Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi gang.

After going loads of google and searching this forum (full points to the admin who made the search tool) I have a fresh batch of n00b sauce questions I could use a bit of guidance on (use of 4"x2" to instill guidance is optional)

So I have my 2nd wash (Birdwatchers TPW) on and my shed gets very cold at night so I put a heat belt on it, its a 60L fermenter so it only goes 90% coverage of the circumference with the heat band and the remaining 10% is the rope holding it tight to the fermenter. After turning off the heat when the temp started to creep over 30 degrees then the temperature dropped over night down to low 20's. Looking at the airlock and its starting to suck air back in through the airlock! I figured it might be because the gas inside has contracted and there for its trying to equalise the pressure... I hope thats the reason! I will be more vigilant with heat regulation from here on out, other posts on the forum have been quite insightful.

Is my wash stuffed because its sucked in some air?

I have attached a picture of the hydrometer of the gravity reading of wash #1 before I put it through the still, is it in the right range and what reading do you make it out to be, im not sure if im reading the scale correctly.

Using Starsan, will anything go horribly wrong if I give my still (pure distilling reflux) a light spray between runs after giving it a hose out as per the instructions, ditto that for giving the boiler a quick spray? I get a touch OCD about hygiene at times :roll:

If I use it in my fermenters should I rinse it out or will it not bother the wash during fermentation? (I know its food grade safe and all but that nagging voice in my head says ask the stupid question) can/will/does it kill yeast? I am only using it in diluted form as per the instructions and applying with a spray bottle.

Is there a best guess time frame for how long starsan is good for once diluted in a spray bottle?

Thanks again in advance for any help and guidance and any virtual clip up the ears given.

Your gravity is .990 its done :handgestures-thumbupleft:

That hydrometer is bang on the money at .990 and the wash looks nicely cleared :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Getting a bit of air in there through the airlock won’t hurt.
Don’t stress too much about the temp, 20-30 degrees is fine.
Use starsan where and when you feel like, just rinse it out after.
I have no idea how long it lasts diluted but I’d say years, whats going to get into it and hurt it?

I currently use 2 of those heat belts on my 250 litre fermenter controlled by a thermostat. Just had to fit a thermoport to the fermenter to allow the thermostat probe to pick up the internal temperature of the wash and it turns them on and off as required.

Mate this is a forgiving hobby. If in doubt, just run it through the still. If you get alcohol out then you look back and think "didn't need to worry about that".

My clean-up for fermenters is detergent and yard hose and I fill to volume (and aerate) with the hose too. No problems.

Ok just to be clear the pic of the hydrometer is from the previous wash, not the one sucking in the air.

Also Just so I have it 100% in the image i linked, with the fluid level being at the 90 mark of 0.9 it makes it 0.99 which is where we want it

Yeap, your on the money mate anything below 1 is .9 something
Then what that pic showed is .990
If it was at the 80 mark it would be .980 (but i don’t think that it’s possible to get that low.)

I think i might need more than help
Well i am off to a flying start, my very first wash after a lengthy break from home brewing and i used and old packet of stills turbo yeast which i put aside to throw away and my wife who is always cleaning up after me, put it back and i used it without checking.
So after two days and my wash was still sleeping i was going round in circles try to figure out what was going on when i found the empty packet of old yeast and realized what had happened, and when i say old yeast i mean about 5 years old or more.
So what where my options?...bugger it, i added a new packet of classic 8 turbo yeast (brought the day before)to the 8 Kilo's of of turbo sugar and see what happens.
Well it happened alright, the very next morning i went into the spare room to see what was going on and the air lock was doing a very good imitation of Moby Dick, it did not blow any water out, but was very close and has not stopped for 3 days, so i guess i revived it after all.
So i don't know if the previous old yeast has joined the party or it's just a very healthy brew i guess i will just have to wait for it to finish and hope for the best.
:text-lol:

so you have made a bit of a monster, the new yeast would have ate the old yeast and had twice as many nutrients to kick off with, you will be finding out the abv limit of the yeast they use...

Would be interesting to see how much extra chemical stank you get with that

RC Al wrote:so you have made a bit of a monster, Would be interesting to see how much extra chemical stank you get with that

My thoughts exactly
I remember the long gone stinky turbo days :music-deathmetal:

Yep there was definitely a strong yeasty odor when you walk in the spare room, but it was not really overpowering and it looks like it is starting to slow down slightly,
i guess all will be reveled in a few more days

Lucky days all turned out good, after 7 days it finally stopped and i ran a Turbo Clear through it which did not clear it much at all, but left plenty off mud on the bottom and had to run a second clear through it to get a good result.
Over packed the reflux column with plenty of shake rattling and roll, and after reading your very informative article about running the T500 the proper way, i tipped it all out and just poured the copper saddles in, followed by the stainless steel saddles until there was no room left and screwed it all together.
Filled the boiler, through in some ceramic saddles, two stainless scrubbers, and two caps of anti foam and 10 ml olive oil then fired her up, exactly one hour later we were up and away,tipped the window cleaner down the sink and kept the temp below 55c for the whole run around 3 hrs long and ended up with 8.3 liters @40% so my near disaster turned out ok, and my next mash (pure turbo yeast and 7 kg of dextrose)has nearly finished fermenting (12 days)without any hiccups this time :obscene-drinkingdrunk:

Dilute that turbo wash and make your own E85 for your car and don't even try to drink the rank stuff. Go to the supermarket and get some Lowans baking yeast and make a fresh start with it.

turbo yeast is used to make ethonol for mixing with petrol but the HBS will sell for human consumption so they sell all the other crap just to make drinkable but it still tastes like a turd and no matter how much you try and polish it it will always be a turd.

For a 60 litre ferment invert 10 kg's of white sugar, add a leggo's tomato paste and a good sprinkle of Lowans baking yeast. Give it good stir to create bubbles for 5 minutes the lock the lid on and put some water in the air lock. When the airlock stops check the wash and check 3 days later, if the reading is the same the wash is fermented so leave it for a week to clear.

Then run the wash and the result will be a decent neutral, now when taking cuts and leaving 24 hours to let the angels have a share will ensure you have made the best product that will be a joy to drink and the thought of hangovers will be a thing of the past.

Cheers Bryan

Ifn ya stuck on turbo,try the vodka star and never use more than 6kg sugar per 25-30 lt batch to keep yeast from stressing adding off flavours wich are hard to get rid of,dextrose or turbo sugar is a waste of money for little to no difference from everday white sugar,and let time settle ya wash not clearing agent for more saveings,double distilling your neutral with cuts should avoid the need for carbon filtering etc,patience is a virtue.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Hi mojoz - you mentioned you were close to distilling a Pure Turbo Yeast wash back in June. How did it turn out?