Probably proteins denaturing, there's a bunch of albumin-like proteins in whey, no?

im back! the first batch i believe did not take off due to poor yeast health so ive started another starter and this time it is looking allot better. My centrifuged whey is almost transparent liquid but during and just after pasteurizing it turns and off white again and then some white solids seem to drop out of the suspension!? the SG is 1020 with a hydrometer and the same with a refractometer. I will double check once the solids have settled what the SG is. I have also tried reducing some whey by boiling off the water, again will take the SG of that once the solids have dropped out.

Never did it, but stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.

Starting pH range of 4.5-5 Approximately 30-35c fermentation temp

What was the source of your K. marxianus?

40 hours is too long according to the academic literature, you should see bulk yeast biomass by around 24 hours.

What's your lactose concentration?

Keep us all in the loop, many of us are interested in whey.

Hello,

I'm all a bit new to this fermenting and distilling stuff but I am very keen to learn how to convert milk Whey into spirit!

We have a small dairy farm making cheese and we have a byproduct of allot of whey and I would love to do something with it. I've grown up a culture of kluyveromyces marxianus grown on YM Broth (Yeast Extract, Malt Extract, Peptone, Dextrose). For the whey I have rough filtered then centrifuged it to remove any fat and cream. I then pasteurized the whey. After this a white sediment formed on the bottom which I then pitched the top off and left (unsure what it was, proteins or cheese cultures?). I added the yeast from a 3L culture so only the bottom slurry from that to 2x demijohns with airlocks. They have a brew belt round them to keep them warm which I turn on and off so they don't get too hot.

Sadly I've had very little activity in the past 40 hours. :(

I've been swirling them a few times a day to lift the sediment off the bottom and this makes a few bubbles pass through the airlock but after that its silence again. :(

Has anyone got any tips or advice where I might have gone wrong?

Many thanks in advance,
Tom

@FullySilenced said: There is actually a lot of info on using whey on the internet... way more than i expected

Awesome choice of words!!!

Heard back from Gusamer regarding the CHR Concerto. They said it wouldn't ferment whey/lactose.

I tried contacting Al Buck, but I haven't heard back.

There is actually a lot of info on using whey on the internet... way more than i expected

We have a sheep whey expert in our midst, see here:

Sheeps Whey Vodka

Hi all

I have access to pretty much unlimited amounts of low cost cow whey. Does anybody have any experience with fermenting whey? Does and dont's? I'm planning on using it for making neutral...

Any good literature out there?

Regards
Jann

Sheeps whey Vodka from Hartshorn Distillery a bit later. Nice present from one of our members, hopefully he'll be doing bigger batches than 8 bottle runs soon with the twin SD units. 500l stripper and 200l 8 plate CD.

Stripper is beautiful with 4 empty CIP tees to get the height and watch for foaming of the fermented whey.

Really looking forward to seeing the spirit still up and running and seeing some more photos of the whole unit.

First generation back stories like Punkin's man that makes the whey vodka can really pay dividends.

Hartshorn Distillery @ Facebook

Hartshorn Distillery and our own @Ryno featuring in the news with their Sheeps Whey Vodka.

Way to go Ryan!! The Crystal Dragon looks great there, hopefully they'll follow up once the new babies are in.

Hopefully @Ryno has a copy of the video or a link to it on youtube and we can paste it in here.

Anchor NZ (Fonterra's) neutral whey spirit is rated very highly in internationally traded commodity neutral spirits. From my experience, it has better organoleptic properties than most of the molasses or grape spirit neutrals in the region.

How do you convert the whey into fermentable sugars?

Thanks for the promo @punkin, I'm loving the Crystal Dragons, its amazing to watch your plates bubble with a 360 degree view. I'm only using one 50L 8 pro plate 4" crystal dragon but i have given it a flogging. I run it 5 days/week for the last 8mths and has not missed a beat.

In regards to the vodka, it has taken me 2 years to figure out how to distill whey. I am only one of about 4 people in the world who know how to do it. For fermentation to work the complex sugars in the lactose need a special yeast to break it into Glucose and Galactose. The Glucose ferments into ethanol while the Galactose does not. So as a result the Vodka retains some of the subtle milky sweetness on the nose with a super smooth finish with no burn. This is a Vodka to drink straight in a large glass no ice. The whey you use also plays a major part in whether the ferment will work or not. I hand Spray paint and hand write every bottle. Ill soon be progressing into a Whey Gin maybe next year. The best part about this product is it is turning waste from cheese making into a salable product. I only make about 5 bottles/week and selling out so I'm now scrambling to upgrade my operation to make things more efficient.

I only released my Vodka about 4 weeks ago so its very new to the market and very boutique. If anyone is heading to Tas you can taste my Vodka at our Cheesery about 40min south of Hobart, or at our Hobart shop at the "Brooke Street Pier". If your in Brisbane I have just been told it is stocked behind the bar at "Makers Bar" in south Brisbane, hopefully more places in the future once I get more stock. I also want to thank all the forum members here for helping me in my early learning. The learning environment on this forum is very positive so thank EWE! Ill try and get online a lot more than I have been to return the help to other members. Im also now a new member of the Australian Distillers Association and Tasmanian Whisky Producers Association. So hope I can help but Im still new to this game with a narrow focus on Vodka and Gin, with a fair knowledge of whisky. Thanks guys!

One of our members @Ryno let leak his homepage to me and i couldn't wait to share.

One of our 4" Crystal Dragons, now being upgraded to Procaps is his tool for this great sounding liquer and vodka.

Hartshorn Distillery

I'd love to see some pics of the setup Ryno?

So after leaving Bangor Maine me and the wife wanted to hit as many micro distilleries as we could afford money and time wise. We hit 4 and a brewery.

First was Sweetgrass Farm Winery / Distillery

They were still closed for the season but welcomed us in and answered a slew of questions I had. They had a little 80 gal pot still which they made Rum and were trying whiskey. The bought their neutral and added that and 4 botanicals to make gin. Small operation good for their area which was in the middle of the country. I bought a bottle of gin, and some maple syrup liquor. Gin was pretty intense but there was something about it I like.

Next was Maine Distilleries

which makes cold river vodka, gin, and a delicious blueberry vodka. This place is a smaller than expected distillery that has a massive 3 story column still.

Everything was good but I left with the blueberry. Right next door was the Maine brewery. I tried everything and because of that we got a hotel next door. After taking a nap we headed to the busy Portland Maine restaurant strip. There was a restaurant / distillery / brewery. called liquid riot. Great location, great food, horrible distillate. With the money they put into this place I was amazed at how bad I thought their stuff was. They had a white whiskey, a white rum, vodka, and something else. All pretty bad. I did not get a chance to try the beer. After that we were done for the day. Next morning we woke and headed to Vermont where

Vermont Spirits

makes a white vodka that they make with the whey in cows milk. A maple syrup Bourbon, a maple syrup vodka, and some other good stuff. This place was amazing! All of there stuff was delicious. We walked out with $150 of mhandise. Got a bottle of the white vodka and the delicious Bourbon. After that we had to Blaine it home but the Vermont spirits was the best and I definitely recommend stopping by.

4 is plenty if you operate the still correctly, you can make gin from a double pot-stilled whiskey if it is the best of the hearts...

It does not need to be neutral to make gin with... you can start with clean whiskey, clean brandy, or clean distillate from any fermented product (apples, milk whey, etc..). To test, taste your product! Taste it at 80 proof or whatever, mix it with water or a traditional mixer (cranberry, soda, juice, etc), if it tastes good, and it does not have heads or tails noticeable, you can run it through a gin basket..

@CothermanDistilling said: Also, you do not need neutral for gin, you just need clean... Webster says neutral, not the TTB... :-) many good gins from <190 proof clean spirit runs.. malt/wheat/grapes/apples/ even had one from whey..

+1

Also, you do not need neutral for gin, you just need clean... Webster says neutral, not the TTB... :-) many good gins from <190 proof clean spirit runs.. malt/wheat/grapes/apples/ even had one from whey..