Newbie First Wash

[bjurcina]

Hi folks

I've put on my first wash using 7kg of dextrose and the triple distilled yeast. I have 2 questions. Am I supposed to stir it occasionally or leave it closed. Also the temperature does not seem to be rising and there does not seem to be any bubbles. The room temp is about 21-22C and the wash is 22C. Should I be concerned? It's been about 2 days now.

[metalmickey]

Did you add the yeast to hot water? i mean did you melt the sugar in hot water then add the yeast?
It should be bubbling within a few hours of adding the yeast. You should keep the vessel closed as much as possible and vent via an airlock to stop the wash becoming infected. Some people just use a teatowel, but its good practice to use a bubbler (airlock). The teatowel method certaily works but get into good practices and you should find that you have fewer problems in the future.

If the wash is small enough, say a few gallons you could try standing it in the kitchen sink of hot water to raise teh temp and stimulate the yeast.

MM

[bjurcina]

The water temp was exactly 30C when I added the sugar and it dropped rapidly to about 24C as soon as the sugar was added and mixed in. I was under the impression that this yeast did not like to be too hot.

So I'll keep the lid on it but do I half to stir it at all or just leave everything settle to the bottom and stay there?

[bjurcina]

I just quickly peaked in and it's now bubbling away. Temp is still the same as room temp but that could be because I'm measuring the outside of the container.

[metalmickey]

As I dont drink suggests you should prepare everything first. IE sugar dissolved in water. and then add the yeast/activated carbon.

the yeast should be added last.

I dissolve my sugar in a litre jug first packet by packet and have found i can get 2 bags of sugar from the 1 kettle of hot water so three boilings.

i add em to the fermenting bin and then add cold to bring the temp down. I test it with a clean hand to check the temp and then pitch the yeast.

MM

[Jimmy]

If it's going well, then it's best just to leave it to it's own devices. If you suspect it isn't going properly, with a sterilised whisk or big metal spoon or something you can open the top and whisk the bejesus out of it to stir it all up, then put the lid back on. You don't want to be doing this too much, but sometimes it can kick start a slow ferment. It should get going on its own though really, especially with a turbo. They tend to look quite milky once they're running so if yours doesn't, perhaps try the above. In general though, the less you mess with it, the less chance of infection and the better/stronger the ferment will turn out.

[bjurcina]

Thanks for the clarification on water and sugar temp. I'll try that next time. So far it seems to be bubbling fine and now it has a layer of large 1 inch clear bubbles floating on top. Temperature seems to be several degrees higher than room temp so that's good. Time will tell.

[Jimmy]

Hard to be sure, but at a guess it'll be fine and it just started slowly, possibly not enough oxygen in the early stages - it does help to really whip them up before adding yeast. Good luck!

[mozr]

Hi BJ.

Glad it's going well.

I am on my third Triple distilled SS wash and all three have behaved slightly differently.

The key is to follow instructions, sterilise and be patient.

My first and third wash did not kick in until the second day.

You have got plenty of time until family start trying to cadge free booze off you, believe me!

[bjurcina]

Still seems to be doing fine now. Has that brewing smell very similar to when my dad use to make wine. Its been 4 days now and our plan is to drain it off this weekend so that's 7 or 8 days. Should be interesting.

[Jimmy]

Others may find differently, but I think the claims on the packets are always a fair bit optimistic - for example, I recently did a '5 day' turbo which took 14 days to ferment and then another 3 to clear. You might get lucky, but my advice is to be prepared to have to wait longer and don't waste the effort so far by rushing!

[bjurcina]

Unfortunately I'm one of those people who likes to learn by making mistakes. I should have headed Jimmy's last post. After 7 days I assumed it was done and added the finings. After several hours it was still foamy on top. I went back and re-watched some of the how to videos and realized that I had surely jumped the gun. Oh well. Not the end of the world and I know what to look for next time. Meanwhile I purchased a hydrometer and checked the SG which is at about .990. Obviously I should have done this first. I'm guessing that if I leave it alone for a bit, I can still drain it off and produce a significant amount. It is clearing but it just doesn't look like the crystal clear stuff you see in the video.

The next batch will be better.

[Jimmy]

Easy mistake, I've done it myself. What the finings do it make some long chain molecule thingybobs that are quite delicate and capture the suspended particles and the whole thing is heavier so it sinks. That's why you're only supposed to stir gently, because the chains are easily broken.

Or to put it another way - break the chains and you're basically back to where you were - that's what I did, just whisked it all up again and it started going, waiting until it finished and hit with another sachet of finings, all good in the end!