Suger mash help needed

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Bennyboy
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Suger mash help needed

Post by Bennyboy »

So i recently decided to try my first suger mash and i think i made have made a big mistake. Looking for some thoughts and advice. I made a 5 gallon suger wash kind of on the basis of birdwatchers recipe. I used around 9kg white refined with 200ml of tomato paste and 2 table spoons lemon juice. Added in the pack of turbo yeast and waited. Its been almost a day and no visible action or difference. I figured something was wrong so i check all the ingrediants and found to my sadness that the lemon juice i used the last ingrediante sayz sulphites. So im just wondering if my mash is ruined or if it may eventually take off. Or if theres a way to recover it? Live and learn right? *facepalm*
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still_stirrin
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Re: Suger mash help needed

Post by still_stirrin »

Bennyboy wrote:So i recently decided to try my first suger mash and i think i made have made a big mistake. Looking for some thoughts and advice. I made a 5 gallon suger wash kind of on the basis of birdwatchers recipe. I used around 9kg white refined with 200ml of tomato paste and 2 table spoons lemon juice. Added in the pack of turbo yeast and waited. Its been almost a day and no visible action or difference. I figured something was wrong so i check all the ingrediants and found to my sadness that the lemon juice i used the last ingrediante sayz sulphites. So im just wondering if my mash is ruined or if it may eventually take off. Or if theres a way to recover it? Live and learn right? *facepalm*
9kg in a 5 gallon batch?...water it down to 9 gallons and it may start. Did you aerate the wash? Turbo sucks...too much sulfur in the end. Again, this is a “rookie’s pitfall”. But it should ferment. What is the temperature where you’re (trying to) ferment? Warming it up may help too.

In hindsight, don’t you think you would have been better to actually follow the birdwatcher’s recipe rather than adlibing? Believe it or not, that is exactly why those recipes are “Tried & True”.
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still_stirrin
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Re: Suger mash help needed

Post by still_stirrin »

OK bennyboy,

If the sugar concentration is too high....like 20 lb. in only 5 gallons of water...the high concentration will cause high osmotic pressure within the yeast cells. Now, if you properly rehydrated your yeast before pitching (which I speculate you didn’t do), it would help the fragile cells withstand the pressure. But even then, there is possibly a lot of cells which simply “implode” due to the pressure.

So, adding on to the previous suggestions, remember to properly rehydrate the yeast before attempting to ferment this high of sugar concentration.

Good luck.
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Bennyboy
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Re: Suger mash help needed

Post by Bennyboy »

Yea i created a starter first then added that to the mix. I was half going on that recipe and half on the advice of a buddy who aparently does it all the time. He suggested 10kg of sugar with the packet. Believe it or not the instructions on the turbo yeast said 9kg per 21liters. So 2 tablespoons of lemone juice with sulphites is the least of my problems them? Should i try splitting the 5 gallon and water it down into 2 buckets then? Any point in introducing 2 fresh yeast starters? I have some lacvin ec 1118 i could use or just baker yeast?
Bennyboy
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Re: Suger mash help needed

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And i dont have a pump to aerate so i shook / stirred the hell out of it before i added the starter. I dont know if just shaking does any good but figured it may help to add some air.i have kept air temp at 24 degrees c. All feedback and suggestions where to go from here would be awesome. I appreciate the patience and helpfulness so far :)
OtisT
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Re: Suger mash help needed

Post by OtisT »

Bennyboy wrote:And i dont have a pump to aerate so i shook / stirred the hell out of it before i added the starter. I dont know if just shaking does any good but figured it may help to add some air.i have kept air temp at 24 degrees c. All feedback and suggestions where to go from here would be awesome. I appreciate the patience and helpfulness so far :)
Using a whisk, vigorously, will get lots of oxygen in your ferment. If you stir with a spoon, do it hard and fast to get lots of bubbles/froth.
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markieb
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Re: Suger mash help needed

Post by markieb »

hi benny,
wow 9kg sugar for a 5 gallon wash lol crazy amounts.
ok well ive never used turbo anything as from what ive heard and read from most is its for those wanting alcohol for fuel.i use bakers yeast and id halve that amount of ingredients to a 5 gallon wash 5kg sugar 100grms tomato paste/puree 4 packs of 8grm bakers yeast (aldi easy bake yeast) 1 table spoon half way through the ferment lemon juice works a treat.i get about 5-5.5 litres neutral at roughly 93% through my boka it does take a couple weeks unlike some of these guys but i dont have the correct heating conditions to keep it at a persistant temp which helps.
personally id try and seperate it into 2 and see how the turbo takes off if not then just seperate and add in some bakers yeast check the temp.
id try and steer clear from turbo yeast tho my local homebrew shop was trying to sell it to me when i brought a few bits and i told the guy i wouldnt be back again id prefer honesty over bad sales tactics.give this a try and you will be fine pretty much guarentee it im thick as f%$k and i can do this wash with no worries now.good luck and happy stillin
Bennyboy
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Re: Suger mash help needed

Post by Bennyboy »

yea i just seperated into 2 5 gallon buckets and added water as per the suggestions and added abit more tomato paste and then a freshly squeezed lemon into them. i whisked the hell out of it to aerate and made a starter with normal bakers yeast (2 tablespoons) in each. it is working like crazy now! Thankyou everyone for the awesome help! hopefully it keeps going strong.
Fraser
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Re: Suger mash help needed

Post by Fraser »

Sounds like you're off on the right track now. Like was mentioned earlier, too much sugar can make a mess of your yeast. Instead of lemon juice you could try ordering a bag of powdered citric acid. It's not expensive and it's much more reliable than lemons to use to get in your target pH range. Good luck!
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