Why is my final SG so high?

[waydowntown]

Hey everyone
Perhaps a rather newbie question - which I am - but I am fermenting some
turbo wash (before I move on to all-grain brews) and am wondering if my
batch is stuck and/or whether I should add more yeast.
I started with 1.085 initial gravity /pH 4.7 and everything was going fine
fine (I think) during the ferment,
Kept it at roughly 72˚F.
But I used Turbo yeast with carbon additive (stillspirtits) for a sugar
wash.
9 or 10 days later my ferment has slowed down to a bubble every 15 seconds
and I think it must be just about ready to rack but the final SG is still
over 1.030.
Can that be the carbon particles causing that (there is a lot added in)? Or
is there another way to test for how much residual sugar is still in there?
Do I try and pitch more yeast or just rack and distill?
Thanks in advance.

[NZChris]

What is the pH now?

[OtisT]

You can tast it to see how sweet it is. Not scientific, but it will confirm your reading is close. I am guessing it will be a correct reading. My friend just did a similar wash, carbon and all, and had no problem reading the sugar level. I see there is a question back to you about the PH. nZ Chris is way more knowledgeable than me on this, so do what he says.

That said, and this just my opinion, but if it were me I'd heat it up to 85 degrees F and pitch more yeast. Don't think it can hurt. I do think your temp was too low on the ferment, and likely a cause of getting stuck. I use bakers yeast, pitch at 90 deg F, and try to keep my ferment in the mid-high 80s.

Good luck.

[Yummyrum]

+1 otis . I'd raise the temp up too .
Been a long time since I did turbos but I found them to be pretty fool proof ... not nice at all but fool proof .Having said that a mate if mine whoes been using them for ever commented recently that he has had a few stop at 1020ish which totally had him bushed .
A faulty batch of turbo can't ever be ruled out ..... but my instict is that in your case you are just running it too cold and it hasn't stuck , its just slowed down . Remember that turboes do squeeze out more alcohol but it takes longer at the end to convert than at the start of fermentation .Add cooler fermentation temp and you drag that time out even longer .
So I'd put a heat pad or belt on it or wrap it n an electric blanket or move it into your loungeroom etc to warm it up a bit and see how it goes . I doubt you need to add extra yeast.

And the taste test is the go too . Get in the habit of havng a taste evry time you check FG . You will learn to calibrate your tongue . If ever you do molasses washes you will appreciate this

[waydowntown]

Wow - I think NZChris has it nailed - I have a pH of only 3.9 right now. How did this happen?
As for temperature, the Turbo mix states
a max temp of 24˚C or 75˚F. So I am nervous about raising the temp that high and pitching yeast again mid-fermentation. Should I add something like baking soda and then re-pitch. If so is there a downside to rising the temp at this point?

[NZChris]

I use slaked lime, adding small amounts and stirring like crazy between checks.

To stop the pH crashing I put whole seashells in when I put the ferment down, weighing them before and after to get an idea of how much to use next time.

[Yummyrum]

I am supprised that a turbo would pH crash .
They have buffer added to prevent this .
How accurate is your pH meter ?
Started at 4.7 now at 3.9 . That drop is not that bad IMO

[skow69]

pH always drops during fermentation. 3.9 is low, but it shouldn't stall the ferment. I would warm it up and pitch some bread yeast. Correct the pH to 4.5 to 5.5. 2 tbs. yeast per 5 gal, re-hydrated in clean water, 80F +/-10.

[Oldvine Zin]

welcome center or should this be in novice ??

OVZ

[Pikey]

I find it hard to believe turbo yeast has struggled with 1.085 SG - How much sugar in how much water did you start with please ?

[Saltbush Bill]

9 or 10 days later my ferment has slowed down to a bubble every 15 seconds

Any wash with turbo yeast in it that isn't finished in that time has a serious problem. Lets all start screaming PH PH again
I'll jump in with OtisT and Yummy on this one ......stick some heat to it and it might have a chance of finishing.

[waydowntown]

I started with 34L (11 gallons) of wash and 8.75 kg of sugar. And added the proportionate amount of turbo test. Since the crash, I've tried kickstarting the batch with a bit of baking soda (pH went back up to 4.7) and some small dose of added turbo keeping it around 80-82˚. Seemed to burst alive only to completely die off again. The batch is cooked I think - as least as far as awakening the yeast again. Can this be a contaminated batch?

[Yummyrum]

Have you tasted it to see if its still sweet or bitter?

Ha e you heated it up yet ?
EDIT : sorry missed where you said you upped heat to 80-82 deg F

Oh well if its done its done . Perhaps next time do a Tomatoe paste wash or similar that is a proven recipe with a better out come than a turbo will give anyway .

One thing that does stand out in what you last said was " I used a proportionate amont of turbo yeast " .Turbo yast comes in a larg packet contaning yeast , yeast nutrient and buffer chemicals and carbo granules . I can only assume you must have used one and a bit packs as typically one pack only does a max of 8 kg of sugar .

[Pikey]

So you've got 2lb 9oz in a uk gallon (Sorry that's how I think )

With a decent wine yeast, that would not ferment out fully (only the first 2lb 4oz would be fermented) it would give a wine medium ish.

However, it has not fermented out with turbo yeast. - All that clat and expense and it has done no better than a decent wine yeast ? - well no in honesty - wine yeast would take 3 months plus to do that and your turbo may eventually get there too.

You've got a decent amount of alcohol in there and have hit the dininishing returns of fermenting, so you can run it now or wait and see if it comes down some more.

Up to you really, but I don't think you'll re-start it. Certainly there is nothing other than turbo yeast which stands any real chance of re-starting it !

[Tater]

off topic for this forum