What ABV did you get from turbo yeast ? ? ?

[Steve-h71]

Hi All, So I have been reading plenty of the posts about the turbo yeasts. I have read that a few of you have not reached the full claimed ABV of these yeasts, so maybe we could have as many people as possible to simply list...

The type of yeast used,

The amount of sugar,

The average temperature of the fermenting area

The original gravity and the final gravity.

This would then give everyone a good idea of what to expect from these turbo yeasts. I am keen to try one of these yeasts, I would like to be around the 20% mark, I am not sure if the alcotec 48 or the alcotec 23 is what I want or are there other brands out there that I havnt found yet ? ? ? can I get away with normal gran sugar with the 23%, will it be better to brew slightly short or will this affect the yeast etc..

Cheers.

Steve.


So

 

[chrig]

I have heard that best result from turbo yeasts come from splitting the yeast, sugar and water in to two equal batches. To reduce the temperature creeping up during fermentation.

I haven't tested this, but plan too.

 

[Steve-h71]

Hi Chrig, that would make sense, I will defo do that when I do my first Turbo yeast brew.

 

[Moley]

Well as I understand it, never having used them, if you want to ferment to 20%-ish then your options are limited to the Alcotec 48 or their 23% yeast. However, I have heard that they are liable to fall short of their targets if you don't use brewing sugar and have temperature control, and then you will need to use carbon treatments to try to get rid of some of the off tastes.

I have used the Triple and Vodka Star yeasts and they will produce a clean tasting neutral brew of around 15% abv in around 2 weeks.

However, if you are happy with a neutral brew at around 14% abv which can then be flavoured as you choose, then you don't need Turbo yeasts at all.


Borrowed from another forum which I am not allowed to credit.

Ingredients;
21lt water
5.5kg Sugar
400g Red Lentils.
50g Allinsons Bread Yeast

Method;
Put the Red Lentils into a bowl and add 2lt boiling water then leave to soak for 30 mins while getting the rest of the wash ready.

Heat the balance of the water to 35°C then add to the fermenter along with the sugar. Stir until all sugar is dissolved.

Once the Lentils have had a good soak for 30 minutes, give them a good stir and add the lot to the fermenter.

If you've got any method of pH testing, aim for approx 5.2 and adjust with Citric Acid if necessary.

Aerate the wash with a stick blender or your usual method.

Temp should be 30°C, then pitch 50g of dry bread yeast or a 1lt yeast starter if available.

Check SG and use the temperature correction calculator you can find at the left of the forum banner.

Keep the ferment at 30°C throughout and it should finish in 6 days. If left for a further 3 days in a cold location it will almost clear enough to run without any help.


I've just done one of these and at 28°C it went from 1.092 to 0.988 in about 8 days. It's clearing rapidly without finings and tastes of nothing in particular.

 

[Jonny69]

The lentils are presumably there for yeast nutrition, but I have to ask... why lentils?

 

[Steve-h71]

Moley, would it make any difference if I invert the cane sugar, will this then give as good results as brewing sugar ? ? Would doing it in two smaller batches as Chrig said make it easier to control the temperature etc ? ?

Cheers.

Steve.

I am happy to filter the wash, I was always ezpecting and planning to make a filter using the waste pipe system, so thats no a problem, I am just mostly concerned about getting up to the 20% mark.

 

[chrig]

My suggestion is specific to turbo yeast, I'll be giving that one a go though.. Just need the sugar :)

 

[Steve-h71]

I dont know wether to go for Alcotec 48 or the newer 23%, from what I understand then the 48 is better for cane sugar, but I am not so sure about the 23, will inverting cane sugar give the same results as using dextrose ? ? There is quite a bit of a price difference between cane sugar and dextrose....

 

[Moley]

Steve, I agree, there's a massive price difference. The only time I've bought brewing sugar was when Wilkinson's were selling it half price at a quid a kilo. Inverting cane sugar should certainly make things easier for the yeast.

The lentils are presumably there for yeast nutrition, but I have to ask... why lentils?

A very good question, to which I don't know the answer.

I have tried fermenting sugar and water with baking yeast (do a forum search for Kilju) and it didn't work. I've tried fermenting it with wine yeast, nutrients and acids - it still didn't work. I saw that lentil recipe and thought I would give it a whirl. The yeasties went crazy. Allinson's yellow tin, around 30 pence worth.

 

[chrig]

So I did a bit of research and found that lentils are very high in vitamins and minerals AND protein. I also happen to love lentil and lamb stew.
It wasn't untill I read the label that I found that Red Lentils are very high in all the goodies needed to make a sugar wash.

24% protein, very high in potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and iron plus a wad of vitamins (not a lot of B12) and low in salt (for those with high blood pressure :lol: )

Unsure which goodies are required, but google confirms that it can work well.

Edit: mixed some up in a demi' as a test, its been happily fermenting all night, I was a bit light on sugar so another 150 grams or so to add today. Also need to warm it up with a bucket and fish tank heater or something

 

[chrig]

my sugar wash is now down to 1.010, still tasting very sweet.

1kg of sugar in a DJ, but I didn't take an starting gravity reading

 

[Moley]

1kg of sugar in a DJ, but I didn't take an starting gravity reading

What total volume?

If that's 1kg in 1 gallon (4.5 litres) then your O.G. was 1.080

 

[chrig]

Roughly 4.5L (glass DJ) minus the volume of lentles which won't be much. So 11-12%, I may have enough headspace for another 200g of sugar if the yeast can handle it.. Which would bring it up to about 14% I think.

im so far impressed with how well its fermented.

 

[Gentwee]

Ive just started clearing my wash and I must've hit the full 23% or at least 22. I used Still Spirits turbo 23% yeast. Used 10.5kg of brewing sugar and 20l of water. Couldn't get an og as my hydrometer doesn't go that high. Fg was just under 1, can't remember what exactly. Is my thinking correct?

 

[Moley]

Couldn't get an og as my hydrometer doesn't go that high.

So you take a measured volume of your wash, add an equal volume of water, take a hydrometer reading from that and double the points.

If you measure (1.) 072 your actual OG is (1.) 144

And that's what I calculate your OG to have been from the information given.

 

[jrb]

Is there a gin brew and what strength does it get to? I did 5.5 demijohns of Sloe gin last year. Mainly I give it away as pressies. But a decent strength of home made gin might save me a lot of money. I reuse the Sloes for Sloe cider but its not cheap way to make Sloe cider!