Brewing in a 35 Ltr Brewzilla first time

[grasmere]

I purchased 3 kg Pale Malt Barrett and 3kg of Peat Smoked Malt, but found that I could only
use approx 5 Kg in the boiler with 18Ltrs Water to a level of approx 28 Ltrs
maintained temp of 65 for 60 Minutes
Lifted container and sparged with 70 degree water
Raised wort to 85 allowed to cool didn't use any cooling aid
Added to fermenter and used Woolies Lowan Instant Yeast at temp of 25
Finished about a week later
Added to boiler
Had problems with set temperature of 98 kept cutting in and out increased setting to 100
I finished with a disappointing 2.25Ltrs at 30 Abv
If I am to do a second run do I need to add water to give it some volume
Could the low amount be due to the Yeast that I was using?
Any advice would be appreciated before I continue

[scythe]

The brewzilla sounds like a good thing to mash with but it sounds like it uses a temp controller to maintain heat, you will want to use a power controller instead if you are trying to use it as a still.

Starting %ABV of the wash will tell you what you could get out of it.
2.25@30 = 4.5@15 = 9@7.5% = 18L@3.75%

So by the looks of it you might need to work on your mash efficiency.
Are you sure the wash was finished?

[Sam.]

Don’t raise it above 70, no need to mash out for whisky and it’s pointless unless your going to boil.

You want the enzymes to keep working as long as they can :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sam.]

Thank you for the replies
It seems as though I will need to save this for a future brew
What abv should I have been getting at this stage?
What yeast would you recommend to make sure that this was not a problem?

[scythe]

Also did you iodine test the mash looking for un-converted starches?
The yeast might have converted every molecule of sugar in the wash but maybe you just didn't have enough available sugars to get a decent amount of alcohol for it.
Changing the yeast won't help as I don't know of a yeast strain that can convert a given amount of sugar into more than another strain.

Lowans yeast does fine for whiskey, some people try a more specific whiskey yeast strain but they have their mash down pat and are chasing a particular flavour profile.
Specialty yeasts have a specialty price tag that could wind up just wasted money if the wash isn't right to start with.

[grasmere]

Thank you scythe
Can you tell me where I might find more about iodine testing

[grasmere]

I have just googled iodine for brewing Thanks again for putting me on to it

[grasmere]

Am I expecting too much. I have just watched a video where the final amount after stripping was just over half a demijon
Mine was just under a demijon
The video went on to put back that amount into a clean boiler
Would that have meant boiling dry for cuts

[grasmere]

Correction just under half demijon

[scythe]

All depends on the starting %ABV of your wash and you still type.
If you start with 5%ABV your not going to get as much out of it compared to starting with 10%ABV.

For 10%ABV wash:
If you using a pot still you might start at 80%ABV for the heads but tapering down to 20%ABV for the tails over 4-6L of 40-ish% ABV from a 25L boiler charge.

Reflux stills are better at compressing the alcohols so you could potentially end up with 2.5L of >90%ABV at the end of the run.

Half that if you start with a 5%ABV wash.

[grasmere]

Homebrew Network videos mash by continually stirring all of the time without the top, which is what I did.
Should I be using the top cover with the pump going to recycle liquid

[bluc]

Stirring mash periodically helps effeciency. Putting lid on helps hold heat and stops splashing while recirc. Lid helps more on a passive non heated setup. On a 1hr rest I would prob stir 4 times. But every action has an equal reaction. Stiring can cause blocked pumps and release tannins. Gotta work out whats more important. All grain can be a real pita. Stirring continually is usually done when direst heating from underneath to stop scorching on fine ground grounds when going for max effeciency..

[grasmere]

Thank you for that Bluc much appreciated