My experience with the Turbo 500

[roykirk]

I'd been using a simple pot still for the last couple of years and was getting tired of the uneven results. I think part of the issue was I just didn't have time to sit around and mind the stove for hours, trying to make sure I kept the temperature fairly even. I decided to go out and get the Still Spirits Turbo 500 and give it a shot.

My wash was around 10 pounds of corn sugar and about 5 pounds of liquid wheat beer extract in 6 gallons of water (the extract was simply because I ran out of sugar and since I don't make beer anymore, I decided to put it to good use). Fermentation with Turbo Yeast and Carbon. Fermentation complete after 4 days, after which it was siphoned over to the Turbo 500 boiler. I followed the instruction manual to the letter (I figured I could always change the process later)...copper saddles in the top of the riser, followed by being packed with the ceramic saddles. Plugged it in and hooked up the water and let it go. I know many here don't give the T500 much regard, but I found it an absolute joy compared to the old pot still. It started boiling after about and hour. Getting the initial temperature of the outlet water just right is admittedly a bit tedious. But once I got it set so it stayed between 55 and 60c, it didn't require much more adjustment. I discarded the first 100 ml of alcohol just to be safe given everything was so new. After that I was basically able to walk away from the entire set up and do other things around the house, walking by every 20 minutes or so just to make sure the temp hadn't wandered. What followed was around 1.3 liters of just over 90% alcohol (took about an hour and a half once it started dripping). Clearest stuff I've ever seen and hardly a smell to it. Ran it through the carbon filter bucket and then diluted down to 45%. Used various essence products to make some bottles of bourbon and a Crown Royal knock off. I consider myself a bit of a CR connoisseur, and while it wouldn't pass a blind taste test with me, it's REALLY close. None of that 'shine bite to it that I would often get from the pot still.

Anyway, just one guy's experience. I think next time I'll ditch the Turbo yeast and try something different. If I find it this good with what most people describe as the horrible qualities of Turbo yeast, I imagine I could make it that much better if I used something more widely recommended.

[pounsfos]

theres reasons why the T500 is shunned around here..

But moving from a pot still to a reflux column you will see a massive difference

There is a thread here on mods you can do to that still to make it better (remove saddles, replace with pot scrubbers)
with some simple tweak

Ditch the turbo yeast, get a tried and true recipe, and your shine will be heaps better

Glad you are happy with it, with practice you will be making some good stuff,

I would of given your wash more time to clear, turbos are quite "thick" and take a while to clear.

Practise makes perffect

[Truckinbutch]

glad you like what you got . I'm disturbed with that 'walking away for 20 minutes to do something else'.
Sure enuff , you get out of arm's reach and eyesight of your cooker after you start heating and Mr. Murphy is gonna pay an unexpected visit . He is gonna dump a shitpot of trouble on your project if you are not there to watch

[Sleeping_Lifeguard]

i've heard the 500 makes a good neutral. but if you're after a whiskey, why would you be running it in reflux mode? don't run the reflux cooling and only run the condenser. if the 500 doesn't give that ability, go and get yourself some hoses and t-valves and make it so. you'll have more flavour carry over in pot still mode.

others on this board will speak to it better than i can, but copper and porcelain saddles have a bit different temperature range at which they collect condensate. basically, you want to use one or the other. copper is preferred because it pulls out some of the sulfates from the product.

turbo yeasts are designed for quantity and not quality. more than likely that's what's giving your "burning" taste to the alcohol.

[rad14701]

NEVER leave your still unattended...!!! WTF were you thinking...??? You need to wise up and start thinking about safety rather than playing it off as something that's only important to other people but you can't be bothered... You've joined the largest and most informative distillation related forum on the planet so start making use of it and stop being utterly amazed at what you have accomplished... If you find the tone offensive, too bad, because you need to realize that what you are doing is wrong and dangerous... You can only improve from here if you put forth proper effort...

[Truckinbutch]

NEVER leave your still unattended...!!! WTF were you thinking...??? You need to wise up and start thinking about safety rather than playing it off as something that's only important to other people but you can't be bothered... You've joined the largest and most informative distillation related forum on the planet so start making use of it and stop being utterly amazed at what you have accomplished... If you find the tone offensive, too bad, because you need to realize that what you are doing is wrong and dangerous... You can only improve from here if you put forth proper effort...

Thank you , Rad for saying it the way I would have liked to

[roykirk]

I think you old ladies are under the impression I'm out in the back forty mowing the lawn while the thing boils away for hours. I'M IN THE SAME ROOM. I just don't have to keep my eyes camped on it non-stop for 4 hours straight like I did with the pot still. I've been a firefighter for 30 years (yes, a real one). I have a hood and duct system above the thing that would put out a car fire.

[Truckinbutch]

Tell us all about that again and how your buddies helped so quickly to save your chimney because you became too complacent What we talk about isn't a matter of 'if' . It is a matter of when ..... Will you be ready ?

[jase1977]

Tell us all about that again and how your buddies helped so quickly to save your chimney because you became too complacent What we talk about isn't a matter of 'if' . It is a matter of when ..... Will you be ready ?

??????????????? reflux is the way to go!

[Ayay]

I think you old ladies are under the impression I'm out in the back forty mowing the lawn while the thing boils away for hours. I'M IN THE SAME ROOM. I just don't have to keep my eyes camped on it non-stop for 4 hours straight like I did with the pot still. I've been a firefighter for 30 years (yes, a real one). I have a hood and duct system above the thing that would put out a car fire.

If you are IN THE SAME ROOM, no problem! I can't see a hood and duct putting out fires but they sure help in preventing fires.
Clamping the eyes on it for 4 hours is not the answer either....and a reflux run should take more time than a pot run. Frequent observations along with a constant presence will suffice with any still.
A reflux run produces purer alcohol, but within those pure alcohols are heads, hearts, and tails, the same as a pot run producing less pure alcohols. A reflux column ups the purity and that's all it does...you still have to make cuts.
10 pounds of sugar in 6 gallons of water sounds like around 10% alc yield...this is good and the turbo yeasts will deliver at this level. It's when turbos are stressed to the max of 18% yield that they produce the real stinky stuff, but they always have a little stink because they're turbo yeasts. No masterchef as seen on tv here, granny knows best until tv catches up with granny!

[Cardinalbags]

i've heard the 500 makes a good neutral. but if you're after a whiskey, why would you be running it in reflux mode? don't run the reflux cooling and only run the condenser. if the 500 doesn't give that ability, go and get yourself some hoses and t-valves and make it so. you'll have more flavour carry over in pot still mode.

others on this board will speak to it better than i can, but copper and porcelain saddles have a bit different temperature range at which they collect condensate. basically, you want to use one or the other. copper is preferred because it pulls out some of the sulfates from the product.

turbo yeasts are designed for quantity and not quality. more than likely that's what's giving your "burning" taste to the alcohol.

Do not, i repeat DO NOT consider running the T500 without the reflux condenser working..... it has a plastic top which you do not want to overheat. if you want a pot still use one, if you want a reflux still, use one. The only time you use the T500 without reflux condenser is when you are making distilled water. There are numerous posts on this site warning to not run the T500 in this manner.

[roykirk]

i've heard the 500 makes a good neutral. but if you're after a whiskey, why would you be running it in reflux mode? .

The reason being that I'm not just after whiskey typically. I like the ability to make vodka, whiskey, liquors, etc, out of the same batch. Getting the best tasteless neutral possible is exactly what I need.

[Prairiepiss]

I'd been using a simple pot still for the last couple of years and was getting tired of the uneven results. I think part of the issue was I just didn't have time to sit around and mind the stove for hours, trying to make sure I kept the temperature fairly even.

Well if you would have been running it like a pot still should have been run. You wouldn't of had to play with it so much. And you would have gotten more consistent results.

And I don't understand. A pot still should take way less time to run then a reflux still. If you didn't have time to run a pot still. Why on earth would you get a still that would take even longer to run?

[roykirk]

I'd been using a simple pot still for the last couple of years and was getting tired of the uneven results. I think part of the issue was I just didn't have time to sit around and mind the stove for hours, trying to make sure I kept the temperature fairly even.

Well if you would have been running it like a pot still should have been run. You wouldn't of had to play with it so much. And you would have gotten more consistent results.

And I don't understand. A pot still should take way less time to run then a reflux still. If you didn't have time to run a pot still. Why on earth would you get a still that would take even longer to run?

I was speaking of both set up, breakdown, cleaning, etc, as well. Part of it may have been inefficiency of my gas top range I was using for the pot still vs. the electric boiler of the T500. What I can tell you is this: Running roughly 4.5 gallons (its max capacity) through my pot still was about a 5 hours affair from assembly to when everything was back on the shelf clean. It took about 1.25 hours to get that 4.5 gallons to where it was producing alcohol vs. the roughly 55 minutes it took the T500 to do the same with 6 gallons. The entire process with the T500 took about 3.5 hours.

[MadKaw]

I have the opportunity to get one of these(just the boiler, no column) for cheap. Can you use the regular 2" copper column from the keg set up with this boiler? I found the 2" converter for the lid on Ebay for like $30...

[Saltbush Bill]

Can you use the regular 2" copper column from the keg set up with this boiler?

Not really understanding what your asking here
What do you mean by a " column"? Which column from what Keg?
Its hard to help without proper information......photo maybe?

[MadKaw]

Can you use the regular 2" copper column from the keg set up with this boiler?

Not really understanding what your asking here
What do you mean by a " column"? Which column from what Keg?
Its hard to help without proper information......photo maybe?

I found the answer to my own question...was wanting to use a 2-inch pot still top from a beer keg set up. There is a converter piece that clamps onto the lid for the T500 and then attaches to the tower with a tri-clamp. It's like this one, but 2 inch.

[Saltbush Bill]

Yes there is....and for the extra few $ its worth buying a second boiler lid.