Often in the process of preparing a drink, it happens that the mash stops fermenting already on the second or third day after laying. Not all distillers know what to do in this case and whether it is possible to drive moonshine from unfermented mash. This drink has its own characteristics.
Braga production
The unfermented mash will no longer ferment, there is no point in waiting for the resumption of the process. Therefore, some moonshiners decide to pour such mash into the machine and get the product. You should not do this either, because the drink will turn out to be weak, cloudy and will have bad smell. At the same time, repeated distillation does not always save the situation.
Why doesn't mash wander?
It is important not only to help the mash reach the desired state, but also to understand the reasons for the malaise, so that the next time the situation does not happen again. The most common cases:
- Limited amount of time. Not always the drink starts to foam immediately. The time when fermentation starts depends on factors such as: temperature, type of yeast, method of preparation of the wort, proportions. But if the process has not activated after 8 hours, then you should not wait any longer.
- The water seal or container as a whole was not airtight. Sometimes beginners determine the fermentation, focusing only on the bubbles. In the event that the design is installed incorrectly, the gas will escape bypassing the pipe, and fermentation will not be visible through the water seal. As a way out of the situation, you can check the tightness of the device. To do this, blow through the outlet tube into the container. If a whistle is heard, then there are problem areas in the water seal. In addition, non-compliance with tightness is fraught with damage to the mash - it turns sour and this leads to a decrease in the yield of moonshine or a completely spoiled product.
- To find out, pay attention to the storage temperature of the drink. It must be suitable, especially for yeast. Permissible values are in the range of 20-30 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is lower, then the fungi will not die, but simply lose their activity, and if it is higher, then the yeast cannot be saved. That is, to speed up fermentation, the drink is transferred to a warm place or you need to cool the temperature of the room and at the same time add a new batch of yeast. It is undesirable to allow direct sunlight to hit the container.
- Poor quality or old yeast. If the moonshiner uses a pressed product, then it is important to pay attention to the consistency. It should be even and creamy in color. The shelf life of the product in the refrigerator is 12 days. If the yeast has a rotten smell, then they should not be used. If the yeast is dry, then they should crumble, you can check this quality even when the package is closed. If the storage conditions of the mushrooms were wrong, they will become sticky or stick together in lumps. But the situation with low-quality yeast can be corrected: it is enough to add a new portion to the container, while checking the sugar content and.
- Poor quality water can also cause malnutrition. Yeast fungi need oxygen, as well as trace elements. Drinking water should not be boiled or distilled. It is better to use a live product, previously filtered, or water from a spring, a well. Fermentation may stop if the water contains a large amount of chlorine. In other cases, stopping fermentation is impossible, only slowing down the process. You can add another portion of water if the first batch did not give the desired result.
- Incorrect proportions also lead to the fact that the drink remains sweet and unfermented. Therefore, you need to select the amount of sugar based on the type of wort. The optimal content is at the level of 15-20% by volume. An increase in this indicator leads to the fact that fermentation is inhibited or the mash is too strong. In this case, the yeast loses activity if the alcohol content exceeds 12-14%. The process will slow down when it reaches these levels, and the sugar that has not yet been processed by fungal strains will remain. It is this drink that is called "bad". If there is little sugar, then both fermentation and distillation will occur very slowly, and at this time fusel oils and other harmful substances.
You can roughly calculate the universal proportions. A kilogram of sugar after dilution in water is 0.6 liters of liquid volume. To get sugar content at the level of 15-20%, for 1 kilogram of sugar you need to add 3-4 liters of water and 100 grams of pressed or 20 grams of dry yeast. If the yeast is alcoholic, then they are added according to the proportions indicated in the instructions on the label.
And another 1% sugar in the wort is processed by yeast into 0.6% alcohol. Braga ready for distillation with a sugar content of 20% at the beginning will contain 12% alcohol (20 * 0.6 = 12) at the exit. These are universal indicators that are suitable for mash on sugar. If fruits or berries are used as raw materials, then the calculations and proportions will be different.
Each moonshiner chooses the optimal hydromodule independently. 1 to 4 is considered universal. Such a drink is less likely to turn out to be unfermented.
How to make mash suitable for distillation?
In any case, if the mash has stopped fermenting, you can add a new batch of water or yeast to it. After that, the liquid must be heated. During the heating of the mash, the old yeast will turn into top dressing for new mushrooms. In order for the preparation of the drink to be successful, you should wait a few days.
Sometimes you can insist the mash right in the cube. This technique has several advantages:
- Convenience and economy of space, capacities. No need to take a lot of containers and pour liquid.
- fermentation efficiency. The process in the cube occurs quite quickly and evenly.
- If the mash is not good, this can be quickly corrected. In the same place, you can boil the liquid along with top dressing, then the drink will quickly reach the desired degree of readiness.
If the mash turned out to be unprepared, then it can be boiled and cooled. After that, sugar is poured into the container in in large numbers, approximately 25% of the total volume of the drink. Correcting unfermented mash and remaking the drink is a laborious process that does not save money. Therefore, it is important to calculate what will be more profitable before correcting the situation - adding sugar or setting up a new one. You can also fix the problem with the following recipes:
- Add top dressing in the form of wheat or another crop to the mash. This is necessary in order to saturate the drink with B vitamins. These vitamins activate the activity of yeast and are found in large quantities in cereal products. Wheat is best suited for these purposes. The intensity of the process after the addition is increased several times. And in a short time, the drink is infused and it can be used to make moonshine. In addition, after adding wheat, moonshine acquires a pleasant aftertaste, which makes the distillate even better.
- Adding yeast and sugar separately. The method may not be economically beneficial. If adding sugar or yeast alone does not work, you can add both ingredients again. In this case, it is desirable to add the components separately. First you need to dissolve required amount yeast in a container warm water. Sugar is diluted with water in another vessel. The next step is to connect the two components and wait for the reaction. A mixture of liquids is poured into a container with mash and fermentation is expected to begin. The advantage of the process is that the mash will reach the condition faster than a freshly prepared drink, in two or three days.
Cooking mash can really take a lot of time and effort. The Perfect Recipe and the condition of the drink are achieved over the years and come with experience. But there are no irreparable situations.
If, nevertheless, the moonshiner overtook an accidentally unprepared mash, it is worth trying to make a distillate. If the strength of the resulting drink after does not exceed 15 degrees, then the drink does not need to be diluted. After redistillation you can evaluate the result, sometimes put the leftovers, that is, the stillage, for re-fermentation.
You can save and revive the mash, you should not immediately pour out the unfermented product. In some cases, you can save money, but sometimes it's better to immediately pour the drink. You can try to make sure that all the ingredients of the mash begin to re-interact with each other. The degree of unpreparedness is individual and therefore the result is unpredictable.
The mash production process has some features, the observance of which is the key to obtaining a high-quality basis for moonshine. If the conditions for its preparation were violated in some way, fermentation can be significantly delayed, or even stop.
Why mash wanders for a long time
On average, subject to all the necessary conditions, the mash reaches readiness within a period of several days to two weeks. But sometimes the process is significantly delayed. What should be checked first?
Temperature regime
Braga can ferment poorly if the temperature in the room with the fermentation tank drops below 20 degrees. In the same way, too high temperatures harm the process, but overheating it is somewhat more difficult than overcooling it, because yeast can die only at temperatures above 35 degrees.
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Perhaps the proportions were not observed when laying the products
The ideal ratio when preparing mash with sugar and yeast: you need to take three times more water than sugar. Yeast - 50-70 grams per 1 kg of sugar. If there is not enough yeast, and there is too much sugar, the mash will turn out sweet, the yeast will not have time to process the entire amount completely. If products containing sugar are used for mash - for example, fruits, berries or jam - the initial amount of sugar should be reduced or yeast should be added.
Poor quality products
When preparing mash, do not use boiled, chlorinated or mineral water. You also need to check if the yeast has expired, do not use yeast that has been stored in unsuitable conditions. They must be diluted strictly in accordance with the instructions on the package. Fermentation is improved by special alcohol or wine yeast.
With a prolonged fermentation process, the mash can be fed
From natural products, a little rye bread, a handful of raisins or a couple of tablespoons of any jam will do. If there is an opportunity to get malt, it can be an excellent top dressing. Garden fertilizers are also often used - urea or superphosphates. You can add special yeast with additives. This will improve the process of yeast reproduction and fermentation will accelerate.
Regular stirring contributes to the improvement of fermentation. In order not to open and depressurize the container, you can gently shake it a couple of times a day.
Why does the mash not roam
If the mash stopped fermenting or did not even start, there may be several reasons for this: most of them are listed above, they can either slow down the process or stop it completely, without waiting for the mash to be completely ready for distillation.
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What other factors can affect the cessation of fermentation?
- Perhaps the process simply has not had time to start yet, little time has passed. Then you just have to wait a bit. Braga begins to ferment after 8-10 hours from the moment of laying the products.
- Yeast died during preparation and breeding. Yeast must be bred in warm water not higher than 30 degrees. Excess optimal temperature detrimental to them.
- The fermentation tank was depressurized. If this happened, oxygen got inside, and vinegar turned out instead of mash. Further use of such a product becomes impossible.
- If fermentation has stopped during the temperature drop, you can try to revive the mash: you need to wrap it well and put it closer to the heat source. You can use an aquarium heater, or slightly warm the container with mash in another way. Just do not overdo it: in overheated mash, the yeast will simply die. True, in this case, there is also a way out. If the dead yeast precipitated, you need to carefully drain the liquid and add a portion fresh yeast. Perhaps this will save the situation and the Braga will be reanimated.
- Excess sunlight. Fermentation should be done in a dark place, without access to light. Under the light, the reproduction of harmful microorganisms can begin, which will compete with the yeast and interfere with the process.
How long does the mash wander
Fermentation can last from a few days to two or even up to three weeks. The more accurately all the necessary conditions, the faster the process.
The first to ripen is mash cooked on fruits or on starchy foods - grains, legumes or potatoes.
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Sometimes it may happen that the mash does not ferment. At the same time, they use good yeast, clean water and quality raw materials. But the fact remains. What to do in such a situation? It is a pity if the product has to be poured. Can it be saved in some way? In order to find a solution to this issue, you must first understand the causes of fermentation..
Why is there no fermentation
Braga is literally alive. Yeast works tirelessly in it. These are special mushrooms, for which the environment in which they live is extremely important. This directly affects their viability.
Alcohol is a by-product of yeast. It is also carbonic eye, which is produced from sugar. In order for the yeast to be constantly at maximum activity, and the mash is fertile, you need:
- Indispensable nutrition. Braga should contain a sufficient amount of vitamins, sugar and important trace elements. The priority raw materials are cereals and fruits. Sugar or inverted syrup is added to them, which increases the sugar content.
- Optimal temperature. A wide temperature range is suitable for yeast. How many degrees are optimal? They become more active at temperatures from +22 to +28.
It is important to take into account not only the activity of yeast, but also other subtleties. Among them:
- The container must be completely sealed. A special water seal is used. It freely releases carbon dioxide to the outside, but oxygen cannot penetrate inside. Accordingly, the mash will not oxidize and will not turn into vinegar.
- It is important to observe the optimal proportions of the liquid base, sugar and yeast.
- The use of excellent quality water also plays an important role.
- It is also worth considering the type of yeast and its quality.
The quality of fermentation is affected great amount all sorts of factors. But it is extremely difficult to kill the braga completely. Such situations happen extremely rarely, so you don’t have to worry about this.
If it seems to you that the mash is completely spoiled, most likely it is not. Most likely, there was a decline or an insufficient increase in yeast activity. Why is the fermentation process disturbed? And what can be done about it?
Braga does not wander. What happened
It is worth mentioning right away that you can objectively assess the intensity of the fermentation process only if you use a transparent fermentation container (usually made of glass). You will see boiling activity and color. With this, you will immediately understand what to do.
If the container is opaque, you should focus only on the water seal. But it often happens that with a non-intensive fermentation process, gurgling is absent. What to do? No need to hurry. It is best to use a fermentation tank, which has a faucet at the bottom. This will allow you to drain the mash and evaluate how good it is. Why does fermentation take a long time or stop altogether:
- It's just been too long. Braga does not always play right away. It all depends on the temperature, type of yeast, raw materials and the method of introducing yeast directly into the wort (in a diluted form or not). Signs of fermentation: hissing, foaming, bubbles, and a characteristic smell appear quite often only after a few hours. If the mash did not start, and more than 8 hours have passed, then something has gone wrong and it is important to do something about it.
- The temperature of the air and the wort dropped. You just need to move the mash to another place where it is much warmer. In this case, the room should be well ventilated. During fermentation, a large amount of carbon dioxide is released. This should not be forgotten. If the volume of mash is large, and fermentation takes place at night, when you sleep, in best case you'll get away with the usual headache.
- The proportions were not met. If you do not know how much sugar to take, know that 3 liters of purified water and 70 grams of yeast are taken per 1 kilogram of it. If you are using natural products: pears, plums or apricots, for example, it is important to consider their sugar content. At the same time, tables that can be found in large numbers on the Internet will not help much here. This indicator is constantly changing even for one tree.
You just need to add 50 grams of yeast per 10 kg of raw materials. Also, 50 grams of yeast is taken for each kilogram of sugar, if you want to fix the mash that you have already spoiled, it is important to know which ingredient you did not report.
Accordingly, the missing water, yeast or sugar should be added.
- Wrong sugar content. Before fermentation begins, the must must contain at least 20% sugar. If the sugar content is high, it will prevent fermentation.
Also, too much sugar can increase the strength of the mash. Most yeast will stop working if the ABV is over 14%.. If there is a lot of sugar, the mash gains strength quickly, but at the same time, the yeast simply does not have time to process the existing sugar into alcohol.
If there is little sugar, the yeast will work faster. But at the same time, distillation will require more time and energy. More liquid will have to be heated.
How much sugar to take? It is best to find a middle ground. If the sugar content is high, just add water. It should be cold or warmed up to 30 degrees.
- Poor quality yeast. Active pressed yeast is always a uniform grayish or yellowish color. At the same time, their consistency is firm in moderation. They keep in the refrigerator for a maximum of 12 days. If a putrid, musty smell appears, this indicates that the product is spoiled.
Dry yeast should be free-flowing.
If the sugar content and temperature of the mash are normal, you should simply add other yeast.
- The water is of poor quality. It cannot be boiled, distilled or passed through reverse osmosis systems. Fermentation can stop if there is a lot of chlorine and other substances harmful to bacteria in the water. If this happens, you need to add high-quality water to the mash (from 50 to 100%);
- There was a depressurization of the water seal. If this problem is not noticed in time, the mash will simply turn into vinegar. After that, it will be useless to add sugar or yeast. You are just wasting your money. You just have to pour the vinegar, leaving a small amount for cooking meat with marinade. You just need to put the braga again.
Don't overthink your choice of yeast. If you decide to make mash, it is not necessary to purchase special spirits. They, however, have one significant advantage: increased resistance to alcohol.
They allow you to quickly process sugar into alcohol. if “exit” is essential for you, it is worth taking alcohol yeast. If you have high-quality bakery at hand, you can safely use them.
Do not be afraid of sulfur oxide or excessive foaming. Sulfur oxide appears when alcohol yeast is used. Foam is completely normal. This phenomenon is completely harmless. It will allow you to see that fermentation is taking place.
The most important detail in home brewing is a properly prepared mash. You can determine its status with special tools. But any moonshiner with experience can determine its readiness by external and taste characteristics. For people who first decide to start moonshine, it can be difficult to determine whether the mash is ready for distillation or not.
Folk ways to determine readiness
The quality of moonshine depends on the readiness of the mash for distillation. It is very important not to miss this moment and learn how to determine it correctly. If the mash is overexposed, it will become sour and the taste of moonshine will deteriorate. And with early distillation, there is a smaller yield, which is why some of the sugar disappears. To find out that the mash is ready for distillation, there are several proven folk methods. To make the result more accurate, use all methods at once:
- By time. You can determine how much mash for moonshine should cost by time, but you should not completely rely on this method, since it is not too accurate. For fermentation of a simple sugar mash, which includes water, sugar and yeast, it takes from 4 to 14 days. It depends on the temperature and humidity of the room, as well as on the quality of the raw materials used. (with starch content) about 3-7 days is sufficient. The longest period of 20 to 60 days is required for grape mash without yeast.
- By type. If the foam ceases to stand out, the hissing stops and no bubbles appear on the surface, the mash is ready. In this case, the remains of the yeast will settle to the bottom, and the top layer of the mash will become light.
- Taste. The most accurate way to determine the quality and readiness of mash is the taste. The sweet taste suggests that little time has passed and the yeast did not have time to process all the sugar into alcohol. Taste with bitterness - mash is ready for distillation.
- With a match. Carbon dioxide released during fermentation large quantities displaces oxygen from the bottle. This allows you to determine the readiness of the mash. A lit match is brought to the surface. If it is damp, then the fermentation process is still going on. If the match continues to burn, then, therefore, the fermentation is over and you can start distillation.
Professional verification method
Two devices will help to accurately verify the quality of the final product: a hydrometer and an alcoholometer. Even experienced moonshiners instead folk methods prefer to use these instruments, which are the most accurate. But since during such a check the mash will have to be drained, they are used for fermentation tanks with faucets. Ways to determine the readiness of mash for distillation using instruments:
Need to know! The resulting mash is needed immediately, as it is not stored for a long time.
Inventory for must be clean, otherwise any contamination can spoil the taste of the product. Therefore, the container is thoroughly washed in hot water and dry. As an inventory you can use:
It's important to know! Do not use galvanized dishes for fermentation. With prolonged contact of the liquid with zinc, the metal is oxidized, and for a person this threatens with serious diseases. Experts recommend using 25-38-liter plastic milk cans. Stainless, enameled, porcelain and aluminum containers are suitable.
Raw material preparation
For the preparation of raw materials, it is recommended to take 3-4 liters of water and 100 g of live yeast per 1 kg of sugar. You can spoil the mash imperceptibly if you shift the extra yeast. To ferment the wort faster, add mineral supplement. Top dressing is not needed if berries or juice are added to the composition. From 1 kg of sugar, 1 liter of moonshine is obtained. Cooking takes place in stages:
- To obtain 5 liters of forty-degree moonshine, 6 kg of sugar, 120 g of dry yeast and about 27 liters of water are required.
- First of all, prepare the water. distilled and boiled water does not fit. It is better to use spring water or draw from a tap and let it stand for several days. Then yeast is added to the water and put in a warm place for half an hour. If foam appears, then a small amount is poured into the composition ground crackers or dry biscuits. This will help stop the fermentation.
- Then we prepare sugar syrup . Stir 6 kg of sugar with 3.12 liters of water, bring to a boil and add 4.8 citric acid. The syrup is boiled at 100-degree temperature from 1.5 to 2 hours.
- Ready syrup is poured with water. Rye bread crushed and added to the wort. For every 50 liters of wort, there is half a loaf. Thiamine can be added if desired.
- To keep the yeast from dying, you need to monitor the temperature of the finished wort. It should be at the level of 30 degrees, but not exceed 35 degrees. Warming the container with a blanket or fur coat will help to avoid temperature fluctuations.
- In a lid that is put on a jar, make holes. A water dispenser with a tube brought out to the outside will help get rid of the unpleasant odor released during fermentation.
- The wort is stirred every 12 hours for a minute.
If the raw materials were prepared correctly, then the mash will be ready in 2-4 days.
There are a few little tricks that will help speed up the maturation of the mash. This is the conversion of sugar into syrup, compliance with the thermal regime and top dressing. Professional moonshiners have been using them for a long time and apply them with great success. It takes little time to prepare, and the result is of high quality and on time.
- sugar processing. In order for yeast microorganisms to multiply several times faster and better process sugar into alcohol, they produce. Sugar inversion is the preparation of a simple syrup where sucrose is converted to glucose. In this form, the sugar becomes more accessible to the yeast. Sugar 3 kg is diluted in 1.5 liters of warm water. Then bring to a boil and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, removing the foam that appears from the surface. Then slowly add to the mixture citric acid- 12 g. At this point, large amounts of foam will begin to form from the acid. The fire is set to a minimum, and the container is covered with a lid. Continue to cook for 1 hour. Before use, the finished syrup is cooled.
- Compliance with the thermal regime. Subject to the correct thermal regime, the mash will be ready at the appointed time. It is very difficult to constantly maintain a room temperature of 28 degrees. Therefore, it is possible to keep the heat released inside the bottle during hydrolysis by covering it with a warm blanket or an old coat (fur coat). You can also maintain the temperature in the room with the help of an aquarium heater, while not being afraid of excessive overheating. A stove or heating equipment helps a lot. It is enough to put a bottle next to them.
- Top dressing. yeast mushrooms are simple unicellular microorganisms. Their nutrition requires not only sugar, but also minerals that experienced moonshiners add to the water. Half a loaf of crumbled brown bread is added to a 15-liter bottle. Instead of bread, you can use about 10 crushed berries or replace them with 100 g of freshly squeezed juice. Can be mixed with water 150 g tomato paste and add it to the mash. Fermentation will pass quickly, and moonshine will be soft when sprouted and dried grains are added. Very rarely, nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers or rotted chicken manure are used as top dressing. Moonshiners who prepare moonshine for themselves do not use this top dressing.
Do not forget about mixing the mash. If you shake the bottle with a closed water seal twice a day, the carbon dioxide released by the yeast will evaporate, and the fermentation process will be more active.
Fermentation problems and their elimination
If you find that the mash is not good, you need to establish the cause and try to eliminate it. The reason may be hidden in slow fermentation, excess sugar or poor raw materials:
- extra sugar. When, according to all indications, it is clear that the fermentation has stopped, but the taste of the mash remains sweet, it means that the components were added in the wrong ratio. Fermentation stopped when the alcohol content reached a critical state. Therefore, yeast microorganisms did not have time to process excess sugar. To fix the problem, you need to reduce the strength of the mash by adding water to it.
- Fermentation has become slow. If all signs show that fermentation continues, but the deadline has expired, then unfavorable conditions have been created in the room. temperature conditions. At a temperature of +26 to +28 degrees, the vital activity of yeast microorganisms passes quickly, and at a temperature of +18-30 degrees - medium, which is also acceptable. With more low temperatures fermentation does not stop, but becomes much slower. To fix the problem, the container is transferred to a warm place or carefully insulated.
- Poor quality raw materials. Sometimes fermentation does not start, although all the temperature and prescription conditions were met. This is due to not very good raw materials. You can check how good quality bought yeast, dropping them for 30 minutes in a glass of warm water, to which 2 tablespoons of sugar are added. The formation of foam on the surface indicates that the yeast is suitable for use.
Attention, only TODAY!
#1 Is water important for mash?
The main requirement for water is that it must be drinkable. Also, excessively hard water slows down the fermentation process. And do not boil the water, so it loses oxygen, which contributes to the vital activity of the yeast. We do not recommend the use of distilled water or very soft water for the wort, it lacks the microelements necessary for the yeast, which can hinder and slow down their development.
#2 What is the best yeast to use?
Yeast selection is a serious matter. Most often, baking pressed yeast is thrown into the mash, and they give a good result. Of the proven dry yeast for moonshine, SAF-LEVUR is used. And if it is possible to get special yeast for alcohol - this is ideal.
With caution, you should use fast dry baker's yeast (such as "saf-moment"), they often do not give a high percentage of alcohol in the mash, they do not ferment.
#3 Braga foams a lot, I'm afraid to pollute the apartment. How to be?
From folk remedies. You can pour crushed biscuits into the wash. Or pour out a bag of dry "quick" baker's yeast, for some reason they also extinguish the foam.
#4 Does yeast in Braga "eat" only sugar, or does it need something else?
If there is nothing in the mash but sugar and water, the yeast is not very comfortable, they need more. Without them, fermentation goes the same way, but more harmful impurities are released. That's why sugar mash feed better. Yeast mainly needs nitrogen and phosphorus. Therefore, for every kilogram of sugar, ideally, ammonium sulfate should be added - 1.5-2 g; superphosphate - 3-4g. You can instead put a teaspoon of complex mineral fertilizer, such as nitrophoska.
You can do without "chemistry", many suitable food products contain the right ingredients. Can be added to mash for top dressing fruit juice or the fruit-berries themselves in a crushed form. You can add bread, usually black. You can use grain raw materials, which are better pre-boiled. The amount can be recommended approximately 0.5 - 1 kg per 10-15 liters of mash.
#5 Is it true from good sugar- good moonshine?
Right. It's hard to make candy out of g.. The quality of sugar greatly affects the quality of moonshine. The speed of fermentation does not depend on this, because they ferment molasses, and molasses, and raw beetroot. Only Sam from this painfully unpleasant, according to reviews.
#6 I want moonshine from grain. Just add water and yeast?
No. There is almost no sugar in the grain, and the yeast will have nothing to ferment. But there is starch in the grain. And the starch molecule easily breaks down into sugars under the action of enzymes at a temperature of 50-70 degrees. The necessary enzymes are contained in malt, that is, sprouted grain. Each kilogram of malt is able to turn about five kilograms of grain into starch into sugar. Also, there have long been microbiological enzymes that are used in industry. And they are easy to get.
It must be added that making moonshine from grain is much more difficult than from sugar, but the result is worth it.
#7 Why does the mash ferment badly?
1 cold
2 bad yeast
3 little yeast was added
4 not enough top dressing - nutrients
#8 I don’t have enough yeast and I don’t have it in the store, what should I do?
You can grow yeast from a small amount. Yeasts need air and, if possible, sterile conditions to reproduce. It is necessary to make 2 liters of wort as for mash, always with top dressing, boil it for disinfection and pour boiling water into three-liter jar, which is tied with several layers of sterile gauze. After cooling, put a little yeast there and tie it again with gauze, put it to ferment in a warm place. It is useful to shake the jar periodically. After 2-3 days there will already be a sufficient amount of yeast, at least liters per 50 mash.
#9 What is a water seal and is it necessary?
This is something that does not allow air to enter the fermentation tank, provided that the tank is hermetically sealed. In simple terms, this is a tube through which fermentation carbon dioxide exits, the end of which is lowered into a glass of water. When preparing mash, a water seal is by and large not needed, because, subject to the rules, it ferments rapidly and quickly. A water seal is needed where a calm long fermentation is used, for example, the fermentation of wine, beer. And the oxygen of the air will promote the reproduction of unwanted microorganisms and the formation of unnecessary substances. It also prevents infection by foreign microorganisms, which are full in the air.
#10 Yeast loves heat, should you insulate a container with mash?
It depends on the temperature in the room. capable of heating a large barrel of mash above 40 degrees. So, if the mash is in a warm place, on the contrary, you need to control it, no matter how it overheats, because yeast begins to die at temperatures above 40 * C. And in a cool place you can wrap the braga, but keep a close eye on its temperature!
#11 My mash stopped fermenting, but still sweetish, why?
Because the yeast has already released so much alcohol that they cannot continue to work normally. Here either the proportions of the mash were violated - a large percentage sugar, or the wrong yeast was used, which can tolerate a much lower concentration of alcohol.
#12 Can you make moonshine from fruit?
Can. And its quality will be better than that of sugar. Even if sugar has to be added to fruit mash due to insufficient sugar content of raw materials. Look and
#13 I want to distill clarified mash, but I have to wait a long time for the yeast to settle, is there a way out?
To speed up clarification, you can use bentonite, this is a kind of clay. When mixed with home brew, it promotes rapid settling. The source of bentonite is some cat litter, oddly enough. Such is the know-how. You can read. And
#14 Why is the strength of the mash not accurately measured?
Because in Braga, in addition to alcohol, a lot of things are mixed. Here and floating yeast, and sugar residues, and carbon dioxide. All this together introduces a significant error in the measurements with a hydrometer.
If you really set out to find out how much alcohol is still in Braga, at home you can do this:
take 1 liter of mash,
add 1 liter of water,
drive off exactly 1 liter of moonshine,
measure the strength with an alcoholometer (hydrometer).
the measured strength will accurately show the strength of the original brew.
Another thing, apart from simple interest, this has no practical meaning. Indeed, at the beginning of the distillation of the entire mash, it is possible to determine the strength of the mash with sufficient accuracy by a simple calculation, or by getting the first liter of moonshine.
#15 Why ferment yeast and how to determine its ability to ferment wort?
Yeast, usually used for home brewing, is in a depressed state and is unable to immediately begin to ferment, which is fraught with infection of the mash. In addition, there is always the possibility that the yeast has completely died during storage, and it is necessary to check it for fermentation. For yeast, diluted in 0.5 liters tap water, in which 70 g of sugar has been added and remain in a warm place (ideally at 30 * C) in an open container for 1-1.5 hours with frequent stirring to dissolve oxygen. A sign of yeast revival is active foam. Can be drained into a fermentation container. Read.
#16 How long can fully fermented mash be stored?
Storage of the finished mash is undesirable due to the possibility of the formation of by-products, however, if it is not possible to overtake immediately, it can be stored in a cold place for up to a week with a mandatory water seal to prevent souring. (The French generally recommend storing grape brews for distillation for cognac for 1.5-2 months on sedimentary yeast. But these are the French and grapes).
#17 How to store yeast?
Storage conditions and periods are usually indicated on the manufacturer's packaging. However, the shelf life of pressed yeast is usually 7-10 days. Such yeast may well be stored in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator for up to 1 year without a noticeable loss of fermentation ability. It is better to defrost them in warm water, and be sure to ferment them.
#18 How is yeast different?
From the point of view of microbiology, all commercially available yeasts belong to the same species and differ only in the size and rate of sedimentation and are suitable for making moonshine from any raw material. However, in the process of industrial selection, they have some features. Brewer's yeast is intended for fermentation of grain mashes with a low sugar content, they quickly form a precipitate, but they accumulate little alcohol: 5-7%. At high concentrations of alcohol, they begin to "get sick" and release a lot of impurities. Bakers are grown on a medium of pure sugar and are suitable for sugar-based brews, but only 7-9% alcohol is produced without abnormalities. alcohol yeast similar to bakery ones, but they develop better on grain brews, the limiting alcohol is the same 7-9%. wine yeast(cultural) are good for mashes from fruit raw materials, some varieties are able to ferment up to 16% alcohol, but this lengthens the fermentation period. wild yeast are on the surface of the fruit, especially a lot of them on the grapes. Good for fermenting fruit brews, fermenting 7-9% alcohol.
#19 How to close the container with mash?
A common "water seal" for wide-mouth cans is rubber glove with 1-3 punctures with a needle in the fingers to release the fermentation gases. People call it: "Greetings to Gorbachev." Such a device allows you to visually control fermentation. The glove is inflated - fermentation is underway. Opala, it means it's time for distillation, fermented completely. However, it should be borne in mind that with a change in temperature, especially with a sharp cold snap, the glove also falls off, sometimes even being sucked into the vessel.
