Cheap Turbo Yeast & High SG Sugar Wash : Good,Bad or Indifferent

[@Philmoon69]

I think there are too many snobs talking trash about turbo yeast. I can't tell any cross over taste at all. I mean you have 6 % carry over if your distilling to 94%. Now water that down to 40 % and your talking about tasting about 3% carry over.... and that's before you add your mixer ! I'm going to call them tomato paste Nazis lol

[@highly-spirited]

I’m sooooo glad to hear that! As that’s exactly my same attitude and conclusion I have. I’m still expecting a few nasty comments to appear on this kind of subject, but nothing as yet.

[@Philmoon69]

@@highly-spirited oh how times have changed ya nazi lol

[@danlancia]

not a boring vid at all mate, very informative. as other commenters have said there is quite a bit of snobbery where yeast is concerned. my experience after trying many many different yeasts is for me it makes little difference where flavour is concerned. i keep going back to alcotech turbo yeast because its reliable and at the end of the day if we are making a neutral spirit with a reflux still how much flavour will come over anyway?, volume and speed are priority for me. only 27 subs till the 1000 milestone, hope you got something special planned for us. keep on shining friend

[@highly-spirited]

Thanks. It’s nice to hear there’s still a few people out there, like yourself, that have a levelheaded approach, attitude and experience, with comments like this 👍👍 I have little interest in subs. But I will put together something different pretty soon anyway. Stay tuned. Keep Shining 😎😎😎

[@pursaveer9027]

How much flavor will come over? LOTS. It's not snobbery to know the difference between ditch water and tap water. One can always do better, unless their approach to life is 'that's good enough', which seems to be the general sentiment here.

[@melvinwhite7187]

I agree with the off flavour thing, if I’m making a wash out of anything other than sugar then it’s got whatever flavour that’s carried through and then i either oak it or something else! Drives me mad looking for something that I can’t detect. Keep up the good work.

[@PoppaLongroach]

Good stuff man! That's the best explanation of stressing yeast I've ever heard. Good Ole fashion common sense!

[@highly-spirited]

Thanks buddy. High praise indeed 😎

[@ledzep331]

Thanks for the vids and lets hope more people in the UK take up this hobby. When I'm after a neutral spirit I tend to just use EC1118 yeast and some nutrient. That will get to 15% with no issues or off flavours in around 10 days. The water in my area is soft and doesn't buffer well, so after the initial PH crash (2-3 days), I need to adjust the PH to keep the ferment moving otherwise it slows to a crawl. If I don't do the adjustment there are some slight off flavours and the tails show up much earlier, not to mention the adjustment shortening the ferment time by 7-10 days or preventing a total stall.

[@Paul-nn9oj]

Tried Lalvin EC1118, went back to classic 8 turbo (Fast & foolproof)

[@scottayling694]

After watching this I've ordered the same yeast and going to try my first turbo yeast sugar wash. 100l batch can't get any easier anyway

[@andrewhammond1949]

My stats are 58 lts. of sugar wash using 18 kg. of sugar and pure distilling yeast with liquid carbon. I then distill in a Boka reflux still and end up with 20 lts. @ 40% my tails, ( 1.5 lts) are then put in the next run. Everyone appears happy with result! Enjoy your posts mate!

[@highly-spirited]

Thanks for sharing your info. A 1001 doors to get to a final product 😁 You must have a pretty high SG with that. An online calculator shows a 1.118, in the real world, is that about right? And I guess that Pure Yeast does completely fully ferment the wash (0.990)? Keep Shining 😎😎

[@dalemurray4923]

Love your channel, fart jokes and all. It would be interesting to see if you increase the quantity of water by a couple of litres to see if the yeast can consume that last bit of sugar

[@highly-spirited]

Cheers buddy! My vids are a complete joke, so why not make it lighthearted at the same time 😁 I’ve actually just replied to another comment along these lines. You see, I would be more inclined to go the other way and try and stress the yeast even more with a higher SG, just to see what I end up with. This vid wasn’t at all about speed or quality, as you saw, it was about a high SG. So by watering it down I would just end up with a more ‘normal’ Sugar Wash because it would be more diluted. Plus I have a feeling that this yeast wasn’t as aggressive as another brand I’ve used, called Coobra Turbo Yeast. So I’m not 100% sure that it would handle a much higher abv wash tbh. Even though it says it can max out at 18%. Nice comment though 😎😎

[@danieldanielson2650]

To answer your questions about yeast and suger. Yes,it does. But you end up with more and more water and less and less ABV and it takes you ages to get it all out. Not worth the time/electrocity/money.

[@keshwannaidu3943]

Great video as always. Keep up the great work. Very informative.

[@AndyHudson]

Rather than add any heads or tails, I keep them and just add them back into my next run. But as you say, it's your wash you make it so you are happy with it.

[@highly-spirited]

Of yeah defo. If I was to distill anything, and looking for the best final product, then Hearts is all I would collect as well. But as you know…..I’m not that F’ing fussy 😂 😂

[@damo5998]

That still is a kick ass looking thing, way out of the reach of the average hobby distiller who use much smaller and shorter colums, usualy with scrubbers or packing. certainly not as efficient as your bubble plates. i have been distilling sugar washes for over 10 years and flavour carry over can be an issue. As the saying goes"you get out what you put in". So the cleaner the wash, the better the results. Sometimes a wash gets left for weeks, till its as clear as water, then run through the still. Excelent results. Try and run it too soon, and it most certainly can be tasted in the results. I have allways used turbos but am currently doing my first batch of tomato paste and its nearly done. Interestingly, When i do a turbo wash, the stink generated by the turbo ingredients is, well, not very pleasant and my wife complains. The tomato paste wash with bakers yeast is odour free and if it wasnt for the bubbling airlock, I would not be aware it was fermenting. Again the results at the end will tell if this method gives a better product which is what i am after. Thanks for the vid. It was enjoyable and funny 😁😁

[@highly-spirited]

Looks as if you know what you’re doing and the direction you’re heading in, so you won’t learn anything from me! It’s nice to experiment and then also get good results from tinkering with it. Best of luck buddy. And Keep Shining 😎

[@stereotax]

Love your presentation style. Yup, I stayed to the end. Skøl, mate. 😄

[@martink9785]

Thank you, Very interesting results and great to see your 10ml per minute take off rate. I've used sw20 turbo and found it fine until the last 100g of the bag seemed to be dead. my still has been leaking gas like a sieve. It's now sealed and ready to run, hoping to take more than a litre out of 25l 14% 😂 really love your vids mate

[@ledzep331]

Make sure not to smoke around that still! That would be about the equivalent of 2l of liquid ethanol in vapour form floating about in the room.

[@martink9785]

@@ledzep331 I know mate. I don't smoke but do vape. The hot coil is well encased. The bleeding thing burst an internal water fitting so while fixing that, I completely sealed it. I didn't realise that the strong alcohol smell I was getting during the run was wrong

[@Paul-nn9oj]

Hey, you forgot a step after fermentaton... (your room was mid 20 degrees) rack COLD CRASH clarify (wont you have sugar & yeast in the distiler now)

[@thejollyfrog640]

At 3:34 mentions a 2000KW element. WOW......That's 2,000,000 watts.

[@highly-spirited]

Yeah, yeah, I keep saying it wrong 😂 It’s definitely just a 2kw element!

[@crabmansteve6844]

If I were distilling, I'd 100% use Turboyeast, as it is I only brew beer and make wine/mead and I feel like it gives some unpleasant flavors when I compare the same brew just made with Turboyeast and my normal yeast of choice. But blasting a Turboyeast sugar wash through a column still sounds like a recipe for success. I can't imagine any taste carry-over from a column.

[@highly-spirited]

You’ve got it! I think in the same way, and to a degree, experienced it. I’m almost sure people that get these ‘off’ flavours from using Turbo Yeast, must either be using a Pot Still or doing something wrong when Distilling it 😂 I know I CAN definitely get flavours carried over, even with all the Bubble Plates on my Still, but a plain old sugar wash normally comes out ok.

[@belo2999]

Good work mate. Two week ferment isn't exactly turbo though, at £3 (less in bulk) a bag Alcotec 48 would have saved at least a week.

[@highly-spirited]

Thanks for your comment 👍 but point of the vid was to stress, and make the yeast work hard, and not about speed of fermentation.

[@belo2999]

@@highly-spirited Understood, I just meant that Alcotec 48 seems to handle stress better, packet says 5 days for 8kg with 9kg being its limit. I've tried the stuff in your vid but it took an age and a half to ferment for me too.

[@highly-spirited]

@@belo2999 I agree. This is the first time using this yeast and it’s not as aggressive as other brands I’ve used. But it did kind of do the job I wanted it to do 🥴 May be another comparison video with a different yeast is needed 😎

[@aussiebushie]

Can you advise the temperature range (°celsius) that you collect during distillation please? As a newbie I am looking for confirmation of 77° to 93° celsius as correct. Thanks Mate.

[@highly-spirited]

Hi there. Well each person will run their type of Still a little differently and get different results and also take temperature reads from different places on the Still, so there’s no set rule. In saying that the nature of the beast is pretty reliable, but you’re in the right ballpark with temperatures. I run mine at 92 in the Pot while collecting, and this increases over the course of the Run. It’s probably 84 in the Head, I say probably, because I don’t take a reading from the Head. And I don’t do that because the best indication, for me, that all is as it should be, is the speed of the product that’s coming off. My advice is take it slow at first. Over time you’ll get your technique honed and the whole process will quicken up. And you don’t need to have temperature reads, but it helps as a guide as to how quickly things are heating up. Once you’ve got your Wash up to temperature (74 degrees in the Head), you’ll be very close to the point the Product will be coming out. If it’s too quick, then dial it back, normally with a reduction in heat or with higher water flow through the pre-condenser (if using a Reflux Still). Again, experience will guide you as to what needs to be adjusted. You’re looking for something like a fast drip take off rate. HTH. There’s plenty of good info out there. So I hope you get everything up and running. Enjoy 😊

[@robertfontaine3650]

Nice looking back at this one. no clearing, 16%,, no carbon filtering. cheap yeast. For north America any flavour at all is an "off flavour". Award winning vodka has never made any sense to me.

[@highly-spirited]

Thanks. There’s got to be some give and take with a hobby. So I guess the main thing is that you’re happy with what you make for yourself. That way you’ll always feel like a winner 🏆 😁

[@mauistevebear]

Where do you get that yeast? is that what you use all the time? 16% final! That's amazing to me!

[@highly-spirited]

I thought I’d try to find a yeast as cheap as I possibly could, so I think this pack was from eBay, but I don’t normally use this stuff. I have used a product called Coobra before. But as I don’t use very much yeast, a packet can last me for ages!

[@Atwell27bung]

You are cool nice one

[@highly-spirited]

I’m 100% sure I’ve never been called cool before! Thanks anyway 😎

[@Atwell27bung]

@@highly-spirited that's gold 420 blaze it bro from Australia

[@cornishwonderer3823]

You sound like a local. You anywhere near Bude?

[@wjess3569]

2000 W or 2000kW??? 2000kw is Huge

[@highly-spirited]

Yeah sorry, complete slip up there. It’s defo only a 2000watt.

[@scousemeisterT]

A 2000KW heater must cost you a few Bob to use. LOL.

[@highly-spirited]

It’s not a massive amount really. I did a Costing video a while back showing running costs. The element only runs flat out for the initial heat up, then gets turned by about a half for the rest of the Run. And I only do a few small 3-4 hour Runs here and there. 😎

[@02bigkev]

Interesting statistics and fart joke..lol

[@44RobC]

If you did two washes of say 4kg of sugar it would be finished in 4 days even with even cheaper bakers yeast. OK you would need to do stripping runs but in time your one high SG turbo run takes you could make 25ltr of 40% low wines. Just sayin'. Keep on farting!

[@highly-spirited]

Ah but, although I was using ‘Turbo’ Yeast, this wasn’t about speed. It was about how it got on with a high SG sugar wash and stressing the yeast a bit. Thanks for the comment anyway 😎