Fermenting & Distilling

[short2]

Due to the late spring and summer weather here in the North of Scotland I have not had any problems fermenting or distilling. The temps have not fluctuated particularly when distilling.In winter and early spring I found controlling water temp could be problematic with the T500. I solved temp problems in fermenting with an aquarium heater in the spring. My thoughts on this are leading me to think about just fermenting and distilling in spring and summer. Cutting off in October and commencing again in March.That gives me time to build up a good stock of kit and a decent maturation period for certain products. I would be interesed in any thoughts on the idea or if anyone does this already. All crit welcome.

[Capt-Cudellez]

Hi Short, I had a bugger of a time with the T500 during the winter. My water temp was around 6oC out the tap, and as such I was having to run on such a small trickle it was difficult not to get air getting into the system from the cooling output hose which caused problems controlling the reflux, a simple aquarium non-return valve on the output sorted this out issue out.

I have also considered only fermenting in the summer months, I've got 3x120L drums arriving this week to do larger scale ferments, I'll strip these washes down to 40% and store the strip in a keg (I've now acquired 3 x 50L for this purpose) to distill at my leisure.

I had also considered building an insulated box to store the fermenters in using something like this to keep the temp up
http://www.alertelectrical.com/prod/1541/2ft-80w-tubular-ip55-greenhouse-heater-green-hyth4525g-?utm_source=google-base&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=google-base-feed
But the less I can spend on heating the better, especially if we have another winter like the last one. I'm still undecided on what I'm going to do so let me know how you get on.

Edit: running an 80W heater 24/7 would cost around £6.50 a month @12p per KWH , good insulation would mean its not running all the time if you used a PID to control it. I'm not writing this idea off just yet

[short2]

Hi Capt,I have a Garden Shed, no Garage so cost of heating the shed during winter would be too much.I think you are on the right track with large storage tanks. I have thought about a large box insulated withfibre glass wool covered in silver wrapping to keep the heat in. You know the stuff you get for loft insulatting. I definately will spend these summer months building up a stock and only brew in winter if I get a depletion of stock.

Another winter like the last and heating the Shed would be pointless I think. In the end everything breaks down to cost and what is suitable for a given suituation.

I will be going down your road of large storage tanks and have already looked at some on the net.. I have today made enquiries to buy 25kl bags of Barley, Oats and Maze. I can get them locally for £33 for three. However, cant get Rye. I am doing some recipes from H Distiller. Giving the Turbos a body swerve at least for the time being. Will let you know how I get on Cheers.

[Jimmy]

Depending on the size of the fermentation vessel, you might find you need to look into cooling rather than heating - some of the larger ferments generate a lot of heat and the parts in the middle need to be kept below 40 or else the yeast will die off. Just a thought!

[short2]

Hi Jimmy, I was thinking of using large vessels for storage rather than fermenting in large batches as I do not have the space for both. I would ferment 50 litres at a time and run it through and store it until I filled up the containers. I need to do my fermenting in the house and any more than that at a time would drive the wife up the wall. I am just running electric light into my shed and I think heating would be too expensive to run as it is not lined inside. Summer temps here can go below 5 degrees.Winter is Baltic. If I lined the shed she might move my bed out there. Now there is a thought.Cheers

[Pyro]

I am near Auld Reekie, some of us have the same problem in winter and use an aquarium heater as well, doesn’t always work and the occasional brew gets stuck. You just have to sit it out, and it comes good in the end

Pyro