Sugar Wash Questions – Answered!
These are quick hits for short sugar wash answers with in-depth articles too!
The process can take 4 days to 14 days depending on the yeast used and the ferment went well.
After the coagulant is added leave it for at 48 hours to be safe before racking to the kettle. This will give it time for the solids to settle in the bottom of the fermenter.
You should clear the wash before transferring it to the kettle. The one reason is that the suspended solids can get burnt by heat and form off flavours.
- Airlock stops bubbling.
- The wash colour top section changes to light.
- Taste the ferment it must not taste sweet but rather bitter. What this tells you is that all the sugar has been converted to alcohol.
- Take a sample and check the SG. It should be in the range of .090 > .098
- No you can’t as there is a ratio of sugar to yeast. Too much sugar will damage the yeast and hamper its growth.
- For a healthy yeast growth to ethanol, it must be done over a time (4 > 14 days) based on the yeast used.
ABV = Open gravity (OG) minus Final gravity (FG) X 131.25 is the alcohol by volume you can expect from your batch which will help you when making your cuts.
The wash will keep up to 3 weeks and more so long as the fermenter is airtight.
- The wash was not degassed before adding the clearing agent.
- The wash was still fermenting when the clearing agent was added
- Check that the airlock is not leaking. Check for leaks with soap and water.
- Too much water in the airlock, the water level must be roughly 30% of the tube LHS. When blowing over to the other side of the tube it will form its own seal.
- The lid is not sealing. Remove clean and add Vaseline reseal.
- Can also be a failed fermentation normally caused by old yeast. Always do a starter yeast to confirm that the yeast is healthy.
- pH is too low adjust back to 5
- Not enough oxygen in the wash before adding the yeast.
- The temperature of the wash to cold. Yeast starts to go to sleep below 15 Celsius