StillSmart

I had a yeast MONSTER climb out of the bucket today.
It tried to climb out and take over.
Big clean up operation.
Imagine a large jar of white Marmite spread all around....

Robert.

Well I did the deed yesterday, I ran the latest neutral through the Essencia, and sampled it today.
The word unctuous sprang to mind, and I had to go visit uncle google.
I didn't like some of the definitions, such as oily, but did like this one, which seemed right;
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/unctuous characterized by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor, especially in an affected manner; excessively smooth, suave, or smug.
That will do for me, sitting here with a measure of smug right now.

Robert.

I checked my two Kale washes today, they've been fermenting for longer than I can remember, maybe approaching 2 months!!!

They're still at 1.015, I'm not doing Kale again, to have two 40 litre slow washes clogging up my fermenting cabinate is very counterproductive :-(

Anavrin wrote:I checked my two Kale washes today, they've been fermenting for longer than I can remember, maybe approaching 2 months!!!

They're still at 1.015, I'm not doing Kale again, to have two 40 litre slow washes clogging up my fermenting cabinate is very counterproductive :-(

I returned home from my latest jolly to Portugal to find that a golden syrup wash that was started with lentils and stuck and then prodded with wine nutrient before going away, had not exactly stuck again but reduced to a very slow crawl at around the same level.

I ran it through the (pot) still and am amazed at how much of the remaining sweetness carried across. It's not sickly, but without maturing is surprisingly like proper cachaca.

Apologies for not being around much. Me and British/Irish winter don't get on well, so I tend to take the missus and I off to Portugal or Malta for January.

This year was more expensive due to the crappy pound, but was still about £45 a day for the two of us for an all inclusive apartment and I can usually eat and drink my way through the value of that.

Anavrin wrote:I checked my two Kale washes today, they've been fermenting for longer than I can remember, maybe approaching 2 months!!!

They're still at 1.015, I'm not doing Kale again, to have two 40 litre slow washes clogging up my fermenting cabinate is very counterproductive :-(

What temps & yeast are you using ?

Hi Mash

I tried EC1118 yeast, two packs per 40 litres, and for good measure I used half a box of boiled branflakes in each, the temp is about 25°c

Just checked these washes are 35 days old now, not quite as long as I thought but still very slow, the ph was 4 last time I checked, which is not too low for a sugar wash, think I'll give them a dose of DAP.

I might add a teaspoon of bicarb or two myself, but I usually do that before the yeasties slow down due to ph.
It is easy to be wise after an event.

Robert.

That's my last run of Pear Brandy out of the dark cupboard and removed from the fruit. It is a bit cloudy and full of bits,so will try running it through the Harris filter.

Anavrin wrote:Hi Mash

I tried EC1118 yeast, two packs per 40 litres, and for good measure I used half a box of boiled branflakes in each, the temp is about 25°c

I think the yeast strain makes a difference. Some are much faster than others. Was it a 7g sachet?

Hi Mash

Yeah I think they were probably 7g, these washes do smell good, very alcoholic with no other noticeable smell, even though they look a bit rank with floatie bits of Kale everywhere.

They will do - this are fermenting like a wine and not like a wash.
I have proved, & believe are two different things.

I got a quicker result from kale when I went the boiled extract way rather then blitz.

i am no expert in this field being a noob too.. ive read a lot of posts on distilling, operating the airstill. the pdf files ive downloaded and read three times over and then some.. ive asked a few questions and finally got a good product..

i started with the turbo yeast classic8, turbo carbon and the A+B clearing.. 8kg of sugar and then set up ferment according to the instructions..(???hmmm??) (wont do that again!)
anyway half way through the ferment time i noticed a whiffy smell and I wasnt sure if it was how it should be...
when ready i did my first run thinking that would give me drinkable alcohol (WRONG) that run was my "strip" i later found out with research on here and other pages..
anyway i did a spirit run after losing most of my ferment strip due to bad "instruction" HB shop!!
i ran the spirit run again because all jars had a vile taste and smell.. and high %abv slowly weakening.. (UNDRINKABLE)
after finding an interesting article posted in one of the 2012 posts i found the perfect way to run a spirit run in step by step instructions
the 3rd Spirit run resulted in clean 100ml x 10 jars of hearts,, 250 ml heads and 250ml tails.. i stopped at around 20% abv and switched airstill off.. opened the lid and yep i could smell wet dog..
but the 100ml jars range from 78%-44% some are stronger than others and the last two are what i consider to be "vodkarish" if not vodka and probably due to the 3rd distill process ive got some real clean alcohol to play with..
all "smells" have now disappeared and the cheese clothe and two part screwlid jars allow for airing of any volatiles from a jar i used from the second run that is soaking on bourbon chips..
the 2 times before was run at 45-55% but i know why its advised to run at 30% now and the result still gains high %abv spirit to low at the end..
now i guess its all about blending the hearts to taste

THATS WHAT I DID TODAY .. bit more than couple of lines i know lol