Weetbix wash - is it meant to happen like this?

[TuMeke]

Hi guys - hopefully this is all good!

I made a 20 litre cube of the weetbix/all-bran recipe for my first expedition into brewing to distil - I used branflakes instead of all-bran because they were available in a bulk bag for heaps cheaper than I could get all-bran. It turns out that there's a heap of sugar in them though, so I started out with a gravity of 1.100 which is a fair bit more than the recipe suggested!

It took ~4 weeks to finish at 29C (had an aquarium heater in there) but finished dry to taste, and the hydrometer now shows pretty much 1.00. That was using bakers yeast and is heaps more than I expected it to convert. It spent 10 days in the fridge to clear, and I siphoned it into another cube last night, and it's ready to run today.

A couple of things - 4 weeks is heaps longer than the recipe advertised - is that purely because it was 1.1 to start, or does it suggest something about our tap water (I boiled the heck out of it before starting to get rid of all the chlorine)?

Also, I'm planning to make another batch, but what I saw in the bottom after siphoning out the wash wasn't what I expected. Does this look right to you?


If it looks right - I just reload with water, sugar, epsom salts and a cup each of weetbix and bran on top of what's already in there and call it second generation?

Thanks,
Tu

[kiwikeg]

Hi Tu,
yep that gunk looks normal to me.
now regarding the second gen, with the weetbix mash its not usually used as a multi generation wash like rum or BWKO. I start the weetbix wash fresh each time. if you were wanting to go several generations or sourmash I would recommend this recipe instead. viewtopic.php?f=32&t=6

[Kimbo]

Thats fine mate, its just a yeast cake.

[bt1]

Yeh,

4 weeks is a long wash for weetbix... I use some DAP it goes off like a turbo and normally done in <1 week.
temp seems about right, rest ok... just wonder if yeast bit under fed...

bt1

[TuMeke]

Cheers bt - I'll grab some DAP for the next wash and see how that goes. Certainly took longer and was less 'turbo' than some of the posts and pics on the recipe thread suggested.
Tu

[TuMeke]

Well, I've so far failed to find any DAP in consumer quantities. I can buy it by the tonne though! :roll:

My understanding is that DAP is mostly contributing nitrogen to the process, so I grabbed a bag of Ammonium Sulphate (21-0-0-24 N-P-K-S) when my next brew stalled out at 1011 after two weeks. (different brand of bakers yeast - otherwise the same recipe as last time)

I dissolved a teaspoon of ammonium sulphate, and another teaspoon of magnesium sulphate in 100ml of hot tap water, let it cool a bit, threw it in and gave the cube a good shake up.

It's bubbling steadily away again - it's not rocketing, but it's going at least, and seems to be accelerating at the moment.

This time I'll save the yeast cake and boil it up for nutrient to throw in the next batch.
The new yeast had a vigorous initial ferment - puked everywhere despite me leaving the lid off, and was going much quicker than the previous lot until it stopped entirely and began settling instead.
Tu.

[wynnum1]

Do the branflakes have the quantity of sugar listed on the packet to much sugar and the yeast is under stress that may be the reason for a long fermentation time .

[TuMeke]

Unfortunately no. The packet says that sugar is one of the main ingredients, and that's about it. This is one of those bulk-catering pack jobbies that isn't meant to be seen by the consumer, so they don't have to provide a full break-down on the label.

The hydrometer shows 1.100 to start with, and the last run finished up at a touch under 1.000

5kg of white sugar
3 cups crushed Sanitarium Weetbix
3 cups crushed Gilmours Bran flakes
1.5 tsp Epsom Salts,
1 tsp citric acid
70g active bakers yeast

And this morning an extra tsp each of Epsom salts, and Ammonium Sulphate.

The original recipe does say that less sugar would give a quicker ferment, so it follows that the extra from the bran flakes will slow it down - maybe I just stumbled onto the steep part of the bell curve :angry-banghead:

I was expecting the yeast to die off from too much alcohol before it finished out, but the first lot went all the way eventually.

[Sam.]

I would be looking at heat and aeration, prob give it a good stir to get the yeast back in suspension.

Not sure about the ammonium gear...

[TuMeke]

Temp is 28c with an aquarium heater inside the cube, so it's really stable. I gave it a pretty serious shake up after dropping the fert in today, so everything should have been swilling around pretty evenly.

Ammonium Sulphate is mentioned here: http://homedistiller.org/wash/ferment/nutrients as a nutrient and in a bunch of food safety regs as a permitted nutrient in fermentation.

I'm sure it'll finish eventually, but I'd love to know why mine takes so much longer than others. Maybe I need to buy a PH tester.

Tu.

[Sam.]

As long its safe for food all good :handgestures-thumbupleft: