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Really great site, thanks for all the info! Ive started a sugar wash with 8 kg of sugar, using artisan extreme 20 turbo yeast, i started at an sg of
1.18 approx but seems to have stopped at an sg of1.07 the air lock is still lifting everyday. This is the 24th day it has been in the pail.
I can still taste sugar in the batch. Any help would be appreciated! ken

you're probably up about 15% ABV which is pretty high for a wash. don't get too greedy, that's my advice. something tells me this is too much sugar for your wash. 1.18 is insanely high for a starting gravity.

good spirits can't be rushed.

No matter what yeast you use, its always best to aclimate it slowly to a high SG.. Did you grow a slurry before adding the yeast? When I do a big fermentation I stage the yeast growth, upping the SG each time starting at hardly anything.. Problem is, the process can take a few days since its always best to repitch to 10x volume near the end of the exponential growth phase, or the beginning of the decellerating growth phase (~24h with warmth/aeration).. Learned that with beer, but its perfect for clean sugar washes.. Nevermind performing much yeast growth in the fermenter, especially with high SG..

what rate is the airlock moving ? long as it was moving at a decent rate I would let it finish ..but thats just me I had a sugar wash that I tried to rush as well , afterwards told me that all I needed to do was to wait and let it finish ,I agree with Uncle Jessie , Good spirits cant be rushed .

The air lock doesn't move alot , but it does sit in an elevated postion, and when i clear it , about 20 minutes later its back up there again!

from what i know which isnt alot ..lol sounds like the yeast has done about all it can do with that amount of sugar.. If it was me I would give it another day then rack it let it clear a couple days in cool place then run it ..what have ya got to loose ..

This is a good thread that needs some expounding in it. I think a lot of beginning distillers will be working with ferment bucket kits, turbo yeast and sugar wash, and these early experiences can be discouraging to the if the fermentations stick or fail.

I, personally, would like to have someone expound on the best way to hit explosive growth with yeast in a sugar wash by building up the SG. Personally, I just sort of "eyeball" it and start 5 pounds short and work up, but I'm sure there's a more mathematical approach (especially if, like triggernum5, you start with practically no sugar).

Definitely the prime factors to consider are starting SG, starting temperature and aeration.

Granted, I've never done much with actual turbos, but I do know yeast don't like to be stressed.. The concept I described basically allows you to develop virtually all the live cells you'll need, without shock.. Evolution kinda comes into play here.. As the community grows, it adapts.. The newer yeast cells in theory will be more tolerant to harsher environments than their parents.. By the time you've built up enough to meet your 10 million cells/mL (across your entire wort), the yeast will be natural in that environment without shock.. On the otherhand though, Ochamm's razor argues the point that putting the same amount of sugar in more water will more simply give you your ETOH yield (1 2kg bag/10L rocks to about 9% in a couple days).. Freeze thawing is a decent way to up the wash ABV, but I've never tried with pure sugar (might enhance the nasty, the same way as stressing the yeast will, but its great for well fermented rum)..
My background with this comes from beer.. Without a still in the process you're stuck with all your by-products to the bottle.. I wasn't after high ABV, just a really clean ferment, but they are 2 sides of the same coin..

The deathwish recipe that Pintoshine posted boils like a tornado , he posted a you tube video of it around here somewhere , I have never seen anything work that fast , very simple but also very effective..

If you think it's not progressing and it's not fully fermented - run it anyway and use the dunder as the basis of your next wash - with a bit less sugar.

Hey hornerodent, i think im going to try that! i have alot of alcohol in there so im going to run it and use the "dunder"never heard that one before! for my next run. I have about 1.07 for sg so maybe ill top it up a bit with sugar and ferment it again. Chow! and thanks