Dextrose Wash

[DATGUY]

I recently put down my first dextrose wash as a friend got me some and nicely gifted it to me.. 7kgs mixed in fine with the water.. put in the turbo classic at 35c at about 6pm Sunday.. was bubbling away by mid night.. But has stopped about 60 hours later.. I know the dextrose is alot finer than other sugars but should it really be used this quick?? Only gota hydrometer today it reads about 1.005 and didnt take one at the start!!

[Admiral Toad]

Hi mate
Thats still too high a reading are you sure it's stopped?
Give it a good stir and aeration and leave/ watch for a few more days and keep a steady temp in the low 20 s

[Jimmy]

First few days the wash tends to keep itself warm with the speed of the ferment but after the initial burst I always find I have to use my Electrim brew heater as my house is just too cold to keep it going otherwise. I'd concur with the Admiral - make sure it's warm enough and give it a good old stirring about if you need to kick it off again.

[DATGUY]

Gave it a stir.. Seems to have kicked it off very slowly.. bubbling every 30 minutes once or twice.. Its been a constant 24-28C the whole time.. Might just leave it see how things go.. maybe it bubbles when im not looking!

[Jimmy]

The other thing is, maybe your airlock or fermentation vessel isn't a particularly good seal - one of mine used to hardly bubble at all because the airlock was cheap rubbish but it was still going OK, the hydrometer is the real test of when it is done.

[Almanac]

7Kg of Dextrose in an assumed tot volume wash of 25lt would have given you a SG of 1.107 and with a current reading of 1.005 the alcohol content of the wash would be in the region of 13.15%ABV which, if you're using one of those yucky Turbo thingys, is still a bit low.

Your potential is somewhere around 16.5% which will be indicated by a gravity reading below 0.980. More likely this one will end up, based on your description, at around 0.995 or 14.5%.

Generally, a few bubbles only every 30 minutes, or so, is indication that the yeast is not producing very much any more. You could try a kick start with some nutrients but you got to ask yourself will what you 'might' gain be worth the cost or the effort.

Many things can stop a wash going all the way, Ph, initial O2 to feed the Lag phase, temperature swings between day and night, etc. I doubt any of us get it perfect all the time (or ever) but 14.5% is a reasonable result provided it's not sweet.

Next time try substituting just 30% Dex in the total sugar weight.

Good luck with it

AM