hi all im dan and i new to the world of distilling and am every excited about my new hobby. i just bought an easy still because i figured i needed a very basic still to learn the basics of distillation and also i live in a very small apartment to the city and i dont have an outside option for a still. ive been reading every forum i can the last 2 weeks while i waited for my ES to arrive and now my wash to finish. i have a couple of questions that im not a 100% on after searching the forums for the answers. thanks for any help in advance. my wash was a basic sugar wash consisting of 17Lbs of sugar, 5 gallons of water, and turbo 48 yeast. tomorrow is day 7 of the ferment and i was wondering if its time to add my sparkolloid? if someone can give me step by step directions on adding it and how long i have to wait to run a batch i would appreciate it. my other question is what still would be the logical next step up for an apartment deweller that is small enough for a small apartment. thanks all!

ok. thanks, i guess.

"Did you take an SG measurement? Is the wash finished?

Taste it (gak,,,don't swallow). Is it sweet or dry like dry wine?

You'll be better going with 10 pounds of sugar and half the turbo....
You need a better recipe.....All in due time.
Cheers
Larry"

Did you mean 1.1?

With 17 lbs of sugar in 5 gallons of water, you should have ended up with ~6.25 gallons of wash and a starting SG of 1.124.

With 17 lbs of sugar in total wash volume of 5 gallons, your starting SG would have been 1.155.

With your SG at day 6 of 1.01, I'd say you're pretty close to done. I have not used Sparkolloid. I just wait for the yeast to cease all activity and let it settle out.

The one thing that is the hardest to learn in this hobby is patience.

"Use 1 tsp. sparkaloid, add to 1 cup of boiling water and simmer for 20 minutes. Add slowly to wash while stirring it in. Try not to airiate the wash by stirring to hard or to long. Put the lid back on the fermentor and place in the coolest place available to settle. Should settle noticably in 24 hours and completely in 3 days.
Have Fun"

Thanks bushy. When using sparkolloid sholud I use one tsp or one tab per gallon?

"Use 1 teaspoon /gallon. Some people like it some don't, it works great for me.
Having the wash in a cold environment only will help settle it out, but with the sparkolloid it settles out faster. After the ferment is done I wait a day or two, rack the wash off the traub and use the sparkolloid.
Have fun"

"thanks all for info. big wheel if i follow you youre saying dont worry about using it if my wash is not chunky dont worry bout it.
thanks!"

Hi BW, I like to get my wash as clear as I can for two reasons. 1) if you cook yeast traub it can give you an off flavor because yeast gives off nasty stuff as it gets too hot and dies and I like a clean flavor. This is more important when your in Pot mode. 2) Having all that sediment in your boil increases the possibility of scorching it in the pot which causes another flavor problem but also a cleaning chore. Call me picky, but I had that problem once with a pumpkin mash and that made a believer out of me.