Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hey I'm looking to start my first tomato paste wash
And just wondering if anyone had any good tips or tricks
Also I see lots of people using real lemons and Epsom salts Is This necessary or can I just use lemon juice from the bottle. Thanks

Sorry if this has already been asked a million times

I am lazy but i never bothered with the epsom salts and lemon juice and i never had any issues with the wash fermenting out to below 1.000.

I found the wash never foamed up like rum does so i would do a 28L was in a 30L fermenter and push a little extra sugar to suit.

How big a batch are you doing ?

25 litres.. some iv seen seem more complicated about mixing in certain stages and checking the gravity and adjusting and others I saw were just like throw it all in and it'll be fine

KISS
keep It Simple ... you get the idea
I never used epsom or any other shit , I also don’t use a hygrometer that’s why I have a nose a mouth and sense of smell

Can you point my in the direction of a good simple ass one or just find something that looks good enough and go with it.. from what iv heard even if I don't do it great it'll still shit on a turbo wash.. which is what I am hoping for

Have a look in the tried and proven section, it's all good in there.

Dopeassmonkey wrote:Can you point my in the direction of a good simple ass one or just find something that looks good enough and go with it.. from what iv heard even if I don't do it great it'll still shit on a turbo wash.. which is what I am hoping for

In a 30L fermenter -
6kg sugar https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/pr ... e-5422541p
Half a 500g jar of tomato paste https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/pr ... ste-tomato
Generous sprinkle of lowans bakers yeast https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/pr ... ed-instant
Fill water to 28L mark

Really is that simple.

Thanks man I can only fit 25l atm but should be ok if i just rough it down a little ey? Seems like a lot of paste compared to others iv read for that size... but I dunno shit so I'll take your word

Dopeassmonkey wrote:Thanks man I can only fit 25l atm but should be ok if i just rough it down a little ey? Seems like a lot of paste compared to others iv read for that size... but I dunno shit so I'll take your word

Here it is from the man himself ( i just dont bother with the epsom salts and citric) https://birdwatchers.info/calculator/

It really is as simple as all of the above, the birdwatcher calculator is great.
Tastes a little tomato'y on the stripping run bit that disappears on the spirit run for some real nice "juice"

my 25L washes are nearly always PH 7 before pitching yeast, adding 1/2 tsp citric acid and a quick stir drops it to 5.8 -6.0
depends on your water i suppose, i only add if required.
small tubs of citric acid powder are in your local shops baking section, not HBS prices.
the recipe is fairly bullet proof, i can only emphasize a really good aeration with a paint stirrer & drill just before pitching the yeast.
i also do the stirring outside now, and not in the kitchen (everything needed a good wipe down anyway :roll: )

When I do TPW I do 60 litre ferments and I use rainwater so no need at the start of the ferment to add anything just 12kg of sugar, one small tub of tomato paste and a good sprinkle of bakers yeast. Now I do find taking a PH reading 2 weeks later the PH drops to the high 3's so I just add some baking soda to get the PH back to 5.5 and find 3 weeks later the ferment is done. I aim for a SG of 1070 and it finished around 995 then they are left for a week or two to clear, then I strip in my 4" pot still and when I have enough low wines the run is done over 4 plates and a 500ml packed section.

With my last batch I just did the strip and spirit run but with this next batch I'll do 2 spirit runs which will give a triple distilled neutral for my macerations and my bottle that lives in the freezer as on a warm or hot day it's great having a cold dram of nothing :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Cheers Bryan

Just a tip but if you run with 1kg of sugar per 5L your about on the money, I personally prefer weetbix or weetbix/bran washes but TPW is very popular. The Tomato paste is just for nutrient (can use extra boiled yeast for a similar effect) the lemon juice is to help with inverting the sugar but dissolving it also works. Bread yeast is pretty good at converting sugar so don't stress to much, these recipes are very forgiving and tbh the main thing is making sure it doesn't get infected (and even then I generally still would run it if fermented out dry)

I also am a proponent of the KISS principle. For a 50-litre wash,
10kg sugar = 1kg/5 litres (as stated above)
125 gms Lowan baker's yeast = 2.5 gms/litre
415 gm bottle of Woolies tomato paste = 8.3gms/litre
I also like to pitch the yeast at a PH of about 5 which requires about a teaspoon of bicarb (although this will depend upon the ph of the water used) and a temp of about 30 degrees. I use aquarium heaters to keep the temp at about 30 degrees throughout the ferment. This invariably produces an SG of well under 1.0 within a week.
I actually prefer a WBAB voddy but I find that it takes longer and is also a lot messier to clean up. I spend a lot of time away from home and am really only home for about 3-4 weeks at a time, 4 or so times a year, so a reasonably quick ferment is essential to me keeping up supplies. Also, I once had to leave 3 fermented washes in their respective fermenters for 3 months and when I returned they were perfect. I'm not sure that that would have been the case if they were WBAB washes.

Newbe here with T500
Put down my first TPW a few days ago. I stuffed it up a bit and put 200g Lowhans bread yeast in by mistake.It really took off. 25l wash. Starting SG1.08 Finish SG .91. If you do the calc that is kind of impossible. What are your thoughts on that? Will distil when settled.

Put two more washes down slightly different recipe, using epsom salt. The first of the next two washs has gone absolutely crazy. The airlock is going like it has an air hose under it. The third wash is going about at a normal rate. Only difference is a new tub of yeast and different brand of white sugar. Does anybody have a view on the difference between wash 2 and 3?

Can I upload an attachment which is a mp4 video?