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Ok guys quick question. For my sacrifical run I don't have any commercial booze to run so I was thinking I could make a simple sugar wash with some turbo yeast, would this work? My still is a 7.75 gal keg. If this idea will work how big of a batch should I make?

Not many here would suggest doing a turbo wash run unless you have already mistakenly purchased the turbo yeast... Making a simple sugar wash from the Tried and True Recipe forum would be a better option... Birdwatchers, All Bran, Gerber, and several others are good choices... Those three are very consistent performers and we can help you along should you have minor issues along the way... I'd suggest doing a 4 - 5 gallon ferment with half being used as your sacrificial cleaning run and the other half as you first keeper run... The sacrificial run will give you an exact indication as to what to expect during the keeper run, so you'll have already gained worthwhile experience...

Yeah my buddy has some turbo yeast and since I know it is not a yeast many prefer I thought that wood be a good one to use for the sacrifical run. Thanks Rad. I'll make a full batch. Half for a cleaning run and the other half for my first saved run.

How much sugar, water and yeast should I use for a 5 gallon batch? What do you think the ferment time will be?

BoisBlancBoy wrote:How much sugar, water and yeast should I use for a 5 gallon batch? What do you think the ferment time will be?

I followed the basic Gerber recipe first posted (LINK)... scaled to 5 gallons. The recipe is for one gallon... multiply the quantities for each ingredient by 5. I actually scaled mine to 4.5 gallons to leave a little head room in my fermenter for any potential foaming.

I am working on two 5 gallon ferments... one for my sacrificial run and one to keep. Both stared with SG of 1.080 (at 95*F). They've been bubbling for about 10 days... probably due to being a bit cool at about 70*F. The airlock is bubbling slowly now... a stream of bubbles every 15-20 seconds. I expect they will finish in 2-3 days. I've opened the one I plan to use for my sacrificial run to check on it. As of yesterday it looks like it is starting to clear and the SG is at 0.994 (at 78*F) and has a distinct wine aroma & taste. Based on my calculations the ABV is approximately 11.8%.

As soon as the airlock stops bubbling and it clears a bit, I will be running it.

Good luck & safe distilling!
John.

rad14701 wrote:I'd suggest doing a 4 - 5 gallon ferment with half being used as your sacrificial cleaning run and the other half as you first keeper run...

Would you split the batch into two 2.5 gal runs, or run one 5 gal charges and throw away the first half?

Are we looking to put a certain amount of sacrificial alcohol through the still, or are we aiming for a certain amount of contact time?

Run the 5 gallons through the still. And toss it all out. It's called a sacrificial alcohol cleaning run. For a reason.

Prairiepiss wrote:Run the 5 gallons through the still. And toss it all out. It's called a sacrificial alcohol cleaning run. For a reason.

No question PP. I'm on the same page as you there about the sacrificial run being tossed.

I was just asking for clarification on Rad's comment regarding using half of the 5 gal batch for sacrifice and half for first product run. And I think I have your answer, but it was Rad's comment not yours.

What do you think of my question regarding volume through the still versus contact time? For the life of me I can't find a thread that breaks it down like that for me. Might not mean much to you seasoned vets, but my mind works in mysterious ways they say.

You would do a standard after run clean up between runs... At least I would... I disassemble and hot rinse and reassemble... And as Prariepiss suggested, the full batch would help get the rig cleaner... You'll end up wasting far more over time in this hobby...

perfect, thanks to both of you