Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

So I have just done a stripping run on my first NMR wash and found the yield was very low compared to the others I have done (3 in all) but the flavour I think is along the lines I might like so a few more will have to be done to have a reasonable amount to spirit run. On a plus note none of the disgusting fermenting smell carried over. YAY.

I have found the same with Mine Dude, even the first wash had flavour but I am building generations to try and add to the depth of flavour.
From my 40 litre wash strip I usually end up with approx 10 litres at 40% . With the all grain it was more like 6.
I have my fourth generation on now and I got creative and added 3 kg of sugar to the 40kg of grain just to give it a boost

I am going to put down a couple more washes, 2 x 60l and 1 x 30l and use that to make a decision. I would have got barely 3l off my first 50l wash but I did make every mistake available to me but its all part of the learning curve.
I am happy to persevere to see how it turns out.

My two 60 L washes that are on the go I have found generate very little heat, the first one I did I had in the fermentation chamber (fridge and inkbird) the second two are just in the shed on the floor and progressing nicely, I think the warmest it got was 33 deg C. If they are happy to chugg along like this I assume it would be much easier to do say a 200 L batch without having to try to cool it as it is well warm enough in Brisvegas.

:handgestures-thumbupleft: rarely heat a wash and never cool one of course will depend on yeast choice. Im up the road on sunny coast..
And always do 200l. Except all grain, but that is more about the logistics of grain disposal..

Well got a long weekend coming up :handgestures-thumbupleft: and both the corn and corn/barely wash's are both finished and cleared so got a couple of strip runs to, also got a 1-1/2 litres of 90% with some licorice root, star of anise and some cinnamon steeping so that will be a run in my 2" pot still.

I'm just wondering whether to just do a single run over 4 plates with the angels yeast washes and see how each one tastes then do a few more ferments with the angel yeast so I can get full 40% spirit charge for a blending run.

On Saturday morning I'll see if the health food food shop has some fresh rye seeds and get a 30 litre ferment going with them so I'll have some to blend on the final spirit run.

Cheers Bryan

i just used backset that sat for 6-8weeks in a hot garden shed through a Qld spring. Was in a sealed bucket and not intentionally infected.

Other then slightly more sour;. Cant notice a tase difference.

It had a healthy lacto infection going on when used which does not seem to have affected the volume. I have only run half so far but looks about normal volume.
Cant wait to get some aged.

I also added some safspirit american burbon yeast to this cant say I really taste a diff will have to keep some of the previous lot for a down the track comparison.

Anyone else noticed a very low yield with this Angel Yeast ?

With todays run it was 5kg's of corn with 3kg's of malted barely and 80 grams of angel yeast was used for a 45-48 litre wash, I put the wash over 4 plates and got just under 2 litres to 80% :angry-banghead: After the second cut jar it dropped to 70% so put it back into reflux and got it back to 80% the plate windows cleared up and got another 2 cut jars then they fogged up again and soon after I was into tails.

I will see with my all corn run tomorrow what yield I get and that was 11kg's of corn, 4kg's of sugar and 50grams of the angel yeast. this will be a full 50 litre boiler run and I'll put it over 4 plates.

Now if the yield is that low this will be the last I do with this yeast as for the cost to liquor ratio it just aint apples :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

I generally get 7-7.5l from 30kg grain. I do 15kg per 40l mash to up volume for this reason..

Still 12ishl at 40% for about $30 of grain so still way ahead compared to buying..and way less effort then traditional mashing..

Should be 7-7.5 @65%

bluc wrote:I generally get 7-7.5l from 30kg grain. I do 15kg per 40l mash to up volume for this reason..

So with 15kg of grain in each wash do you BIAB or just do the squeeze ?

Squeeze there is a grape press in my immediate future..
I actually do all 30kg at once in a 200l drum squeezing sux..

I found the easiest way to "squeeze" was to use a colander and scoop out the grain then squish it with a potato masher. The grain seems to hold very little of the liquid.
I did find it very tedious and am looking for a better method.

Well worked out the conversion for yesterdays run and it came out to 4.5% efficiency, so not the best but with only using about 8kg's of grain it's a start :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Now as squeezing that first batch was a pita :angry-banghead: my wine press project is getting finished this morning before I even attempt on doing that all corn run. Got a couple of cans of clear spray to seal the slats and just need to sort the M24 screw and weld the nut on the bridge. Joining the platten will be an easy job and just need to fashion up the tray. So hopefully after lunch either do the corn run or the yard arm may beat me to it. :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Cheers Bryan

Sorry bryan, could you explain that 4.5% number? Did you mean you ended up with an equivalent to a wash that was 4.5%?

The first lots of strpping I did with steam gave me 7.5l @45% from 10kg/45l, translates back to a wash at roughly 7.5 - 8% (slightly more as i stopped at 10% out of the spout) Using the site calcs 10kg of sugar in 45l would be an 13% wash that would return roughly 12.3L at the same abv. Corn (depending on lots of things) is arround 72% starch, I got back the equivalent to 61% of the 10 kg of sugar, 61 / 72 equals close enough to 85% conversion IF the feed grade corn is 72% starch, a bit higher when you consder a bit left in the boiler and normal losses from distilling. That batch did have the advantage of sitting for 6 months though.

Anyone got a better way to work that out? I looked at a beer thing, but corn wasnt listed

RC Al wrote:Sorry bryan, could you explain that 4.5% number? Did you mean you ended up with an equivalent to a wash that was 4.5%?

The first lots of strpping I did with steam gave me 7.5l @45% from 10kg/45l, translates back to a wash at roughly 7.5 - 8% (slightly more as i stopped at 10% out of the spout) Using the site calcs 10kg of sugar in 45l would be an 13% wash that would return roughly 12.3L at the same abv. Corn (depending on lots of things) is arround 72% starch, I got back the equivalent to 61% of the 10 kg of sugar, 61 / 72 equals close enough to 85% conversion IF the feed grade corn is 72% starch, a bit higher when you consder a bit left in the boiler and normal losses from distilling. That batch did have the advantage of sitting for 6 months though.

Anyone got a better way to work that out? I looked at a beer thing, but corn wasnt listed

Well as I got 1.8 litres of 80% off the run I used a 40 litre figure

So 1.8/40 = 0.045
now multiply by 100% and we get 4.5%

I did have to check with my kids on that just to see if I still had any marbles left :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Cheers Bryan

Coolo, :handgestures-thumbupleft:

All grain efficiency is usually expressed by sg achived vs theoretical

Perhaps for apples to apples we should be measuring results in amount of 100 abv per kg of grain? Yours ends up at 180mls per kg and mine at 337, so even after losses from squeezing, something's off. I have a couple of unassisted heating mashes that have been down for only 4 weeks that I should get to this w/e and lets see what that brings

And I only get 162.5 your doubling what i get
Is your 337 all the alcohol or what you keep :think:

All, was a strip run as mentioned

I interpreted Bryans as a strip as he mentioned cut jars, but no heads n tails amounts

So your not too far out of what I got after cuts in theory, what you lost by "only" squeezing I may or may not have lost by not managing the ferment as recommended, Those washes went down to 17c after less than a week, not heated and winter :O) but after my dodgy math seems to have worked by dint of time, dunno

The bigger ones I have put down recently have seemed to have kept temp just fine, all sitting at 27c currently - havent measured overnight temp, but ambient hasn't been below 18-20 much either