Hi all,newbie here Turbo yeats question help!

[carlg340]

hi to all on the forum , i wonder if anyone can help answer a question , i have just made a wash using alcotec 23% estreme alcohol turbo yeast,but didn't use Dextrose Mono hydrate sugar i used normal sugar(an over site as i never read the instruction properly)

it finished at 20% and i must say had plenty of those "off flavours " i have seen others complain about(on other forums) with these super fast high alcohol kits, i but 4 liters (originally) 3x through the smart still and seems to have sorted that out, leaving me with a very clear "vodka"

now i am a complete newbie but not a silly idiot, could my not using the right sugar have promoted the manufacturer of methyl alcohol? is there a way to tell (besides fading eye sight and death??) should i bin the lot and start again?? regards carl

[Phantom]

No it shouldn't be a problem. Still Spirits "triple distilled turbo yeast" is what's recommended for the smart stills by them. Their instructions say 6 kg of table sugar or 7kg of dextrose (a.k.a. Glucose).
If you used the same amount of table sugar as the instructions said about for dextrose then you'll probably have had some residual sugar - dextrose is about 80% of the sweetness of table sugar, which is mainly glucose but also has some fructose and maltose in it (naturally).
Also getting dextrose/glucose in bulk at a reasonable price can be a complete PITA. Yes you can often find it in the local HBS in 1kg bags, labelled as corn sugar, brewing sugar, etc etc but at about £2 or so a kilo isn't cheap. If you can find it in bulk then it can work out at less than a £ per kilo.
The still spirits stuff (yeast as above) is designed to make 25 litres of wash at about 14% ABV, so when it's been through the still, you end up with about 5 litres at about 60% ABV. Which will have already been through the carbon filter "T bag", so it should be fine.
You'll find that table sugar is fine, but in any case, it's probably worth bining the first 20 ml's of distillate per 4 litre batch of wash - that's where you'd find any nasties. You'll also find that if you had the relevant testing kit that you will always produce a tiny amount of methanol, but it's quantity is insignificant.
All those myths about blindness etc from the prohibition days in the states, where apparently caused by the fact that they were using any old crap to up the strength.
Though I have read in a couple of places, that it's best to use cane sugar, rather than beet sugar - I don't know why, but my local tescos sells "Whitworths" sugar in 5 kg bags, which is what I used. For cane sugar it's either Whitworths or Tate and Lyle. British Sugar/Silver Spoon is beet sugar.
Dunno if that helps any!

[Jimmy]

That's interesting about the cane/beet - I did not know that!

[Phantom]

Dunno whether I read it on the net or in one of the books I've got.
I don't recall that they ever explained why it might be like that either!