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Is there a site anywhere that goes in depth for learning to use a Hydrometer, new to all of this and need some help with it. My first batch consist of about 4" of crushed corn, 5 ibs. of sugar, and Whiskey Yeast from Mile Hi and water. Fermenting seems to be going fine, started it on Saturday, it went crazy for the first couple of days and has slowed way down. What should I be reading on the Hydrometer when it seems to be done spitten and a sputtering.
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 Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
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try this...........homedistillers.org might be helpfull.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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Originally Posted by: Sparky  What should I be reading on the Hydrometer when it seems to be done spitten and a sputtering. I can get all complex and speak about starting readings and finishing readings which you can then calculate to find out the actual ABV% in the fermenter prior to distillation, but we'll forget all that now and get a quick answer to you're question. Basically I was always told you want to get the final reading below 1.000. Now usually it will always come in under 1.000 unless you've done something wrong or just had a rough ride with mother nature (wild ambient weather patterns) -- That said if you end up with something like 1.020 (don't worry I've had worse) don't despair, it's likely if you don't hear any "spitten and sputtering" then it's simply done, all this means is it may be 2-4% lower alcohol content in the fermenter. However sometimes the yeast just needs a kick start so you can open the fermenter and give it a viscous stir then put the lid back on and come back in 24-48hrs see if the reading is any different (9 times out of 10 I've found no improvement but unless your in a rush it's always worth trying!) My local shop always said the target is 1.000 or lower. I remember in the early days going in to him alarmed saying my reading is 0.980 whats wrong?! He laughed and said that's bloody brilliant! That was the 2nd wash I've ever done and never topped that in the following 3 years, most of my washes finish around 0.988 - 0.992 nowadays. Hope this helps. I thought I'd jump in because the guys at distiller.org whilst extremely helpful can be absolutely brutal on newcomers - if you use an "air still" do NOT tell them so. It's an evil word over there. I'm a happy air still owner and despite what they say you can get a pretty good result from the ol air still if you do things right, just takes more time & effort (part of the fun) EDIT: I've just noticed you've started a different kind of wash to what I know and familiar with so my info above may not be entirely relevant but hopefully it points you in the right direction. There are so many varying factors but in 3 years I've never had a failed wash, just stronger and weaker ones.
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
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Clickit.. thats all great info - Sparky.. Ya know I never take Og and SG readings. I guess I'm just lazy. To my way of thinkin if you follow the recipe and you dont pitch too early ( like newbies do sometimes) And if you get a good fermentation so you can see the airlock working - I dont think its absolutely necessary to have those. I can't tell you what the ABV% is in my wash but it dosent really matter to me. I guess it would be fun to have that knowledge but it not essential to know. After you've made a few runs you'll get the hang of it. Now there is a formula and you can find it here or
homedistillers I'm pretty sure. If your wash is 5% or 18% your still gonna run it through a still once or twice to get what were after so no worries mate just keep going and you'll get it.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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Click It, Heeler, Thanks so much for taking the time to help me out, GOOD INFO! As for those who like to be BRUTAL to the new comers, all I have to say is, They had to ask alot of Dumb questions to in there beginngs too. There are those who get there kicks out of Brow Beating people, makes them feel all warm and fuzz all over. LOL Thank Guys
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
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Hey Sparky..just a footnote..I see you are from Ft Worth. I was in Ft Worth at the stockyards in Oct. My wife and I went to the NRS training center for a trailer roping (and I got my ass woooped). I know this is not hooch related but I just noticed your local and wanted to remark. N E way happy stillin.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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"Happy to be of some assistance Sparky and you're absolutely right, everyone starts out as a novice at some point. I just found them to be unnecessarily hard on newcomers sometimes which is something I'd stamp out if I was an admin over there, a forum that fails to welcome newcomers can ultimately be its undoing.
Rantings aside... On a side note of my own I spent a number of months in Fort Hood, TX back in 1999/2000. I know it's 2hrs from where you are but considering I'm in Australia that's almost your backyard from over here. I found the texans to be quite friendly and somewhat like us aussies overall. Even have a ""Don't mess with Texas"" tshirt here somewhere hehe :)"
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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Originally Posted by: heeler Clickit.. thats all great info - Sparky.. Ya know I never take Og and SG readings. I guess I'm just lazy. Hey I didn't mean to sound like I've been doing that for ages, truth be told I've only recorded the starting readings for the first time 2 days ago thanks to something I read on these very forums. Before then I just did as you did, had a general feel for it, took the final reading and as you say adjust accordingly in the distilling process to get the desired ABV%. That said I'd always been a little curious as to just how much ABV% my wash really was upon completion, I knew from my distilling results they were always in the 12-17% range but once I read there was a way to know precisely (Calculators found here: http://www.brewhaus.com/Calculators-C108.aspx) the curiosity got the better of me as I'm analytical by nature (drives my partner insane) I believe I'm on my way to making a handy break through, let me explain... Obviously the more sugar concentration in water will result in heavier water (higher SG reading) right? Since I've never followed the traditional mixes recommended on the yeast packets (I prefer to maximize the fermenters to their very limits!) I've had to guesstimate the ratio somewhat. I've always felt I go a bit heavy on the sugar but never known for sure as there are many varying factors (starting temps & ongoing ambient seem to be the biggest one) - so rather than trying to calculate ratios of Sugar/Water volume I realized there is a much easily universal way to do things - SG readings never lie, so over the coming weeks/months I'm going to find the sweet spot (SG reading) and then in future I'll just adjust water until I get to that number. As long as I control the temperatures I'll know I have a winner everytime. I've begun by starting 3 fermenters at: 1.100, 1.105, 1.110 - I'll see if there is a correlation to the end results or not. Probably too much information but I'm personally curious :) I've noticed a few things (no brainers really) - the higher concentration of sugar to water means heavier water right? Obviously, so the SG reading will be higher. Now I've never followed the traditional Sugar/Water Volume rule and always stretched things out as far as I believe possible (more sugar with more water, I see a whole heap of empty space in the fermenter wasteful lol)
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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Sounds Interesting would like to know your outcome on it. I have 2 fermenters going right now, one has been chugging for about a week and I started the other one a couple of days ago. It's been a little on the cool side lately, but today was close to 80 Degs. today, so I thought I would set the Fermenters out side to warm them up. Well they warmed up ok, the one I started the other day went NUTS! I almost paniced, it started foaming through the airlock and I must have gone through 4 rolls of paper towels till it settled down. LOL Yall check out the pictures I posted of my Toy. Heeler, give me a heads up next time your in the area.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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"I'm stuck in a doctors foyer so I thought I'd log in and do something productive :) I actually think 80f would be about spot on as I try to keep mine close to the 26c mark which is about 79f. I could be wrong but that seems to work for me and my particular turbo yeast. Type of yeast and wash changes everything though. Now on the distiller forum mentioned above most people frown upon using a heat pad as it creates hot pockets (which is probably true) but I find them brilliant, better to artificially control temps than letting beasts become stuck from falling out of their temp zone. You just have to be smart, I have my heat pads on timers, depending on how cold it is influences how I use it. I like the whole 24hr wheel littered with ON/OFF pattern and I just put more ON or more OFF depending on how the temps going. This I find better than say 12hrs on / 12hrs off, then the yeast won't know what's going on...
Another thing I recently purchased was an aquarium digital thermometer from eBay. Comes shipped from China for about $1.20 - its got a cord about 2.5feet that drops in the Fermenter to give an absolute precise reading, really amazing. What I plan to do next is buy 1 for each 6 of my Fermenters, drill a tiny hole and leave them permanently in there, sealing with silicone or something. Just make sure you get farenheit one as I didn't confirm but luckily (for me) mine came in celcius and doesn't appear to have a switching option."
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
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" Originally Posted by: Sparky Sounds Interesting would like to know your outcome on it. I have 2 fermenters going right now, one has been chugging for about a week and I started the other one a couple of days ago. It's been a little on the cool side lately, but today was close to 80 Degs. today, so I thought I would set the Fermenters out side to warm them up. Well they warmed up ok, the one I started the other day went NUTS! I almost paniced, it started foaming through the airlock and I must have gone through 4 rolls of paper towels till it settled down. LOL Yall check out the pictures I posted of my Toy. Heeler, give me a heads up next time your in the area. You got it bud.....just a quick question. What kind of wash was that you spoke of that erupted out of your fermenter?? I recently did a (DWWG) which is a toasted wheat germ wash and all the adviseries are right on. Give plenty of head room in the fermenter cause damn it goes crazy. Mine foamed into the airlock and then pushed it out. THEN proceeed to lift the top (a 5 gallon bucket) just a crack to relieve pressure and that shit was 4 inches tall where it came out of the airlock. It made me laugh though cause I had no dougt it was working. No OG or SG needed here. Anyway just some stillin humor."
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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Heeler, I am doing Cracked Corn I got at the feed store, 5 lbs. of sugar and Mile-Hi Turbo Whiskey Yeast, and 4 1/2 gals. Spring Water. I thought I had created a Valcano. I get a great deal on spring water, I work at a Hospital and we keep a supply of water on hand at all times incase they loose city water. When it goes out of date they have to dump it, right in the back of my truck! LOL
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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" Originally Posted by: Sparky When it goes out of date they have to dump it, right in the back of my truck! LOL Love your work Sparky!  "
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
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I had a couple of bubble over cases, it usually happened in the first couple of days. I forget who suggested it but I take a clear plastic tubing and put it in the rubber plug instead of the usual bubbler. Then I run the other end of the tube into a gallon milk jug with about a inch of water in the bottom. It's still an airlock but it gives a lot of room to catch bubble over if it happens. After a couple of days I replace the tubing with the regular bubbler airlock. Works great if one goes wild.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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That's great info, I never thought about using tubing to catch run over. But in the heat of the moment all I was thinking about was not making a mess in my Wifes kitchen. LOL
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
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Originally Posted by: Sparky Sounds Interesting would like to know your outcome on it. Okay far from knowing clear results yet but I wanted to report back, I've done my first 3 fermenters each started on the following SG: SG Start / SG Finish / Final ABV% 1.107 - 0.990 - 14.6% 1.102 - 0.992 - 13.8% 1.100 - 0.993 - 13.4% That's my big 3 fermenters so I didn't want to experiment too wildly. I always assumed I was producing around 15% so I'm actually a little under that, though my best result wasn't far short so probably the only way to get stronger alcohol now is to use more sugar (higher starting SG) but I do remember reading that when using Turbo Yeasts, the strong 20-22% outcomes aren't necessarily better because they are also dirtier, smell and taste which require more distilling/filtering action. But I'd like to test this out for myself, if indeed sugar is the key which it makes sense probably is. Just to be doubley sure I've started my small 3 fermenters considerably lower (1.070 area), if my theory is right they will produce around the 10% ABV mark, meaning it's all about the sugar ratio. So once I run tests on the other side of the spectrum (more sugar, higher starting SG) I'll know for certain what's what. Reason for all this is I have 4 different size fermenters amongst my 6 in total so each requires different sugar/water ratios, until now I've always just winged it but now I'd actually like to be able to predict what I'll get as the end result from the start. So it's all in the start SG reading. The above is just based on Sugar, Water, Yeast (Turbo Yeast) nothing else. Up until now I've used a locally sourced yeast by StillSpirits (New Zealand company) but I've now received shipment of your "Turbo Pure 48" from USA and interested in testing it out, my first observation is there is only half as much yeast in your packs - which might be a good thing! Thanks to the strong aussie dollar I was able to get these for almost half the price of local product so I'm pretty happy and keen to experiment with it! I also used a bakers yeast for the first time recently, never checked the starting SG but the finish was 1.020 (if it started at 1.120 that equates to 15% ABV which is damn good considering how cheap bakers yeast is) - haven't tasted it yet to see if its cleaner than turbo. Certainly took longer, about 18 days compared with 5-7 days. More updates later...
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