The very last round of fleece (2nd half of no.5) is now in the #SuintVat. I divided No. 5 into two, because it was so large. I'm fairly sure this was one of the North Country Cheviot fleeces.
The first half was about 877 gm raw (668 rinsed & dry after its suint bath).
#RawWool #SuintFermentation
This . . . is not the color I expect when I look at my #SuintVat !
(bright green!)
Here is fleece no.4 in one of the rinses, with a small patch of yellowish lanolin-digester in the upper right corner.
There is a slight moire effect from the gauze bag its in, but the tight curls of the fleece (Polypay?) are visible through the gauze.
Fleece no.4 of 5 is out of the #SuintVat, has been rinsed (multiple times), and is drying. I wish I had a way to spin the water out of a wet fleece, but my front-loading washer is not that way.
No.4 was quite heavy in the grease, I can't wait to see how much lanolin/suint weight it lost in the bath.
My #SuintVat really needed topping up, since I lose a little rainwater each time I pull a fleece out. No.5 is bigger than the rest, big enough that I'll probably split it into 2 lots, and it's a relief to know it will have more liquid to swim in.
This is a really interesting process. I'm not sure I believe the "lanolin + suint create a soapy solution that washes out the lanolin". I'm getting a consistent yellow biofilm. I think the lanolin is getting eaten!
The ongoing #SuintVat saga: Nos. 1, 2, & 3 have been through the vat, rinsed & air-dried. No. 4 is in the vat. Yesterday we got rain (yay! first rain since I started), so I put no.4 in a bucket, drew off and reserved about half of the vat, and dumped what was left.
I rinsed my vat, returned my, ah, starter ?, topped it up with yesterday's rainwater, then put no.4 back. I'mgoing to give it at least one more day, possibly 2, since yesterday and today were both < 65 F.
#RawWool #SuintFermentation
I read a very negative discussion of the suint vat method of cleaning wool, which said it would stain the wool gray. ? !
. . .
I have already run two fleeces through the vat, and had a third in there.
So I pulled a couple locks from Fleece No.1 and gave them a quick clean with Orvus WA paste (which is useless vs. lanolin . . . except the suint vat reduced the lanolin to hardly any) and they came out lovely and fluffy and white.
Whew.
I can't tell from what I'm finding if fermentation is necessary. Maybe it's a side effect of having hot temps (which I don't have) and the thing going anaerobic? I don't know.
I am definitely getting lanolin and suint removal, so that's good. I can live without impressively terrible smells.
#SuintVat
#SuintFermentation
The weather has not been great for the suint vat experiment, with mainly cold nights in the high 30s F to 40s.
So I was getting a little nervous. I put my gloves on and took a couple locks out and rinsed them. Here they are, dry, next to raw wool in the bag.
Not bad!
#RawWool
#SuintFermentation
#SuintVat
alwen