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Wheat-based mash is very popular. Moonshine obtained from such raw materials has a mild bread flavor and is easy to drink. Another plus in favor of choosing wheat for alcoholic fermentation is the presence of natural yeast in the grains themselves. The most important thing in obtaining quality raw materials is the selection of good grain. It is believed that in the technology of fermentation, you need to try to get a sour mixture, however, beginners are faced with this regularly, and even experienced distillers have such cases. Why does it turn sour and can it be saved?

To understand why this happens, you need to know the course of fermentation itself.

Fermentation is the process of breaking down starch and sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The main actor in this is yeast, and the presence of oxygen is not required. If oxygen in large quantities enters the container, then fermentation stops, and alcohol begins to split into vinegar and water. And the result is vinegar instead of alcohol.

The souring process begins immediately after the end of the fermentation process, so it is important to track in time the moment the bubbling in the container stops. In the early stages, the process can still be resumed.

The reasons for the souring of the mash are as follows:

The first of them - an increase in oxygen in a container with a solution - can also have several reasons:
- the absence of a water seal (an ordinary rubber glove is often used instead) or a violation of its work;
- frequent stirring of the mixture also helps to increase the oxygen in the container with the wash.

The second reason for the sourness of the mash is a decrease in temperature or its constant drops. Ideally, if the fermentation process takes place at 24-28 degrees. Sharp jumps in it or too cool conditions will lead to a violation of the fermentation conditions and contribute to the souring of the product.
The third reason for the sourness of the mash is a large number of lactic acid or other bacteria, as well as the presence of fungi. This situation can arise in the absence of sterility when choosing a container for making mash. Dirty water, hands, as well as the raw material itself, on the basis of which the tincture is made.

What to do if the wash is sour? This is evidenced by the appearance of a sour smell and taste. Is it possible to save the sour mash?

Experienced distillers advise to neutralize the acid formed due to the disturbance of the fermentation process with the help of alkaline products. For these purposes, soda or chalk is suitable. Then the mixture is distilled at least two to three times.

Another tip for neutralizing the sour taste is to add sugar to the resulting liquid. However, this method is only effective if fermentation has suddenly stopped, which is a guarantee of subsequent souring of the product. In this case, such a measure allows you to resume the fermentation process and on entry level prevent the mixture from souring.

As practice shows, in the event that the mash is sour, but in fact, it is already vinegar, it is impossible to revive it. Vinegar can be used for its intended purpose, especially if fruits or berries were used for its production. They say that on its basis excellent marinades for meat and barbecue are obtained. Wheat vinegar probably doesn't taste great, and if you don't plan on using it, you'll have to get rid of it.

A very unpleasant moment that occurs during fermentation is the appearance of mold. This situation is even worse than acidification of the product, since the appearance of mold indicates the infection of the mixture with fungi, which will be extremely difficult to get rid of. And their presence is a guarantee of spoiled mash, turbidity and changes in taste.

Sourdoughs based on fruits and berries are most often susceptible to mold. However, wheat-based mash can also be affected by pathogenic fungi that create a film on the surface. However, if the defeat is small and noticed in time, then there is a chance to influence the situation and correct it. If the mold layer is large, darkened, has acquired a rather dense structure, and the film has wrinkled, then there is nothing to save, the disease process is running and is in full swing.

What can be done if there is little mold penetration?

Pour the mixture into a clean container. In the process of pouring, the main thing is to prevent mold from entering the new container. To do this, you can use a rubber flexible hose, which is placed in a container with a wash through a space cleared of moldy film. Then the mixture is sucked in by the mouth, and as soon as it begins to rise along the hose, its end is placed in a clean prepared container.
Sterilize the expressed mixture. Sterilization of the purified mixture takes place at a temperature of 70–75 degrees for two to three minutes, after which the mash is closed with a lid, allowed to cool to an operating temperature of 25–30 degrees, and yeast is added.

Prevention of souring

So, the process of souring mash is easier to prevent than to correct its consequences. What can be done to eliminate an unpleasant situation during the fermentation process?

The basic rule in the production of wash is the use of a water seal. The latter can be purchased at the store, or you can make it yourself using a flexible hose and a glass of water. And also replace it with an ordinary rubber glove. Just do not forget to pierce one of the fingers of the product with a needle to remove excess carbon dioxide: you don't need a big explosion!
Another rule is strict adherence to the temperature regime. It must not be allowed to drop sharply. The room for making mash should have a constant temperature within 24-28 degrees.
Distillation of the mash must be carried out immediately after the completion of fermentation. Even if it seems to you that it is too early.

To protect the mash from damage by bacteria and fungi, you can add some types of antibiotics:

Doxycycline (tetracycline series) is widely used in the process of home brewing and winemaking. His taste is neutral and will not affect the quality of the mash.
Lowland. Refers to a number of food additives used in the production of mash and wine. This drug helps prevent a number of diseases that occur during the fermentation process. Getting it is quite problematic.
Penicillin. It is inclined to provoke allergic reactions, therefore, allergy sufferers and people with a reaction to drugs of this group are not recommended to use.

The technology for making the right mash

It is important in the preparation of a quality product as a result of fermentation to acquire quality ingredients. For wheat mash, it is important that the cereal is no older than three years, ideally one year. It is not worth purchasing wheat intended for planting. The best grain is winter wheat.

Clean dishes, a water seal and adherence to the recipe guarantee a high quality wash. Wheat mash does not need additional yeast, so many people prepare it from the appropriate grain. The wheat mash recipe contains wheat, sugar and water.

Cleanse wheat grains from debris by sifting. Rinsing is not recommended as this process washes away the natural yeast on which fermentation will be based.
Pour a small amount of unboiled clean water at room temperature over the grains and mix with the required amount Sahara. Let the seeds germinate.
After germination, the grains are placed in a fermentation vessel, adding more sugar (according to some recipes, 6.5 kg is recommended for five kg of wheat grains granulated sugar). And add water.

The mash is ready in 1.5 weeks. She is distilled. The resulting alcohol solution is optionally purified using activated carbon... To do this, it is poured into a container with moonshine at the rate of 50 grams per liter and kept for a week.

Of course, it is better to follow the cooking technology and not to sour the raw materials for making moonshine. But if this happened, then the sooner measures are taken, the more chances are to save the brew.

Troubles happen in any business, and in moonshine there are many stages at which something can go wrong. (we recommend choosing an apparatus with a distillation column of the brand) high quality is only half of the success. It is important to properly prepare the mash and create optimal conditions for the yeast to safely turn the “bristles into gold”. But it so happened that you noticed: fermentation stopped suddenly, and if you open the lid of the fermentation room, then a sharp unpleasant vinegar spirit hits your nose. What if the mash is sour, and this is obvious?

In addition to stopping fermentation and a pungent vinegar smell, sour mash tastes extremely sour (not to be confused with light sourness - a variant of the norm). Also, the absence of a water seal will most likely lead to souring of the wash.

Souring is caused by the activity of acetic bacteria, which, upon access to oxygen, safely “eat” ethanol molecules, oxidizing them to acetic acid... Sugar mash, subject to the cleanliness of the containers and the lack of access to oxygen, has almost no chance of souring. But, for example, wheat mash would be sour more likely, especially if the water seal is incorrectly installed or the tightness of the container is broken. On grains, fruits and berries, vinegar bacteria are usually found. But they can also get in from the outside, if you constantly open the lid of the container, thus breaking the tightness. As a rule, sourness does not occur in the first days of fermentation, since at the beginning, when fermentation is intense, carbon dioxide accumulates at the surface of the liquid and does not give oxygen access. Therefore, at first, even the mash will not turn sour without a water seal.

Sour grain mash - how to be

It is important here to determine the scale of the disaster. If you managed to track the souring at the very beginning (in the first 12-24 hours), and the vinegar smell is not so pronounced, then the mash can be saved in time. You need to do the following:

Drain the wash from the sediment, if any. You can run it through cheesecloth.
Clarify the wash in any convenient way and distill it into raw alcohol without separating fractions.
Measure the strength of the raw, calculate the content of absolute alcohol in it.
Measure out a sample of baking soda at the rate of 25 grams for each liter of absolute alcohol.
Dilute the raw material to a strength of 20 degrees and add soda. Mix everything well.
Leave the mixture covered for 2-3 hours.
After the specified time has elapsed, distill the raw material into fractions.

If you happen to, then make sure that the materials from which it is made do not oxidize during distillation or in contact with alcohol.

If the mash sour on wheat

Wheat is a special case of grain wash, so the actions will be exactly the same as described above.

If the mash is sour on koji

And there is nothing new here, everything is like with cereals. We determine the criticality of the souring, and if the process has just begun, then we promptly distill the mash onto raw, neutralize the acid and distill it again.

Even if the raw material was fruit (or berry), the actions are always the same. Acetic acid is formed regardless of the type of raw material and microorganisms, since ethyl alcohol, oxygen and acetic bacteria are needed for its appearance.

When it became obvious that the wash was thoroughly sour, then it is best to pour it out: there is almost no alcohol left, and distillation in this case is not justified. If, in addition to the sour smell, there is a whitish coating in the form of a film, then such a wash is definitely not subject to salvation, since it is infected with bacteria in addition to acetic.

Novice moonshiners often face the problem of souring the mash. Among colleagues in the "shop" there are legends about how to prevent this and even how to "revive" the product. I would like to dispel myths and give some useful tips:

How to determine that the mash is sour?

1. Sour taste and smell. But you need to take into account the light sour taste there is always. Its severity depends on the raw materials used for the preparation of alcoholic beverages. There is usually more acid in corn mash. The sugar is less.

2. Stop fermentation. The main criterion is the absence of carbon dioxide emission.

Why is vinegar instead of alcohol?

1. Contact of raw materials with oxygen or lack of a water seal. If, while stirring the mash, you suddenly forgot to put a water seal, then at best the fermentation will slow down, and most likely the mash will turn sour. As such, you can use a simple medical glove pierced with a needle. It is not recommended to seal the composition with a lid. Since building up pressure is fraught with a small explosion. Once, at the beginning of my practice, tightly closed, the eggplant from under the mineral water swelled up strongly due to the accumulation of carbon dioxide. When I tried to open the lid, I heard a loud pop of gas, felt a strong push (or rather even a blow) of the lid in my hand, and almost all the liquid under the pressure of a fountain poured out of the 5-liter container.

2. Infection with lactic acid bacteria. Possibly when using contaminated water or insufficiently clean dishes.

3. It's cold in the room. At temperatures below 24 ° C, fermentation often stops, the yeast dies, and sourness begins.

Is it possible to stop the "work" of vinegar bacteria and start fermentation again?

In my practice, I have come across "valuable" advice, supposedly allowing you to restart fermentation. I even tried some of them. I did not notice the benefits. And it could not be. For alcohol will not work from vinegar. Anyway, modern science no such methods are known, just as there are no known methods of making a raw egg from a boiled egg.

To improve the quality of the final product, and free the wash from acidic impurities, and they are always available in small quantities, you can use antibiotics of the tetracycline series, as well as penicillin and nisin. V industrial production means to protect the mash must be used. There is no need to fear the presence of antibiotics in the distillate. This is completely out of the question.

It is not necessary to pour sour mash into the toilet. Usually, acidic fermentation does not begin on day 1, but somewhat later, when the intensity of alcoholic fermentation decreases. The carbon dioxide barrier that prevents the liquid from contacting oxygen almost disappears, and the acetic bacteria begin to do their dirty work. The output is vinegar or alcohol mixed with vinegar. In the latter case, distillation is possible, but the quality of the distillate will be low.

If, as a result of fermentation, pure vinegar is obtained, i.e. the strength is not felt at all, it should not be poured either. Such a composition can be used for its intended purpose, for example, for marinating meat.

Making mash is not difficult. You just need to take the ingredients you need, fill them with water, add dry, baker's yeast, add sugar and it's ready. Next, it's up to little, the dishes with the prepared wort are put in a warm place. It remains to wait for the ripening time. Braga is done this way. However, what is the reason that it turns sour with a couple? And what if this happened? Can overtake, in an effort to get rid of the sour taste? Just throw out the spoiled product? Or 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 high quality products and use them in the correct proportions;
Create mash in stages, without violating the technology;
Adhere to fermentation conditions.
But the work doesn't end there.

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In addition to the alcoholic fermentation necessary for the preparation, many extraneous and harmful reactions take place in the tincture. A huge number of germs and bacteria are found on fermentation devices, dishes, starting products, yeast, and even in the water used. As a result, when they get into the product, they cause unnecessary chemical reactions. Under favorable conditions, an unpleasant odor can often occur, a change in taste for the worse, contamination of the mash and, of course, to its souring. What factors can affect the acidity of the tincture? The most common reasons include:

Abundance of oxygen. Frequent stirring of the wort increases its oxygen content. It does not interfere with fermentation, but causes absolutely 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 an excess of oxygen.
Acid lactic bacteria. In case of getting into the mash, a 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 conditions. For high-quality fermentation, it is necessary to monitor the constant temperature of the room. If there are sudden changes in temperature, 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 the reaction must be released. Also, the presence of a water seal limits the ingress of oxygen into the tank with the wash. However, if the shutter is not available, you just need to carefully monitor the acidity of the mash.
Bacteria and fungi are also worth mentioning. Although without fungi perfect fermentation will not take place, not all of them are suitable for this business. If pathogenic bacteria get into the wort, then making high quality mash will become unrealistic. Due to the too high content of unnecessary impurities and compounds. Yet too many fungi can lead to mold.
The perpetrators of the appearance of dimethyl sulfide also require attention. These are Megasphaera, Obessumbacterium proteus, Klebsiella and several bacteria similar to them. A symptom of infection with these bacteria is the specific smell of boiled corn. An unexpected smell of sulfur compounds, i.e., rotten eggs, indicates a too high content of hydrogen sulfide in the mash. But even with this problem, the acidity of the wort can remain normal. And even if the solution is distilled, the smell will not disappear anywhere. Therefore, it makes no sense to do it.

Is it possible to save the sour mash?

You can eliminate increased acidity with alkali. Acetic acid in sour mash is eliminated by adding chalk or soda (baking soda) to the wort. Such manipulations are recommended before distillation. It is better to distill too sour wort a couple of times.
Sour mash can be helped in other ways. If fermentation stops unexpectedly, sugar should be added to the wash. The ratio is four teaspoons per liter. Fermentation will resume in a couple of hours. Sugar can be substituted for other starter cultures, 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 for ten liters of solution. After a few days, the taste will no longer be so sour.

In the case of wine wash, it is simply impossible to fix the situation. Distillation at a high temperature of ninety-five degrees can somehow remedy the situation and get rid of excess acetic acid. After distillation, the mash must be diluted with ordinary water from twenty-five to thirty percent of the fortress. The last step is classic distillation.

Ways to protect the mash

Antibiotics will be required to protect the mash from excess bacteria. 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 cooking. It is used in a proportion of one hundred milligrams per ten liters of wort;

Lowland. It is used in the creation of various products. Dilutes well in all drinks. Not afraid of an acidic environment, eliminates many pathological processes associated with fermentation. However, the lowland has a couple of significant drawbacks. The first is due to the fact that it is difficult to get it. Second, the immunity of some microorganisms to it. It is used in a ratio of one hundred milligrams per liter of home brew;

Penicillin. However, not all types are suitable for mash. Amoxicillin is used mainly. The downside is allergies, which can manifest itself on one of the components of the medicine. It dissolves completely only during heat treatment.

Most often, the above medicines are used together for best results. This is because bacteria are able to resist commonly used substances over time. You need to add antibiotics just 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.

Why does sour brew sometimes come out as a result? It would seem that it is easy to put the mash: they take high-quality raw materials, fill it with water, add yeast and sugar. All that remains is to put the container with raw materials in a warm place and wait for the mash to ripen.

The fact is that the use of quality raw materials is not all the requirements that must be met to obtain a good product for further distillation. You also need to observe the correct proportions and follow in stages. technological process... You need to figure out what the acidity of the mash is connected with, and what should be the actions when souring the product. It is also worth considering the cases when the wash is to be restored, and the precautions to prevent this nuisance.

Reasons for souring the product

In addition to alcoholic fermentation, many other reactions take place in the wort, which are not always necessary for moonshine or winemaking. Even a beginner should know that in the water, raw materials, air and utensils used, where fermentation starts, there are a million bacteria and various microorganisms that affect the yield of the final product. Sometimes, due to their influence and participation in the process, an unpleasant odor appears, sourness occurs, and in general, the mash is converted into a thick slurry with an unsuitable taste.

The main reasons for the increase in the acidity of the wort include the following:

Oxygen excess. Fermentation is an anaerobic process. And if you mix the mass often, there will be more oxygen. Although this component does not interfere with the overall process, it is the beginning of other, completely unnecessary oxidation reactions. In particular, an excessive amount of oxygen is able to synthesize acetic acidity, due to which the mash acquires a characteristic sour taste, which automatically reduces the concentration of ethyl alcohol.
Bacteria. When the solution is contaminated, a rapid souring occurs, which stops the fermentation process. In this case, if you spent a lot of time and effort, but you cannot recover, you will have to pour out the mash as a result.
Failure to comply with the temperature regime. Maintaining the required temperature from 25 to 28 ° C is one of the main conditions for the normal fermentation of the mash.
Lack of a water seal. The water seal is installed to release carbon dioxide and to prevent oxygen from entering the wort. Therefore, if this element is absent in the design, you need to carefully monitor the acidity of the solution.
Fungi and bacteria. Wild yeast is a fungus, a microorganism in which alcohol compounds are one of the waste products. The problem is that certain microorganisms are required for the fermentation of the mash, therefore, if pathogenic fungi get into the wort, the distillate will be spoiled. You can determine the infection of the mash by the characteristic smell of boiled corn or rotten eggs, depending on the type of fungus. It should be borne in mind that the acidity of the wort can be within acceptable limits, and in this case, the mash cannot be distilled.

How to identify and fix the problem?

It is possible to determine whether the mash is actually sour by the following criteria:

A strong and very pungent vinegar smell is felt.
The sour taste is also quite strong.
The fermentation process stops abruptly.

What to do in such situations mainly depends on at what point the problem was identified. If the mash has already completely turned into vinegar, you need to get rid of it, you can only leave a little for marinating the meat. By the way, such a marinade allows you to get an amazing shish kebab from any type of meat.

In cases where the mash did not have time to turn sour completely, there is a slight sour smell, and the taste is still sweetish - there is still hope to save the product.

The effectiveness of this or that method of saving mash depends on the degree of sourness. With an excessive amount of acidity, the mash is easier to pour out, since the yield of the final product will be minimal, since the bacteria will have time to process almost all of the alcohol into acid and water. In other cases, you can try to save the mash, but re-distillation will be required upon completion.

To prevent the wash from turning sour completely, it is recommended to use the following product recovery technology:

After the mash was distilled for the first time and the selection of the product was completed until the strength falls below 45% by volume, the total strength of the moonshine should be measured by determining the amount of pure alcohol. For example, 3 liters 60% vol. give 1.8 l of pure product (3 * 0.6 = 1.8).
Then the distillate is diluted with water to 20% vol.
Add baking soda or chalk to the solution in a proportion of 1 liter of pure alcohol 25 g.
Stir the mass and close the container hermetically.
After 4 hours, you need to repeat the distillation. Moreover, the first 15% of the yield must be poured out. The selection of the product should be completed when the strength drops below 45% by volume.
All that remains is to dilute the moonshine with water to the desired strength, seal it tightly and leave for 72 hours to consolidate the taste.

What precautions should you take?

Learning from your own mistakes is not easy - this is a path that requires a lot of time, effort and money. Therefore, it is better to first pay a little attention to studying the recommendations of experienced experts in home brewing, because they know how to avoid mistakes. Souring mash is a problem that can be easily avoided if you take into account some of the nuances, namely:

In no case should you overload the fermentation container - the filling rate is 2/3 of the dishes, regardless of the volume. It should be borne in mind that in the process of fermentation foam will form, a hat of pulp will rise, which will fill the remaining space. If this requirement is ignored, the cap can rise so high that it penetrates the outlet pipe, clogging it, causing the hydrazor to fly off from excessive pressure. As a result, the brew will deteriorate if the problem is not corrected in time.
It is better to use a wide silicone tube and a large bowl of water as a water seal. Today you can find many different covers and water seals, which, on the one hand, are convenient to use, but, on the other hand, they often have a small volume of water and a small tube diameter. The use of such containers will ultimately lead to the fact that either the water will evaporate, or the tube will become clogged. It is recommended to make a hydraiser of the required thickness with your own hands once.
It is important to monitor the tightness of the fermentation tank. This will eliminate the risk of improper fermentation, even if the proportions have not been observed.

It is difficult to spoil the mash, because you only need to comply with generally accepted conditions and not interfere with the fermentation process.

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