smartstill

[pi55ed]

Hi guys.......newbie here!!
Got myself one of the metal table stills........

turbo 48.......black stuff........and finnings..... all from ebay....
Besides the above......... what can you actually throw through these machines..........

Can you make your wine stronger with these etc.......

[Jimmy]

Hiya, welcome!
In a nutshell, yes you can pretty much distill anything which will make it stronger but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll make it better. Steer clear of anything with bubbles in or you'll end up with a right mess.
As an example, you could chuck 4 litres of red wine through it and get a sort of brandy, but when you add up the cost of the wine it's probably quite similar to a bottle of brandy anyway so the key is thinking about how much you're spending compared to what you're getting out. If you made the wine yourself then that'd be different, likewise if you make your own wash for whiskey, schnapps, whatever you like.
There are a few articles on the main site that should explain things a bit more, any questions feel free to ask!

[pi55ed]

I have been making cheap student plonk....... basically 3 litres of pure fruitjuice 1 litre of water, cup sugar, plus activated yeast....... and let ferment with airlock til done....
Iam trying a plain water/sugar basic wine with just amount of suger yeast and water, no juice from fruit but more sugar added to compensate for the fruitjuice not used.....until basically flavourless alcohol water which is basically costs nothing to produce........ So i can make loads of this cheap alcohol water and distill it to make spirit, would this work as you say, if so-? that saves me buying all the tubo yeasts turbo klear etc.....just means it will take more than 2 or 5 days to make it..??????

[Phantom]

The basic wash, as per the "Still Spirits" yeast packs is 6kg of table sugar in 21 litres of water. You could probably get away with straight champagne yeast (like Lalvin Ec-1118) and nutrient (Fermaid_k, Tronozymol etc etc), it's just easier to use a yeast/nutrient pack and pack of liquid activated carbon.
The wash comes out at about 14% ABV. You will need to clear it properly because if it's not, then sometimes the still will "burp" showering you/kitchen/wherever with hot wash. It's not fun.
Yes it's better if you have some raschig rings to put in the still when it's running as it helps prevent the bubbles in the still joining up and lifting the lid - It's also better to make sure that wherever you've got the still going, there's no naked flames etc, because when/if it burps you need to know that alcohol vapour is on par with petrol vapour for flammability.
As well as wash, I've also run wines and meads that I've made and don't like the end product. The still is very handy for recovering the alcohol - oh and I always dump the first 50 ml's in that case. I've also run cider kit's that have been made up as per the instructions and then had extra sugar and yeast added to make a very strong, dry cider (I also add a teaspoon or two of tannin).
That's also worked out fine.
But the absinthe is the "flavour of the month" - I've got a large one in front of me now.
p.s. as well as the raschig rings you might also consider getting some "distillers conditioner" - that also helps prevent the "burping thing" - it just depends where (country-wise) as too what might be available to you

[pi55ed]

Thats good to know, thanks for that.....

Iam from the uk by the way in northwest

[Jimmy]

I'm originally from the northwest myself, but I find myself on the wrong side of the Pennines of late...!
If you're going to go with the cheapest wash you can make, here's what I recommend.
25 litre recipe, reduce proportionally for less (but why bother, get yerself a big bucket!)
6 bags sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Half a tin of Allinsons bakers yeast (orange tin from the supermarket, or equivalent)

About 3/4 tin of tomato puree (those small tins, or the same amount from a tube)
Mix everything but the yeast up with about 4 kettles worth of hot water, then top up to 25 litres with cold and you should find the temp is around 30 odd C (make sure it's under 40, wait if not). Dump in the yeast, stir it up and you're good to go - you'll get a stronger brew with the tomato as food for the yeast, and the lemon helps it by altering the pH a little. It takes about 2 weeks to do but there's 25 litres there so it's not too bad as you can have it going while you're distilling another batch. Once it's done you need to let it settle for a few days and then siphon off before distilling - filtering wouldn't go amiss either but if you're good with the siphon you can get away without.
Works well for me thusfar, still fine tuning it - it has a different smell and taste to the ones you make with 'proper' yeast, but it's quite a pleasant one I think. If you double or triple distill it comes out great, but it's fine single distilled and carbon filtered. It's slightly weaker than a turbo, but I find if I put 4 litres into the still I get a litre of 40 - 45% out so that's good enough for me.

[pi55ed]

I am currently trying this tomato recipe at the moment.......... mixed all as you said......... also added some extra yeast nutrient........... the lid wouldnt stop on for the 1st week....... its been going 2 weeks now and still bubbling on the airlock......... so all in all after its stopped bubbling i dont know if there will be any alcohol left........... is it natural to bubble for so long-- (2 weeks)???????? its on a brew heat tray............. have i gone overboard on the yeasts food with adding more nutrient aswell as the tomatoe puree?????????......... its still fizzing bubbles from the base, and airlock is still going???????????

[bluecap]

It should be fine from what you have said, its when its not bubbling, still with a sugar content that its a problem.
Here’s a nice thought for you, for every bubble that comes out f your airlock, there’s a equivalent amount of alcohol being formed as the sugar is broke down 50, 50, carbon dioxide (the bubbles) and alcohol
When it stops bubbling it should mean all the sugar has been used up and its time to clear and distil, just test it with a hydrometer first.
Mick

[pi55ed]

to test it with a hydrometer firs, i will need to get one, i have a spirit hydrometer but not a wine/beer one............

I wont even touch it until its stopped altogether bubbling
Should i give it a real good stir from the base once done???? then put a satchet of turboklar to clear it...........???
Any more tips would be great............ incidently it smells really strong through the airlock

[Jimmy]

Hurrah! Someone else is trying it!
Yeah, Mick is right - with one small caveat - yeast breaks down into 50/50 alcohol and CO2 as he says, UNLESS there is oxygen available in which case it makes more yeast instead. What happens in practice is that a layer of carbon dioxide forms on the top of the brew from the bubbling, and that stops the yeast multiplying and sets it off to making alcohol for you.
All this means is that you shouldn't disturb it too much while it is going, you want to let it do its thing and once it's finished you'll notice that the bubbling stops and sediment starts to fall to the bottom. If I were you, I'd leave it a couple of days to be sure, then Turbo Klar it and let the sediment fall. Siphon the clear stuff off into another container, you may have to leave a litre or so (in a 25 litre fermenter) to avoid sucking up the sediment but that's OK, better waste a little than ruin the rest. Then when you have the cleared stuff in another bucket, stir the bejesus out of it to get the CO2 out! You can try drinking a little of this stuff when you're done, it's a bit like strong wine and you should be able to taste the potency but a hydrometer is the best way to work it out.
You'll know if it's done all it can because it won't taste sweet anymore, if it's still sweet then the yeast has either not finished, or reached the peak alcohol concentration that it can stand. Each type of yeast can only go so far, I think bakers yeast tends to die off at around 14% which is why I put 6 bags of sugar in mine - any more would probably not be converted. If I used more specific yeast, I could put more in which is why Alcotec 48 for example has 8 bags of sugar. The benefit is of course price - bakers yeast is 1/8 of the price, so although my yield per bucket is lower, the number of buckets I can make is much higher - plus I like the taste more!
Hope this makes sense, if anything else is bothering you then ask away!

[pi55ed]

Should i leave it another week.......??
Once bakers yeast has hit its peek.. does the alcohol start reducing????

Or does it stay dorment at say 14% until i clear it.....?........ obviously i dont want to loose any alcohol content........
I have also run out of turboklar too............ could i use 2 packs of youngs wine finnings each sufficiant to clear 23 litres of wine...... or is this not as good as turboklar????????

[bluecap]

Hi in answer to your first question no the alcohol is safe, well until you drink it anyway.
What i would do is first let it stop bubbling or bubbling about about once a minute, test it with a hydrometer but from what you have said i’m pretty sure it will be ok, if there is a sediment on the bottom siphon it of into a clean sterilised bucket taking care not to disturbed the sediment at the bottom add if you have them 5 crushed camden tablets to kill any leftover yeast also it will sterilises the wash, give it a good stirring to get some gas out and add one lot of your finings, leave it a few days and if it still cloudy repeat the process - the camden tablets, there’s no need for more camden tablets and hopefully it should clear enough to distil.
One more thing i have started doing is transferring 4 litres of wash to a small bucket and de-gassing it just prior to distilling it.
Hope this helps.

Mick

[Jimmy]

No, you won't lose any alcohol - all that happens is that yeast can only survive in certain concentrations of alcohol. Of course, only live yeast is actually making alcohol for you. Other things that can kill yeast are high temperatures (over 40 degrees C generally) and other bacteria, etc which is why we sterilise our equipment and keep a lid on with an airlock (most of the time) to stop airborne nasties getting in. Some Turbos say not to use an airlock - this is because they work so fast, there is that much carbon dioxide coming off that the surrounding air can't get near the brew! Cold doesn't kill yeast, but it makes it stop working until things heat up again (above about 17 degrees C).
So, in a nutshell - you put your brew on, and the yeast grabs all the available oxygen to reproduce itself until such time as there is so much of it that it covers the surface with a layer of CO2. At this point it starts making alcohol by converting the available sugar. It will carry on until either the yeast dies through contamination (unlikely if you've done it right), the temperature rises too high (can happen with large fermentations as the fermentation itself produces heat, but not likely in a typical home setting), the sugar runs out (which is why you generally follow a recipe or use prior knowledge) or finally when the alcohol concentration gets too high.
Whichever way happens, when the yeast is dead it will begin to sink to the bottom as sediment. If you've run out of sugar or killed it with high temperature, then you can add more sugar/yeast to kick it off again sometimes and the dead yeast acts as a nutrient for the live stuff - mmmm, cannibalism! Chances are though, if you followed a recipe then it'll be as done as it's going to get. Telltale signs are that it's stopped fizzing, you can't see any bubbles, and you start to see the sediment forming. Also, like I said earlier, if you've followed instructions then it'll probably not taste sweet.
Wine finings will probably work although I've never tried them, depending on how cold your location is it'll probably take a few days to a week or two to clear naturally so depends on how desperate you are!

[pi55ed]

I think iam gonna just leave it another week, or actually until its stopped being active, like i said earlier i followed the recipe and there was all that sugar,tomato, and i put more nutrient in too so its probably still feeding.... the bottom is full of sediment.... the container is still on a heat tray pad......so the heat is still rising through the sediment obviously..... i will get some turboklar and use that i think.....

Initially i fitted the airlock, but that much gas forced all tomato etc through the airlock, so i had to leave the lid balanced on top until gas slowed down the lid is fastened down now........ hope i didnt let any airbourne nasties in, but the mix is that rich i had no choice....

Although i tried to be as sterile as i could, it smells good through the airlock though
I actually just checked the container up close with a lamp and bubbles are still rising from the bottom, airlock is still quite frequent, there is still a layer of white fizz bubbles to top...... so looks like its still feeding i think?????

[Jimmy]

Sounds like it to me! You can usually hear it fizzing when it's really going - the yeast dies off quite quickly once it reaches too much alcohol so you should be able to tell, but it does take a while to settle after that. I know it's frustrating, but the longer you leave it the stronger it will be and the more booze you will get at the end!