Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I have been trying my hand at a single malt using Bairds Heavy Peat and Safspirit Malt. Wort initial SG of 1.065, after 2.5 weeks was still sitting around the 1.005 to 1.01 mark. Pitched the re-hydrated yeast at 32 degrees and it went nuts for 3 days and the activity just seemed to stop. I have read that this yeast should finish around the 0.975 mark. Has anyone experienced this behavior with this yeast? Any tips?

Thanks in advance.

Have you tasted it? It could be that there are more unfermentables there than you were hoping for, but AG’s rarely get below 1 from what I have read and experienced.

Haven't tasted it yet.

If it’s sweet, it still has a ways to go. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Tasted it. It's has a hint of sweetness. Fermentation has stopped though. Any ideas on how to get it going again?

Final gravity is limited by your starting gravity and unfermentables if you can get down to 1005 probably finished .

be careful fermentation may not have stopped ...simply slowed ...we have a temperature controlled hot room and still often have to wait for a month to get a 1000 litres dry... Safspirit malt is from memory an old world ale yeast, they are slow but oh so good.
Cheers
Doc

If you genuinely have a stuck ferment look to Uvaferm 43, it is a wine rescue yeast that is one of the cleanest fermenters in the game...we moved from ec1118 to Uva 43 even for our vodka, which we are now selling into hospitals as it is reagent quality. ( see the Australian spirits guide ).

What final SG do you typically get and what temp do you ferment at?

Cheers.

What temperature is it at? Oh and what are you basing the conclusion of a finished ferment on? You can’t rely on an air lock, the only real way is a couple of unchanged sg readings over a couple of days. Another good indication is the wash clearing up / becoming less murky.

the Doctor wrote:If you genuinely have a stuck ferment look to Uvaferm 43, it is a wine rescue yeast that is one of the cleanest fermenters in the game...we moved from ec1118 to Uva 43 even for our vodka, which we are now selling into hospitals as it is reagent quality. ( see the Australian spirits guide ).

.
Totally agree on the UVA43 it is a clean fermenting demon!

Is that something you would want with a peated malt? I get it for vodkas/ neutrals, but would you lose a lot of your flavour going too dry with a whisky?

Dont think you lose flavour by fermenting dry. Its the reflux still that strips the flavour to turn the "whisky" into grain Vodka..

ThePaterPiper wrote:Is that something you would want with a peated malt? I get it for vodkas/ neutrals, but would you lose a lot of your flavour going too dry with a whisky?

you use a rescue yeast for exactly what it says on the box...rescue. it is for saving a stuck ferment... you only use Uva 43 as your principal yeast if you are creating a neutral...however it certainly can get you out of trouble and save ferments...but your call on your washes.
Doc

bluc wrote:Dont think you lose flavour by fermenting dry. Its the reflux still that strips the flavour to turn the "whisky" into grain Vodka..

I guess you could say, whiskey, is grain vodka till it sees a cask ...if you think about it.
Doc

Ok. That’s really interesting. I love this hobby :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Never seen that strain of yeast where do ya find it . Temp is the likely cause for it stalling and much less likely but possible is pH. Fermenting dry is no worries and if ya chasing a crisp scotch, Irish or Aussie style I'd say the dryer the better, in fact I put a dry beer enzyme in every mash not bourbon related as for those styles a see a sacch carryover as a bit of a fault or flaw but everyone is different :handgestures-thumbupleft: .

crow wrote:Never seen that strain of yeast where do ya find it . Temp is the likely cause for it stalling and much less likely but possible is pH. Fermenting dry is no worries and if ya chasing a crisp scotch, Irish or Aussie style I'd say the dryer the better, in fact I put a dry beer enzyme in every mash not bourbon related as for those styles a see a sacch carryover as a bit of a fault or flaw but everyone is different :handgestures-thumbupleft: .

If you are talking about the Uvaferm... I think we source that from winequip Melbourne.
Doc

crow wrote:Never seen that strain of yeast where do ya find it . Temp is the likely cause for it stalling and much less likely but possible is pH. Fermenting dry is no worries and if ya chasing a crisp scotch, Irish or Aussie style I'd say the dryer the better, in fact I put a dry beer enzyme in every mash not bourbon related as for those styles a see a sacch carryover as a bit of a fault or flaw but everyone is different :handgestures-thumbupleft: .

Do you put the dry beer enzyme in at higher temperature or when cools down .

Anything under 1010 for 5 or 6 days is probably done. Really depends on your conversion rate and temperature. If its not dropping at least a point a day you are never going to get anywhere anyway. Strip and start the next batch.

I put it in just before pitching, its a glucoamylase so can probably be used in the mashing but I only use it in the ferment like ya would with a beer. It basically continues to break down long chain sugars throughout the ferment which will drag out the ferment a little but will up the yield and more importantly dry the mash out.