"hi everybody. i am new to the hobby, where i live, supplys are a little hard to find. i can buy from on line , but would rather work with what i can find locally. my question is, does it matter what i use as a fermenter? does it have to be food grade plastic?
also, i know i should use champagne yeast, but can i just use bakers yeast? or does it have to be a or turbo yeast? thanks for any help, or info you can give to this newbe"

"Sorry, I didn't answer your last question before.

Yes, bakeing soda works well, but only to about 12 to 14% total. And faster at the beginning. but slower at the end. Many use only this yeast. But if doing brandies, and other such flavored spirits you are much better served to get an appropriate yeast for the results you want. Kinda like makeing a milkshake with skim milk, whole milk, or heavy cream. Richness, and quallity and flavor will vary greatly.

Cost of the yeast is not so much of a factor, cause if you are careful, you can reuse the yeasts dozens of times, even grow then and use them virtually forever. Then cost is not an issue.


"

"

thanks for that info, i plan to try a simple suger wash first and then just kinda go from there."

"

First, I need to clarify my earlier post. Turbo yeasts are not suitable for this. They are desighned for a particular mix of the turbos.

Other yeasts like the Champagne yeasts like Red Star and Lavlin work really well for this. Also distillers yeasts, and wine yeasts.

As soon as the active fermentation is finished and the yeast are settling to the bottom, rack the ferment into another carbouy or fermenter for further clearing. Those lees on the bottom are your active yeasts, plus other stuff. You can immediately start a new ferment on those with super results. You can harvest a portion of them and put in fridge for future use, and still start a new ferment with the remainder. Or you can harvest all the yeast and save.

Those lees will contain the equivelant of hundreds of new bags of yeast, so you will get a really quick and powerful start on a new fermentation.

You can also google on yeast farming and find lots of imfo."

I agree with Mtn that the turbo is not for neutrals as it leaves way too much flavor from all the nutrients added. You will need to add nutrients to get a sugar wash going but those turbos contain way to much which leaves a funky taste that will be very hard or almost impossible to get rid of unless you carbon filter the heck out of it!

here is a sugar wash that is easy and almost foolproof. this is masons mum hybrid.
7lbs sugar
1 6oz can tomato paste
2 ground womens multi vitamins
5tsp miracle gro
4 tsp Epsom salt.
1 pack of bread yeast.

melt sugar in 1 gallon of hot tap water.
top to 4 gallons with cold water.
add tomato paste,vitamins,3tsp Epsom salts, and 2 tsp miracle gro. pitch the yeast and stir after 15 minutes. 36 hours later add 1 tsp of Epsom salts and miracle gro. 24 hours later add the another tsp of miracle gro and Epsom salt. it ferments quick and settles quick.
i use sterilite containers 1136 as a fermenter. but bakeries and restaurant are good sources for free gear.

just me