Newbie Wash Question

[BritishBartender]

Hi Guys,

This will the first question of many!!
Going to make my first suger wash tomorrow using the Prestige Turbo Pure 48. Are the instructions on the package basically sound or would you do anything different?? 104* seems a little high to pitch the yeast and would you use a starter for the yeast before pitching?? OK 2 questions!!
I will be askng more when it gets closer to distill.
Thanks,
Neil

[mshinner]

Welcome aboard BBT I use the same yeast and pitch mine it at about 85deg, 104 is the max temp per the instructions. No need to use a starter just picth it in and stir well. It takes about 5-6 days to ferment out and another 3 days to clear. What kind of still are you using?

[nzbourbonhead]

Hmm 3 days to clear?? I have never had to let a turbo clear yet and have never had a problem. Just leave a few inches of head space in the still

[BritishBartender]

Bought the still about a year ago from Desti-Lab, it's a 20L Reflux. It's been sitting around my office collecting dust, now I have some time it's time to play. Another question, anyone tried making a larger wash using the 1 Turbo yeast package?? and an apology to Uncle Jesse for spelling his name wrong.
Neil

[mshinner]

Hmm 3 days to clear?? I have never had to let a turbo clear yet and have never had a problem. Just leave a few inches of head space in the still

NZ I have found the cleaner the wash is the better tasting my vodka is. after it clears I end up with about a 1/2" of sediment on the bottom of my ferment container and siphon off the clear liquid into the still.

[knuklehead]

I will have to agree with mshinner. After my turbo wash is done I put it in a cool place to let it settle out and it seems to make a cleaner vodka.

[Grayson_Stewart]

anyone tried making a larger wash using the 1 Turbo yeast package??

I've not tried making a larger wash, but I have had just as good success using only half of a package of turbo per the volume listed in the instructions...the principle should apply the same towards your question.

I've even syphoned the wash off the settled yeast after fermentation and started a new wash in the same fermenter on the used yeast.

[swpeddle]

I have done a "sour mash" with the turbo's with modest success. Outof curiousity, I poured the left overs of my stripping run into one of my fermentation buckets to cool, and then next day I poured that back into my unwashed carboy that I had used to ferment the white sugar turbo. ie there was a good inch of sedimet in the bottom. Topped that up with water and sugar, and let it go. It took a little longer to ferment out but it did produce a reasonable batch. I then stripped that and then to really push it to the breaking point, I cooled the spent wash, swished it in the carboy to suspend the live yeast, and then split it into two carboys, topped with water/sugar and let'er rip. Now that run didn't really take. The wash even after three weeks was still sweet, and judging by the production (I have only stripped one carboy of the two from that test) maybe fermented out to 10-12% rather than the standard 18-ish%. Anyways, I guess the lesson I'd take from this is that if I am doing a straight white sugar run, I'd stick with one or maybe two runs per packet. Maybe if you were doing a molasses wash, you could get away with more sour mashing, but for white sugar, since the PH/trace nutrients all come from the yeast packet, stretching doesn;t really work well.

[BritishBartender]

I've even syphoned the wash off the settled yeast after fermentation and started a new wash in the same fermenter on the used yeast.[/quote]

Did you add any additional nutrient, I have heard of tomato paste being used, if so how much??
Cheers,
Neil

[Grayson_Stewart]

I always tossed a 6 oz. can of tomato paste in as replacement nutrients when resuing the yeast.