Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hey guys, two weeks ago I made a FSW wash and instead of using the bucket method I opted to do a controlled mash of heavy peated malt at 65deg for 70 mins. I've used 12kg of LME and 4 kg of grain into 50l. As this was my first attempt at mashing I was really curious to check the OG however I broke my hydrometer moments before I needed it.
The FG has now stalled at 1.022 and I'm thinking that as I mashed for longer than the recipe called for I probably shouldn't have used the full 12kg of LME.

At 1.022 will this wash be fine to run through an electric heated boiler or is there something I can do to bring the FG down?

Thanks guys.

I'd love to help, but have never done this mash...

Theres nothing stopping you from leaving it as is to perhaps ferment longer (the yeast will settle out once its all done)...

Have you tasted the wash? Is it sweet or dry? does it leave your fingers sticky?

If its dry/ non-sticky its pretty much ready to go... There is a finishing-off yeast mentioned by Doc (?EDV491?? or something) that (once you know what is) you can use to really drive down the gravity, but it has a cost (you may loose flavour!) - again I have no experience with this either...

If, on the other hand, its still sweet/ sticky then you have a stalled mash and need to figure out what went wrong - pH?, temp?

That'll dictate your moves going forwards.

I have run at 1.02. Puked badly. Had to run it slower than a spirit run to strip it.(pot stilling)It will most likely puke bad if you run now.try and get your gravity lower using ec1118 or uvaferm 43. Dont think either are cheap.
Or you could run it and see how it goes. Have you had experience with a still puking?

bluc wrote:... uvaferm 43...

That’s the yeasty-beasties I was thinking off for overcoming stuck ferments...

EziTasting wrote:I'd love to help, but have never done this mash...

Theres nothing stopping you from leaving it as is to perhaps ferment longer (the yeast will settle out once its all done)...

Have you tasted the wash? Is it sweet or dry? does it leave your fingers sticky?

If its dry/ non-sticky its pretty much ready to go... There is a finishing-off yeast mentioned by Doc (?EDV491?? or something) that (once you know what is) you can use to really drive down the gravity, but it has a cost (you may loose flavour!) - again I have no experience with this either...

If, on the other hand, its still sweet/ sticky then you have a stalled mash and need to figure out what went wrong - pH?, temp?

That'll dictate your moves going forwards.

I had a taste last night and it tastes like a high abv wash. Didn't notice it to be overtly sweet. I'll check for stickiness and the ph tonight.
The hydrometer hasn't dropped a point for a week now. I'm thinking that the OG must have been way too high to begin with but as my hydrometer broke that day ill never know.
It's been at a constant temp of 26deg as I've got it wrapped with an electric blanket on a thermostat.

It's in a 60l fermenter so could I benefit from topping it up with water and gently stirring the yeast?

bluc wrote:I have run at 1.02. Puked badly. Had to run it slower than a spirit run to strip it.(pot stilling)It will most likely puke bad if you run now.try and get your gravity lower using ec1118 or uvaferm 43. Dont think either are cheap.
Or you could run it and see how it goes. Have you had experience with a still puking?

Thanks for the heads up. I've never had a puke before but every time I run an all grain I use conditioner so I'll definitely be adding it to this one. I've got some safspirit American whiskey yeast here. Do you think that may help bring the gravity down to an acceptable level?

EziTasting wrote:

bluc wrote:... uvaferm 43...

That’s the yeasty-beasties I was thinking off for overcoming stuck ferments...

Thanks Ezy. I'll track that down as a last resort as the last thing I want with this wash is to lose any flavour at all. Would adding a whiskey yeast benefit me at all?

Mormash wrote:

bluc wrote:I have run at 1.02. Puked badly. Had to run it slower than a spirit run to strip it.(pot stilling)It will most likely puke bad if you run now.try and get your gravity lower using ec1118 or uvaferm 43. Dont think either are cheap.
Or you could run it and see how it goes. Have you had experience with a still puking?

Thanks for the heads up. I've never had a puke before but every time I run an all grain I use conditioner so I'll definitely be adding it to this one. I've got some safspirit American whiskey yeast here. Do you think that may help bring the gravity down to an acceptable level?

Measure the PH , you could add some calcium carbonate if the ph needs to be bumped up a little, possibly DAP (wine nutrient), along with some yeast.
Have a read about yeast bombs

3 out of 4 of mine have been with safspirit malt yeast one, by accident, was with american whiskey yeast. It finished the lowest at 1.008. My current one is on 1.014 which is my next lowest fg.

Yeast bomb is a good idea and would prob see it dry in 24hrs..

If it is the case that the abv has risen to the point that the yeast has stopped, could the wash be racked to two vessels and watered down to lower the abv? Just wondering?

Yes that would also lower ph. But you end up with low abv..

ThePaterPiper wrote:If it is the case that the abv has risen to the point that the yeast has stopped, could the wash be racked to two vessels and watered down to lower the abv? Just wondering?

That's along the lines of what I'm thinking as I can't imagine this wash fermenting any drier as is but I'm pretty new to all this.

bluc wrote:Yes that would also lower ph. But you end up with low abv..

If the abv has risen to its maximum with fermentable sugars still remaining in the wash then wouldn't it be possible to reduce the abv with water in order to allow the yeast to continue doing it's work?

Thats the line I was heading along Mormash. by my thinking, give the wort a good stir, split some out and water it down a bit. If that takes off again, you are in business. If not, not much lost

What does it taste like ? Sweet? Sour? Bitter? Dry? I have a gut load of this barreled, to the tune of 50L at 63%, it’s an easy recipe, just a little exy if yr not shopping right. Good tip, and probs a bit late but get some B enzyme and add when you pitch the yeast. It’s a steep with the grain so it works well on the starch. Safspirit malt yeast is the ticket. Gives a good flavour. I’ve never done an sg or fg , seems to just chug along well for 4 or 5 days then stops. Never puked once. Back to the first point though, taste will be your best friend friend... what was the question???... :laughing-rolling:

Dyno wrote:What does it taste like ? Sweet? Sour? Bitter? Dry? I have a gut load of this barreled, to the tune of 50L at 63%, it’s an easy recipe, just a little exy if yr not shopping right. Good tip, and probs a bit late but get some B enzyme and add when you pitch the yeast. It’s a steep with the grain so it works well on the starch. Safspirit malt yeast is the ticket. Gives a good flavour. I’ve never done an sg or fg , seems to just chug along well for 4 or 5 days then stops. Never puked once. Back to the first point though, taste will be your best friend friend... what was the question???... :laughing-rolling:

Ok interesting that you've never checked the gravity. It makes me wonder what OG and FG you've been you been hitting all this time. BWKO only uses around 7kg of sugar per 50l wash yet this recipe calls for 12kg of LME plus a partial mash for just a 40l wash. As I used "bintani" dry malt extract instead of coopers LME it must have thrown the gravity way out.
Ill also get some Safspirit malt yeast as ive read many good things about it.
I'll taste it again tonight and if it's dry I might just run it and see what happens. Cheers!

ThePaterPiper wrote:Thats the line I was heading along Mormash. by my thinking, give the wort a good stir, split some out and water it down a bit. If that takes off again, you are in business. If not, not much lost

I'll mix it up and put some into a quart jar with added water to see if I can get it to start fermenting again. I'm just not sure whether to water it down and risk losing some taste or run it as is and risk a massive puke.

The tins of malt extract are approximately equal to 1 kg of sugar. Therefore 12kg = 8kg sugar. Not sure about the dry stuff, anyone know the sugar content? It could be more like 1-1 or even higher.

I wouldn’t imagine it would take too much water, you only need to lower the abv by a couple of percent and it will only be in the tens to start with.

Have been a beer brewer for many years. Stuck fermentation is a bumber. Sometimes a high gravity beer will not ferment to the FG you want.
Also the mash temperature plays a big part in the amount of fermentable sugars in the wort.
Lower mash temps have been shown to produce more fermentable worts
High mash temperature will leave a sweet full bodied wort, which you do not want in a wort for distilling.
Have a look at this video might be of some help for a stuck fermentation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWjelO8sYzo

Cheers
Ned

Ned wrote:Have a look at this video might be of some help for a stuck fermentation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWjelO8sYzo

Cheers
Ned

Love that guy, gashlug! Very helpful!