Sugar Mash

[Soonershine]

I having trouble with my sugar shine I went from a presscooker to a still from a keg with a thumber I have the still working great so Im trying to get the mix right Im making 25gal.of water an 50lb.sugar but how much yeast (bread yeast) do I add for high proof mash and at what temp do I keep the mash at ?

[Richard Coleman, Jr]

Soonershine-

If you are using 50 pounds of sugar and 25 gallons of water your starting gravity should be around 1.092 which should yield around 11-12% ABV
If you use 50 pounds of sugar and 21 gallons of water- (which will give you 25 gallons total mash) the starting gravity should be around 1.109 giving you a starting ABV around 14%

I like to use 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons of mash. So with 25 gallons of mash I would add 2 1/2 teaspoons of bread yeast. If you are using bread yeast packets use 10 packets. I like to ferment my sugar wash with bread yeast in the mid 70’s- it seems to work really well there. I usually don’t push bread yeast past 10% abv-

Your wash is a bit higher than 10%- you might want to add an extra 1/2 teaspoon or another 2 packets of yeast. I would create a yeast starer first and take specific gravity readings if you have a hydrometer.

Create a simple yeast starter for 25 gallons of mash
Add 3 cups of 110 degree water to a sanitized jar.
Add 10 teaspoons of sugar to the water and mix thoroughly.
Add 12 packets of yeast or 3 teaspoons
Swirl the glass to mix in the yeast with the sugar water.
Let the glass sit for 20 minutes and it will double in size.
Aerate your wash while you are waiting for the yeast to double in size
Once your starter has doubled in size add it to your mash.

[Author]

Posts