Things are getting too complicated for some folks. For a while now, been splitting my recipes in 2: make a full dry ingredients recipe (nutrient, yeast, etc) but hold the sugar to 1/2 the usual quanitity, water about 3/4. Get that started to ferment. Yeast will have lots of elbow room to flourish. Separately heat up the remaining 1/2 of sugar in the 1/4 of water and add in a few days later when the SG has dropped to 1.03 or so.
@@bobtheelectrician6692 That sounds like a winning idea! I will certainly give it a try. Keeping it simple sure does make the process more fun. No need for rocket science, huh.
Your the best Master Distiller George! I couldn't get below 5% on mash, kept stopping, you fixed my problem. Kept getting greedy with extra sugar. Glad to see you back!!!
Hey George happy distillin. I use a container of agave nectar 176 oz. 5 lb .sugar. 6gal h2o. And a turbo yeast . Usually double distilled as I only have a pot looking forward to using Karol soon .thank you Sir.
It's like you were talking directly to me! I had this problem a couple washes back and followed your advice from prior video (added some water) and it took off and finished in 36 hours. You are the best!
Welcome back George. I keep coming back to your videos each time I make a batch of Brandy. A question i've been struggling with is to punch down, stir or leave it alone during the fermentation process. Also it might be an idea to inform your viewers to be carefull when fermentation in a confined space like a bathroom as co2 can be dangerous. Thanks again for coming back.
I’m at the point now that listening to George is no longer a requirement for me to be successful in my endeavors I can now enjoy just listening to a man of pure passion explain this ( sometimes) difficult craft. Teaching is a difficult task, I know all this stuff and would not have the patience to teach. George is something special! Pay attention,,class! 👨🏫.
George this is an excellent tutorial, Iv learned so much about the chemistry and how my brewing works. The sugar water balance finally makes perfect sense. Thankyou for such an interesting and informative video, told with such enthusiasm and made clear and simple. Thanks mate
Well, I think you just answered another question that I forgot to ask you on the phone the other night. I always wondered why various mash recipes include "acid blend" (which I've never used) and gypsum but that would probably drop my well water pH from 7.5+ down to 5'ish. Still learning.
You knocked it outta the park again George. What a video to come back with! I’d pay a monthly subscription fee to see your videos unedited, or at least the blooper out takes. And I’m willing to bet I ain’t alone. Happy Distilling.
Yeap George, when I added that gallon of water to a 5 gallon wash. I put the gallon of water in the sun until it was close to 80 degree fahrenheit.(77'). The wash started up again in about an hour. The wash finish in 3 more days which gave me a total of 10 days on a 6 gallon wash. My gravity wasn't what I thought it would be. The wash was sour and had no sugar to taste, so I new it was done. 6 gallons left me with plenty of head space in my cooking pot. I no longer chase the high gravity points by loading up on sugar.
Great session! Evidently ran into this exact problem and through dumb luck I split my batch into 2 separate and added some water. Now I know why it worked. Though it is counterintuitive if you start with 1.130 gravity, 17% abv which leaves you 83% water and ya gotta add more water. Saudi made you live on the edge. Happy Distilling!
George is back, back again, I'm so glad, he's teaching us again, you told me to wake up up, Cuz I was in the back row, are always awesome to all us.. see you soon buddy.
Great to have you back George it's funny you put out this video when you did I just got finished having a problem with a wash I made. Sat late last night and watched your new video on the problem I had you must be in tune with us in the universe and feeling our problems lol Happy Distilling
Glad to see you back my friend was starting to get worried about you until you answered my text on my column a couple of days ago as always another great video to help us be better and safer at our thing thank you for all your help and #HappyDistilling
All great and knowledgeable George I have a question about the wash after distilling. You said in an earlier video it kills grass. I was thinking of giving my chickens the leftover wash after distilling. (I feed them beer and wine already) But does distilling a wash make it toxic? Does it boost the acid levels or make some other effect that makes it toxic/undrinkable? Not a huge deal but on my homestead I shoot for ZERO waste when I can. Your amazing knowledge and insight I trust. Thank you for what you do!!!!
......we use it as a hair product . The bottom and yeast is great ! Some old hippy I knew .....lol ! My wife even used it and her hair was shinny and silky smooth . Mostly we used beer bottoms back in my college days . Peace !
George steps up to the plate it's a fast ball low and outside he steps into it and with a mighty swing slaps it out of the park for another homerun. Thanks for the very informative video my friend it came just in time as l was starting to jones for one glad to hear all is well on your end please keep up the great work and as always #HappyDistilling
My Missouri Single Malt #8 is clearing now. Dropped all the way down to .990 😉 Between my 3 different ferment processes, wine, beer and mash, I've only had 1 stick in 5 years. Was an ambient temp problem. It gets cold in Missouri, lol. Thanks George ! #HAPPYDISTILLING 🇺🇸
Holy $%#@, You truly are a great teacher! Im welding stainless and listening your lectures. Very easy to listen and informative. Thank You for the work You do!
I just don't have any more words to describe this class. Just love to be here. When I'm watching your videos I just want to pack and fly to USA to meet you personally and have the pleasure to take a drink with you George. Thanks a lot for your lessons, but mostly for your way of being on this platform.. (my English grammar is not so good, hope you can understand what I trying to say). A very big abraço meu amigo e professor.
I liked the way you simplified the process of fermentation. You answered some questions I had. But I have one more question I'm puzzled about, how do some of these guys get 15 to 20 percent alcohol out of their washes if 1.090 (12%) is max? Are they just adding more water as needed to keep things going? Also, I have a rum wash going now and it started with a SG 1.080 (your recipe) it pretty much stopped at 1.020, how can I get it to 1.00? Thanks George...
George, the amount of alcohol distilled from the wash will be different depending on whether one is using a pot or a reflux still because the proof output of each method will be different. I might get 3 quarts from a pot still, but it will be about 120 to 140 proof. With a reflux still I'll get around 2 quarts, but it will be 170 to 180 proof. Once proofed the final quantity will be about the same.
Hey George I was wondering if I have a batch of sugar Shine already fermented can I soak it in peaches for a couple of days before distilling it and add peaches as I distil to get a reliable peach flavor and a clear spirit? Love your channel it's a big help.
Great to see you back, was getting a bit concerned given your travels etc. Most of what I've learned about distilling is from you , so thank you! But, I am a bit confused by this one and when/why water and how it relates to starting gravity and current gravity. If the current SG is less than 1.090 (and the mash ws never higher than that) isn't there, by definition, enough water? or did I miss something?
I'm a beginner,i cut up a bunch of apples, mashed them all up,put in 5 gal still,poured gal of apple cider gal of apple juice,1an half gal of water,added 3lbs suger,mixed yeast in warm water, poured in still, covered was checking berbing for two weeks,then stopped,I knew it was ready,i was preparing to put on heater,phone rang,it was emergency,i sealed up still,had to go out of town, was gone for a week, opened still up,it was foaming,i tasted.it tasted sour,tart,it didn't smell or taste rotten,my question is can i refermentate it, maybe adding suger an yeast
Hey George. Glad you made it back home safely. At least in terms of a mash, why wouldn't you drain the liquor from the top, store/distill it, then add additional water to the mash? Couldn't you basically keep an infinite mash going just by draining the alcohol and adding in more grains and water as they are depleted?
After letting the mash / wash settle you can rack off the liquids add more sugar or fermentables and water . The yeast should come back to life and ferment , I have read that after doing this process the yeast can mutate and change the out come after 8- 10 times
True David and yeast also have two life spans; a reproductive life span that is ~ 20 or so and a chronological life span so the daughter cells will mutate.
I am confused George. The yeast breaks down the sucrose - C5H12O6 into 2 each of the following ethanol - C2H6O and carbon dioxide - CO2. As you can see the number of molecules adds up on both sides, non of the molecules from water - H2O is needed. The total amount of water does change just the amount of sucrose. The water is just a medium for the yeast and sucrose to react in. Adding more water later would reduce the SP of course. Maybe I am missing something in your video. I really enjoy your channel and Happy Distilling !!!!
Think about it as X amount of water is need to sustain yeast life. As the water is depleted and replaced with ethanol that amount of water is reduced to a point where yeast can no longer flourish and metabolize the sugar. Increase the water volume (replace depleted water) and the yeast will again start to metabolize the remaining sugar.
@ Bob Mason,I bet you are a chem.Enggr & like you even I was confused about how water depletion takes place when water does not participate in the reaction. That is where George steps in & what he means to say is as sucrose gets converted into ethanol,the original water molecules fall inadequate to handle the alcohol probably leading to the fermentation getting stalled.You need to make the water a bit more dominant here & thus adding water restarts the process. Correct???
@@prabuddhanandy5104 I think what you state is closer to the truth. The bond of H2O is quite a bit stronger than the sucrose, add the fact that the yeast do not need any additional molecules than what is in the sucrose and that will leave the water untouched (Mostly). George does make a HUGE headline in the video that this applies to washes that are over 1.09 SG. The other fact is most people don't use pure sucrose and that is why you get fusils and as George puts it 'ass smells 1 or 2' ..lol. Keeping your gravity close or below 1.09 really does help to make a clean wash. The bottom line is that the advice George is giving is sound. If your wash has stalled and you have a high sugar content then water is probably the solution and the answer (science pun intended when i said solution..lol). While I may disagree with George on some minor points he is still the number 1 Guru when it comes to the science of distilling and fermenting. There is no way to make this stuff right doing it the wrong way. Happy Distilling
@@bobmason6898 I hate calling people out, but both you and George are wrong. Water is absolutely not a limiting reactant here. There will always be more than enough water to continue the fermentation process. And water is absolutely used in the fermentation process, it's also produced during fermentation. Using Sucrose (table sugar) as an example. Yeast will turn sucrose into glucose and fructose, with a hydrolysis reaction catalysed by the enzyme invertase, where water is required. It will go through the fermentation process, starting with glycolysis which uses water in 3 or 4 steps of the 10 step process, where water is required as a reactant. That process leaves us with pyruvate (or pyruvic acid + H+). It will then be converted into acetaldehyde in a process that uses a water molecule. The turning acetaldehyde into ethanol doesn't use water, afaik though. All that said, there are more steps in this entire process that produce water, than consume water. In the end, for every 1 mole of glucose you get 2 moles of ethanol, and 2 moles of water (H2O). Fermentation has a net gain of water. Here is the full biological equation for converting glucose to ethanol: C6H12O6 + 2 ADP + 2 Pi → 2 C2H5OH + 2 CO2 + 2 H2O + 2 ATP The initial reactants of 1 mol of Glucose, 2 mol of ADP, 2 mol of Inorganic Phosphate are turned into 2 mol of Ethanol, 2 mol of Carbon dioxide, 2 mol of water, and 2 mol of ATP. ADP and ATP are ways that cells move/use/store energy. Remember, biological equations aren't chemical reaction equations, they are just giving you an idea of what initially goes in, and what finally comes out, it doesn't speak to all the reactions that happen in between. Water will only be a limiting factor in a fermentation stalling when dealing with high gravities in which case it is an osmotic stress situation and the water is merely acting as a solvent in this case. And in cases where ethanol concentration is too high, it can denature enzymes, and disrupt the cellular membrane. Which is why you can breed yeast to handle higher ethanol concentrations, but you can only go so far before physics and chemistry kicks in and biology fails. If you mixed sugar, water, and yeast into a bucket, and it suddenly stalled. If the gravity isn't too high causing osmotic stress, guaranteed it's probably a nutrient issue. If simply dumping water into the bucket fixed the issue, than the issue was either one of osmotic stress, specifically hypertonicity, and you relieved that stress by diluting the wash or it's also possible that if you used tap water, that calcium and/or magnesium was a limiting reactant, and you just added more. Georges science is quite wrong here when it comes to the water use. He needs to bone up on his chemistry and biochemistry.
Hello from canada.... Question.... I built a pot-still and I have done two runs so far. The stuff is good, I think... At least I drink it ! lol.... But I have been getting low abv. So, from a 20L wash containing 14% alcool, I get about 75% ABV in my first 500ml mason jar. After that it drops about 2.5% for the following 500ml jars. So out of 12 jars.... The first is 75% and the last 3 are bellow 50% and a bit bluerry (tails). Is that normal? Should I expect higher ABV from a pot-still ? I know I can built a tumper.... And at this point I don't want to invest in an expensive multi-level-reflux-ditillation collum. Any thoughts?
Little late, but maybe slow the temperature down a little? seems like the liquid is just getting progressively hotter and boiling off the water with the alcohol.
This guy is a genius! Makes deep info accessible-and easily understood. Huge respect.
698 views, but only 91 likes come on community don't be stingy with the like button! This was a great lesson. Real Edutainment.
Things are getting too complicated for some folks. For a while now, been splitting my recipes in 2: make a full dry ingredients recipe (nutrient, yeast, etc) but hold the sugar to 1/2 the usual quanitity, water about 3/4. Get that started to ferment. Yeast will have lots of elbow room to flourish. Separately heat up the remaining 1/2 of sugar in the 1/4 of water and add in a few days later when the SG has dropped to 1.03 or so.
@@bobtheelectrician6692 That sounds like a winning idea! I will certainly give it a try. Keeping it simple sure does make the process more fun. No need for rocket science, huh.
As usual George never disappoints. simple, clear and easy to understand. Legend. Glad your well
Much appreciated
I love your classes George. I can start and stop to take notes to have with me on my first run. Thank you George, your the man.
Nice to have u back and sharing ur knowledge
It's my pleasure
George you are a astonishing instructor, you bring excitement, and inspiration into learning. Thank you very much!
Your the best Master Distiller George! I couldn't get below 5% on mash, kept stopping, you fixed my problem. Kept getting greedy with extra sugar. Glad to see you back!!!
Sir - your presentation skills are excellent! So much to learn - Thanks!
That was a fantasticly informative video, thank you george, i got a great deal out of it, you are a very good teacher of the science.
Hey George happy distillin. I use a container of agave nectar 176 oz. 5 lb .sugar. 6gal h2o. And a turbo yeast . Usually double distilled as I only have a pot looking forward to using Karol soon .thank you Sir.
Glad your doing well. Thank you for the great class. Your mentorship is appreciated. Semper Fi , Bill
This is a fantastic video and I learnt my mistakes in wine making.Great session.
You knowledge is undoubtedly absolutely fantastic!
Great explanation. I've just added more water to my stuck fermentation. It made so much sense. Thank you
Glad to see your doing Ok George. 🙂👍
Love the science
Looking forward to your next video.
It's like you were talking directly to me! I had this problem a couple washes back and followed your advice from prior video (added some water) and it took off and finished in 36 hours. You are the best!
Great to hear!
Thanks for all this great information! Glad you are well!
Simply your best video! Thank you a million, the solution was so simple and right under my nose the whole time!
Welcome back George. I keep coming back to your videos each time I make a batch of Brandy. A question i've been struggling with is to punch down, stir or leave it alone during the fermentation process. Also it might be an idea to inform your viewers to be carefull when fermentation in a confined space like a bathroom as co2 can be dangerous.
Thanks again for coming back.
Wow! Your the best, I have struggled with this for a couple batches now. You have made perfect sense! Thank-you so much for sharing!!!!!
Awesome video as allways...! Glad to have you back again👍
I’m at the point now that listening to George is no longer a requirement for me to be successful in my endeavors
I can now enjoy just listening to a man of pure passion explain this ( sometimes) difficult craft.
Teaching is a difficult task, I know all this stuff and would not have the patience to teach.
George is something special!
Pay attention,,class! 👨🏫.
George this is an excellent tutorial, Iv learned so much about the chemistry and how my brewing works. The sugar water balance finally makes perfect sense. Thankyou for such an interesting and informative video, told with such enthusiasm and made clear and simple. Thanks mate
Thanks George, new to the craft and this was quite helpful in filling me in on the complete process at a level I can absorb.
Instablaster...
Well, I think you just answered another question that I forgot to ask you on the phone the other night. I always wondered why various mash recipes include "acid blend" (which I've never used) and gypsum but that would probably drop my well water pH from 7.5+ down to 5'ish. Still learning.
Glad to see you back George. Happy distilling. Good luck with the renovations.
Thank you kindly
You knocked it outta the park again George. What a video to come back with! I’d pay a monthly subscription fee to see your videos unedited, or at least the blooper out takes. And I’m willing to bet I ain’t alone. Happy Distilling.
Wow, thanks!
Yeap George, when I added that gallon of water to a 5 gallon wash. I put the gallon of water in the sun until it was close to 80 degree fahrenheit.(77'). The wash started up again in about an hour. The wash finish in 3 more days which gave me a total of 10 days on a 6 gallon wash. My gravity wasn't what I thought it would be. The wash was sour and had no sugar to taste, so I new it was done. 6 gallons left me with plenty of head space in my cooking pot. I no longer chase the high gravity points by loading up on sugar.
Thank you for your fantastic video, great visualizations and explanation.
George, can't thank you enough, you truly make the topics engaging and very easy to understand.
You are very welcome
By god you're a blessing George, thank you.
Great session! Evidently ran into this exact problem and through dumb luck I split my batch into 2 separate and added some water.
Now I know why it worked.
Though it is counterintuitive if you start with 1.130 gravity, 17% abv which leaves you 83% water and ya gotta add more water.
Saudi made you live on the edge.
Happy Distilling!
Great to see you back, George! Thank you
Thank you too!
Great show, very helpfull. Especially for a beginner like me. Keep up the good work sir.
Ive watching George for awhile he’s the man taught me everything i know thanks George
George is back, back again, I'm so glad, he's teaching us again, you told me to wake up up, Cuz I was in the back row, are always awesome to all us.. see you soon buddy.
Thanks George, really easy to follow and engaging!
Great to have you back George it's funny you put out this video when you did I just got finished having a problem with a wash I made.
Sat late last night and watched your new video on the problem I had you must be in tune with us in the universe and feeling our problems lol
Happy Distilling
Glad to see you back my friend was starting to get worried about you until you answered my text on my column a couple of days ago as always another great video to help us be better and safer at our thing thank you for all your help and #HappyDistilling
Thanks for all of your insight. 5 gallons of water. How much sugar? How much yeast?
Love your videos 👍 I always watch them while I'm distilling.
Don't know if you'll see this George but I had a problem and I remembered this video. So helpful as usual
All great and knowledgeable George I have a question about the wash after distilling. You said in an earlier video it kills grass. I was thinking of giving my chickens the leftover wash after distilling. (I feed them beer and wine already) But does distilling a wash make it toxic? Does it boost the acid levels or make some other effect that makes it toxic/undrinkable? Not a huge deal but on my homestead I shoot for ZERO waste when I can. Your amazing knowledge and insight I trust. Thank you for what you do!!!!
No it does not make it toxic.
......we use it as a hair product . The bottom and yeast is great ! Some old hippy I knew .....lol ! My wife even used it and her hair was shinny and silky smooth . Mostly we used beer bottoms back in my college days . Peace !
Happy to see you back George. Happy distilling.
This is exactly what I emailed about the other day so thank you.. extremely helpful.
U are my man. You are The best all around youtube🍇🍇🍇🍇🍷🍷🍷
Wow, thanks
Welcome back. Thank you for info. Happy distilling.
Great to see you again George, I hope everything is going well!
George could I be adding to much sugar & grains to my mash? I usually add 2lbs sugar & 2lbs grains to every gallon of water.
Brilliant!!!!!
I have a 110 gallons brewing right now. George this post is perfect because I realize I need to learn a lot hence my exploding fermenter pict I sent.
Hope he post that one I've had a lot of air locks blast off but never had a fermenter blow up.
George steps up to the plate it's a fast ball low and outside he steps into it and with a mighty swing slaps it out of the park for another homerun. Thanks for the very informative video my friend it came just in time as l was starting to jones for one glad to hear all is well on your end please keep up the great work and as always #HappyDistilling
Great explanation George !! Exactly what I did the first time this happened to me. Worked like a charm ! Cheers buddy!!
Glad it helped
Excellent video George thank you
My Missouri Single Malt #8 is clearing now. Dropped all the way down to .990 😉 Between my 3 different ferment processes, wine, beer and mash, I've only had 1 stick in 5 years. Was an ambient temp problem. It gets cold in Missouri, lol. Thanks George ! #HAPPYDISTILLING 🇺🇸
Nice work!
You are the best teacher ever
George thanks for what you do !! Newbe to this so how do you tell when its done? hydrometer reads below 1.00
Correct 1.00 or below I've been down to.997
Chuck Naturale can it really get that low , water is 000 ?
@@Suzukidave it sure can my friend and even a little lower than that.
Sir, thank you so much! *Salutes*
Holy $%#@, You truly are a great teacher! Im welding stainless and listening your lectures. Very easy to listen and informative. Thank You for the work You do!
thank you for the videos, i learn ALOT about the science behind all this stuff and its nice
Just started my first corn mash... it’s bubbling like crazy and I am vey excited!
I just don't have any more words to describe this class. Just love to be here. When I'm watching your videos I just want to pack and fly to USA to meet you personally and have the pleasure to take a drink with you George. Thanks a lot for your lessons, but mostly for your way of being on this platform.. (my English grammar is not so good, hope you can understand what I trying to say).
A very big abraço meu amigo e professor.
Wow, thank you!
Love your videos. I am new to brewing ,can I use brewers yeast from health food shops. David in Aus.
THANK you so much for sharing this knowledge..it helps a lot to us..
My pleasure
Awesome George! Just like in a hot dog eating contest, all the contestants dip their buns in water.. no water.. no eat... great video. Thank you.
Great analogy!
Exactly!
Absolutely love the videos George!
Thanks George - from Australia.
George,,, ( wow can I meet wow) I'm glad you're back.
Well done. Glad you’re back! I had a batch turned out really sour. Maybe I should call ya.
That's a good thing run it
If the ferment is done it should not be sweet .
Sorry, fellas, I’ve already ran it. It taste like Jim Beam and vinegar. Worst I’ve done so far. Hope to figure it out soon.
@@jh5869 once it turns vinegar it's lost forever what was your mash made out of
George says if it goes vinegar it got a wild yeast in the ferment . Something wasn’t clean that came in contact with your ferment .
I liked the way you simplified the process of fermentation. You answered some questions I had. But I have one more question I'm puzzled about, how do some of these guys get 15 to 20 percent alcohol out of their washes if 1.090 (12%) is max? Are they just adding more water as needed to keep things going? Also, I have a rum wash going now and it started with a SG 1.080 (your recipe) it pretty much stopped at 1.020, how can I get it to 1.00?
Thanks George...
Good day Mr Barly & haps my ? Is tempercher 4 small stills is ther a good #
As always well described. Just like biology class.
Many thanks!
George, the amount of alcohol distilled from the wash will be different depending on whether one is using a pot or a reflux still because the proof output of each method will be different. I might get 3 quarts from a pot still, but it will be about 120 to 140 proof. With a reflux still I'll get around 2 quarts, but it will be 170 to 180 proof. Once proofed the final quantity will be about the same.
Okay but the overall volume of alcohol is not different.
Great video and great work, do you have knowledge in making mezcal?
Very good explanation of yeast being overwhelmed with ethanol.
Why isn't this class being taught at Harvord? ...No, wait, MIT! ...Or, TED Talks at least?
George if your start gravity is 1090, what would your finish gravity be roughly at the end of fermentation
Another wicked Video George!! We gotta get you as a guest on our show for season 2!! Cheers!
Spot on once again happy distilling!
Thanks again!
Your dedication to detail is inspiring. Thank you very much.
Hey George I was wondering if I have a batch of sugar Shine already fermented can I soak it in peaches for a couple of days before distilling it and add peaches as I distil to get a reliable peach flavor and a clear spirit? Love your channel it's a big help.
What kind yeast should I use ?
You are great at teaching this
You are perfect! Thank you!
Too simple, too precious, thanks 🙏
Another interesting video, thanks George!
Hi gorge. Great video by the way. I have a question. How can you tell that you fermentation proces have stopped?
Thank you for TEACHING US A LONG LOST ART. MORE KNOWLEDGE PLEASE.
Yeast nutrient... Stuck at 1.020 from 1.090 Divided and diluted not starting... concern need urea of Yeast Nutrient??? Thoughts
Great to see you back, was getting a bit concerned given your travels etc. Most of what I've learned about distilling is from you , so thank you! But, I am a bit confused by this one and when/why water and how it relates to starting gravity and current gravity. If the current SG is less than 1.090 (and the mash ws never higher than that) isn't there, by definition, enough water? or did I miss something?
I'm a beginner,i cut up a bunch of apples, mashed them all up,put in 5 gal still,poured gal of apple cider gal of apple juice,1an half gal of water,added 3lbs suger,mixed yeast in warm water, poured in still, covered was checking berbing for two weeks,then stopped,I knew it was ready,i was preparing to put on heater,phone rang,it was emergency,i sealed up still,had to go out of town, was gone for a week, opened still up,it was foaming,i tasted.it tasted sour,tart,it didn't smell or taste rotten,my question is can i refermentate it, maybe adding suger an yeast
18:50 😁 such a great teacher!
Great job.!!! IN explaining this process.
Would persimmon work as my sugar ?
Hey George. Glad you made it back home safely. At least in terms of a mash, why wouldn't you drain the liquor from the top, store/distill it, then add additional water to the mash? Couldn't you basically keep an infinite mash going just by draining the alcohol and adding in more grains and water as they are depleted?
After letting the mash / wash settle you can rack off the liquids add more sugar or fermentables and water . The yeast should come back to life and ferment , I have read that after doing this process the yeast can mutate and change the out come after 8- 10 times
@@Suzukidave thanks
True David and yeast also have two life spans; a reproductive life span that is ~ 20 or so and a chronological life span so the daughter cells will mutate.
What happens when they mutate?
Hey George, I have some particular and out of the box questions I'd like to ask you. How can I get a hold of you?
Cannt wait for you to come back and teach use more
I am confused George. The yeast breaks down the sucrose - C5H12O6 into 2 each of the following ethanol - C2H6O and carbon dioxide - CO2. As you can see the number of molecules adds up on both sides, non of the molecules from water - H2O is needed. The total amount of water does change just the amount of sucrose. The water is just a medium for the yeast and sucrose to react in. Adding more water later would reduce the SP of course. Maybe I am missing something in your video.
I really enjoy your channel and Happy Distilling !!!!
Think about it as X amount of water is need to sustain yeast life. As the water is depleted and replaced with ethanol that amount of water is reduced to a point where yeast can no longer flourish and metabolize the sugar. Increase the water volume (replace depleted water) and the yeast will again start to metabolize the remaining sugar.
@ Bob Mason,I bet you are a chem.Enggr & like you even I was confused about how water depletion takes place when water does not participate in the reaction.
That is where George steps in & what he means to say is as sucrose gets converted into ethanol,the original water molecules fall inadequate to handle the alcohol probably leading to the fermentation getting stalled.You need to make the water a bit more dominant here & thus adding water restarts the process. Correct???
@@prabuddhanandy5104 I think what you state is closer to the truth. The bond of H2O is quite a bit stronger than the sucrose, add the fact that the yeast do not need any additional molecules than what is in the sucrose and that will leave the water untouched (Mostly). George does make a HUGE headline in the video that this applies to washes that are over 1.09 SG. The other fact is most people don't use pure sucrose and that is why you get fusils and as George puts it 'ass smells 1 or 2' ..lol. Keeping your gravity close or below 1.09 really does help to make a clean wash. The bottom line is that the advice George is giving is sound. If your wash has stalled and you have a high sugar content then water is probably the solution and the answer (science pun intended when i said solution..lol).
While I may disagree with George on some minor points he is still the number 1 Guru when it comes to the science of distilling and fermenting. There is no way to make this stuff right doing it the wrong way.
Happy Distilling
@@bobmason6898 I hate calling people out, but both you and George are wrong. Water is absolutely not a limiting reactant here. There will always be more than enough water to continue the fermentation process. And water is absolutely used in the fermentation process, it's also produced during fermentation.
Using Sucrose (table sugar) as an example. Yeast will turn sucrose into glucose and fructose, with a hydrolysis reaction catalysed by the enzyme invertase, where water is required. It will go through the fermentation process, starting with glycolysis which uses water in 3 or 4 steps of the 10 step process, where water is required as a reactant. That process leaves us with pyruvate (or pyruvic acid + H+). It will then be converted into acetaldehyde in a process that uses a water molecule. The turning acetaldehyde into ethanol doesn't use water, afaik though. All that said, there are more steps in this entire process that produce water, than consume water. In the end, for every 1 mole of glucose you get 2 moles of ethanol, and 2 moles of water (H2O). Fermentation has a net gain of water.
Here is the full biological equation for converting glucose to ethanol: C6H12O6 + 2 ADP + 2 Pi → 2 C2H5OH + 2 CO2 + 2 H2O + 2 ATP
The initial reactants of 1 mol of Glucose, 2 mol of ADP, 2 mol of Inorganic Phosphate are turned into 2 mol of Ethanol, 2 mol of Carbon dioxide, 2 mol of water, and 2 mol of ATP. ADP and ATP are ways that cells move/use/store energy. Remember, biological equations aren't chemical reaction equations, they are just giving you an idea of what initially goes in, and what finally comes out, it doesn't speak to all the reactions that happen in between.
Water will only be a limiting factor in a fermentation stalling when dealing with high gravities in which case it is an osmotic stress situation and the water is merely acting as a solvent in this case. And in cases where ethanol concentration is too high, it can denature enzymes, and disrupt the cellular membrane. Which is why you can breed yeast to handle higher ethanol concentrations, but you can only go so far before physics and chemistry kicks in and biology fails. If you mixed sugar, water, and yeast into a bucket, and it suddenly stalled. If the gravity isn't too high causing osmotic stress, guaranteed it's probably a nutrient issue. If simply dumping water into the bucket fixed the issue, than the issue was either one of osmotic stress, specifically hypertonicity, and you relieved that stress by diluting the wash or it's also possible that if you used tap water, that calcium and/or magnesium was a limiting reactant, and you just added more.
Georges science is quite wrong here when it comes to the water use. He needs to bone up on his chemistry and biochemistry.
Kitchen upgrade. Happy wife, happy wife! It’s what allows us to get away with our hobbies....like making whisky.
You got that right!
As long as l make my raspberry panty dropper and my blueberry fuckyouup she is a happy camper.
Hello from canada.... Question.... I built a pot-still and I have done two runs so far. The stuff is good, I think... At least I drink it ! lol.... But I have been getting low abv. So, from a 20L wash containing 14% alcool, I get about 75% ABV in my first 500ml mason jar. After that it drops about 2.5% for the following 500ml jars. So out of 12 jars.... The first is 75% and the last 3 are bellow 50% and a bit bluerry (tails). Is that normal? Should I expect higher ABV from a pot-still ? I know I can built a tumper.... And at this point I don't want to invest in an expensive multi-level-reflux-ditillation collum. Any thoughts?
Little late, but maybe slow the temperature down a little? seems like the liquid is just getting progressively hotter and boiling off the water with the alcohol.
This do make senses but I wish you would have tell us the amount of yeast to add after you mixed the water and auger to 12% .
I must go out buy another hydrometer and pay more attention to that part ,Never too old to learn