Ive never tried to make alcohol before, don't even drink, but I do enjoy watching your videos to learn more about yeast, and because you're entertaining. I tried using yeast and table sugar for my DIY CO2 reactor on my 40gallon planted aquarium and didn't get much reaction until I added a tablespoon of baking soda to the gallon of the yeast solution. Huge difference! Lots of bubbles and water didn't go clear like prior attempts without baking soda. Changed out the solution after 10days, you could smell the wine aroma all through the house.
KB had the same problem too with a my first molasses rum. Rapped my ferm bucket with towels gave it a shake after 8 hrs, temp came up to 25c and now bubbling mad.
Thanks booze-dwarf! My first all grain mash was stalling. Checked the optimal temp for DADY and I was way low. Put a heat pad under the bucket and a space heater in the room with the mash and slowly warmed it up. Still in the process now but seems to be picking up steam.
I've had numerous stuck fermentations. The best advice I can add to this discussion is to keep the wort circulating. Agitation is key. And also, that it doesn't overheat. I have no issue that way in winter and living in Canada. I use a large plastic pail with a fish tank pump running 24/7 dunked into it, and plastic cover with folded towel. It's not a perfect seal, but doesn't matter. Never had a stuck fermentation since.
New to the hobby and trying sugar wash for the first time. Wasn't a good start but thanks to you I realized I pitched my yeast to hot and had little to no act but now it's going good! So thank you and keep up the great work! Fyi I'm probably going to binge watch all your videos 👍
Hi I have been brewing successfully for last eight months. I live in Cholistan desert in Pakistan (close to Indian border), our summers are very long and harsh, the temperature reaches up to 50 degrees celsius. During, my previous homebrewing experiences (wine/beers), the fermentation process ended in 17 - 19 days during summers. Winters are short but night time temperature drops a lot, this morning (December 14) when I checked my beer, there are very few bubbles, or I can say almost no fermentation, while it is only the 10th day today. I need to mention in the past, whether I brewed 5 liters, 7 or 10 liters, I have always used the dry yeast sachet of 10 grams regardless the quantity of liquid, but this time I have brewed 20 liters of beer and the amount of yeast I added was still the same (10 g pack). But anyway as it is the mid of winters and the temperature yesterday during the day time was 9 degrees c and during the night it was -1 last night so I need to ask: If this quicker completion of fermentation process is due to colder weather? Is it due to larger amount of liquid (20 liters) and less yeast (10 g)? Or shall I add some more yeast while the brew is already 10 days older? I thank you in advance, and hope that you would be able to answer as soon as you could. (whatsapp +923007003492)
I had the stuck fermentation with my batch last week. Measured everything and it all looked right. But my temperature was 19,5°c and it needs to between 20-24°c. So i put a warmth source under the bucket and it started bubbling like mad 15 mins later.
@@StillIt I have this issue right now.Bubbled for 3 days. Stopped. Gravity didn't shift. Added more dry yeast. Nothing. Put keg in a warm bath and gave it a stir, started to bubble for a day but dropped off. Gravity still high. Ended up leaving it fora week and it nothing has happened. I suspect the stock yeast with my kit may be crap. Have just bought some decent ale yeast, hydrated it and popped it in. Fingers crossed...
Surprised to hear your views dropped off with the live streams. I personally find them a great platform and appreciate your effort in reading the comments and shooting from the hip when you are live. Your channel is great with new info there is a lot of old videos around the traps your content is fresh and delivered in an educational and fun way. I was on fb the other day and your channel came up as a recommendation for preparing oak. Being new myself to this gig and having the opportunity to ask questions during live streams is gold. I wish for you all the success and growth with your hobby mate. Cheers
It is usually low temperature during fermentation from what I have seen unless the yeast pack is bad. The strangest thing I seen was after 21 days no lees or dead yeast at the bottom after bubbles for 20 days. added heat 79 F and not much activity. but the wine must still taste too sweet to complete fermentations.
I use a fish tank heater in my 25 litre (6 gallon) sugar wash. Just pre set the temp on the heater to 22 degrees centigrade, and drop it into the wash. It needs to be weighed down with a heavy stainless kitchen knife tied to it though. Iv run several like this with different yeasts. All been good and ready within 10 days ish. Hope this helps , also a kids sleeping bag around the tub might help if it’s cold winter. Good Chanel still it, keep em coming 👍🍺hope my tips help anyone out there
Thanks for the info. I need your help as I am stuck with a failed fermentation. I have made good wines before but this time I thought I would try making a Fortified Wine. The biggest mistake I made ( which I realized later ) was adding Brandy at the very start of fermentation. This has 'killed' the yeast I suppose. Its 10 days now and there's no fermentation. Initial gravity was 1.076 and today it's 1.056. Do I add the Yeast and yeast nutrients once again? I really need your advice / help. Thanks in advance.
Hi j, I made a 10 gallon Black strap molasses wash, it turned out OK, so for gen 2,I kept 5 gallon back set witch went slightly moldy, I added all the 1st gen 5 gallon back set after reboiling it, I added 8 bags of brown sugar and 1 gallon of black strap molasses, and topped it up to 10 gallon with fresh water, 4 bags of raisons, 4 bananas and more bakers yeast, my starting og was 1070,after 3 weeks it was 1060 and starting to go moldy, I added fresh water and it started again and got to 1040, it stopped again, so I boiled it again, let it cool and added fresh wine yeast, nothing happening, I've chucked half of it to make ujssm gen 9 in the empty 5 gallon fermenter, sorry about the length of the message 😬any suggestions about the remaining 5 gallon rum wash?
My all grain wash started at 1050 and has dropped to 1025 and hasn't changed for 2 days,I'm worried I may not have completely converted the starch into sugar but not sure
I kind of thought as much but thanks to a guy I'd love to share a beard-soaked beer with, my stopped fermentation seems to have kicked back into action. Cheers mate! deffo worth a sub!👍
Mash got cold and stopped if I heat it backup. Will it be OK with the fish tank heaters without adding anything? Will it come back to life? Or do I need to add water?
Hey Jessie great advice especially here in Canadian winter. Really got to watch the temperature. I have a question that I suppose is very dumb but I must ask, at what S.G. is the bakers yeast going to be killed by alcohol? There are so many yeasts and so little time. Regards. Chuck.
Just as a suggestion- wrapping your fermenter with an electric blanket on a thermostat covered with another blanket works well and would be far more economical than heating the room. That's what I have to do because my winters are cold. Why I came to this video is that I'm wondering if I should oxygenate the wort again if i think that it didn't perform well to begin with (think I may have killed the yeast with hot dunder). What is the potential downside to re-oxygenating the wort? I've searched google but couldn't find any answers. Cheers, Jesse. Your channel will continue to grow, I'm sure. I wish it was around when I was first starting out.
If you did kill the yeast there is no down side. Mix it Up again and repitch the yeast. If it's already been fermenting the down side is oxidisation. But to be honest that may be the beer stuff talking. I'm not sure if it will act fast enough to be a problem. Oxidisation in beer shows up like wet cardboard and a weird off caramel like flavour.
Since you had a negative for the live feed on Facebook, here is the counter I would love to see you move the live feeds to Facebook, it is an accessible platform and works well for live feeds with accurate notices. Plus this will drive people to have a peek at your Facebook platform. Great to see a video on a problem, I tire of everything is perfect videos, this is a great logical step by step process to figuring out the issue, though showing a PH test would have been very helpful. In addition, instead of a external heater why not use an Aquarium heater tube?
Twitch might be a good spot for live streams? Or, is there a way to do the live streams just for patrons, then upload an edited version later to youtube?
Question I've got a 55 gallon fermenter like the one in your video and want to know if you open ferment in yours? I see the top cut off yours and I'm debating about how to cut mine off fully open like yours or just the center so I can make a lid to seal it. What's your thoughts.
Thanks for this vid Jesse, I'm having this problem a lot lately starting 1070-1065 and slowing to an absolute crawl around 1020 and it's been driving me up the wall! As a newbie I appreciate the insight and instruction. PS, somehow my gen 2 UJSM turned out surprisingly well even though I screwed up a bit (forgot to do a muppet check). Gen 3 will be better! Thanks and cheers!
I have a supermarket Strawberry Lemonade that I fortified with Honey to 1.120, and it won't go much onder 1.020. I tried a second yeast that restarted fermentation briefly, but stopped. Am I correct that if it's a heavy fruit juice it won't get down to 1.000 because of solids and other unfermentables in suspension? I've started drinking it anyway, so I think it's done.
I had 22 liters of wash and after a furious start in the first 24 hours, the process stopped. now i',m worried and can I add a solution of warm sugar water and had a ts yeast?
I've got a wine that may have got a little too warm and stopped bubbling. How warm would it take to kill the yeast? Is this where I pitch more yeast? Should I pitch more nutrient or Energizer? Thanks in advance.
I know this is 3year old video but I wanted to add a remedy I found that works. I've had a couple batches stall out at .02. in the second one all I done was add 1/2 tsp per gallon of yeast nutrient and 5gallons of fresh spring water gave it a good mix with a drill and in the matter of minutes a nice thick cap formed and it took off and two days later it was down to 1.0. Just to be clear I used nutrient with urea and not Energizer.
My fermentation didn't do a dam thing! I checked the air leaks which there was a couple but then only one of my fermenters started bubbling and just stopped soon after. You mentioned nutrients? As a newby of only 1.5 years I have no understanding of this. Or enzymes. Please help, my dam wort keeps getting stuck!
Is 20 1.020? I think my fermentation is stuck. I started at 1.120 and now I’m at 1.020, there was a lot of life the first five days but now I don’t see any bubbles rising. 12 lbs of sugar 6 lbs of cherries hibiscus tea and water. 5 gallon, I used nutrients and two packs of yeast. Do I add more sugar and boost it with some more yeast or agitate more.
I'm at a stuck fermentation with my wine and i didnt know if it was cause of Camden tablets but I'm like i did the eight amount but like i pitched yeast twice and its just not doing anything so im gonna try the temperature thing or see if maybe i need to change the environment for it maybe split the batch and add more fruit like something to gwt it going I'm stuck but ill try today to see if the temperature is off or on
Friend, im pretty sure I under calculate the amount of yeast. I tried some mutiplication starting, but I guess it didn't work. Can I just add more healthy yeast during the fermentation? Im like in day 4/5 by now.
hey jess i replayed this , just to see if it applys to what i have going on useing the birdwatcher and did follow the cal page to set up for a 5gl. run it ran go for 5 days i am useing airlocks good fast bubbling for the 4 1/2 days it got a tad cool that night rain came in and no bubling, but the water leval was not even in the lock so some pressure was still there not it came back for 12 hr. then day 6 no bubbles but the same with the airlocks, was woundering the tom wash run fast? should i open up and look at sg? if i let it set for a day more or two then look. thanks for any help you can give.
hey its all cool i know you have alot to do,, with kids and all of the life things , i gave it a bit of a skake then a hour later it was of and bubbleing agin, day 6 and going like mad.. thanks for your help give the wife a hug and kiss,s for the babys
What about PH levels? Something I've never really checked, all my mashes have always produced alcohol. Just recently I've had a lot of problems with my mashes stalling out, I'm using the same cracked corn and sugar recipe I've used for the last year and a half. Cracked corn, sugar amylase, Fermax, Redstar My SG 1.085, FG 1.000 normally I'm stalling at 1.070 to 1.050 Tried restarting some took off others still stuck. My PH is at 7 when I start, drops to 4 after seeping my grains in
If you could mate that would be fantastic, i know i can get those barrels here in Oz but if they are over 50cm in diameter they wont fit in the fermenter fridge i have
I moved from brewing to distilling. Yeah, its weird talking temps that high huh!?! Now here is the REALLY scary part . . . . . bakers yeast! Took me a while to get on board with it to be honest. But it actually does work well for this stuff. The price is right too! I can get a kg of "good" bakers yeast for the price of a wee packet of US-05.
Is bakers yeast a high attenuation strain? I made some cider last year and champagne yeast (Lalvin EC 1118) is dirt cheap, attenuated super fast (fg below 1.000) and was really vigourous. Wont beat that price thought! ... 1kg!
Set my first wash off last week, many years of wine and beer making, so thought that would be the easy bit, never had a stuck fermentation on those! Simple sugar wash, 2 days, the yeast grew as normal, then.... stopped, Hydro reading was still around 60, temp over 22c by day, but does drop at night, never a problem before. So I popped a brew belt on and got it to around 25c, left 4 24 hours, nothing.... gave it a full stir and within 10 minutes it was going a treat!!!
I've found that an electric blanket wrapped around the demijohn helps keep my mash at fermentatble temperatures. I tend to only run it overnight to save electricity/stop the yeast from working too hard. Also, it was cheaper and looked less sketchy than the band warmer that was available on Amazon.
haha yeah those belts/bands are a bit odd eh? I guess they are fine for small batches. I had an electric blanket in the little fermentation fridge (for 30L ferments). But I managed to kill it some how :(
Hi Jesse, I have a fermentation that didn't really take off ,and has been stuck at the same gravity for a few days. I checked the ph as well and it has dropped to 3 ,is that a problem ?
Hi. Enjoy youts vids and learn a lot. My Q....you hardly ever talk about the p h drop in your fermentation ie. a sugar wash. The birdwathers day you need to pitch some lemon juice to drop the p h of tap water. If you do that your p h drops immediatally . Whet you pitch your tamato.paste it drops down to 3.44 about. Is that level o k or fo.I need to get it up again or not to pitch lemon juice at all. Thx mate.. From sunny South Africa.
Dave is right mate, them fan heaters are not the safest, they designed to be watched as you use them, take your eye off em and it can turn into a fan powered fire starter. I’d use an alternate heater mate , blanket or fish tank type. Hope this helps
With blueberry Can I have an acid problem? Can I add alkaline water to start the bubbles? Can I add baking soda? I never got bubbles from my fresh apples or my frozen blueberry... help!!
Hey Jesse Do you monitor the ph? A wash can go to acidic in no time and more so if you are not controlling the temprature in the goldilocks zone. I found the bag with crushed oyster shells stops ph drop. I live close to the sea so any old white shells gets boiled and crushed for that purpose. Thanks for the vids great job.
Was probably PH, sugar wash has little to buffer the PH, so it can drop quick and stall fermentation. I had to add 2 tps baking powder to get my first sugar wash to start up again.
Hi Jess. Great channel. Iv got my first rum wash fermenting away and it's day 9 now and still pushing a bubble through the airlock every 10 seconds. It's been a constant 24 to 26 degrees. My original gravity was 1.080 and it's standing now at 1.005.. should I remove the heat source and rack it or should I just let it carry on for a day or two.? Also the brew shop didn't have any clearing agent, seeing as this is a rum wash is there any other way other than a pillow case to clear it ? Iv also heard of people using gelatin? Thanks Mate
Wow that's super low for a molasses run. I guess you got some highly fermentable stuff! I'd leave it for another day or two and see if the gravity has dropped at all. If so she's still going. Honestly I wouldn't even bother clearing it. I didn't bother with my one. But yes gelitin works great.
Thanks for the info. Didn't attempt to clear it. Just stripped it straight from fermenter. Doing the primary run now as I type and have some sweet hearts coming out. Gonna go with the coffee and hazelnut infusion you liked. I couldn't source vanilla bean at my local malls so got a Madagascar bourbon vanilla paste I'm gonna try out. Can't wait
And ill be honest i agree that live streams hurt channels, not just yours but others I watch as well. I usually dont have the time to watch them and it seems like they negatively affect the regular content. Also newcomers seeing a lot of long live streams instead of short to the point videos does not make them want to come back. The biggest problem with live streams is that there are some good pieces of info in there but you cant find what youre looking for without watching every single one all the way through which is just impractical. Standard videos pertain directly to the title so its much easier to find something you need more information on.
Yeah that's pretty much my take on it as well. Great for strengthening an existing community. But pretty bad for growth. Basically halves the chances that someones first experience with the channel will be what you want it to be.
Hi can anyone give me advice? I'm trying to make apple cider. It started of well but has become stuck. Temp ok for the yeast I'm using. I had a taste and its vinegary. Any suggestions apart from tossing it?
Just saying that it's stuck doesn't help much, unfortunately. What kind of starting gravity did you have? Where is it now? What alcohol tolerance does your yeast have? (If acetobacters have started working on turning the alcohol into vinegar, though, you might be kind of screwed. You could always let it turn completely into vinegar, though. No sense in wasting product!)
My supplier often gives me FREE out-of-date packets of Fermfast Whiskey yeast, an LD Carlson product, whenever I buy loads of corn. It has a goldilocks zone recommended on the package but I live off-grid in high elevation and have no real environmental control other than a wood stove. That yeast gives NO shits about the temperature swings out here; often 30º differences between night and day (Fahrenheit). Also, I use NO sugar. That yeast rips through mash like a chainsaw, out-of-date, in-of-date, 48-degrees at night (8.8ºC) or 95-degrees in the afternoon (35ºC). That shit is a BEAST.
If you started with being too agressive by having too high of an sg (too much sugar), split the batch in two. Water each down, then repitch with the exact same yeast in both. No need to jump to a nasty turbo. Just saying.
How's it Norm. No I don't have anything of my own. I'm most active on r/firewater and nzhomedistiller though. Ask away here if you want. . . . . Although I may not be much help with rum 😉
Karma that this should come up on my feed today. Before Christmas I decided to do, for the first time a wineos sugar wash recipe in a new fermenter, yeast i've never used before (100litres) . Got the volume of wash with temp ok. Aerated, rehydrated and pitched yeast. Started bubbling away nicely. Then within 24 hrs had virtually stopped. Was fermenting at the low end of the recommended yeast temp range. Raised the temp. Nothing. Wondered 'Did i put the nutrient in or accidently chuck it down the sink?'. Added nutrient. Nothing. Added heated bakers yeast as and tomato paste as nutrient, just in case. Nothing. Swore at it. Nothing. Scratched head. Maybe duff yeast. Pitched another yeast. Nothing. Tested the ph. Oops - used 200g of NaOH peals to raise ph to between ph5 and ph6. Boom - away it went. Found a 20 yr ols tub of precipitated chalk and chucked it in. Loads of egg shells over a few days - all of which got eaten. Plus some lime stone chippings. I'm a brewer and in 30 years living here I have never had stuck ferments from ph as it's self buffering. Hence ph wasn't even on my horizon to start with. Got very soft water. All those bubbles must have produced loads of carbonic acid in a non buffered sugar solution. Well, at least the yeast got a good acid wash even if the washitself is a bit rank now - it'll all come out in the wash (still) 🙂
On my second sugar wash and have had the same thing happen. This time I backed down on my sugar so its 2lbs per gallon. My temps now are around 67-68 degrees and its fermenting, just going slow. Last time I used my brew belt which seemed to bring up the temp and helped. Ideally though, what is the best fermenting temp for a sugar wash ? I am a beer brewer and it seems like the sugar washed should ferment higher than I am use to with brews. Great channel Jesse ! Cheers buddy! Oh my starting gravity was 1.095 and today it was only at 1.064 and its been about 6 days since I pitched the yeast (Dady plus yeast nutrient/dap)
Jessie, for a bullet proof heating issue, look into a 150 to 200 watt fish tank heater for 55 gallon (210 liter) drum. Set temp and drop it in the middle of the fermenter (not touching bottom or sides) and forget about it. I had a glass heater which lasted 3 years, then stopped working. Been using a titanium heater for last 3 years. No issues. There are stainless ones on the market. Safety aspect: There is no known breakdown of rubber or plastics involved in aquarium heaters from alcohol in fermentation vessels. Cleanup: Remove. Rinse hot water, and soak in star san bucket until next ferment. Side note: My fish tank heater has a external temperature control so that stays out of the fermenter and out of the star san. Has a dial to spin to temp in F or C, and has green light "On" and red light "Heating" on the controller. Jessie: No mention of Ph buffering???? Chicken scratch, Oyster shells, or Marble (the stone) at the start of the ferment. Slaked lime and Washing soda can boost a low Ph ferment. Cheers! .... Hows the Mrs feeling/doing?
Yeah I dropped the ball on pH haha. Got fixated on just fixing my problem I think and moved on. What I get for doing things last min! Glad you guys set me straight though! Good point on heater too. Will need to look.into it :)
Forgot about egg shells, they also lower Ph. Collect up your egg shells for a couple weeks. Throw them in a pot of boiling water for 5 to minutes. Strain, crush them manually or put them in a coffee or spice grinder to grind em up. Put in plastic bag until needed. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons to raise Ph at the beginning of ferment to raise Ph. This way you can add, then stir, wait 10 minutes, check Ph, add and stir again then check Ph.
Yep. Chicken scratch, or crushed up oyster shells put in the fermenter at the beginning will prevent the Ph from dropping below 4.0 and stalling. I put mine in x2 hops stainless steel containers for dry hopping 5 gallon kegs in a 55 a gallon drum, suspended on the sides. I have also used marble. Some suspend a dozen drilled oyster/clam shells by string in the fermenter. They also dissolve as the Ph goes down maintaining a yeast happy Ph.
Space heater = Cha Ching! Question for all the brainiacs out there. I have always fermented in a sealed container because I was told the yeast uses the oxygen as it multiplies and then when it starts eating the sugar we get the bubbles coming out the top which is CO2 as it expands. But this can't be right if people are frementing in big open containers and are able to check the gravity without taking the lid off of a container. So my guess is it doesnt matter if the container is airtight? And checking the gravity and not waiting for bubbling to start and stop is more important? Does anybody out there know these answers?
Ive never tried to make alcohol before, don't even drink, but I do enjoy watching your videos to learn more about yeast, and because you're entertaining. I tried using yeast and table sugar for my DIY CO2 reactor on my 40gallon planted aquarium and didn't get much reaction until I added a tablespoon of baking soda to the gallon of the yeast solution. Huge difference! Lots of bubbles and water didn't go clear like prior attempts without baking soda. Changed out the solution after 10days, you could smell the wine aroma all through the house.
Been using aquarium heater,preset to 78f,use turbo to restart stuck fermentation, or add water. Learned water and thermostat from George!!!
Had my first stuck fermentation last week. Thanks for the info. Was able to get it back on track.
KB had the same problem too with a my first molasses rum. Rapped my ferm bucket with towels gave it a shake after 8 hrs, temp came up to 25c and now bubbling mad.
Thanks booze-dwarf! My first all grain mash was stalling. Checked the optimal temp for DADY and I was way low. Put a heat pad under the bucket and a space heater in the room with the mash and slowly warmed it up. Still in the process now but seems to be picking up steam.
I've had numerous stuck fermentations. The best advice I can add to this discussion is to keep the wort circulating. Agitation is key. And also, that it doesn't overheat. I have no issue that way in winter and living in Canada. I use a large plastic pail with a fish tank pump running 24/7 dunked into it, and plastic cover with folded towel. It's not a perfect seal, but doesn't matter. Never had a stuck fermentation since.
I like the sound of that Sir. Peace be unto you.
New to the hobby and trying sugar wash for the first time. Wasn't a good start but thanks to you I realized I pitched my yeast to hot and had little to no act but now it's going good! So thank you and keep up the great work! Fyi I'm probably going to binge watch all your videos 👍
Hi
I have been brewing successfully for last eight months. I live in Cholistan desert in Pakistan (close to Indian border), our summers are very long and harsh, the temperature reaches up to 50 degrees celsius. During, my previous homebrewing experiences (wine/beers), the fermentation process ended in 17 - 19 days during summers. Winters are short but night time temperature drops a lot, this morning (December 14) when I checked my beer, there are very few bubbles, or I can say almost no fermentation, while it is only the 10th day today.
I need to mention in the past, whether I brewed 5 liters, 7 or 10 liters, I have always used the dry yeast sachet of 10 grams regardless the quantity of liquid, but this time I have brewed 20 liters of beer and the amount of yeast I added was still the same (10 g pack). But anyway as it is the mid of winters and the temperature yesterday during the day time was 9 degrees c and during the night it was -1 last night so I need to ask:
If this quicker completion of fermentation process is due to colder weather?
Is it due to larger amount of liquid (20 liters) and less yeast (10 g)?
Or shall I add some more yeast while the brew is already 10 days older?
I thank you in advance, and hope that you would be able to answer as soon as you could.
(whatsapp +923007003492)
I had the stuck fermentation with my batch last week. Measured everything and it all looked right. But my temperature was 19,5°c and it needs to between 20-24°c. So i put a warmth source under the bucket and it started bubbling like mad 15 mins later.
Yeah nice man!
@@StillIt I have this issue right now.Bubbled for 3 days. Stopped. Gravity didn't shift. Added more dry yeast. Nothing. Put keg in a warm bath and gave it a stir, started to bubble for a day but dropped off. Gravity still high. Ended up leaving it fora week and it nothing has happened. I suspect the stock yeast with my kit may be crap. Have just bought some decent ale yeast, hydrated it and popped it in. Fingers crossed...
Surprised to hear your views dropped off with the live streams. I personally find them a great platform and appreciate your effort in reading the comments and shooting from the hip when you are live. Your channel is great with new info there is a lot of old videos around the traps your content is fresh and delivered in an educational and fun way. I was on fb the other day and your channel came up as a recommendation for preparing oak. Being new myself to this gig and having the opportunity to ask questions during live streams is gold.
I wish for you all the success and growth with your hobby mate.
Cheers
It is usually low temperature during fermentation from what I have seen unless the yeast pack is bad. The strangest thing I seen was after 21 days no lees or dead yeast at the bottom after bubbles for 20 days. added heat 79 F and not much activity. but the wine must still taste too sweet to complete fermentations.
I use a fish tank heater in my 25 litre (6 gallon) sugar wash. Just pre set the temp on the heater to 22 degrees centigrade, and drop it into the wash. It needs to be weighed down with a heavy stainless kitchen knife tied to it though. Iv run several like this with different yeasts. All been good and ready within 10 days ish. Hope this helps , also a kids sleeping bag around the tub might help if it’s cold winter.
Good Chanel still it, keep em coming 👍🍺hope my tips help anyone out there
I do need to give the fish tank heater a go some time!
Cheers mate! Lucky to have people around here sharing their ideas/experience/input!
Anthony Leatherbarrow Awesome idea Thanks
Is normal bakers yeast ok to use for fermentation
Thanks for the info. I need your help as I am stuck with a failed fermentation. I have made good wines before but this time I thought I would try making a Fortified Wine. The biggest mistake I made ( which I realized later ) was adding Brandy at the very start of fermentation. This has 'killed' the yeast I suppose. Its 10 days now and there's no fermentation. Initial gravity was 1.076 and today it's 1.056. Do I add the Yeast and yeast nutrients once again? I really need your advice / help. Thanks in advance.
I gave up on sugar washes for that reason. Yeast love grain. Even a wash 2/3 cane sugar seems to work well. Also yeast starters help.
Hi j, I made a 10 gallon Black strap molasses wash, it turned out OK, so for gen 2,I kept 5 gallon back set witch went slightly moldy, I added all the 1st gen 5 gallon back set after reboiling it, I added 8 bags of brown sugar and 1 gallon of black strap molasses, and topped it up to 10 gallon with fresh water, 4 bags of raisons, 4 bananas and more bakers yeast, my starting og was 1070,after 3 weeks it was 1060 and starting to go moldy, I added fresh water and it started again and got to 1040, it stopped again, so I boiled it again, let it cool and added fresh wine yeast, nothing happening, I've chucked half of it to make ujssm gen 9 in the empty 5 gallon fermenter, sorry about the length of the message 😬any suggestions about the remaining 5 gallon rum wash?
My all grain wash started at 1050 and has dropped to 1025 and hasn't changed for 2 days,I'm worried I may not have completely converted the starch into sugar but not sure
I love your video. My hydrometer is floating all the way to the top. What does that mean?
I kind of thought as much but thanks to a guy I'd love to share a beard-soaked beer with, my stopped fermentation seems to have kicked back into action.
Cheers mate! deffo worth a sub!👍
Mash got cold and stopped if I heat it backup. Will it be OK with the fish tank heaters without adding anything? Will it come back to life? Or do I need to add water?
Hey Jessie great advice especially here in Canadian winter. Really got to watch the temperature. I have a question that I suppose is very dumb but I must ask, at what S.G. is the bakers yeast going to be killed by alcohol? There are so many yeasts and so little time. Regards. Chuck.
Do you use same strain of yeast or can you use another one?
Just as a suggestion- wrapping your fermenter with an electric blanket on a thermostat covered with another blanket works well and would be far more economical than heating the room. That's what I have to do because my winters are cold.
Why I came to this video is that I'm wondering if I should oxygenate the wort again if i think that it didn't perform well to begin with (think I may have killed the yeast with hot dunder). What is the potential downside to re-oxygenating the wort? I've searched google but couldn't find any answers.
Cheers, Jesse. Your channel will continue to grow, I'm sure. I wish it was around when I was first starting out.
If you did kill the yeast there is no down side. Mix it Up again and repitch the yeast.
If it's already been fermenting the down side is oxidisation. But to be honest that may be the beer stuff talking. I'm not sure if it will act fast enough to be a problem. Oxidisation in beer shows up like wet cardboard and a weird off caramel like flavour.
Oh and thanks for the tip. I'm putting the heater under the fermenter and then insulating the whole thing. Kinda making a thick wool tent over it.
HELP I NEED AN ADVICE!! I WANT TO CHANGE BUCKET AT THE 3rd day of fermentation..is this ok?or i m gone destroy the mash or stop the fermantation??
Since you had a negative for the live feed on Facebook, here is the counter I would love to see you move the live feeds to Facebook, it is an accessible platform and works well for live feeds with accurate notices. Plus this will drive people to have a peek at your Facebook platform. Great to see a video on a problem, I tire of everything is perfect videos, this is a great logical step by step process to figuring out the issue, though showing a PH test would have been very helpful. In addition, instead of a external heater why not use an Aquarium heater tube?
Twitch might be a good spot for live streams? Or, is there a way to do the live streams just for patrons, then upload an edited version later to youtube?
Question I've got a 55 gallon fermenter like the one in your video and want to know if you open ferment in yours? I see the top cut off yours and I'm debating about how to cut mine off fully open like yours or just the center so I can make a lid to seal it. What's your thoughts.
Would it be bad to go and stir it up every day or 2? Would anything bad happen or is it a bad idea?
Thanks for this vid Jesse, I'm having this problem a lot lately starting 1070-1065 and slowing to an absolute crawl around 1020 and it's been driving me up the wall! As a newbie I appreciate the insight and instruction. PS, somehow my gen 2 UJSM turned out surprisingly well even though I screwed up a bit (forgot to do a muppet check). Gen 3 will be better! Thanks and cheers!
I have a supermarket Strawberry Lemonade that I fortified with Honey to 1.120, and it won't go much onder 1.020. I tried a second yeast that restarted fermentation briefly, but stopped. Am I correct that if it's a heavy fruit juice it won't get down to 1.000 because of solids and other unfermentables in suspension? I've started drinking it anyway, so I think it's done.
I had 22 liters of wash and after a furious start in the first 24 hours, the process stopped. now i',m worried and can I add a solution of warm sugar water and had a ts yeast?
How do you get the beard hair out of your wort ?
Its my secret ingredient . . . .. I DONT!
I've got a wine that may have got a little too warm and stopped bubbling. How warm would it take to kill the yeast? Is this where I pitch more yeast? Should I pitch more nutrient or Energizer? Thanks in advance.
I know this is 3year old video but I wanted to add a remedy I found that works. I've had a couple batches stall out at .02. in the second one all I done was add 1/2 tsp per gallon of yeast nutrient and 5gallons of fresh spring water gave it a good mix with a drill and in the matter of minutes a nice thick cap formed and it took off and two days later it was down to 1.0. Just to be clear I used nutrient with urea and not Energizer.
How much yeast to bring it back?
My fermentation didn't do a dam thing! I checked the air leaks which there was a couple but then only one of my fermenters started bubbling and just stopped soon after. You mentioned nutrients? As a newby of only 1.5 years I have no understanding of this. Or enzymes. Please help, my dam wort keeps getting stuck!
If I have a stuck fermentation and I'm going to add more yeast, do I need to aerate my mash first, or just pitch the yeast?
Is 20 1.020? I think my fermentation is stuck. I started at 1.120 and now I’m at 1.020, there was a lot of life the first five days but now I don’t see any bubbles rising.
12 lbs of sugar 6 lbs of cherries hibiscus tea and water. 5 gallon, I used nutrients and two packs of yeast.
Do I add more sugar and boost it with some more yeast or agitate more.
Why don't you use a PID for temperature control. That is ideal plug, set and forget solution no?
What would too hot of a temp be for pitching? I know that you should be under 78 to pitch. Thanks
Is it a possibility to add more sugar and water or is that basically what you're saying
I'm at a stuck fermentation with my wine and i didnt know if it was cause of Camden tablets but I'm like i did the eight amount but like i pitched yeast twice and its just not doing anything so im gonna try the temperature thing or see if maybe i need to change the environment for it maybe split the batch and add more fruit like something to gwt it going I'm stuck but ill try today to see if the temperature is off or on
What proof should a mash be?
ha great video u did a wonderful job thanks for this video, I made some mead and it turned out way to sweet how can i fix this thanks
Friend, im pretty sure I under calculate the amount of yeast. I tried some mutiplication starting, but I guess it didn't work.
Can I just add more healthy yeast during the fermentation? Im like in day 4/5 by now.
hey jess i replayed this , just to see if it applys to what i have going on useing the birdwatcher and did follow the cal page to set up for a 5gl. run it ran go for 5 days i am useing airlocks good fast bubbling for the 4 1/2 days it got a tad cool that night rain came in and no bubling, but the water leval was not even in the lock so some pressure was still there not it came back for 12 hr. then day 6 no bubbles but the same with the airlocks, was woundering the tom wash run fast? should i open up and look at sg? if i let it set for a day more or two then look. thanks for any help you can give.
Sorry fir the slow reply mate.
I'd probably just take a reading and see what the deal is. I don't think there is any problem waiting a day or three either.
hey its all cool i know you have alot to do,, with kids and all of the life things , i gave it a bit of a skake then a hour later it was of and bubbleing agin, day 6 and going like mad.. thanks for your help give the wife a hug and kiss,s for the babys
Nice mate sounds like it's going good The!
Great Video as always TYSM for the Vids Sir I learn something every time!
Thanks, mate :) appreciate it! Also, not sure if I have said this yet. BUT AWESOME NAME! I think that every time I see it hahahaha
Thank you Sir!
I can't find this question anywhere else but how much foreshots do i necessary cut from "1" gallon of whiskey wash?
What about PH levels? Something I've never really checked, all my mashes have always produced alcohol. Just recently I've had a lot of problems with my mashes stalling out, I'm using the same cracked corn and sugar recipe I've used for the last year and a half. Cracked corn, sugar amylase, Fermax, Redstar
My SG 1.085, FG 1.000 normally
I'm stalling at 1.070 to 1.050
Tried restarting some took off others still stuck.
My PH is at 7 when I start, drops to 4 after seeping my grains in
Hey Jess, that blue barrel you have there, what size is in litres and what is the diameter of the barrel if you dont mind
It's 200l. Hmmm not too sure of diameter 45cm perhaps. I can check tomorrow if you want :)
If you could mate that would be fantastic, i know i can get those barrels here in Oz but if they are over 50cm in diameter they wont fit in the fermenter fridge i have
So you want ABV reading of One or lower mash?
as a brewer, 16-20C seems like a good temperature... what yeast are you using?
I moved from brewing to distilling. Yeah, its weird talking temps that high huh!?! Now here is the REALLY scary part . . . . . bakers yeast!
Took me a while to get on board with it to be honest. But it actually does work well for this stuff. The price is right too! I can get a kg of "good" bakers yeast for the price of a wee packet of US-05.
Is bakers yeast a high attenuation strain? I made some cider last year and champagne yeast (Lalvin EC 1118) is dirt cheap, attenuated super fast (fg below 1.000) and was really vigourous. Wont beat that price thought! ... 1kg!
Baker yeast at. First it died so Ada did 300grams been working strong for 14days
Set my first wash off last week, many years of wine and beer making, so thought that would be the easy bit, never had a stuck fermentation on those! Simple sugar wash, 2 days, the yeast grew as normal, then.... stopped, Hydro reading was still around 60, temp over 22c by day, but does drop at night, never a problem before. So I popped a brew belt on and got it to around 25c, left 4 24 hours, nothing.... gave it a full stir and within 10 minutes it was going a treat!!!
Awesome!
I've found that an electric blanket wrapped around the demijohn helps keep my mash at fermentatble temperatures. I tend to only run it overnight to save electricity/stop the yeast from working too hard.
Also, it was cheaper and looked less sketchy than the band warmer that was available on Amazon.
haha yeah those belts/bands are a bit odd eh? I guess they are fine for small batches. I had an electric blanket in the little fermentation fridge (for 30L ferments). But I managed to kill it some how :(
Might have been too bunched up and burnt out one of the elements.
Yeah ......I think so 😥
Hi Jesse, I have a fermentation that didn't really take off ,and has been stuck at the same gravity for a few days. I checked the ph as well and it has dropped to 3 ,is that a problem ?
5.2 is best add baking soda maybe
Hi.
Enjoy youts vids and learn a lot.
My Q....you hardly ever talk about the p h drop in your fermentation ie. a sugar wash. The birdwathers day you need to pitch some lemon juice to drop the p h of tap water. If you do that your p h drops immediatally . Whet you pitch your tamato.paste it drops down to 3.44 about. Is that level o k or fo.I need to get it up again or not to pitch lemon juice at all.
Thx mate.. From sunny South Africa.
3.44 is too low. I always aim for 5.2
Another good video Jesse,be careful with that space heater.I use a light bulb when needed,BTW what's lemon chello ?
Thanks man. Yeah that thing cranks haha. Have it pretty well under control with the timer . . . . I think!
Dave is right mate, them fan heaters are not the safest, they designed to be watched as you use them, take your eye off em and it can turn into a fan powered fire starter. I’d use an alternate heater mate , blanket or fish tank type. Hope this helps
With blueberry
Can I have an acid problem? Can I add alkaline water to start the bubbles? Can I add baking soda? I never got bubbles from my fresh apples or my frozen blueberry... help!!
What if you didn't add enough sugar to your Mash or wash
Hey Jesse, great stuff!
Thanks mate :)
Hey Jesse
Do you monitor the ph? A wash can go to acidic in no time and more so if you are not controlling the temprature in the goldilocks zone. I found the bag with crushed oyster shells stops ph drop. I live close to the sea so any old white shells gets boiled and crushed for that purpose. Thanks for the vids great job.
Thats a dang good point man. SHould have mentioned PH for sure! I have actually not used shells yet. But will need to give it a go some time soon!
Was probably PH, sugar wash has little to buffer the PH, so it can drop quick and stall fermentation. I had to add 2 tps baking powder to get my first sugar wash to start up again.
Its too bad you didn't mention PH. It is a big cause of many stuck ferments. PH test strips are super cheap and easy to use.
Yeah mate fair point :)
Steffen Brygg ..baking powder or baking soda?
I just started brewing and it had alot of action for two days and now nothing help me my first home brew.
what if my wort hasnt taken off?
My fermentations 4 days early done.. Can i use yeast second time corn mash???
Hi Jess. Great channel. Iv got my first rum wash fermenting away and it's day 9 now and still pushing a bubble through the airlock every 10 seconds. It's been a constant 24 to 26 degrees. My original gravity was 1.080 and it's standing now at 1.005.. should I remove the heat source and rack it or should I just let it carry on for a day or two.? Also the brew shop didn't have any clearing agent, seeing as this is a rum wash is there any other way other than a pillow case to clear it ? Iv also heard of people using gelatin? Thanks Mate
Wow that's super low for a molasses run. I guess you got some highly fermentable stuff!
I'd leave it for another day or two and see if the gravity has dropped at all. If so she's still going.
Honestly I wouldn't even bother clearing it. I didn't bother with my one. But yes gelitin works great.
Check the home brew forums for instructions on gelitin
Thanks for the info. Didn't attempt to clear it. Just stripped it straight from fermenter. Doing the primary run now as I type and have some sweet hearts coming out. Gonna go with the coffee and hazelnut infusion you liked. I couldn't source vanilla bean at my local malls so got a Madagascar bourbon vanilla paste I'm gonna try out. Can't wait
can you use raw sugar
pH can also impact a stuck fermentation
Thanks for sharing Bro.
Once i had a stuck ferment and i tossed in some fermax which started it right back up
And ill be honest i agree that live streams hurt channels, not just yours but others I watch as well. I usually dont have the time to watch them and it seems like they negatively affect the regular content. Also newcomers seeing a lot of long live streams instead of short to the point videos does not make them want to come back.
The biggest problem with live streams is that there are some good pieces of info in there but you cant find what youre looking for without watching every single one all the way through which is just impractical. Standard videos pertain directly to the title so its much easier to find something you need more information on.
Yeah that's pretty much my take on it as well. Great for strengthening an existing community. But pretty bad for growth. Basically halves the chances that someones first experience with the channel will be what you want it to be.
Hi can anyone give me advice? I'm trying to make apple cider. It started of well but has become stuck. Temp ok for the yeast I'm using. I had a taste and its vinegary. Any suggestions apart from tossing it?
Just saying that it's stuck doesn't help much, unfortunately. What kind of starting gravity did you have? Where is it now? What alcohol tolerance does your yeast have? (If acetobacters have started working on turning the alcohol into vinegar, though, you might be kind of screwed. You could always let it turn completely into vinegar, though. No sense in wasting product!)
My supplier often gives me FREE out-of-date packets of Fermfast Whiskey yeast, an LD Carlson product, whenever I buy loads of corn. It has a goldilocks zone recommended on the package but I live off-grid in high elevation and have no real environmental control other than a wood stove. That yeast gives NO shits about the temperature swings out here; often 30º differences between night and day (Fahrenheit). Also, I use NO sugar. That yeast rips through mash like a chainsaw, out-of-date, in-of-date, 48-degrees at night (8.8ºC) or 95-degrees in the afternoon (35ºC). That shit is a BEAST.
awesome video!
Thanks mate :)
If you started with being too agressive by having too high of an sg (too much sugar), split the batch in two. Water each down, then repitch with the exact same yeast in both. No need to jump to a nasty turbo. Just saying.
Another awesome video while sitting here at work. .lol.
Priorities ;)
I'm going to try more yeast its been 6 days with a slow perk still sweet agave pineapple banana
Do you have a forum. A question on a rum recipe following this video would be out of place.....is there that place?
How's it Norm. No I don't have anything of my own. I'm most active on r/firewater and nzhomedistiller though. Ask away here if you want. . . . . Although I may not be much help with rum 😉
Karma that this should come up on my feed today. Before Christmas I decided to do, for the first time a wineos sugar wash recipe in a new fermenter, yeast i've never used before (100litres) . Got the volume of wash with temp ok. Aerated, rehydrated and pitched yeast. Started bubbling away nicely. Then within 24 hrs had virtually stopped. Was fermenting at the low end of the recommended yeast temp range. Raised the temp. Nothing. Wondered 'Did i put the nutrient in or accidently chuck it down the sink?'. Added nutrient. Nothing. Added heated bakers yeast as and tomato paste as nutrient, just in case. Nothing. Swore at it. Nothing. Scratched head. Maybe duff yeast. Pitched another yeast. Nothing. Tested the ph. Oops - used 200g of NaOH peals to raise ph to between ph5 and ph6. Boom - away it went. Found a 20 yr ols tub of precipitated chalk and chucked it in. Loads of egg shells over a few days - all of which got eaten. Plus some lime stone chippings.
I'm a brewer and in 30 years living here I have never had stuck ferments from ph as it's self buffering. Hence ph wasn't even on my horizon to start with. Got very soft water. All those bubbles must have produced loads of carbonic acid in a non buffered sugar solution. Well, at least the yeast got a good acid wash even if the washitself is a bit rank now - it'll all come out in the wash (still) 🙂
"stripping runs" = streaker at the cricket !
this guy knows how to have fun
good one.
What up yall !
Hey anybody know of any Australian woods we could use to 'age' ?
Just as a little additive on some oak, crabapple and maple charcoal.
HMmm I have had no experience with any sorry.
Yeh with so many eucalypt and other its hard to find something that is either not toxic or just not nice.
Appreciate the reply
i have stuck fermentation about 8 times and then i realized i add way too much sugar
On my second sugar wash and have had the same thing happen. This time I backed down on my sugar so its 2lbs per gallon. My temps now are around 67-68 degrees and its fermenting, just going slow. Last time I used my brew belt which seemed to bring up the temp and helped. Ideally though, what is the best fermenting temp for a sugar wash ? I am a beer brewer and it seems like the sugar washed should ferment higher than I am use to with brews. Great channel Jesse ! Cheers buddy! Oh my starting gravity was 1.095 and today it was only at 1.064 and its been about 6 days since I pitched the yeast (Dady plus yeast nutrient/dap)
Very good fermentation
Please not fakebook :)
HAHAHAAH yeah I had a feeling there would be a few comments like that ;)
@@StillIt Rumble buddy, Rumble :)
Live streams belong on Facebook
Jessie, for a bullet proof heating issue, look into a 150 to 200 watt fish tank heater for 55 gallon (210 liter) drum.
Set temp and drop it in the middle of the fermenter (not touching bottom or sides) and forget about it. I had a glass heater which lasted 3 years, then stopped working. Been using a titanium heater for last 3 years. No issues. There are stainless ones on the market.
Safety aspect: There is no known breakdown of rubber or plastics involved in aquarium heaters from alcohol in fermentation vessels.
Cleanup: Remove. Rinse hot water, and soak in star san bucket until next ferment.
Side note: My fish tank heater has a external temperature control so that stays out of the fermenter and out of the star san. Has a dial to spin to temp in F or C, and has green light "On" and red light "Heating" on the controller.
Jessie:
No mention of Ph buffering???? Chicken scratch, Oyster shells, or Marble (the stone) at the start of the ferment.
Slaked lime and Washing soda can boost a low Ph ferment.
Cheers! .... Hows the Mrs feeling/doing?
Yeah I dropped the ball on pH haha. Got fixated on just fixing my problem I think and moved on.
What I get for doing things last min!
Glad you guys set me straight though!
Good point on heater too. Will need to look.into it :)
Forgot about egg shells, they also lower Ph.
Collect up your egg shells for a couple weeks. Throw them in a pot of boiling water for 5 to minutes. Strain, crush them manually or put them in a coffee or spice grinder to grind em up. Put in plastic bag until needed.
Add 2 to 3 teaspoons to raise Ph at the beginning of ferment to raise Ph.
This way you can add, then stir, wait 10 minutes, check Ph, add and stir again then check Ph.
Thanks my man!
I bought 1 gallon of "homemade strawberry pulp" looks like it was homemade but not completely natural
Some reason my final gravity is always 988
With a sugar wash?
Still It yeah bro. Either tpw wash or essencia super 6
Hydrometer calibration issue? Take known 40% ABV product, dilute 7 to 1 with water. Result should measure 10%. homedistiller.org/distill/dilute/calc
I made the mistake of placing my glass carboy in a room with sunlight, and it pooped out right away
Yeah I'm still waiting for my shirts to come in.
wait . . . .. how long ago did you order?
Just in case, move your channel to Rumble. You never known when they will ban you.
It should be titled " How to spot a stuck fermentation and how to fix it "
Good point!
A calendar of whisky of the world?! Made by still it.
And ph... DONT FORGET PH!
Yep. Chicken scratch, or crushed up oyster shells put in the fermenter at the beginning will prevent the Ph from dropping below 4.0 and stalling.
I put mine in x2 hops stainless steel containers for dry hopping 5 gallon kegs in a 55 a gallon drum, suspended on the sides. I have also used marble.
Some suspend a dozen drilled oyster/clam shells by string in the fermenter. They also dissolve as the Ph goes down maintaining a yeast happy Ph.
Space heater = Cha Ching! Question for all the brainiacs out there. I have always fermented in a sealed container because I was told the yeast uses the oxygen as it multiplies and then when it starts eating the sugar we get the bubbles coming out the top which is CO2 as it expands.
But this can't be right if people are frementing in big open containers and are able to check the gravity without taking the lid off of a container.
So my guess is it doesnt matter if the container is airtight? And checking the gravity and not waiting for bubbling to start and stop is more important?
Does anybody out there know these answers?
Hey are you South African?
Patrick Lawrence New Zealand.
Love this hobbie
It gets under your skin for sure
👍👍
Live cast on spotify
👍👍👍👍
Everytime you go silent for 4 for 5 days I think the twins have popped out.
Temp C . Or. F