Has Fermentation Stopped? How Long Should I Ferment For?

a bunch of people have been asking me lately how long should I let my mash my wash ferment for how long should I let the film in go for ends it's kind of the wrong question how's it going chasers I hope you're having a kick-ass week I'm Jesse and this is still at the channel all about chasing the craft of home distillation and making it a legitimate hobby all right guys so like I said in the intro people have been asking me quite a lot it's still the steady barrage of questions asking how long to let my mash ferment for or variations on the topic you know I I let it for me it for a week but it's still bubbling should I let it go for longer you know all of these sort of things and honestly guys it's the wrong question having a prediction of time ahead of time sure for planning I get it you know you want to be able to know you want to be able to know I've got a long weekend coming up that's when I want to run the still how long before that should I put the mesh down I get it what I'm saying is that fermentation is relying it's us relying on yeast this little single-celled organism that's going to do what it's going to do and all we can do is regular and coax it in the right direction so the answer is your fermentation is done when it's done so the real question the question you should be asking yourself is how do I know in fermentation that's finished you're gonna see a whole lot of weird answers out there I'm here to tell you that not all they're not bollocks are just unreliable for one way or the other there's only really one way one way to know for sure here are a few of the chaps that people might tell you look for signs of fermentation sure yeah like that's great if you see signs of fermentation it's still fermenting problem is there's a whole lot of situations where you're going to see nothing it's gonna look like absolutely nothing's happening but it's still ticking away slowly so those signs of fermentation might be a cloudy wash they might be a cruising on top which is basically you know where the yeast and the bubbly bits come up to the top of the to the top of the fermentation airlock activities so you know bubbles popping out the top of your ear lock if you're using them yes they can be a fairly good indication that fermentation is still happening but this isn't even instances like fermentation has totally stopped but now for whatever reason it's a warmer day a ha today than it was yesterday it's starting to warm up again you can get off gassing happening with the co2 comes out of suspension because it's getting warmer and it'll look like fermentation because there's bubbles coming out of your airlock you know that there are situations where these things happen so the only way the only way to know for sure the fermentation is finished is to track the gravity of the fermentation specific gravity is a measure of how dense a liquid is compared to water and in most cases for it is everything that we are doing anyway that's what we're looking at so how the hell do we know what the gravity of our washers well we've got a couple of tools for that let me show you the first is a trusty hydrometer if you do not have one of these buy one now it is hands-down the most helpful accessory I guess you would call it it is not 100% necessary you can make distilled spirits or beer without one of these guys but it is just so much help it takes so much headaches out of a situation now this is a relatively cheap one this is a relatively cheap one I can't even find the brand on the air but but I will leave some links down below in the description you can pick cheap ones up like these I don't know I think the last one I got was like 16 bucks or something now these ones from brewing America are a little more expensive but if things like then being made in America as opposed to China which to be honest is where most of the things are made are important to you there and quality and just sort of presentation in the way that they turn up packs beautifully support so on and so forth if you're into those sort of things I think that well worth the price for disclaimer are brewing America did send these to me because they saw how good you make a glass hist yeah Jesse can break it as you guys have probably seen in my in my recent videos but the Jean were a way that these things work is that you take a sample you put some liquid in here you drop this bad boy in there you make sure that liquid is around about 20 degrees Celsius you with us floats in the water and you take a reading off the side of it now that is a super crash course on these things I do have another video dedicated to you know exactly how to use these things properly I'll put a link up above for that it might be getting a little old if you think it's a little old and not my best work I hear ya let me know and I'll see about doing an updated version of that this videos not really exactly about how to use a hydrometer it's about why to use a hydrometer and how it's helpful for us for distilling so moving on you know what is helpful before we get into this to have an idea of rough numbers there are normal for different types of fermions so for example a sugar wash is going to film int out to about 1 or actually slightly below one so as the yeast converts the sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol we're taking a very very dense liquid you know water plus sugars quite dense and we're turning it into water plus alcohol alcohol is actually lighter than water so that's why we can get down to a gravity there is less dense than water next up things like all grain whiskies we're not normally going to be able to ferment out all of the sugar because the mash process is going to create sugars that are unfermented as well so getting a gravity somewhere between one point zero zero two up to about one point zero zero eight is totally normal for a all grain whiskey and then lastly things like rums so if you're using molasses you're gonna be putting a whole lot of unfermented all sugar into your wash depending on the type of rum you're making depending on the type of molasses that is so variable depending on what you're making and the ingredients you're making but if you're using a big dirty great big honking blackstrap recipe I wouldn't be surprised to see something like one point zero two as a gravity at the end of fermentation now things like the type of yeast that you use will affect this if you have a yeast that just chews through everything you're going to be slightly on the lower side of those ranges if you let your fermentation start to sour because of wild yeast of bacteria that can push the gravities lower as well it's kind of like a ballpark range of what to expect and the reason I give you those numbers is back to this guy so you can literally just pop this in your fermenter if you want I do it all the time for the stuff that I'm going to they're still I would never do it for beer but distilled spirits it's cool wait until you see signs of fermentation stop pop this thing into the wash or take a sample and take a reading wait for a day or two you can come back and take a reading again now if those two readings are the same over the period of a couple of days fermentation stopped fermentation can stop for two reasons one something went wrong two fermentation is actually finished so that's the reason that I gave you those target numbers so if I was fermenting out a sugar wash and it stopped at one point two I would know damn sure that there's something wrong either I screwed up on the recipe side or fermentation hasn't actually finished it's just got stuck the same as I was fermenting a all grain whiskey and it started and I don't know miss pick some numbers one point zero seven and it fermented out to one point zero to five I'd probably be thinking that there's a stuck fermentation there however that same ferment went down to one point zero zero five I'm thinking that's probably done so the too long didn't read guys wait until you get steady numbers in the range of what you're expecting so if you're expecting a wash to ferment out somewhere around one and it gets down to you know one point zero zero one and it stays there for three days fermentation is done and it's time to get that thing in the still so if you don't have one of these things guys I really hope that you can understand why getting one is a really good idea it takes the mirth it takes the just not knowing out of a lot of things and if you're going to approach a seasoned brewer or distiller and ask you know to get their help troubleshooting a fermentation or a recipe the first thing they're going to ask you you know after the recipe yourself is data points numbers that you've taken from the fermentation with one of these guys cool you can use the links down in the description below now it's not going to cost you anything I promise you their affiliate links essentially what that means is that you by the way you would anyway it's just that the people you're buying it off giving me a little kickback for sending you their way so if you choose to use those I'd thank you very much that's not that's cool too a super quick note on these little bad boys refractometers yes you can use these to do this as well are they as good not really and here's the reason why this measures the actual density of a liquid that's what it does this measures the refractive index of a liquid and the problem is that when the liquid has alcohol water and sugar in it this gets all screwy there's all sorts of weird things and the only way to really get true readings with us is to have a really accurate starting gravity take a reading at you know what some point during the fermentation and then use a calculation or a calculator to give you the real number so while yes they are an awesome tool be aware of that trap anyway guys anyway I know this one was a fairly straightforward sort of technique based video I hope you enjoyed it and I hope it helps a few people out out there I know the stuff can be painful you know if you're not sure what you don't know and you just can't get over that next hump and the hobby I get it guys I get it anyway like always this has been a blast if you like the video give it a thumbs up drop a comment down below share it around with anyone else that you think might enjoy it and I'll catch you next time see ya you

Channel: Still It

Views: 81,159

Keywords: hydrometer, how long to ferment, when is fermentation finished, how long before distilling, air lock bubbles, home distilling, how to make, whiskey, whisky, vodka, gin, rum, still it, chase the craft, Jesse, Jessie

Id: wXR8i9BistQ

Length: 10min 33sec (633 seconds)

Published: Tue May 26 2020