 Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/24/2010(UTC)
Posts: 8
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"howdy, new to the forums and to this 'intoxicating hobby'. i have done a pile of reading but still have a couple questions.
on a pack of turbo yeast, what does AMb mean? (ambient?)
when i mix a wash in my plastic primary, when do i transfer it to the glass carboy?(immediately?)
do i do anything with the wash while it is fermenting? shake it/mix it?
with a basic sugar wash, what SG am i looking for to know it is time to run? (1080?)
what happens if you leave a wash in the carboyd 1-2 days too long?
thanks for any/all help."
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 Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 1/16/2010(UTC)
Posts: 453
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" Originally Posted by: hhranch  howdy, new to the forums and to this 'intoxicating hobby'. i have done a pile of reading but still have a couple questions.
on a pack of turbo yeast, what does AMb mean? (ambient?)
when i mix a wash in my plastic primary, when do i transfer it to the glass carboy?(immediately?)
do i do anything with the wash while it is fermenting? shake it/mix it?
with a basic sugar wash, what SG am i looking for to know it is time to run? (1080?)
what happens if you leave a wash in the carboyd 1-2 days too long?
thanks for any/all help. Let me see if I can help you some. amb could be ambient , is it refering to temperature? It could also be refering to some strain of yeast or.......... Are you making wine? I never use a primary fermentor unless I'm making wine. I mix in the carboy and put in the airlock and let it go. If you stir a wash after it has fermented a couple of days you will end up with a whole bunch of it on the floor. Kind of like shaking up a bottle of root beer or champange. I guess there could be a number of different things going on with when is it time to run. I basically have been making just rum and whiskey. I use the same recipe each time and it varies a little bit but I basically run when the fermentation comes almost to a standstill. That is anwhere from 10-14 days. I never check sg's unless I'm making wine. I'm sure there could be some recipes that are more picky but that works for me. Some people put their carboys in a fridge after they have reached the end and let them clear for a few days. Nothing to worry about leaving it for a while as long as the air lock is still on it."
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/24/2010(UTC)
Posts: 8
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"well, you saved me doing some cleanup (thanks). Yes Amb is on the Turbo yeast pack referring to temp.
i am not making wine. i just bought all of the hardware at a wine store and got the speil on how wine was made.
i am just using a sugar wash to make eth for the first tour. i plan to try some essences but would eventually like to learn to make a good smoky rye whiskey. first we crawl, then walk, then run, then hopefully crawl again."
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 1/16/2010(UTC)
Posts: 453
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" Originally Posted by: hhranch well, you saved me doing some cleanup (thanks). Yes Amb is on the Turbo yeast pack referring to temp.
i am not making wine. i just bought all of the hardware at a wine store and got the speil on how wine was made.
i am just using a sugar wash to make eth for the first tour. i plan to try some essences but would eventually like to learn to make a good smoky rye whiskey. first we crawl, then walk, then run, then hopefully crawl again. Good luck, its a lot easier once you've done it a few times. I don't know about the rye part or if you can even tell the difference once it's aged in Oak. But get your basics worked out and see how that tastes. Then get some oak cut it up and char it with a propane torch. Put it in a wide mouthed gallon jar and add a couple liters of your product. Wait 4-5 days and run that through a coffee filter and see what you think. It is really good."
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/10/2009(UTC)
Posts: 519
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" Originally Posted by: div4gold Wait 4-5 days and run that through a coffee filter and see what you think. It is really good. Then run yourself a bunch more and let it sleep on oak for at least 3 weeks. Then pick up another fermenter (or two) and run more...............find a way not to drink your surplus..........and let sleep for 6 months. Oh man I could go on and on...........cuz I been sippin. The longer you can let it sleep the more your drinkin buddies will hold you in esteem  "
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 1/16/2010(UTC)
Posts: 453
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" Originally Posted by: LWTCS Then run yourself a bunch more and let it sleep on oak for at least 3 weeks. Then pick up another fermenter (or two) and run more...............find a way not to drink your surplus.......... and let sleep for 6 months. Oh man I could go on and on...........cuz I been sippin. The longer you can let it sleep the more your drinkin buddies will hold you in esteem I haven't got that far ahead. I've got some in some barrels for the long term but the oak in the gallon jug is for the short term :)"
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/10/2009(UTC)
Posts: 519
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 Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/23/2010(UTC)
Posts: 17
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" Originally Posted by: hhranch howdy, new to the forums and to this 'intoxicating hobby'. i have done a pile of reading but still have a couple questions.
on a pack of turbo yeast, what does AMb mean? (ambient?)
when i mix a wash in my plastic primary, when do i transfer it to the glass carboy?(immediately?)
do i do anything with the wash while it is fermenting? shake it/mix it?
with a basic sugar wash, what SG am i looking for to know it is time to run? (1080?)
what happens if you leave a wash in the carboyd 1-2 days too long?
thanks for any/all help. Howdy, I consider myself new at this as well but have lots of experience with sugar washes. 1080 is probably about 10# of sugar, it's finished when it gets below 1000, generally .990. After it finishes pull it out of the fermenter to get it off the yeast and you can store for days without any ill effects. I use plastic food grade plastic fermenters from walmart, there cheap (25-30L rectangular storage containers). You dont really need air locks and carboys for sugar washes, just use a loose cover, not as critical as when making beers. Just make sure your fermenter is large enough for the initial ferment without overflow. I stir my washes every day until finished. I've never used turbo yeasts but depending upon the type of yeast used you may need to aerate heavily initially when starting. It also helps a lot to invert the sugar before starting as well. Helps the ferment get off to a good start. Hope this helps. Duane"
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 3/17/2007(UTC)
Posts: 167
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you don't need to do anything other than add the water sugar and turbo yeast.after the fermentation is complete let it settle and rack into your boiler.the fermentation will take longer than stated on the package. do a stripping run and save.to strip use half of your column without packing and run it hot. when you have 3 1/2 gallons of strippage add 3 1/2 gallons of water with 3tbs of baking soda(not powder) and run through slow. collect every 20minutes in different jars.
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/24/2010(UTC)
Posts: 8
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"my wife says i'm like a kid with a new toy.
saturday i dissolved 8kgs of sugar in 8L of water in a glass carboy, topped up w/ cold water. not sure where i lost count but 23L put me real close to overflow. added the yeast at 72F and it started to overlfow so i sucked some volume(and yeast) out with a syringe and airlocked it. wrapped a towel around it and by day 2 it sounded like a diesel idling in our bedroom. it is now tuesday and this morning it was about a 1 bubble/sec. i plan to check the SG tomorrow.
i plan to run it in a easystill and make 500mL cuts (other than the fores=75mL). put the heart thru carbon, dilute then dump....guess where? consolidate heads and tails w/baking soda for a week then re-run, carbon filter and repeat dumping at leisure.
are 500ml cuts a good size?
other comments/suggestions welcome"
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/10/2009(UTC)
Posts: 519
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"I think 500 is a bit too much.
250 to 300 would be better as you can more precisely isolate the transition.
plus those quantities would be consistant with the size of one's hydometer vessel.
Case of small mason jars is only bout 6 bucks"
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 3/17/2007(UTC)
Posts: 167
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i started with a easystill. put a few pennies or copper couplings in the pot. it will help with the surging.run and collect all of your product. when you have collect all of your distillate add baking soda and water it down below 50%. and run again and collect at 250ml. this is a pot still and double distillation will give you a better product. good luck and welcome to the hobby.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/23/2010(UTC)
Posts: 17
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"500ml cuts are just fine. But I'm still learning a lot so I'm using 150ml cuts for mine.
Duane"
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/10/2009(UTC)
Posts: 519
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" Originally Posted by: dsmith 500ml cuts are just fine. But I'm still learning a lot so I'm using 150ml cuts for mine.
Duane ???? Ohkaay 500 will be fine when you get a few runs under your belt. In fact, I would say that one should stick with the same game plan for 8 or 10 cycles. Touch, listen, taste, smell,,,,,,see everything. Try to get a sense of your still. Make at least a mental note of everything during a run. After such time, you will know when the transitions are coming at any given point during your run. Then you can discard the small vessels all together. But every recipe has it's own timing. This is why it is best to stick with the same plan (and small collection vessels) till you get a good feel for your equpiment's performance. Or not (IMHO)."
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/23/2010(UTC)
Posts: 17
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" Originally Posted by: LWTCS ???? Ohkaay
500 will be fine when you get a few runs under your belt.
In fact, I would say that one should stick with the same game plan for 8 or 10 cycles.
Touch, listen, taste, smell,,,,,,see everything. Try to get a sense of your still. Make at least a mental note of everything during a run.
After such time, you will know when the transitions are coming at any given point during your run.
Then you can discard the small vessels all together.
But every recipe has it's own timing. This is why it is best to stick with the same plan (and small collection vessels) till you get a good feel for your equpiment's performance.
Or not (IMHO). LWTCS, THanks for adding the additional details. I probably spoke too soon. Depending upon the volume you have to distill of your low wines 500ml cuts may be too large. I do 100-150ml cuts and I'm only doing reflux on sugar washes. I only have a smaller boiler as well. The point to doing the small cuts is to learn where the changes occur. As LWTCS says after you get used to your washes and your system operation you can than increase your sample sizes after you get some consistency. Duane"
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/24/2010(UTC)
Posts: 8
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"as always, thank you folks.
wash is still 'talking' so i didn't do anything to it yet. Looks quite milky and i understand that is a common problem with Turboyeast. should i use a clearing agent, let it sit longer, or just run it? granpa used to use a cup of ice cold water to clear the grounds in cowboy coffee, would that help?
i have a trainload of mason jars of all sizes already (they are in a room downstairs my parents used to call the 'fruitroom' but i think i will change the name-'juicebox?'.) i have numbered 7 small ones (is that enough?). i will take a temp and abv measure for each and transfer to 7 numbered quart jars because i will obviously have to run numerous cycles to get all the wash thru the easystill.
I will use 300ml cuts until i get more experience. Each number should have the same makeup shouldn't it? can i use the larger consolidated jars to determine cuts or do i need multiple sets of small ones?
i have read about copper in the pot but understood that surging was mainly due to a chlorine valve problem on the old easystills that should be fixed in this new unit? I will put some copper fittings in anyway.
i also read that double-distilling the heart is unnecessary and just more work (damnit man i'm thirsty!). can i get away with just putting the hearts thru carbon? i plan to add soda to the h and t and rerun after a week or so.
i am logging every detail, aiming to build a fairly simple (easy) process so that i can modify in the future. Less variables at the start should make for easier troubleshooting/mods on the next tour."
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/24/2010(UTC)
Posts: 8
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pls disregard the clearing ???s i found the info in another post
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/10/2009(UTC)
Posts: 519
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"I'd try and get the wash as clear as possible for best finish product.
Setting the racked off wash in a cool place will help.
With each run you should collect in small jars.
Arrange them from left to right (or the like) as you collect.
After collecting, let your distillate air out over night.
Smell and perhaps taste each jar. I assume you will prefer to keep the cleanest, most nuetural distillate.
Often times, it is best to find the cleanest jar (in the middle) and work your way out from either side.
Save your heads and tails and run with the next batch or save enough to do a ""heads and tails"" run.
I collect down to 20%
Or, till the distillate is no longer hot on the tonge."
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/24/2010(UTC)
Posts: 8
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"Well i managed to run 2 loads thru the easystill and overall i am tickled. thanks to all that replied, your experience is valued.
I tested the wash on sat. and SG was 990 (see stupid but funny below) but still really milky. put it in the coldroom overnight and it was still milky on sunday but i couldn't take it anymore. filled the es to about 1""below the line, put 3 marbles (instead of copper) and fired it up. First run went flawless but i filled right to the line for #2 and had some surging. i chucked 80-10ml of fores and got 4-300ml cuts about 73, 65, 60, 40%. #3 smells the best and tasted decent. Still pretty yeasty smelling but airing and getting better. going to carbon filter the good stuff, got some delicious spring water to add....and i was snooping thru the bbq section on friday and found chipped up oak barrels for cooking...but they won't be used for that. fluke you say? no says i.
i stirred up another wash whilst i was running. less sugar and i'll let it clear more before running.
STupid but funny-as i went to check the SG on saturday, i had a bit of a mishap. i put the hydrometer right into the carboy. those of you that aren't total newbies (or idiots) would realize that at 990 the hmeter was going to drop into the wash to where i couldn't get it out...or could I. i grabbed the syphon tube and simply sucked the top of the hmeter into it. Worked good until the seal broke as i lifted it out of the wash! a little yeasty but no sugar taste. If you ever do this, don't dump 1/2 a pot of coffee on top of it. slight tummy ache but i've had worse, burped and farted like a stud.
i've made my own sausage, jerky, bbq pit, pickling and built my own archery proshop at home but this is waaay more interesting....cheers!"
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