Wild Sam is a moonshine made with wild grain yeast. Causes and prevention of mash souring

Making mash is not a difficult task. You just need to take the necessary ingredients, fill them with water, add dry ones, baker's yeast, add sugar and it's ready. Next, it’s a matter of small things; the dishes with the prepared wort are placed in a warm place. All we have to do is wait for the ripening time. Braga is made exactly this way. However, what is the reason that it turns sour? And what to do if this happens? Maybe distill it in an effort to get rid of the sour taste? Just throw away the spoiled product? Or should we still try to fix it?

You just need to pay attention in advance to preparing a high-quality tincture. To do this you should:

Use only products High Quality and use them in the correct proportions;
Create mash in stages, without violating technology;
Stick to fermentation conditions.
But the work doesn't end there.

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In addition to the alcoholic fermentation necessary for preparation, many extraneous and harmful reactions occur in the tincture. Great amount germs and bacteria are found on fermentation devices, dishes, original products, yeast and even in the water used. As a result, when they get into the product, they cause unnecessary chemical reactions. At favorable conditions, can often occur bad smell, a change in taste for the worse, contamination of the mash and, of course, its sourness. What factors can affect the acidity of a tincture? The most common reasons include:

Abundance of oxygen. Frequent stirring of the wort increases the oxygen content in it. It does not interfere with fermentation, but it causes completely unnecessary oxidation reactions. And if suddenly the mash has an unpleasant sour taste, then this is directly related to the synthesis of acetic acid, which causes excess oxygen.
Acid lactic bacteria. If it gets into the mash, rapid souring occurs, and the fermentation reaction stops. It is no longer possible to correct this situation. The spoiled wort will have to be thrown out.
Incorrect temperature. For high-quality fermentation, it is necessary to monitor a constant room temperature. If sudden temperature changes occur, the tincture will turn sour. The best option For fermentation the temperature is between 25°C and 28°C.
Water seal. Or rather its absence. Sometimes rubber medical gloves with a hole in one of the fingers are used for these purposes. Carbon dioxide that accumulates during reactions must be released. Also, the presence of a water seal limits the entry of oxygen into the container with mash. However, if there is no shutter available, you just need to carefully monitor the acidity of the mash.
It is also worth mentioning bacteria and fungi. Although perfect fermentation will not occur without fungi, not all of them are suitable for this task. If pathogenic bacteria get into the wort, then preparing high-quality mash will become impossible. Due to too high content of unnecessary impurities and compounds. More availability too large quantity fungi can lead to mold.
The culprits responsible for the appearance of dimethyl sulfide also require attention. These are Megasphaera, Obessumbacterium proteus, Klebsiella and several similar bacteria. A symptom of infection with these bacteria is a specific smell. boiled corn. Unexpected smell of sulfur compounds i.e. rotten eggs talks about too high content hydrogen sulfide in the mash. But even with this problem, the acidity of the wort may remain normal. And even if the solution is distilled, the smell will not go away. Therefore there is no point in doing this.

Is it possible to save sour mash?

High acidity can be eliminated using alkali. Acetic acid in sour mash is eliminated by adding chalk or baking soda to the wort. It is recommended to do similar manipulations before distillation. It is better to distill wort that is too acidic a couple of times.
You can help sour mash in other ways. If fermentation suddenly stops, sugar should be added to the mash. The ratio is four teaspoons for every liter. Fermentation will resume in a couple of hours. Sugar can be replaced with other starters, such as wheat grain or fruit starter.
If the wort does not ferment again, then as an option you can pour rice into the container with the mash. In the amount of half a glass per ten liters of solution. After a few days, the taste will no longer be so sour.

In the case of wine mash, it is simply impossible to correct the situation. At least somehow correcting the situation and getting rid of excess acetic acid can be distillation at a high temperature of ninety-five degrees. After distillation, the mash must be diluted plain water from twenty-five to thirty percent strength. The last stage is classic distillation.

Ways to protect mash

To protect the mash from excess bacteria, antibiotics will be needed. When creating moonshine and wine, the following are used:

Tetracycline antibiotics. The most common of these is doxycycline. This antibiotic is inexpensive and is sold almost everywhere. At the same time, it is stable in reactions and does not spoil the taste of the product after readiness. Used in a proportion of one hundred milligrams per ten liters of wort;

Lowlands It is used when creating various products. Mixes well in all drinks. It is not afraid of an acidic environment and eliminates many pathological processes associated with fermentation. However, lowland has a couple of significant disadvantages. The first is due to the fact that it is difficult to obtain. Second, the immunity of some microorganisms to it. It is used in a ratio of one hundred milligrams per liter of mash;

Penicillin. However, not all types are suitable for mash. Amoxicillin is mainly used. The downside is an allergy that may occur to one of the components of the medicine. It dissolves completely only during heat treatment.

Most often for best result the above medications are used together. This is because bacteria are able to resist commonly used substances over time. Antibiotics should be added immediately before adding dry yeast. You can try to get rid of the acid that appears in the mash by adding a new portion of the medicine on the fourth day of fermentation.

Moonshining is a creative process that requires time and quality resources. Simply (we recommend choosing a device with a distillation column of the brand or with a steam steamer of the brand) - this is half the battle, it is important to prepare the mash correctly so that there is something to distill on this device. And there is nothing worse than wasted effort and wasted raw materials. You can understand that the mash has turned sour almost immediately: usually even a day is enough for signs of souring to appear. There may be several reasons for this, but the main one is that oxygen has become available to the surface of the mash. This is why tightness and a properly installed water seal are important.

Determining sour mash is quite simple:

the most obvious sign is the strong smell of vinegar. Even in small concentrations it is felt quite clearly;
the taste of the mash is very sour, it can even irritate the cheekbones;
suddenly stopping fermentation may also indicate souring;
the absence of a water seal or its incorrect installation will also most likely lead to the mash turning sour.

Attention! The slight sourness of the mash is a variant of the norm, since various organic acids are released during the fermentation process. Plus, the raw materials themselves may contain acids (especially sour fruits and berries). There is no need to panic if the above signs of souring are absent, but slight sourness is present.

And if several of the above signs are present and white coating(film) on the surface of the mash, which means that it is completely contaminated with bacteria. It would be better to simply pour out such mash.

But what to do after you find out that the mash has turned sour? Everything will depend on the degree of souring: if you managed to “catch” this process at initial stage, then the mash must be clarified and distilled into raw alcohol, then determine the strength and content of “absolute alcohol”, dilute the raw material to a strength of 20 degrees, and add baking soda at the rate of 25 grams for each liter of “absolute alcohol”. Leave for 2-4 hours covered, then re-distill.

If you are planning, make sure that all materials used (except copper) are inert to alcohol and will not oxidize at high temperatures: this will also lead to acidification of the final product and the appearance of an unpleasant “metallic” taste and smell.

It will be easier to pour out a moderately sour mash, since there is already little alcohol in it (bacteria have processed the alcohol into acetic acid), and the sour taste and smell will be much more difficult to get rid of.

Even distillers with sufficient production experience strong alcohol They can’t always say how much is fermenting and what influences it. It is still impossible to determine this with an accuracy of one day, since The fermentation process depends on many factors:

raw materials used for wort;
maintaining proportions when adding ingredients;
room temperature and humidity;
compliance with brewing technology;
Not the least of the reasons is water. Eg, boiled, deprived of oxygen, slows down this process.

In order to determine the fermentation time with the greatest probability (if all the above influence factors are correctly observed), first of all need to rely on the raw materials used.

The most popular - if the manufacturing technology is followed, the wort becomes ready for distillation in a time from 5 to 14 days. It is after five days that you need to look at it and check for readiness. Although, as a rule, the most optimal period is 7 – 10 days.
The mash, the basis for which is starch (its sources are grain, potatoes, ready-made starch), ferments much less - already from 3 – 5 days she is ready to be driven.
For fruit and grape mashes using yeast, it is required about two or even three weeks for maturation.
If yeast is not added specifically, but only wild yeast found on fruits (berries) is used, then fermentation may take longer up to 45 days. It's very It is important to use a water seal oh, otherwise the food may turn sour and you will end up with vinegar, which is also not bad, but our goal is completely different!

Peculiarities. The indicated time is relative, since much also depends on the temperature.

The process works best if the room temperature is between 20 – 22°C. It is acceptable from 18 to 28°C, but it is not advisable to go beyond these limits.

How long can you steep the mash?

A situation is possible when fermentation is already completed, and you do not have the opportunity in the coming days.

First of all, make sure that you have a truly finished product.

Fully ripened mash has strong alcohol smell, there is no release of carbon dioxide (no bubbles or hissing).

This can be checked with a lit match: if you bring it to the surface of the mash and it continues to burn, it means that carbon dioxide is not released and there is no fermentation.

And most importantly - the mash tastes bitter, without the slightest sweetness.

In order not to lose a valuable product, the fermented and sour mash will produce moonshine with unpleasant smell and taste, you need to take the container to the basement or just a cold room with a temperature of 10 to 0°C. This will prevent souring of the mash and besides, it takes 5 – 7 days. All that remains is to drain the sediment and distill. Most species ready-made mash You can infuse in “basement” conditions for up to a month or even more without loss of quality.

Attention! You can't insist for long grain mash, even in the cold.

Acid inevitably accumulates in it (acetic acid fermentation begins) and as a result, instead of moonshine with a pleasant grainy taste, you get sour booze.

How to stop fermentation of mash?

It is possible that you will someday need to stop fermentation, because moonshine is needed urgently, and you see that the process is still ongoing. Can artificially stimulate its cessation.

Please note: if fermentation is not complete, during distillation you will get less strong moonshine than expected, since the yeast has not had time to process the sugar into alcohol.

The most suitable additive for stopping fermentation is leftover from previous distillations “tails” with a strength of about 25°. They will add alcohol to the wort and the yeast will die. In addition, this way you use the “waste” product to your advantage and will not lose in the amount of alcohol produced.

How to speed up fermentation?

But knowing in advance that you need quick-ripening sugar mash, resort to one of the suggested tricks (or even several at once).

So that if possible accelerate ripening, use these methods:

using only the freshest yeast. They're in suitable conditions will act more actively and quickly complete their task of converting sugar into alcohol;
adding bread crusts to the wort accelerates ripening. You probably observed this yourself during cooking;
pre-diluted and added tomato paste: up to 100 g per 10 liters of wort;
peas or corn in the amount of 300 - 400 g per 10 l;

Please note. Peas, added after the fermentation process has begun, can produce a lot of foam, which is quite easily extinguished by the crumbled biscuits.

increasing the amount of water or decreasing the amount of sugar compared to what is specified in the recipe (no more than 20%) also speeds up ripening. But be prepared for the fact that you will get less strong alcohol during distillation;
adding unwashed raisins will speed up the process due to wild yeast on its surface;
stirring the wort daily (several times possible). When stirring, gas bubbles are intensely released, which also speeds up ripening.

A few questions about fermenting mash

Many (especially beginners) moonshiners have accumulated questions, which we will try to answer below.

Braga has not fermented, is it possible to drive it away?

Of course, it is not advisable to do this, but in case of emergency, it is possible. Take advantage tips for stopping fermentation. But a shortage of alcohol is almost certainly guaranteed. Incomplete fermentation means that the sugar has not yet been converted into alcohol.

Carefully. During distillation, foam may be released, which will affect the quality of the product. In this case, secondary distillation helps.

Why does mash ferment for a long time?

As already noted, there are many factors that influence the duration of ripening. In addition to the quality of the ingredients, it is imperative pay attention to the room temperature. If it is below 18°C, then the vital activity of the yeast is very weak, so the process is sluggish. Above 30°C, their vital energy also decreases, and at around 40°C they die completely.

In addition, the fermentation tank should not be placed on a cold floor (tile, porcelain tile, stone). There should be a warm base underneath. Otherwise, even if the room is 22°C, the mash may be 16 degrees, which is unacceptable.

What to do if the mash runs away?

The most common causes of increased foaming:

using baker's yeast instead of alcoholic yeast or accidentally exceeding its quantity;
adding honey to the wort instead of sugar;
malt and grain raw materials at the first stage of fermentation can also produce too much foam;
exceeding the permissible volume for wort.

note: should be filled with mash to a maximum of 2/3 of the volume. And when using products that can potentially produce a lot of foam - only half.

Exceeding it risks the fact that you will have to collect the wort on the floor, wash the containers, and in this case you will also lose some of the alcohol.

But it happens to many people that the wort foams, and something urgently needs to be done about it. Therefore, we offer several options:

The best way if foam suddenly appears is move the container to a colder room for a couple of days, and then return to comfortable conditions for mash. But do not overdo it, it is advisable that the temperature is not lower than 15°C.
There is no such possibility then divide the wort into two containers. After a couple of days, when the violent foaming stops, drain together again.
Crumble over the wort 1-2 cookies.
Pour into container vegetable oil , which also extinguishes foam quite well. A couple of tablespoons is enough.
Add some ice. This will help reduce the amount of foam, but will slow down the fermentation.

Braga has stopped fermenting, but is still sweet

Here are the main reasons:

Not enough yeast. This is easy to fix: add and the process will resume.
Too much sugar (the proportion is wrong: for 1 kg - 4 liters of water). Solved by adding water and yeast.
The room is cold (hot). Bring the temperature to optimal levels for yeast activity (22 – 28°C).

Also consider possible reasons already listed above in this article.

Is it possible to put mash in an aluminum flask?

Many generations of moonshiners have used aluminum milk flasks for mash. However, research in this area does not confirm the safety of the material. According to the recommendations of scientists and doctors, even aluminum pans It is not recommended to use them for storage acidic foods: cabbage soup, borscht, solyanka.

The brew matures from several days to several weeks and also contains a certain amount of acid. This means that aluminum oxidation products easily pass into the mash.

Conclusion. The best dishes for mash - glass, which does not interact with an acidic environment, and also – stainless steel. The main thing is that it should be exactly food grade stainless steel.

Useful videos

Fermentation process sugar mash for homemade alcoholic drinks:

What can be done to speed up the fermentation of mash, look:

Look at what to do in a situation where the mash does not ferment - the main reasons and solutions:

For the main mistakes and answers to frequently asked questions about setting up and fermenting mash, watch the video below:

Have you received comprehensive answers to your questions regarding the maturation of mash? Please note this in the comments. Share the article with your friends on social networks.

Sour mash is a problem that beginners in moonshine often face. The moonshine that is distilled from it also acquires a sour taste. If you notice it in time, you can try to save the product. The mash should have a slight sourness. There is no way without this, because yeast in the process of its activity produces a certain amount of organic acids. But if the technology is broken, then vinegar souring may occur. It is fairly easy to spot and should not be tolerated under any circumstances. Signs include the cessation of fermentation, a strong vinegar smell and a burning sour taste. The main reason is the access of air to the mash, which appears if the water seal is not installed or installed incorrectly. If there is access to air, acetic bacteria are activated and begin to process alcohol, releasing acid and water. During the active fermentation phase, carbon dioxide pushes oxygen out of the container. But when fermentation comes to an end, carbon dioxide becomes scarce and oxygen calmly comes into contact with the mash. This explains the souring of the mash, which occurs either at the end or after fermentation. Complete souring may take from several days to several weeks, it all depends on the temperature and raw materials. Acetic bacteria are active in the temperature range from 6°C to 45°C. But even if less than a day has passed and the souring is slight, this may be enough for the distillate to develop a sour taste.

Prevention of this problem is quite simple. After placing all the ingredients in the fermentation container, you need to install a water seal on it.

Its design can be any, the main thing is that it prevents air from entering the fermentation tank. The second point is that the container is hermetically sealed and the gas exits only through the water seal. Thanks to the water seal, the mash will not turn sour even several weeks after the end of fermentation.

There are two more reasons that give moonshine a sour taste. They are quite rare, but I will mention them anyway. Firstly, if you take the distillate almost to the water, then a lot of organic acids will get into it. As already mentioned, they are secreted by yeast during fermentation and have high temperature boiling. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to stop the distillation in time, and not to be greedy, because the so-called “tails” are not suitable for use. Secondly, the material from which it is made alcohol mashine, can come into contact with alcohol and release acids as a result of reactions. To avoid this, you must use devices made of materials inert to alcohol. These are copper, stainless steel, glass, etc.

If, nevertheless, the mash has turned sour, then it is necessary to evaluate the degree of sourness. If the bacteria have already managed to process all the alcohol, then the mash must be poured out, because there is no point in distilling it. In this case, the smell will be sharp, the taste will be scaldingly sour, and the strength will not be felt. If everything is not so bad, then we suggest the following sequence of actions. Carry out the first distillation. Select the product to a strength of 45%. Now you need to determine the amount of alcohol. To do this, we need the total strength of the resulting moonshine and its volume. For example, one liter of 60% moonshine contains 0.6 liters of alcohol. Next we need baking soda in the amount of 25g per 1l pure alcohol. The distillate must be diluted to 20%, add soda to it, mix and seal tightly. The resulting mixture should stand for at least 4 hours. After this, it must be re-distilled using fractional distillation.

A very rare case in the practice of any moonshiner is the souring of the mash. To be honest, it’s hard for me to even imagine what needs to be done with it to achieve such a result. Just a small lyrical digression - I know people in the village who make mash without a water seal, and I’ve done it this way a couple of times myself. What do they do? Pour the mash into a flask, cover with a leak-proof lid, and then wrap the top of the container with blankets. While the mash is fermenting, there is excess pressure inside the container, so carbon dioxide is squeezed out through the cracks and the blanket. The main thing here is not to miss the moment of the end of fermentation. But if the mash still turns sour, are there any methods to save it?

Soured mash - what is it good for?

On the Internet, on many resources, you will find dozens of ways to “reanimate” sour mash. Some recommend adding sugar to it, others - yeast, others say that you need sourdough and raw cereals. But I’m telling you - all this is nonsense, because sour mash is vinegar. Have you ever tried to make homemade vinegar ferment at a concentration of 3-5%? And in sour mash this concentration can be higher - up to 7-12%, depending on how long it sours. All you will achieve is to spoil the products, both sugar and yeast, and the vinegar itself.

If the mash is made with fruit (apples, plums), then vinegar can be used for domestic purposes for marinating meat. Just take part of the sour mash, filter through a cotton-gauze filter, and pour into glass bottles. Make sure that the vinegar is ready and the alcoholic fermentation has stopped completely - the release of gas should stop completely.

Why does the mash turn sour?

There is only one reason here - depressurization of the “shuttle”, that is, the fermentation tank. Yeast breaks down sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide only in the absence of oxygen. If air gets into the fermentation tank, the yeast quickly dies, and bacteria come into play and turn the mash into vinegar. How to avoid this? Just make sure the container is sealed and make sure there is always water in the water seal.

How to determine whether the mash is sour or not?

There are several simple ways:

The mash smells like vinegar - the smell is very pungent, it literally “hits” your nose
Very sharp sour taste - cramps cheekbones
Fermentation quickly and suddenly stopped

Is there any hope of saving the sour mash?

It all depends on at what point you discovered the catch. If the mash has already turned into vinegar, then simply pour it out, leaving some for marinating the meat. By the way, I even recommend doing a little of this on purpose homemade vinegar, since the kebab using it turns out simply amazing from any meat. If the mash has just begun to sour - it still tastes sweet, but with a slight sour smell, then simply add a little yeast diluted in warm water (50 grams of baker's yeast for 20 liters of mash will be enough), and ensure complete tightness. If the fermentation process is not restored within 8-12 hours, then the problem is “pipe”, since yeast fungi do not grow in an acid pipe.

Never overload the fermentation tank - the optimal filling level is 2/3, regardless of volume. During the fermentation process, foam always forms, a cap of pulp rises, and it is they who will need the remaining 1/3 of the space. Otherwise, the cap may rise so high that it will fall into the outlet tube, and it will become clogged, the water seal will fly off due to excess pressure, and the mash will deteriorate if you do not notice this immediately
Use a wide seal as a water seal. silicone tube and a large container of water - today there are a lot of special lids and water seals, on the one hand convenient, but their disadvantage is that the volume of water in them is small, as is the diameter of the tube. As a result, the water evaporates or the tube becomes clogged. A homemade water seal is the most reliable and proven, and the optimal tube thickness is 2 cm

Make sure that the fermentation tank is completely sealed, then even if you get the proportions wrong somewhere, the mash will ferment normally

It’s difficult to spoil the mash - just provide it necessary conditions and don’t interfere with the process, and everything will work out for you.