"Greetings, and a big thank you to whomever answers these few questions.
1) I did a sugar/turbo mash that got out of control from temperatures. 8.5 #'s sugar to 21 liters filtered water Bubbled like mad then stopped.
My suspect is that it got over 100*F. Dummy me. So my question is, can I simply add more yeast (turbo) or if I could do this, is it safer to get baking yeast from grocery store (no nutrients)?
2) What do you guys/gals do to keep your fermenting temperatures down? I made a coil (worm) of 3/8"" copper X 10' long that I set inside the fermenting brew. I then have a reservoir that holds a pump, the water and a large bag of ice. I change the ice every 4 hours, and freeze another bag's worth of ice at each change time. Have 6 ice ""charges"" that got the temperatures down but only to 80* to 82*. AT 4 hours each charge, I change this out 6X in 24 hours. Problem is that it just melts too fast. What ideas do people have to deal with this. Being in a warmer climate, this is gonna' plague me forever. I also capture and distribute the CO2 off gases into a plant environment. Great for them and free, so to speak; plus the plants gobble it up and eliminate the odors..
Any ideas will be most appreciated, and thanks again..."

if it's on a porch or something, try a mister fan during the day. Keeps it cooler in Florida

a sugar wash doesnt start out with nutrients like grape juice.. i double plus my neutrient and energizer in a sugar wash. :)

Thank you all for your responses...
All my equipment is located indoors, in a nice, stable environment. You said that "it might have used all the sugar", is this possible? In a short 36-48 hours, that yeast ate almost 17 pounds of sugar? Holy $hit!!!!
My "worm" is made from a 10' length of 3/8" o.d. soft copper coil (8" dia.) that is submerged in the wash. The wash is in an Igloo, 10 gal. water container, similar to what working crews have at the back of their truck. The top screws on (1/4 turn) and can be left loose to vent, but I have a 3/4" hole at the top too. I put a light object over the hole that doesn't restrict gas out but would keep any critters out. Nothing touches the wash but the copper. Into this coil I pump cold water from a medium sized cooler where I add bags of ice or bottles of frozen water at +/- 4 hour intervals. The ice seems to melt within 1/2 hour and I simply cannot freeze water fast enough to replace. The water coming out of the worm was hovering in the 90*'s F. It got out of control on the second day (about 36 hours) after the yeast was added. Using "Hillbilly Stills" 48 hour turbo yeast (14% in 48/ 20% in 5 days) per package instructions (5 gal. water, 16.5 #'s sugar, 4.75 ounces yeast). Fantastic bubbling within 1/2 hour but thermal runaway became progressively overwhelming. Right now, it has been dead for the past 24 hours. I tried adding a small amount (2 ozs.) of yeast the previous day, it reacted and produced a small amount of CO2 for about 3-4 hours, then died again. Is this wash all messed up now? Am I gonna' waste a whole week or two and wind up with ammonia/vinegar or god knows what? I don't want to be a fool and keep it if there's the smallest chance it'll be bogus.
I know these newbie questions get irritating to your seasoned veterans, but try to remember when you first started. Wanted everything to be perfect. Like anything else i life, these things of quality, take a long learning curve. I tried to research and cover all the bases (impossible) from the get-go but as you can see, I have a major problem.
Are you saying that the copper submerged in the wash is a problem?
I was thinking of using a small auto radiator with a shroud/electric fan combo to cool the water in lieu of the ice or a combination of both. My question is how to keep this cool in an efficient manner?
I saw where fatboylo wrote about yeast energizer. I'd like to try this before dumping this wash. Is there a specific "energizer" I should get or are the choices the same thing?
You know, I started my fascination with making Alcohol way back when I was in 8th grade. We HAD to do a science experiment s that's what I did. I fermented Karo corn syrup with "active yeast" which was in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. That's where it all started; now some 48 years later, I started learning about this in an effort to supplement plants I grow indoors, with CO2, and thought this to be a great way to get 2 things from one action. Take and feed the CO2 to the plants, the plants gobble it up and thus the odor too, then use the bi-product (the alcohol) like you people do. Interest lies in making the purest, most tasty neutral spirits. Wither I use "essence" or not, I'll cross later. Right now, I just want to get up and running. I am a fast learner.
Again, I thank you all for your time and responses to this...

Like ohyeah said it's probably done. I've used turbo's, distillers, beer, and wine yeastsand would presume that for your plants happiness you would be better off useing an ale yeast with 10 pounds of sugar for a neutral wash. The fermintation takes longer and is not as vigorous but ulitimately produces just as much CO2 for your plants, maybe more, due to the longer ferment. The first turbo I used acted just like yours.
I've found with turbo's the trick to avoiding most of the off flavors is to start off with 10 pounds of sugar and every couple of days add another 2 to 3 pounds that's been melted in 1 quart of water. Bring the water up to 180 degrees pour the sugar in and stir till desolved, cool it down to below 85 degrees and then mix it into your mash. When you first fill your fermenter be sure to leave enough room for the extra you're going to add later.
The washes I do like this usually take about a week to ferment out and a few more days to settle.

Hve Fun!

Man, that makes a lot of sense but I don't think this is my case. I tasted it and cannot taste any alcohol. The SG isn't reading correct; thinking I have an "el cheapo" measurer 'cause it is reading at a wacky 1.18! I was planning to get some "yeast energizr" tomorrow (Sunday) from our local brew supply store. IDK, I just don't want to dpnd a lot of time and more money on something that, ultimately, is gonna' be for $hit.
Yes "indoor plants" :) I am a licensed cultivator of MMJ here in sunny California. I've wanted to experiment with alcohol infused with MJ for several years. There are a lot of older folks that cannot/willnot smoke the medicine but will eat/drink a potion with no problem. My idea was to kill 2 birds with one stone(d) and be "green" on top of it. The production of the alcohol yielding the CO2, being of benefit to the plants, ultimately the medicine from the extracted trichomes, then the vehicle that carries the medicine. Most elderly patients don't use this for recreation, rather it is for sleep or pain, or a myriad of other medical issues. The added benefit of high proof alcohol is a perfect fit, and most patients I've talked to, are eagerly awaiting my first brew.
I couldn't afford the equipment until recently when I sold some coins on feeBay and had a few extra dollars available. I bought the "Essential Extractor Pro Series II- Complete Distiller" from Brewhaus after exhausting research of all the sources (that I could find) that are available out there. Seems like all the $hit on feeBay is exactly that: $hit. Just some guy who can solder/braze pieces together. I think that for the few dollars Brewhaus costs more, their quality is hands down, immensely better. I am glad I waited, otherwise I might have bought some cheap junk... I know, I'll probably regret not getting their high ouput unit, but if things work out, like I think they will, I'll be buying that next. I could always use two units, LOL!
I want to thank all of you guys that answered me. Reasuring that it might not be a total waste. I will try the yeast energizer and report back. Thanks again!

Thanks for your response Bigwheel.
My fermenting is done in an Igloo, 10 gallon water carrier, the kind you'd see on the back of a work crew's truck. It is double walled so wet towels aren't gonna' cut it. It is located indoors where I have other things living, like plants. Extreme ventillation, climate controlled, my temperatures (ambient) stay around 75*F. The worm I made should do the trick but then I heard something about this gonna' cause me problems, but no explanation as to what/why, etc. I was also going to get a transmission cooler with the shroud/fan attached to cool the water that circulates through the worm and pre-cool that hotter water before it enters the ice water. But after reading everyone's responses, it appears that no one goes to these extremes with their batches, so I am at a loss as to what is happening and what I can do to remedy this. You said you thought that the turbo could take the heat, so the only other idea brought up is that it's done; consumed all the sugars. I tasted it and cannot detect any alcohol. I added some more yeast (1/2 the original) and it did start again but only lasted a few hours. That's why the suggestion to try "yeast energizer" makes sense to me at least. Otherwise, I just don't know what to do. It already used 16.5 lbs. of sugar (5.5 gallons water/ 4.75 oz's. yeast) and I cannot believe all that sugar got consumed in 36-48 hours, but then again, what do I know? I know $hit!
FALSTAFF! Yea man!!! It was the first (anything) alcohol I drank, ever! Became my nickname. When I registered on here, I had to have a username and it just popped up in my mind, out of nowhere. I haven't thought of Falstaff in many, many years. Guess it is a Freudian thing. I sure wish they were still brewing it; was a really decent American Lager. Slowly produced, er, crafted...

"fatboylo,

I've never tried to push baker's yeast past 12%. But everything I've ever read about its alcohol tolerance says you'll be lucky if you can get it to survive up to 14%.

Also, the slow fermentation rate is likely also due to the high gravity. It ""shocks"" the yeast in a manner that reduces its ability to grow. In addition, this type of shock leads to the formation of acetic acid. The yeast respond by accumulating glycerol which essentially causes a chain-reaction that ends with acetic acid. This is what can cause the vinegar smell/taste.

You may want to dilute your wash ... maybe split it up in two separate buckets and get the gravity down."

Ok I was thinking you was in the 80's for some reason. A room temp of 75 should be just fine. Sure not hot enough to bother with the mechanical contraptions. Not being sweet tasting is a highly real good sign. Would seem like that sugar had to go somewhere..hopefully turning itself to alchyhol. Turbos are supposed to eat large amounts of sugar real quick and have built in nutes and stuff so it may have gobbled the sugar right on up. You need a wash gauge young man..lol. You got a home brew shoppe fairly close? The checkers only cost about 12 bucks. You will need a hooch gauge too. If the yeast really did eat all that sugar it..should be some strong stuff...would also lead a person to think maybe it didnt need energizing. Did it have any estimated ferment times wrote on the bag maybe? Pal does Sweet Feed sugar washes with bread yeast in five days..so you may be ready to make hooch.

Hay Falstaff, what happened to the wash, can you give us an update??????? Did you get you some of those fancy checking tools. Was it done and if so have you ran it yet?????? What did it put out????????