With beer, all the yeast and other solids will fall out of suspension and settle to the bottom. Typically you decant this off as opposed to filtering. Though a nylon stalking is the right size to filter out the yeast.
5 Likes
I think you may have killed the yeast with the higher temperatures, sounds like you have it going good now so LITFA until it stops bubbling lol.
3 Likes
This particular yeast is supposed to have a much wider temperature tolerance than many others - up to either 90F or 100F depending on which website. Tat local distiller I talked to also mentioned the higher tolerance.
On this latest batch, it never got over about 72-73F, so it should have been fine as far as temps. Plus, I followed the re-hydration directions - which call for warm water at around 90-100F. I did 93F I think, and the yeast seemed to be very happy with that temp. Since putting the new yeast in the bucket, it has stayed around 71-72F all on its own. My room temp is around 65-67F normally, so the mix is generating some heat on its own now. It wasnt before.
This whole thing seems to be dependent on which yeast you are using, and maybe how much sugar you add, plus how or if you re-hydrate the yeast.
Keeping up the LITFA will be easier now. I have it so I can easily see the bubbles and that satisfies my need to mess with it 
Excellent. Thanks!!
3 Likes
Minor up-date. It got cold in the grow room last night, so I covered the bucket with an old shirt, then put a 5 gallon bucket over that. Last night, the brewing bucket had been running 1 - 2 deg F higher than ambient after it started to bubble.
I just checked again - room temp is around 68F, bucket temp is 72F and its now bubbling every 1 to 2 seconds instead of every 5 or so. So, it is getting faster, and not going dead like it did before. It seems like this yeast really likes to be re-hydrated first - at least with the amount of sugar Im using. Im jazzed!
3 Likes
hehehe I probably should have done my homework before I started this project, but its never too late to RTFM! 
So, Ive been reading up on making moonshine. That seems to be the closest thing to what I want as far as alcohol content. Of course, Im using just sugar instead of some mash recipe.
I found a website with step by step directions, but Im running into more things Im having trouble with.
One is using the hydrometer. This site says to measure your mash at the start and end with the hydrometer. I tried that with my sugar mash, but the density is way to hi to read properly. The hydrometer floats well above the lowest reading. Im assuming all that sugar I used is very different from a normal mash.
TBH, I dont see any reason to measure before doing the distillation. Is there a good reason? I had planned to wait until after passing it through the still one time, then re-check after each additional distillation until I get to where I want to be as far as ABV.
The next thing I ran across was collecting Foreshots, Heads, Hearts, and Tails. IM assuming these different parts of the process are where the ‘cuts’ come in?
So this guy says:
5% = Foreshots - have all the bad stuff in it and should be tossed out.
30% = Heads also have some of the bad stuff, but not enough to make you go blind, so you can keep them if you want?
30% = Hearts are the good stuff. That one was easy.
35% = Tails - also soso, and can be re-distilled or tossed out?
So, should I only keep the hearts, or can I keep it all but the first 5%? My plan is to do several distillations if that makes any difference.
Hmmmm that brings up another question - do I need to keep tossing out the first 5% each time I repeat the distillation?
4 Likes
Toss the first 5% you can use the rest, especially since you are making RSO. The methanol is fine for extractions, but not so good to drink.
4 Likes
Excellent! Thank you sir 
1 Like
You will only need to do it once, anything left will not be a problem, it should all be purged off in the final bit anyway leaving the RSO with minimal alcohol or anything else except RSO.
2 Likes
You know what the prescribed antidote is methanol poisoning is?
Ethanol !! 
My wife loves the ‘1st off’ solvent, she says it makes great window cleaner, great for bong cleaning too.
Cheers
G
5 Likes
Cool! I was worried I would be limited to 1/3rd of the final product. Those moonshiners have it tough only getting to keep 1/3 of their stuff 
I might save mine for cleaning as well.
This morning the bubbling was way down. Minutes between bubbles instead of seconds. Then it occurred to me I had pushed the tubing further down into the airlock water so it was about 2" under the water instead of the 1/2" it had been. I was worried about evaporation.
I just re-checked and no bubbles after a looooong wait. Oh crap. I was just about to open the bucket to look at it, when it occurred to me that pushing the tube further in would mean higher pressure was needed to push the bubbles out. So I pulled the tube back up closer to the surface of the water and the bubbles started back up. Whew!
I think that means my 2 gallon bucket isnt perfectly sealed and the CO2 is leaking out somewhere. This was a cheap bucket with out a rubber seal. Im going to get a better bucket next time or switch back to 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot. They have good seals.
Im still going to wait till this run is over to see how the entire process goes before I do another, larger batch.
2 Likes
If mine is not bubbling much, I give the bucket a rock about to stir things up a bit in it, my fingers hurt taking the lids of proper fermentation buckets, as the lids are sealed on very tight. Look in your local free ads papers people are always getting rid of wine and beer fermenting kits, I picked my first kit for 25$ I had everything I needed and more. for brewing.
2 Likes
Thats an excellent suggestion on the used kits.
I think in the mean time, I need to get a better sealed bucket at a minimum. This afternoon I checked and there were no more bubbles. Re-checked 8 hrs later and still no bubbles, so I opened it up and it looks dead.
I took a sample and tried it in the hydrometer, and the float is sitting a little lower than it did originally, but it still sits too hi out of the liquid, so its mostly sugar.
Ive got more yeast than sugar left, so Im re-hydrating some more yeast and Im going to try dumping some more yeast in the same bucket and see what happens. If I can find a proper sized plastic bag, I will try to seal up the bucket a little better.
Edit: Im beginning to think Im not very good at this!!
Edit #2: it started bubbling again, so Im going to let it go with fingers crossed…
2 Likes
You may have too much sugar to water volume, the other thing that kills the yeast is too much alcohol for the amount of water. It’s a bit like a fish tank, if you don’t clean the water out the fish die from too much fish shit in the water, same thing with yeast, alcohol is yeast shit lol. So you have to get the right amount of water to sugar ratios or they die from the PH being too off, they may have eaten all the sugar and gone dormant or died.
They do seem to run in slow and fast cycles that’s why I will rock my bucket about to see if they pick up again. Mine will go slower or stop over night when temps drop.
2 Likes
I’ve never seen a hydrometer sit that high!
What Shadey said +1.
What was you starting SG? Oh right, its off scale (duh - I need more caffeine) 
Water it down until its somewhere around 1080 (ish), proof some more yeast and start it again. You will get there! 
Cheers
G
2 Likes
Thanks guys! I will try that…
1 Like
Ok, I diluted the mix down by at almost half, and this is how the hydrometer looks now.
This is where it floats with tap water. Its aprox 3 on the scale at around 75F water.
I added more re-hydrated yeast, put the lid back on, and it started bubbling merrily along within 2 minutes - but it had not stopped from before I diluted it, so that may not mean much.
What sugar concentration do you guys use when you are making moonshine? Keep in mind, Im after more alcohol than with beer or wine. I have not found a pure sugar moonshine recipe yet. Need to look more…
By the way, I followed the bio-fuel guys recipe, so I would have expected that to work, but who knows - that guy may have been an idiot. Or - Im just not very good at this stuff!!!
Just so you all know - buying a damn bottle of EverClear is starting to look pretty darn good… 
4 Likes
Wait are you telling me time is money?
3 Likes
I use 8 kilos of sugar in 27 liters of water.
Edit 17.6 pounds for the US peeps
Edit again, all in the US will have to work out the liters to gallons, your gallons are smaller than everyone elses, and I am stoned lol.
3 Likes
Ok, maybe I’m jumping to conclusions here…
There are several different styles of hydromenters- for different purposes.
I’m assuming (please verify) you are probably using a triple scale wine/beer. Have a look at the scales. You should see Alcohol% (that’s potential alcohol), specific gravity and either a balling or brix scale.
OK, specific gravity, best not go any higher than 1120 for starting, 1080 is safe.
One possibility, could you possibly using a alcoholmeter? It is a specialized hydrometer for measuring the output of stills & is ‘different’.
Cheers
G
2 Likes
7.14 Gallons for us US people
1 Like