Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Stevejb wrote:I'm just using Lowans yeast. I do aerate the wash with a dual aquarium pump and air stones for around 2 hours before adding it.

Same as me then, I aerate with a hand blender but otherwise the same.

Is there anything else in your wash?

What is your degassing method?

(I am obviously clutching at straws here but something must be different for me to be getting such different results - other than the usual incompetence that is).


PS: Does anyone know if there are any detrimental effects of the was freezing during cold crashing? - I don't think there is.

As small input here - what bentonite are you using Bundy?
It comes as both Sodium and Calcium varieties (as well as some which is Potassium and aluminium and a few others).
I have it and have used both types although I find that racking and time will produce a pretty clear FFV.
Is your water soft? I dont use Lowans yeast ( don't get it here) but that may have an effect on the haze.

However quite frankly I would not be too concerned about achieving clarity.

As an aside bentonite will strip some of that nice flavour from FFV.

I'm making Wineos Plain Ol Sugar Wash with no changes I just give it a good stir to degass it.

I'm using food grade Sodium Bentonite.

Teddysad wrote:As small input here - what bentonite are you using Bundy?

Sodium. (HBS Wine finings)

Teddysad wrote:although I find that racking and time will produce a pretty clear FFV.

I am only moderately patient, so three weeks is about my limit (I think after all the stuffing around I am about at that with this current batch anyway).

Teddysad wrote:However quite frankly I would not be too concerned about achieving clarity.

In my experience with this great recipe I have found that the clearer the wash is the shorter the tails are, although there are other variables, I do bounce between stock feed bran and Woolworths unprocessed bran so that could have an effect as well.

Teddysad wrote:As an aside bentonite will strip some of that nice flavour from FFV.

Yes, that is what I am worried about, nonetheless I am prepared to give it a shot.
With this first batch I am following someone else's suggestion to skip the strip run and go straight to the spirit run so it *should* lose less flavour than normal.
I should have had a taste of the (cold crashed) cleared wash to see what the flavour was like - I didn't think about that.

Teddysad wrote:Is your water soft?

80 Mg/L (approx) = Moderately hard

Teddysad wrote:I dont use Lowans yeast ( don't get it here) but that may have an effect on the haze.

Yes, yet another variable although others have said they have no problem with Lowan's,

Thank's for your input Ted, it's always very much appreciated. It's a pity I don't live near you, it would be great to have a sample of your product to see how mine compares, in fact it would be great to compare mine to *anybody's*.

Stevejb wrote:I'm making Wineos Plain Ol Sugar Wash with no changes I just give it a good stir to degass it.

I'm using food grade Sodium Bentonite.

Thanks Steve - same as me then for all intents and purposes.

Bundaboy wrote:

Stevejb wrote:I'm making Wineos Plain Ol Sugar Wash with no changes I just give it a good stir to degass it.

I'm using food grade Sodium Bentonite.

Thanks Steve - same as me then for all intents and purposes.

Just a thought - are you sure the stuff you're using actually is bentonite? It's just a wild guess.... I got the stuff I'm using now I got from an Aussie fleabay site. I only got 100 grams ($6 delivered) as I wanted to see if it worked. I have now ordered 1Kg from westbrew. Some of the fleabay prices are astronomical!

Stevejb wrote:Just a thought - are you sure the stuff you're using actually is bentonite? It's just a wild guess.... I got the stuff I'm using now I got from an Aussie fleabay site. I only got 100 grams ($6 delivered) as I wanted to see if it worked. I have now ordered 1Kg from westbrew. Some of the fleabay prices are astronomical!

Yep, it clearly says on the back sodium bentonite.

PS I couldn't find the 1kg bentonite on westbrew (now BrewCraft?).

Thats same one I used :think: :wtf:

bluc wrote:Thats same one I used :think: :wtf:

Yeah, it really should have worked, I don't know.

Does the material that the container you clear in make any difference i get the idea that glass bottle clear quicker then plastic .

wynnum1 wrote:Does the material that the container you clear in make any difference i get the idea that glass bottle clear quicker then plastic .

I bought a 25L glass demijohn specifically so I could see what was going on, so at the moment I have 1 x 25L demijohn, 1 x 4L demijohn, 3 x 25L plastic, 1 of the latter that fits in my refrigerator freezer that I am now using to cold crash 1 by one.

The 25L demijohn allowed me to see that the wash wash not clearing at all, well at least in terms of being transparent.

I did a straight (no stripping) spirit run on one 25L cold crash cleared wash yesterday and it seems to have turned out quite well except at the beginning when I had the off take too fast - doing it this way is very slooooooooooooooow but works well - it's a good alternative if you are in a hurry for some product.

I should explain I do the fermenting in a 130L plastic fermenter and rack off into the above mentioned containers.