filter its come out very smooth I\'m going to add oak chips and bung it down for Christmas. I made this mash twice in the past but had trouble degassing this time i added a few caps of distillers conditioner, sorted.

alan

Hi Alan and welcome. Do you have an estimate of the ABV% of your mash before you distilled it?

If you\'re running an air-still 45% seems a bit low for the 700mL. How did you measure it?

Ronbo.

Hi Ronbo the wash was 11% plus i only ran 3,ltr just to see how it went as i had trouble in the past with degassing I ran 4,ltrs last night an finished up with 650ml

at 54% i normally run turbo 48 or vodka star washes

alan

Hi Alan, that sounds about right. If you have,nt already, have a look at the \'Distillation\' thread -- \'What% etc\' I put some of my distill records from the air-still there.

Ronbo.

Hi Alan, just re-read your post about the wheat-germ mash.

What recipe did you use? What advantages do you think this recipe has c/w sugar washes?

Ronbo.

Hi Ronbo. I used the wheat germ recipe from home distillers forum, it makes a very smooth spirt its beter not to run through carbon as it takes the flavor of the wheat away. iv just finished running the last of the wash, i only ran the first 700ml through my filter the rest i wont filter i will add oak chips and bung it down till christmas

I started a sugar wash off on Saturday its the winos one from H/D forum. Iv only done a couple of sugar washes in the past i mostly do turbo

alan

OK Alan you have got me interested.

Been looking at the HD site and have come up with this \'Tesco\'s\' version.
Bill of materials:

2 packs of Jordans natural wheatgerm @ £1.29 ea £2.58

4 kG of sugar at 0.98p ea £3.92

125 G of Allinsons bread yeast 0.64

(or box of 6 x 7G sachets = 42G for 0.79p)

1 Large lemon 0.35
Total spend = £7.49
Boil the wheatgerm for an hour and a half and make up to 25 Litres.
What do you think Guys, anything I missed?
Ronbo.

Hi Ronbo I used 10lb of sugar in mine, next time i make it I\'m going to up the sugar to 6kg and try the alcotec whisky yeast, from leyland home brew, I used fresh bakers yeast last time about 3oz. the only thing with this mash is it takes a few hours befor you can pitch the yeast as the wheatgerm holds in the heat even when topped up to 25 litres with cold water. I hope you enjoy it i will definitely be making it again soon

alan

Well! Alan,

Just put the DW recipe, with wheat germ, in the fermenter about 5 hours ago.

The ambient temperature here is 22C but, the wash temp is now 32C. Wow! this I have only seen before with Turbo yeasts. The wash is fermenting like mad.
Very impressed!

Ronbo.

Now it\'s fizzing like hell. How do I control this? A 25 Litre bucket is not enough!

Ronbo.

Hi Ronbo take a couple of litres out of your ferment-er and save till the wash Seattle\'s down then top back up,

alan

I tried splitting it, that just made it more angry. What a shame, I\'ve had to dump it.

I did not have the space or equipment to contain it. Would need something the size of a dustbin to run this!

Ah well, at least it was cheap; and a lesson well learned.

Anyone who wants to try this, make sure you have a container twice as big as you think you need. But I will say this; I have not seen activity like that since I visited a local brewery. Now I know why there is so much space in their fermenters.

Ronbo.