Home Distiller

Hey all, wow what a lot of info here! Been reading for the past few hours, almost midnite but still going!
Anyway bout my first reflux still a few days ago, and made my first wash (I hope) a few hours ago and but had a question I couldnt find an answer on.
I'm using dextrose and Samual Willards 48hour yeast.
The instructions on the pack to produce a 25ltr wash is to disolve 7kgs dextrose to 6ltrs of hot water and then top up to 25ltr adjusting the temp to end up at 25c (summertime) or 30c (wintertime)
Now my basic question is: I only had 5kgs dextrose so I only used about 17-18ltrs of water at the right temp, and then added the entire satchel of yeast (235g)
Was this the right thing to do? or should I have used only ~70% of the yeast satchel? or should I still have topped up to 25ltr with water?
Its been sitting in my cellar for a few hours now and is bubbling the airlock every 10-15 seconds or so. Room temp is 22c
Was just a bit confusing with my ratios. Whats the impact on using more or less water in the wash, or more or less yeast and sugar? I mean whats the impact if I only topped up to 10ltrs for example?
Sorry for the long and 'noobie' post!
Thanks
AL

The yeast don't care, they'll eat it regardless of the concentration levels it's at. Don't worry about it because you just made a lower abv wash, it's just gonna end up with less eth concentrations in the end which is better for a turbo anyway.

Oh ok thanks, so the more yeast : sugar ratio = lower ABV?

no, the less sugar, the less alcohol that will be produced by the yeast.

nine,

You would be much better off, filling your ferment run up to 25L (or even 30L if your fermenter can do it).

No matter WHAT the silly instructions say on a turbo, they are not written to produce the best end results. You are much better off running quite a bit less than the 'advertised' max amount of sugar, so that the yeast does not become stressed, and produce large quantities of very nasty off flavored products.

Here is a thread talking about 'better' usage of turbo yeasts.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 46&t=13267

H.

Kiwi, yea that's what I meant, the higher yeast to sugar ratio (ie less sugar) = less alcohol.

Husker that's what I was thinking, because I used less water would the yeast become too stressed?

I did read that attached thread before, one thing I'm unclear on is what is meant by rack and clear?

with what you have your ok 5Kg in a 18L wash =16% if you added 18L of water that will give you about 14% alcohol .
either way your in the ball park.

racking is siphoning the wash off the lees (sediment)

nine2eight wrote:Kiwi, yea that's what I meant, the higher yeast to sugar ratio (ie less sugar) = less alcohol.

Oh cool - but the amount of yeast is not really related. Will change speed, but has nothing to do with the final amount of alcohol produced.

If you want to "rack and clear", when the wash quits bubbling for a day, siphon it off into another carboy or ferment bucket, (less the sediment in the bottom) and then let it sit for a day or two so more of the solids settle out before you siphon it into your boiler.

Thanks vicrider, thats what i thought.
If I use a clearing agent is it better to do it before you siphon or after?
Also does the siphoned 'bucket' need to be airlocked when sitting for a day or so?

I would personally rack off into another fermenter with an air lock just in case there is still a bit of fermentation left. You should keep it covered to keep out any infection.

Although clearer is better, I don't think a clearing agent is necessary for what we do most of the time. A boiler with an internal heating element will suffer from a wash with lots of solids floating around but external heat sources are OK as long as you don't boil it dry.