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"I have found after initial fermentation and racking from a bucket into a carboy, it can take quite a while for the wash to completely settle and clarify. I notice that over time small bubbles of CO2 rise to the surface. Thus the CO2 is gradually dissipating over time and keeps the wash moving and interfering with settling. I wonder if pulling a vacuum on the carboy to pump out the CO2, would allow the wash to settle and clarify quicker faster. Has anyone tried this? Anybody have any thoughts or ideas about this?
Rosne"
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 Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
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"Yes, even if your wash has finished there can still be considerable residual CO2. The beer folks know this and they take that into consideration when calculating how much priming sugar they need to use when bottling ... temperature is a big factor.
If you really feel it's necessary to reduce the CO2 after your wash has finished you can try degassing. I only do this with my ciders and fruit wines ... immediately after the second racking and prior to stabilizing ... and it does help with clearing. You can make a whip by cutting a piece off of a plastic hangar. Sanitize it and use a hand drill. Always keep in mind that you're degassing, not oxygenating. So you want turbulence below the surface, with as little disturbance on the surface as possible (other than the bubbles from the rising gas).
That said, I don't believe many hobby distillers care much about residual CO2 since many don't bother waiting for their wash to completely clear. But it sounds to me like you may still have an active fermentation. If so, just give it more time and let it finish. It will clear on its own. Once you hit your FG you can move it to a cold area where things may settle faster."
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
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" Originally Posted by: jensor4  I have found after initial fermentation and racking from a bucket into a carboy, it can take quite a while for the wash to completely settle and clarify. I notice that over time small bubbles of CO2 rise to the surface. Thus the CO2 is gradually dissipating over time and keeps the wash moving and interfering with settling. I wonder if pulling a vacuum on the carboy to pump out the CO2, would allow the wash to settle and clarify quicker faster. Has anyone tried this? Anybody have any thoughts or ideas about this?
Rosne I am wondering what kind of wash are you refering to that takes time to settle and clear? And too what time span are calling - quite a while? I think your sugar washes will be clearer sooner but with added extra goodies of course the yeast action will keep all that stuff in suspension and moving to and fro. In my experience everything in there (the fermenter I mean) will settle after the yeast stops churning or fermenting and that can take up to two weeks sometimes. I too have seen the co2 that just just keeps bubbleing up form the grain bed. I used to stir it thinking that it was still fermenting and that would speed it up or make it finish, but I soon learned that yeast does have a time span of working to a finish. Try this once and see what happens....after fermentation (give it time or use a hydrometer to know it's done) givera good stir and watch the co2 that rises from the grainbed. You'll see it's not really the effects of fermentation at that point so it's not really helping the process for any gain and IMHO you should run your wash at that point."
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 8/17/2008(UTC)
Posts: 424
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If you are stripping/refluxing then the strip run can be pretty trashy without causing any problems. However if you are only pot stilling then you probably want a more settled wash. You can mix in some fining agents to speed this up - (look at wine/beer stores if you are unfamiliar with fining agents).
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Forum Rank:: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 5/12/2010(UTC)
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My wash is composed of Rockstar energy drink, miracle grow(fertilizer), sugar, and for yeast I use what I saved that settled off the last batch (The original yeast was Lalvin K1-V1116). Works great. ferments down to below 1.00 in a week. I do strip first and then reflux it. I would like to have it settled in another week, but I believe it is doing a very slow ferment once it gets down to 1.00. And that is probably what is preventing it from settling quickly.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 8/17/2008(UTC)
Posts: 424
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Well I have a vacuum setup for my wine making. Mainly to easy racking, but I have tried it for removing CO2. My experience was that it really didn't help much, if any. My opinion is still that if you are doing a stripping run first it does not matter about the settle.
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