Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

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meer
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Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by meer »

I got some Alcotec 48. What's everyone's take on using an airlock during primary fermentation? I'm using a demijohn 6.5 gallon batch in a pretty cold Northwest town. Should I not use the demijohn for primary so it can breath more and so I can control the temp better? Does it even matter since this shit works so fast? Any ideas or tips etc.
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by Dnderhead »

the idea of not using a air lock with some mash/wash is that it is so active that it cant keep up and "blow" the top off any way and make a mess
if it is cool mite not happen. I have fermented a lot with just a towel/ cloth over it to keep out the unfriendly
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by minime »

meer wrote:I got some Alcotec 48. What's everyone's take on using an airlock during primary fermentation? I'm using a demijohn 6.5 gallon batch in a pretty cold Northwest town. Should I not use the demijohn for primary so it can breath more and so I can control the temp better? Does it even matter since this shit works so fast? Any ideas or tips etc.
I've tried most of the turbos out there and the Alcotec 48 is my favorite. It is fast has a pleasant finished smell and always works down my 60 liter/15 gallon 14% washes in 48 hours if I keep 'em warm. I ferment in a trash can with just the lid on. I use a 200 watt aquarium heater to keep the temp at 85F. I wouldn't use a turbo for pot stilling though, only for the neutrals on the column.
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by seravitae »

i use alcotec 48 as well, 30L ferments in a standard beer fermenter, with an airlock. I know people say leave it off but you can leave an airlock if you put about 1/3rd the water in the airlock that you usually do. I always use an airlock regardless of how fast the ferment was, just for healthy paranoia.
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by HookLine »

seravitae wrote:i use alcotec 48 as well, 30L ferments in a standard beer fermenter, with an airlock. I know people say leave it off but you can leave an airlock if you put about 1/3rd the water in the airlock that you usually do. I always use an airlock regardless of how fast the ferment was, just for healthy paranoia.
I do think people sometimes get too concerned about air-locking (at least during the actual fermenting phase). I live in the deep tropics, with long monsoon periods when mold grows on everything in sight. I also ferment in the bathroom, right next to the toilet. And to cover the top of the fermenter I only use a piece of (new) plastic food wrap held on with a rubber band, with a small slit (7-8 mm long) cut into the middle of it with a knife point. If anybody was going to get infections in their ferments it would be me, and when I started I was worried about this set-up, but I have not had one yet.

Once the actual fermenting is over and clearing has started, I just put a new piece of plastic on without any holes in it. I have kept finished (and racked) ferments for weeks like this without any problem.

If you start clean and get the ferment going quickly, and have some sort of basic cover on the fermenter, then my experience suggests that it is pretty unlikely you will get any infections.

(Don't know if this is true for beer and wine ferments. They may well require a higher level of hygiene.)
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by Godstilla »

For my really fast ferments, I have a lid set up with 2 air locks.
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by punkin »

Godstilla wrote:For my really fast ferments, I have a lid set up with 2 air locks.
Now there is an exceptional bit of obvious thinking 8)

What a corker of an idea :idea: :mrgreen:








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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by seravitae »

^^ with that comment, when i was doing some big ferments there is the whole PVC-pipe-and-jam-jar airlock... should work fine for washes up to about 1,000,000 liters in size, just use an extremely large jam jar and pipe :mrgreen:
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by meer »

Thanks for all the reply. I ended up going without the airlock to start and used a cloth on top. The yeast has reproduced tons yet seems to have calmed down now. Two days ago I put on the airlock and am waiting for the clearing to finish (which for most new folks to turbo yeast should understand does NOT take place within that awesome 48 hours). Yep, clearing the damn wash takes just as long as any other ferment--unless you've planned on using a clearing agent to speeds things up. I was skeptical of this when a kid in a brew store told me fermentaion and clearing all took place within that short window of time. That kids a damn lier. In a week or so it should all be done! I'll let y'all no how it goes...
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by seravitae »

It also depends whether you're using the A-48 for low or high concentration washes. Remember on the packet it says for the 8kg/20% run, the A-48 takes 5 days ;) And yes, clearing takes ages, using a clearing agent made a huge difference to my washes. Good settling time can be like 2weeks in extreme, depending on the constituents of the wash without a clearing agent
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by junkyard dawg »

That was one of the nastiest turbos I ever tried. ONly the 24 was worse... Too much nutrient, too much yeast, too fast... One thing about this hobby is patience...Let it ferment, don't rush it, and let it settle. It'll be better in the end.
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by BW Redneck »

Cool temperatures will also speed up the clearing process. If you're in the northern hemisphere, that could be as simple as setting it outside. (It was 14deg F this morning where I was. :shock: )
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by prospector »

It is my favorite yeast as well, I tried about 5 or 6 different kinds when I started and this one was the most efficient and the most drinkable.
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by chris69ca »

minime wrote:
meer wrote:I got some Alcotec 48. What's everyone's take on using an airlock during primary fermentation? I'm using a demijohn 6.5 gallon batch in a pretty cold Northwest town. Should I not use the demijohn for primary so it can breath more and so I can control the temp better? Does it even matter since this shit works so fast? Any ideas or tips etc.
I've tried most of the turbos out there and the Alcotec 48 is my favorite. It is fast has a pleasant finished smell and always works down my 60 liter/15 gallon 14% washes in 48 hours if I keep 'em warm. I ferment in a trash can with just the lid on. I use a 200 watt aquarium heater to keep the temp at 85F. I wouldn't use a turbo for pot stilling though, only for the neutrals on the column.
i have a fermenter this size what do u do is it 2 paks or just the 1 and how much sugar you using??
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by maheel »

like Hookline i use cling / glad wrap the same and a rubber band thing. I use it for beer and stilling no drama.

it's great you can just look in and see whats going on :), no washing lids or bubblers / airlocks
if i have to pull it off to do something i just grab the roll and make a new lid. better than thinking "were is somewhere clean to put this lid / airlock"

i have left them sitting around for weeks this way settling and never have any issues to date
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by Ayay »

I tried alcotec 24/48 hr (can't remember which) 2 years after buying it. Why 2 yrs? Becos I found this forum in time!

So I gave it 1/4 of the sugar and an extra 4 days. It delivers but it really needs a long clearing session. The yeasts and the nutrients are best kept out of the boiler.
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by chris69ca »

Ayay wrote:I tried alcotec 24/48 hr (can't remember which) 2 years after buying it. Why 2 yrs? Becos I found this forum in time!

So I gave it 1/4 of the sugar and an extra 4 days. It delivers but it really needs a long clearing session. The yeasts and the nutrients are best kept out of the boiler.
i have noticed that im going to to make a new post about yeasts that are recomended
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by Odin »

Hi there,

I used the Alcotec 24, 48 and all of their specials. Also fooled around with baker's yeast and tomato juice. A-48 is the best. Just ferment it with 7.5 kilo's of sugar in 21 litres of water. Totals up to 25 litres of 18 - 19% wash in 4 days. No nasties. Using a clearing agent to make the sediment settle, I can distill 1 1/2 days later. Gives a great vodka even when distilled twice in a pot still. Reflux even better. About 200 cc of fores and heads. Most of the rest is hearts. Almost no tails, using a fractionating column. The temp will settle around 78 degrees centigrade and not move. No higher alcohols and no temp rise until all the ethanol is out. Then it just goes to distilling water at 100 degrees. Best turbo around.

And just to state it once more: where does all the animosity against turbo's come from? I guess from the times only fertilizer was added instead of like 25 other nutrients and well developed yeast strands. To anybody out there wanting a cheap (EURO 2.75) yeast for great vodka making: go for the A-48. Even Gert Strand advises it and it's the only advised yeast brand for the Amazing still (with which you cannot make cuts, so purity in mash is much more important).

Regards,
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by blind drunk »

I listened to Gert's advice only once ... wish I never bought his book :oops:
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by Odin »

Yeah, the book isn't all that great! you are right there! Just finisthed reading the complete distiller. Loved it. Almost makes me want to build a VM ...
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by whiskymonster »

speed of ferment seems to be a bit of a moot point.

birdwatchers with bakers yeast usually takes me about 3 days to stop bubblin, and another 3 to completely clear. i wanted it faster, so i just bought another bin! 3 bins instead of 2 means a third faster turnaround, and a third more runs per unit time. seems a lot easier and cheaper in the long run, and the neutral i am turning out is bang on!

that said, im really tempted to buy a turbo just to see what all the fuss is about!
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by rad14701 »

whiskymonster wrote:that said, im really tempted to buy a turbo just to see what all the fuss is about!
Great idea, whiskymonster... Very few people do a comparison in that direction... Most struggle with turbos and then make the switch to non-turbo yeasts... Might as well provide yourself the experience of using the turbo... I've never used turbo but have sampled the product of those who have... My sister had and may still have an air still that she ran turbo washes through... Couldn't choke that rotgut down...
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by chris69ca »

whiskymonster wrote:that said, im really tempted to buy a turbo just to see what all the fuss is about!
im no were neer as experienced as you guys but have given a turbo a go do your self a favor and dont ferment it inside the stuff gives off a foul oder like sulpher nearly i did it through my pot still 3 times had to watter it down to 40% each re-distill as the first run gets you to 50% in the pot still the taste little bit average compared to the birdwatchers i have done that stuff is quite good but the turbo took me 2 weeks to clear up and ferment i couldn't justify spending a further 8 buks on the turbo clear shit so i just let it settle that was my expirance on the alcotek 48 turbo but i found the smell of it nearly turned me off distilling it anymore questions feel free to ask
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by whiskymonster »

smell shouldnt be a major problem, as my buckets sit right next to a windows thats open 24/7.

and the mrs is a real fan of the hot curries, so if it only smells of sulphur i think i can cope! :lol:

2 weeks to clear? christ. no rush though. and if im gonna test this stuff out, i might as well order the finings too.

just scrounged some more copper, and upgraded my rig to just over a meter column, packed with 9 scrubbies, so it cant turn out that bad.

can it?
me guts are bad enough without further rot setting in!

all gonna have to wait til i got some spends, but monkey curiosity has got me again.

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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by Odin »

Foul oder like sulpher? In an Alcotec 48? This happened to me only once. I used too much warm water and used the shower to fill in the water. The heat and aeration made the fermentation get to hot, killing of yeast. The dying yeast gives an unpleasant smell and yellow colour to your mash. In a pot still, you can get rid of most of the off-taste if you use a little carbon to filter over. In a reflux still, you can get rid of the off taste caused by superheating your turbo mash easily without carbon.

In the Netherlands I can buy Alcotec 48 for under 3 Euro's (4 bucks). Clearing agent costs under 2 Euro's so less then 3 bucks ...

Next time anyone tries a A48: please make sure the water (21 litres) is maximum 40 degrees centigrade. Dissolving the sugar, will bring the temp to the right spot. And fill your fermentation vessle with a hose, not the shower head!

Good luck, and if you do this, you can get a 18/19 % mash within a week, cleared and all. It does not have any odour (less, maybe a small white wine odour) and is as cristal as white wine.

Refracionating will reveal the allmost complete absence of foreshots and heads (methyl is tested at less than 0,013%, I read somewhere). In a potstill I draw off about 200 cc in the spirit run. You can continue distilling untill what comes out reaches about 45 to 40% of alcohol. If you refracionate, get rid of the first 100 ml and with a good device, your still stops automatiically when ethanol run is depleted.

""more info on which still I used and how to get a nice neutral vodka out of A48 in a post a little further down the line""

Odin.
Last edited by Odin on Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by rad14701 »

Odin wrote:your still stops automatiically when ethanol run is depleted.
With what still design...??? That's a somewhat inaccurate bit of advice when the many different types of stills and power sources used by our members is taken into consideration...
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by whiskymonster »

mine doesnt.

isnt that what a dephlag is for?
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by Odin »

Rad, thank you for the feed back and you are right: I should be more specific. I will update my post in the weekend!
Regards, Odin
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by chris69ca »

Odin wrote:Foul oder like sulpher? In an Alcotec 48? This happened to me only once. I used too much warm water and used the shower to fill in the water. The heat and aeration made the fermentation get to hot, killing of yeast. The dying yeast gives an unpleasant smell and yellow colour to your mash. In a pot still, you can get rid of most of the off-taste if you use a little carbon to filter over. In a reflux still, you can get rid of the off taste caused by superheating your turbo mash easily without carbon.

In the Netherlands I can buy Alcotec 48 for under 3 Euro's (4 bucks). Clearing agent costs under 2 Euro's so less then 3 bucks ...

Next time anyone tries a A48: please make sure the water (21 litres) is maximum 40 degrees centigrade. Dissolving the sugar, will bring the temp to the right spot. And fill your fermentation vessle with a hose, not the shower head!

Good luck, and if you do this, you can get a 18/19 % mash within a week, cleared and all. It does not have any odour (less, maybe a small white wine odour) and is as cristal as white wine.

Refracionating will reveal the allmost complete absence of foreshots and heads (methyl is tested at less than 0,013%, I read somewhere). In a potstill I draw off about 200 cc in the spirit run. You can continue distilling untill what comes out reaches about 45 to 40% of alcohol. If you refracionate, get rid of the first 100 ml and with a good device, your still stops automatiically when ethanol run is depleted.

Odin.
i did it at 25 degrees centigrade that was surprising to keep that temp considering how cold it is hear at the moment but no yellow colour was more of a clear colour and it says on the pack between 25 c and 30 c so i didn't want to get even close to 30c i wasn't to comfortable with that temp
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Re: Turbo Yeast: Alcotec 48

Post by Odin »

Hi Chris,

The instruction on A48 says to fill your bucket with 40 degrees centigrade water (21 litres). The other temps you talk about are familiar to me, but I do not exactly understand them. They say: ferment between 20 degrees and 30 degrees, with 25 degrees being the optimum. I guess they talk about the temp of the wash and not of the room temperature.

That batch of mine that overheated reported over 32 degrees of wash temperature and that is defenitely too much. My rule of thumb, which works pretty well, is that I only start fermenting A48 when room temperatures are under 22 degrees centigrade. I learned that like that, I can be pretty sure to have the wash temp at around 25 to 26 degrees max, too make sure not too many off tastes develop.

Your experience of A48 holding 25 degrees even in the cold is due to the quick fermentation speed which gives off a lot of heat. In my batches, the temp does cool off to room temperature after around 2 1/2 days (60 hours). At what room temperature (or ambient temperature) did you ferment your A48? Sounds almost like you were doing it close to freezing ;)

Regards, Odin.
"Great art is created only through diligent and painstaking effort to perfect and polish oneself." by Buddhist filosofer Daisaku Ikeda.
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