Here is the link to sugar wash recipe design #1. Not much has changed in the second iteration of the sugar wash recipe design. I am now using 15 grams of Pasteur Rouge yeast. I have dropped the addition of Epsom salts and put my full faith in store-bought yeast nutrient. These yeast nutrients, like Superfood, Go Ferm, Fermaid K, are created in a laboratory for the wine industry. We are not making wine obviously but hopefully, sugar wash is close enough to white wine that we can use wine nutrient without having to modify it.
Sugar Wash Recipe for a 6-gallon batch:
- 3.54 kg or 7 lbs 13 oz of sugar
- ~23 grams of Superfood yeast nutrient (broken into 2 additions)
- Ferm Cap S aka Antifoam (Optional)
- SS Oxygen stone with O2 canister (Optional)
- 15 grams of yeast – Pasteur Rouge by Red Star (datasheet here)
Instructions:
Add about 2 to 2.5 gallons of hot water to your fermentor. Add sugar, 1/2 the Superfood (the other half will be added 1/3 of the way through fermentation), then mix until sugar is fully dissolved. Top up with cold water to the 6-gallon mark. Mix and confirm the temp of the sugar wash agrees with your yeast’s recommendations for the pitching temperature. Add 12 drops of Antifoam and lightly bubble pure Oxygen for 1 minute. Hydrate the yeast by following the instructions on the package, usually between 95F (35C) and 105F (40C) for about 20 minutes. Add hydrated yeast to the fermentor.
This recipe should yield a specific gravity of 1.070. After fermentation is completed we should end up with about a 9-10% ABV sugar wine, perfect for distilling into vodka. We don’t want to go too high with the ABV as this can stress out the yeast and create off-flavors. This recipe will be used for pH control experiments.