"I ran my first Sweetfeed wash the other day and would like some input.

The SG on my wash showed fermenting was done...the ABV was 5% on one bucket and 4% on the other. They were differant yeasts.....

My first question is the ABV sounds low, is it?

My second would be how to raise it, is the yeast?

I pitched the first 250 ml and collected the next 1000 or so. I quit when the ABV fell below 50%. I think I may have quit to soon?

My recipe called for 4"" of sweetfeed, 5 lbs. of sugar, 5 gallon wash. Pitch the yeast below 90 degrees. I used I used 6 3/4 teaspoons of bakers yeast.

I ran about a 4 gallon wash in a lightly packed reflux head.

Looking forward to starting my next batch but wondering if I should use the same yeast.

Thanks for the previous help, I am haveing a ball."

"I will recheck the last jar tonight......I am sure it was below 50% abv. I figured the yield was low because the starting ABV was low. I felt like I was running pretty slow...

Lotta yeast huh? I thought I was following the reciepe correctly, but hell I have screwed up before. My fermenting room stays a nice steady temp and dark. I'll need to recheck my reciepe. I have 8 more gallons of the wash to run. It's all about practice :)

Thanks for your help Heeler"

Ggotcha...I'm pretty sure you dont really need that much yeast to get the job done. But kudos to you for following the recipe. I know I use 1 or 2 ec-1118 packets and that gets the job done, or 2 tablespoons of distillers yeast and that seems to work also. When I used bakers yeast I would use 2 or 3 packets, since were talking about bakers yeast its only gonna make about 8 to 10% anyway cause the yeast cant handle the higher alcohol in the wash. Maybe the recipe called for that much so as it died it could use the dead cells as food. Not too sure. Some folks use 1 packet of either for a 5 gallon wash and that seems to work too.

"Just saw something else...I used 10 pounds of sugar for that recipe. The one you followed is not wrong just different. When you do it again try 10# of sugar and 2 packets of yeast and proof the yeast before adding. Or better still get distillers yeast --again its not wrong just diff. That recipe did result in some pretty good likker when I last did it. Hope this helps ya get a good result.
Oh sorry one more thing...dont worry too much over the gravity readings, there are'nt that crucial, and with a whiskey wash - alittle warmer on the ferment keeps it going."

What kind of sweet feed? All the recipes I find call for something called manna pro but I can't get that where I'm from. Is there any alternative or any recommendations on types of sweet feeds?

Sweetfeed just means that its got lots of molasses in it. but ya know the pelleted feed will work too - maybe try one of each. Pelleted feed just means that all those grains were ground up already for the horse with not so good teeth or not so good digestive tract. they will both work - the final product might be a diff flavor just like a different recipe for anything. A cupcake is a cupcake is a cupcake...know what I mean. Niether is wrong just different.