Making Vodka

grim

Are you bidding against me! Jeez!

I use the same ones, I love the triclamp opticaps - don't bid 'em up, they are all still going really cheap. Make lowball offers, they take them every time.

grim

I use the XL10 Polygard-CR 1 micron - I usually get them under $25 a pop. The xl10 are just larger cartridges. Stainless filter is for the birds at prices like this. Just keep a dedicated one for each product type you run.

grim

0.22 micron are going to sparkle. Pick up a larger pre-filter though, you may clog up that .22 micron quick.

KR01A10FF1 - I just grabbed some more before posting this :)

CothermanDistilling

@grim said: Are you bidding against me! Jeez!

I use the same ones, I love the triclamp opticaps - don't bid 'em up, they are all still going really cheap. Make lowball offers, they take them every time.

hahaha... won't bid against you!

I made a somewhat lowball offer, $25 each shipped...

I will pick up a pair of 10 micron or 5 micron also, one for vodka, one for Gin...

I shouldn't have too much in there to clog one up, it is distilled product with carbon filtered water, just the occasional floatie in the bottle... .47 and .22 were what Rusty Figgins showed me.

fusiondust

Ran first ever Bird watchers sugar wash. Inverted sugar on stove top with pinch of citric acid, mixed at SG 1.060 and added pinch of Epsom's salt. When it cleared, it looked like a floating brain-looking cloud floating in the center of fermentation bucket and a very thin film of oil on surface. Took off in reflux at 93% and ran down to 80%. AC filtered and still has slight tinge of yellow-barely noticeable. Definitely some of the cleanest neutral I've made considering this was single run, single filter and fermentation oddities.

Next I'm trying inverted sugar, diammonium phosphate, gypson, dried bakers yeast and pinch of Epsom. SG 1.060 worked really well for me.

GD50

While I understand how to and the use of invert in baking I am at a loss as to why you would do in fermentation. Could you please give a little response as to the why.

I am sure there will be a good reason - I just don't know what it is. Thanks in advance @fusiondust

Kapea

While yeast are capable of inverting sugar on their own, there are those who think that inverting the sugar prior to pitching yeast helps relieve the yeast of the stress of doing it themselves, achieving a faster, cleaner ferment.

I've tried with and without, many times. The difference is negligible, and hardly worth the effort - IMHO.

But, it is easy enough to do - just a bit more time and effort. Give it a try and see what you think.

GD50

Thanks @Kapea.. Now you say it i remember reading that before.

grim

Extracellular secretion of invertase really any different from secretion of maltase in the case of brewing beer?

Kapea

Beats me. I'm just going with what I've observed in my own experience.

Beer wort has a shitload of yeast nutrients and ferments well. Sugar washes need help with nutrients to ferment well. Providing proper nutrients has a much larger impact on healthy fermentation than inverting the sugar prior to fermentation.

Using honey fermenting techniques on sugar washes seems to do the trick. (Bees do the inversion part there)

Using an excess of yeast nutrients in a sugar wash can cause undesirable flavors in the finished spirit.

grim

Agree on the mead protocol.

fusiondust

This is my 4th batch inverting sugar before hand and store in 5 gal bucket until ready to use. Mixing it into warm water is nearly instant compared to that of stirring in sugar crystals. I seem to remember reading about the yeast not coming in contact with Citric Acid was a positive and that dry bakers yeast has to work harder than distiller's yeast to achieve the same effect of inverting. All this is from reading. Now it's time for doing...I'm enjoying it. Yeah, it's seriously a lot of extra effort-no joke. I figure after I nail down my recipe and become very familiar with what I have, I will try with crystallized sugar. Should prove to be a profound lesson either way. I'll ping back with what I find after a month or two.

richard

Has anyone used Distilamax from Lallemand before ?? Recommendations ??

• Distilamax SR (PDF)
• Distilamax MR (PDF)

grim

Yes, I purchase direct. The "Distilamax" product line is actually very similar to the standard Lallemand product line you might see elsewhere. Most products in the standard line have an equivalent product in the Distilamax line. I don't think they'll talk about this publicly, as it's kind of a non-compete arrangement.

You might make an educated guess, something like:

Distilamax RM being EDV493, SR is 46 EDV, LS is EC1118.

fusiondust

I raked off a potato/sugar (50/50) and OJ mash last night. Had a small sip and was blown away by how nice it tasted. I brought a sample in for peers at work to try and they said it's like a dry wine you would buy in a store. I plan on single reflux run and carbon filter this batch and can't wait for it to clear.