"Whats your recipe??
how many gallons
what yeast
how much sugar
fermentation temps

give a complete methodology that you used and someone here can figger out what happened."

"

My guess would be 1 pkg or approx. 8-11 grams of yeast in a container to hold 285 gallons.
And if that whole container was 104 degrees F. I bet that stressed or killed the yeast addition that you made. You can always add more yeast if it stopped working but something that big with that miniscule amount of yeast it could have made some etoh without any visiable signs. A 300 gallon container is a whopper no dought and one little pack of yeast, well with sugar in there it would consume what it could I would think if the heat did'nt kill it.
And then to start distilling almost 300 gallons man you're gonna be busy, sorry that was'nt what you asked about, if its cooled try adding more yeast (maybe more than 1 pack). If it's not covered with a airlock you might just have to watch the top or give it a week or so, then take a hydrometer reading to see if it's done......the reading should be around .999-1.000 or somewhere in that neighborhood to show completion of fermentation."

ETOH = Alcohol - And the inference is once the wash gets to a certain % of ETOH (From the yeast processing sugar) it also can cause the yeast to stress and go dormant if a etoh tolerant yeast isn't being used.

Something else to consider is some way to chill that container for the ferment - 100's simply is gonna cause problems, both in ferment and taste.. Nasties are more prevelant at those higher ferment temps. I don't do batches that big-nor have I done grapes yet, but I keep the ferments at 74-76F, max.. I read that the yeast are happy there(abouts) and tend not to produce as many off tastes. I lost a few batches early one beacuse I was trying to do them outside in Texas last year during the early summer. And, they worked, but tasted like solvent... Even refluxed. Once I started doing the ferments in a cool and dark environ, Oh baby..

One really needs a way to keep outside air out. Yeast make ETOH because they cannot get oxygen, and thus take O2 from the sugar molecules, and fart etoh and CO2. There's an excellent write up on it over at homedistiller.og (That's where I got my datum from). Maybe the thin plastic was ok, but ya have to be sure she's air tight and, have a way for that CO2 to get outa there too...

And good luck, As heeler said, you are going to be busy.. for days!! I don't know what size boiler you are planning for it, but god sakes, I hope she's bigger'n a 15 gal

update: we got it going again! It took a like 2oz of yeast, but its going. Threw in some yeast nutrients for good measure.

if your OG was 1.15 and your FG was 1.0 that would be 18.7% ABV. Unless you used a turbo or something I doubt you will get the ABV that high with bread yeast. Sometimes it takes a few weeks for a ferment to finish. Just wait til it stops bubbling and read again

I agree with the above. Your fermentation seems to be going as it should. With the large quantity of wash and the small amount of yeast, even with the second addition, your ferment should take a couple of weeks. Keep it as cool as possible. Damp towels around the barrel if possible helps a lot. Don't rush it!

"
Heeler, so how fast should the reading be dropping? On Monday it read 1.150 and today was 1.100, is that too slow?

thanks

It's time to cook it! That reading is telling you the yeast has used up all the sugars and it's time to cook- good luck!

Elvis, just in case you dont know...collect in small jars soas to seperate all the cuts (you'll see tomorrow) then let all those jars air out for a day or two. THEN...after it airs for a bit cut it down to 100 for so before you taste it -- OR -- just plan on re-running it to really clean it up but what ever you do keep us updated.

we got her done!