 Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 3/17/2012(UTC)
Posts: 118
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"Back in January I had planned on beating the spring rush and one week when the temps were unseasonably warm I started 15 gallons of neutral wash, planning on moving it to the house when cold weather moved in later in the week. I had about 4-5 days of warm weather...70's, then family suddenly came down and I couldn't move my ferment buckets into the house as planned. it dropped back below freezing and now I have sugar/tomato water and no hooch.
According to some I am proverbially screwed...does anyone have any ideas how to proceed from here? I tried blooming some yeast and starting it again, nothing happened...should I heat it up, throw it out...or just drop back ten and punt???
Farmin"
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 Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 1/12/2012(UTC)
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"Hi Farmin,
I would think that the yeast just settled in for a winter's nap. I would try to raise the temperature of the wash to see if the yeast will start up again on their own. If they don't start up again, rack it, then make a real healthy starter and repitch.
With 4 - 5 days in the 70s your SG might already be relatively low depending on the yeast you used. You could try repitching a strain that's known for restarting a stuck fermentation ... EC 1118 might be a good choice if you can keep the wash temp in the mid 60s. Or v1116 if the temps will be a bit lower. In any case, you will probably want to do the full Monty with your starter. Rehydrate, add some sugar, then for a day or two (or three) add small amounts of your wash to your starter so you can make a really healthy/acclimated yeast bomb. During that time, let the starter temp slowly drop to a temp that's close to your wash temp.
Just be careful if you use v1116. I've found that it's fussy about oxygen. If your wash SG is already pretty low, you may not want to aerate your wash (for fear of oxidation) ... and v1116 can produce a lot of H2S without adequate oxygen and you'll end up with a bucket of wash that smells like rotten eggs ... which I wouldn't want to run. If that's the case, 1118 might be the better choice. Or just aerate well & live with the potential oxidation products ... since you're making a neutral it may not be a big deal ... it just might not end up as neutral as you would like ... so you can strip, treat with some baking soda, then do spirit run.
Regards,
--JB"
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 3/17/2012(UTC)
Posts: 118
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thanks JB I appreciate the tip. I guess I'll see if I can wake it up by raising the temperature and if that doesn't work I have some EC 1118 that I will put in it and see if I can get started. by the way I was using bakers yeast to start
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 1/12/2012(UTC)
Posts: 804
Was thanked: 5 time(s) in 5 post(s)
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Baker's yeast seems like a pack of tough old dogs to me ... hard to kill ... I wouldn't be surprised your wash kicks back into action once the temp comes back up.
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