Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Ok fellas a quick question for you all!! I known you all said to the tpw first but me old man convinced me to do one run of turbo wash first to get my bearings and go from there. So I have been to my local hbs and got all ingredients etc. My wash has been down for 7 days now and they hydrometer the last 3 days has been sitting at 120 and. 117 today! Is it at a sticking point and should I put conditioner in it? The guy at the hbs shop said to ring today and tell him the reading but he hasn't answered all day and isn't open tomorrow so wondered if anyone could offer some advice?

First advice is ignore anything the bloke at the HBS tells you.... Then give him a :violence-smack: just for selling you a load of expensive poop
Use the Turdbo as a sacrificial cleaning run and throw whatever comes out on to your weeds .... They'll be dead and shrivelled in a few days.
Now get yourself a TPW wash on and get some decent booze happening.

Anyone else like to help without pooring it on the garden? I understand you guys don't like hbs but at the end of the day I wanted to give it a try even if only once to see the difference!

my understanding of the conditioner is this- because the turbo yeast is shit and aiming for too high an alcohol content it sometimes doest ferment out all the way (specific gravity over 990) usually because the yeast are so stressed they die. the conditioner is used for when the wash doesn't ferment out all the way and stalls (ie the yeast are so dead/dying the stop working). the conditioner is essentially an anti-foam solution for when the wash is boiled.
so if it has stopped fermenting and still has a high specific gravity then add that delicious silicone surfactant

Andy wrote:my understanding of the conditioner is this- because the turbo yeast is shit and aiming for too high an alcohol content it sometimes doest ferment out all the way (specific gravity over 990) usually because the yeast are so stressed they die. the conditioner is used for when the wash doesn't ferment out all the way and stalls (ie the yeast are so dead/dying the stop working). the conditioner is essentially an anti-foam solution for when the wash is boiled.
so if it has stopped fermenting and still has a high specific gravity then add that delicious silicone surfactant

Does it matter if the wash takes more than 7 days?? For example if it keeps dropping but just at a slow rate?

From my experience as a noob just b4 christmas.
So as I got a Turbo with the kit. I thought it would have to be easier than the Tomato Paste Wash and it came for free so what the heck.

Exactly like yours, it stalled.
I mucked around with it for close to 3 weeks.
I halved it and added water.
I tried restarting it using small batches that fired up, then slowly added more and more wash.
I even tried praying. Still couldn't get wine from water.


I then chucked it made made Tomato wash. Unlike the Turbo's black tar look, this stuff was great.
7 days later, I had Vodka. Just double distill for the best taste. 7 days and it took me 3 weeks trying to fix a turbo.

Please, from a beginner, forget the Turbos.
Go the cheaper, faster way. You will muck around and still the chances are from everything I read and tried, you will never get the turbo started again.

Also, can highly recommend the weatbix and allbran wash. My fav. A bit more time involved, but love the stuff.

MrDavis13 wrote:
Does it matter if the wash takes more than 7 days?? For example if it keeps dropping but just at a slow rate?

No.. I found a couple of mine took 10 days.

So temp in my shed.
30 degrees. about 5 to 6 days.
25 degrees about 7 to 9 days.

When cooler, I wrapped my vats in blankets.

I see from forum threads, it takes some guys 2 to 3 weeks. I assume it depends on temp and stability of temp as when I have cold nights, it takes a few hours for my yeast to get active again.

Mate if you keep the airlock in and full of water, as the wash ferments it produces carbon dioxide which will be trapped inside. That stops anything dodgy growing inside. As long as she's sealed up it can sit indefinitely (I've heard up to 8 months! )
Leave it another week, that will let it ferment out as far as it's going to and allow most of the solids to drop. Run it, then do the exact same with a tpw and let us know your findings :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Ok thanks for the advice everyone I certainly will be giving the tpw a go next time

First up your initial problem was the old mans advice to use a turbo, your HBS sold you exactly what you wanted. Get the old man to have a look on this forum and he will change his mid regarding Turbo washes. Never use a turbo as the sacrificial lamb if you have paid good money. Mostly these are given away when you buy a still. sacrifice should have been a TPW for a cost of around $9.

Now lets address the problem.
Turbo has stalled or so you think? You don't have a still to process this anyway based on your profile so don't stress to much just let it do its own thing.
You should now consider what you want to get from this hobby before you shell out your hard earned for a still.
Neutrals using essences or specific flavors that will be carried over during the distillation process.

What ever you choose to do, run your Turbo as a benchmark then run a TPW and for sure your benchmark will change.

I have already got given a turbo 500 used once for only 3 hours work. If I find I get more Into the hobby I will then look at upgrading. has anyone used the conditioner before and if so how long do you wait after putting the conditioner in?

From all the turbo's I have run - there is no point in using the conditioner. I would just run it anyway and see what you get.

We aren't being assholes when we say that TPW is much better. Its just a fact. I personally ran turbo's for about 12 months before finding this site and the TPW recipe. Now I will never run a turbo again.

Turbo's is designed to get you bulk quantity quickly - at the sacrifice of taste. Using TPW you won't yield as much as a turbo wash, especially after cuts (I used to get about 9L of turbo after cutting to 40%)... but your tastebuds will thank you forever.


TLDR: Run the turbo now, dont worry about the conditioner. Switch to TPW - your tastebuds will love you forever.

valkorum wrote:From all the turbo's I have run - there is no point in using the conditioner. I would just run it anyway and see what you get.

We aren't being assholes when we say that TPW is much better. Its just a fact. I personally ran turbo's for about 12 months before finding this site and the TPW recipe. Now I will never run a turbo again.

Turbo's is designed to get you bulk quantity quickly - at the sacrifice of taste. Using TPW you won't yield as much as a turbo wash, especially after cuts (I used to get about 9L of turbo after cutting to 40%)... but your tastebuds will thank you forever.


TLDR: Run the turbo now, dont worry about the conditioner. Switch to TPW - your tastebuds will love you forever.

Na look I understand u guys are not being assholes it's just a lil frustrating when your trying to get answers about what your doing and people keep bringing up tpw lol I understand this wash is what you guys say is the bees nees and dw my next one will certainly be a tpw but at the end of the day I get curiosity got me when it came to doing the turbo wash first and guess I just wanna see it through then do the tpw and compare :handgestures-thumbupleft: I am
Just a bit worried if I don't put the conditioner In the wash with froth up because of the sugar still in there.

I only did 1 turbo but I think u run it straight after putting conditioner in.

I had a few turbos fail like that before i changed to tpw, just cut your losses and run it with the conditioner.

3 capfulls of conditioner for the T500 add it to the boiler when you add the wash. You should have some ceramic boil enhancers also. And update your profile with your T500

MrDavis13 wrote:I understand you guys don't like hbs

Its not that we dont like hbs. Some, (okay 1 or 2 ), do provide good advice. What we dont like is that they push turdbo as the be all to end all, when it's not.
Yes a turdbo wash would make a good comparison for you against a TPW, but honestly when its all said and done, its just not worth throwing more money at your stalled wash just so you can pin it up on the wall and say I made this shit and Im glad I'll never make another. Also it may not have stalled due to yeasties dying. It might have turned to vinegar. Even good washes do that sometimes. Hell if it has it could only be an improvement.

Cheers Phil

Don't forget that this is posted in the hbs section, shouldn't their questions b answered without the anti hbs comments? Like undertakers signature, the world would b better place with no warning labels :laughing-rolling:

Wobblyboot wrote:Don't forget that this is posted in the hbs section, shouldn't their questions b answered without the anti hbs comments? Like undertakers signature, the world would b better place with no warning labels :laughing-rolling:

:text-+1:
Keep the thread on topic please.

Titan8 wrote:3 capfulls of conditioner for the T500 add it to the boiler when you add the wash. You should have some ceramic boil enhancers also.

I know the conditioner is to stop the foaming of the wash, probably mainly for Turbowash with all that yeast nutrients and whatever else.

Just wondering is the conditioner necessary for a TPW?