"Howdy all, as we all know, its summertime and hot as blazes in my neck of the woods. When I started this it was spring and I had my fermentor in the kitchen on the floor and it stayed at a constant 74 degrees.

Now I've moved the works out in the shed, have a couple more fermentors (5 gallon buckets w/ lids) and its over 100 degrees almost everyday.

I started using the birdwatcher recipe w/ bakers yeast and was getting a pint of 170 proof to the gallon, when the temp was around 80-85 max. I recently switched to Crosby and whoever distillers yeast, and leaving the wash in the shed it goes over 100 degrees most days. I went out there last night about 11:30 and it was still 90.

My last two washes the abv fell alot quicker and it only made 3/4 pint to the gallon.

Is it the change in yeast, the change in weather, both, or none? The yeast package says it makes up to 22% abv, but now its making less than the fleishmanns bakers. The package also says the one pound package will treat 500-1000 gallons of wash, so I started using 1 tsp per 5 gallons, then moved to 3 tsp per 5 gallon when the wash didnt have the abv im used to.

Another thing; due to work, life, etc, i had to leave the wash in the shed for a week or 2 before i could run it.

Any thoughts, comments, advise is welcomed."

Hot weather. Figger some way to cool it down. Batch that just got run had a similar childhood and just delivered a bunch of hooch. Only thing it got different from its low yielding brethern from run before last was 3 days under the nice cool AC prior to running. Im thinking the nice temps may have energized the yeast who sprung back to life and ate more sugar. Whatcha think?

Glad you came up with that info. Just went and checked temps in the hoochin shack wherein is my fresh starting ferment. Temps at 100 plus. I turned on the AC. This is gonna be some expensive cheap hooch. Plan to make a dedicated effort to store up enough over the cooler months to be able to skip this non sense next summer.

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A BUNCH OF HOOCH?????? Could you please be just a little more specific there BW. Like how much wort, how many pints it made, abv? Now THAT would be helpful. Also, what kind of yeast are you using? Thanks.

Muadib, your on the money, I got a lb of the DADY...not sure what it stands for. I read the thread you posted, it warns of pitching too much yeast, which I may have done, proper aerating, which I havent done, and nutrients, which i didnt do as it was a cornmeal/sugar wash. Does a cornmeal/sugar wash need nutrients? Also it talks of proper PH, but it has never been a problem before using baker's.

Thanks all."

I used Bakers yeast when I did the All Bran recipie and when I did the Graham Cracker SMOP recipie. Both worked out fine.

Using too much? I hardly doubt it. The purists would argue with me, but whatever gets the job done!

I started a 20 gal mash batch and the OG was 1.090 with a potent ABV 0f 12 %, tonight I hit 72hrs on and I decided to look again.......The SG is now 1.052 with a potent ABV of 7%.... Whats going on with that is that the norm????????

I'm pretty new at this Scotty, but dropping from 12 ABV to 7 in just 72 hrs kinda got me worried..........Never tried a batch this large!!!!!! So you are saying I should be Ok and this is the Normal reaction???????

Thanks Muadib, my ferment is still active but not overly........should I add more yeast?????? My mix was 35 lbs sugar, 20 gal water, 5 lbs cornmeal and 15 7g packs of flieshmanns highly active yeast.........I can see it working the meal around but not to real overly active......Thoughts!!!!!!!:)

Thanks Muadib.....I'll check it out!!!!!!! My temp is cooler then that its in my garage and it stays about 70-80 in there at all time....I am at 6600 ft elv.

"Fatboylo, I did the same thing on my first wash, and I forgot the part in the instructions where it says the SG will fall as the sugar is consumed. So if it says at first the potential abv is 12%, than at the end it shows a abv of 2%, ur wash is at 10%. At least thats the way i got it.

Muadib, is there a yeast that can withstand higher temps than the DADY? If so, I may need some until fall.

Thanks all"