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Hi I have recently made, two seperate batchs of a sugar wash ,the first using a little over 12 lbs of white sugar and a turbo yeast, SG 1.110 a few days later i did the second using about 15 lbs of white sugar and a turbo yeast SG 1.120 The first one was produced about 6 days ago the second about 4 days, the gravity has changed only very little, there appears to be a small amount of bubbling, i have aerated and stirred both, the both have a pleasent cider like smell. Is this normal? Shouldnt they have fermeted out more by now? They are in a room that stays right at 74F. They both taste ok no off flavors? Any Help? Recommnedations?
Thanks.

That all sounds fine.

What is the SG now?

1.120 is now 1.110
1.110 is now 1.100

I would have thought it would have dropped alot more, the yeast claims 14% in 48hrs up to 20% in 5 days, I followed the directions exactly, pitched yeast exactly at recommended temp. But these are my first washes, I am an avid beer maker and wine maker though. Just not real sure what to expect.

Oh, that's not so fine.

Something is broken.
As a wine/beer maker, you have a handle on fermentation.

These are typical fermentation problems:

The yeast may be dead.
The Ph could be too low.
There could be not enough O2.
No nutrients. -- (unless your yeast came pre-mixed with nutrients)
The temp might be too low for your yeast. ( I remember one brand saying to ferment at 80-95F.)
OG might be too high -- (your's sounds fine.)

yeast came premixed with nutrients, ferm temp is as recomended. From what i have read premixed yeast should keep ph in range. Im stumped.

corntornado wrote:yeast came premixed with nutrients, ferm temp is as recomended. From what i have read premixed yeast should keep ph in range. Im stumped.

Hmm. Me too.

no point wasting the wash. take a qt or so out of it and pitch a different yeast in that (wine yeast or bakers yeast) If it takes off in 24 hours or so, you know the wash is fine and your yeast was at fault. You could pitch new yeast in your main wash or just dump your qt of test wash back into the main.

thanks ill try that, off to the store!

Maybee the yeast pack was stored in a bad location before you got it. Extreme heat or X-rays can kill yeast.

Re-pitching sounds like a good Idea.

Similar question to above.

My first wash, 16kg of sugar in 50 litres, been sitting at approx 20C for 3 weeks. Just measured the gravity at 1.008. Is this low enough or does it need to work some more?

Thanks!

sounds to me like you're not getting enough aeration at the start of your mash.

Thanks for the quick reply.

So will this be a problem using it as is?

no, you can run it. what kind of yeast? i use distillers yeast and i get lower ending gravities.

Great news thanks.

The yeast I used was:

http://www.stillspirits.com/wawcs016161/6161.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Turbo Extra 220g (2 packs)