Home Distiller

Packet from mile hi, split in 1/2 and i basically went by the packet instructions all split in half. Only change i made was added 2.5 cups of gerber to a 3ish gallon wash. stating sg was 1.130....yikes ending sg was 1.006, some pretty stout stuff. Was at 10% in 24 hours and i shut it down at 1.006 at 5 days. Pretty good ferment.

Still is a keg on a turkey fryer with a 2'' still head tapered to a 1/2'' and a 42''x3/4'' liebig, 1 ss scrubber in the vertical section of the still head.

Left it to cool for 3 days in cold(35-45F) racked it directly into the boiler with teeshirt filter. Ran this as slow as my burner would go and it produced a product with yellowish tint and seemed to have heads all the way through. Is it possible to run too slow? After catching 3qts of what tasted like heads i said hell with it and turned up the juice and ran it until it tasted like no alcohol was in it, figured ill run it through again with some other stripped washes. But before i do that i want to be sure i am not going to be ruining my other stripped washes.

As far as the turbo yeast goes, i purchased 2 packs prior to doing much research. I didnt want to let it waste and i read the thread where they say splitting it helped the issues and eliminated the need for carbon filtering so i tried it. I am probably going to use the other half packet tonight but i am going to go for a starting sg of 1.090ish and probably stop it at 1.010ish. Im hoping that this will help with the harshness of the product. If not i can use it with the run from today and hopefully end up with something i can flavor. I have been having alot of fun with this hobby and i learn something new every run. Let me know what you guys think.

Forgot to add, I caught a total of 1.25 gallons and it is 55% abv. Foreshots were tossed.

Sounds like you need to finish up with the turbo yeast so you can end up with a decent wash to distill... And it sounds like you tried straining the wash through a T shirt rather than racking (siphoning)... If you end up with yeast and residual nutrients in the boiler, the chemicals that make it "turbo", that could help explain the off smell, taste, and color... That wash finished in the 16% range because when you cut the measurements in half you shouldn't have cut the amount of water... You would have ended up with a cleaner wash had you kept the total volume in the 5 - 6 gallon range... Done properly, there is no reason why your washes shouldn't be finishing at or below 1.000...

@ 100percent,

Your Home Distilling Forum reading has revealed that Turbo Yeasts are not the desired Yeast to use. Why attempt to use Turbo Yeast?

Suggest focusing on the mash wash recipes in the Tried and True Recipes instead of attempting something that your Home Distilling Forum reading has revealed is undesirable.

Regards,
Coaster

coaster,

As i stated i had already bought it and didnt want it to waste, especially if the splitting method works as previously discussed.

RAD-

I will try the other half of the turbo but with the full amount of water. As far as straining through a t shirt, the wash was left in the cold for 3 days and all the solids had dropped. When pouring the wash into my boiler i was very aware of the lees and kept all the solids out of the funnel/tshirt. The wash was a milky color but no solids, however i guess some of the contents could have been passed through. Im hoping these undesirable tastes and colors dont pass through after a second distillation. Probably simply dilute and re run and see what happens. Not sure if ill add this to anything or if i will fool with the rest of this turbo yeast i have.

Be careful when you use "turbo yeast" and "let me know what you guys think" in the same post

100percent wrote:.....The wash was a milky color.....

@ 100percent,

If your wash is “milky color” it isn’t sufficiently “Cleared” enough to be attempting to distill. The wash “milky color” indicates that there are nutrients suspended in the wash.

Regards,
Coaster

Coaster wrote:

100percent wrote:.....The wash was a milky color.....

@ 100percent,

If your wash is “milky color” it isn’t sufficiently “Cleared” enough to be attempting to distill. The wash “milky color” indicates that there are nutrients suspended in the wash.

Regards,
Coaster

Thanks for this piece of info, i have done tons of reading and must not have seen this before. I guess ill have to clear these washes a bit longer. I also might transfer into another container and continue clearing without the lees. All a learning experience, thanks for the help.

I kinda figured this because i had an issue with an all bran wash a week or so ago then again today with a gerber wash. Im going to start clearing them longer.

100percent wrote:

Coaster wrote:

100percent wrote:.....The wash was a milky color.....

@ 100percent,

If your wash is “milky color” it isn’t sufficiently “Cleared” enough to be attempting to distill. The wash “milky color” indicates that there are nutrients suspended in the wash.

Regards,
Coaster

I have never had a all bran "clear" so to speak off - always a milky color with a yellow tint. also same with the UJSM - the only thing I have ever really had clear was the SF wash and even then it was a dark brown cola type tint. but then I rack all of mine off careful not to get into the lees - but never had a problem.

Coaster wrote:

100percent wrote:.....The wash was a milky color.....

@ 100percent,

If your wash is “milky color” it isn’t sufficiently “Cleared” enough to be attempting to distill. The wash “milky color” indicates that there are nutrients suspended in the wash.

Regards,
Coaster

where did ya come across this info?

Tater wrote:

Coaster wrote:

100percent wrote:.....The wash was a milky color.....

@ 100percent,

If your wash is “milky color” it isn’t sufficiently “Cleared” enough to be attempting to distill. The wash “milky color” indicates that there are nutrients suspended in the wash.

Regards,
Coaster

where did ya come across this info?

Inquiring minds wanna know............................

recently set up an extra refridgerator i had to hold my buckets, this really helps the clearing process. Probably going to start racking to another container and clearing again just to be sure.

I rack right out of the primary to the boiler. With no problems. And I have an international electric element. I only let it clear for 2 days before I run it. That's just me though.

I just recently let a was clear in my refridgerator for 5 days and it still had a cloud or 2, i racked what i could and put the rest back in the fridge last night, i am going to rack it today and run it, clouds or not. I feel like it should be fine but if not ill rerun it later with something else.