StillSmart

Personally myself i agree with jimmy, the taste is slightly different than turbo, you do get less bottles, it is cheaper,..

But slower fermentation time....,

But if you are not in a hurry to get some spirit, again agreeing with jimmy the cheaper price and sometimes better quality product, then why buy turbo's

Since jimmy brought this recipe here i havnt made a turbo since, and it has saved money on postage etc,..

Agreed, i have put less litres through my still but i have got good 80% returns, that said! once i have cut the 80% down to 40% i am happy with the taste and product, and all that for the price of basically a little sugar and yeast on cost....

In the shops its all tax, you dont know whats in it when you buy cheap vodka..

When you make your own you know theres no rubbish added...

And if you cut it down even further to say 20% or even 10% on home made alcopops for summer etc (for the missus!) then basically it costs less than a bottle of the original cheap stuff, or free if you cut it all down to 10% alcopops...

Having said that, it would cost you more for a bag of alcotec 48........

Thats my theory anyway !!......... maybe iam wrong i have just done a 24 hour shift at work thats my excuse if iam not cost effective ideas.......
?????????????

pi55ed : i'm suprised that your tomatoe wash is slower than the 48hr turbo. My tomatoe wash was days faster than the 48hr turbo.
Price is of course an issue, (or i probably wouldnt have started this to begin with)maybe stuff here costs different amounts as the cost between the turbo and the tomatoe works out at about 20 cents, (about 10p) a bottle, there are three HB shops within 20mins of where i live so availability is easy for me, i'm pretty lucky there.
I just want the one that tastes the best.

I just remembered the name of the yeast in the wash at the moment its the Essencia Ultra Pure. It was about $4 more than the turbo it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Anyone used it?????

I havnt used the yeast you mentioned....

The tomato wash i made does start off faster than a turbo as you said, pretty damn fast actually, but with me adding extra nutrients too as well as tomato, it goes some more, and i let it max out for two weeks or more.

Its probably done before that time, and the bubbling as virtually stopped, i like to leave it as long as i can, and the majority of the time its very clear so i dont use turbo klar, i just rack it to another container and shake the hell out of it to release the air left before i still it.....

You are right that the turbo sometimes is better tasting,but i seem to have less off tastes with the bakers yeast or wine yeast........

Either way whether we use cheap yeast or turbo yeast, its still cost effective on us all.......

As i said i have a tomato wash at moment going with a youngs dessert high tolerance yeast, interested to see what abv% i get on that.....

The last general wine yeast i used came out very clear and produced less sediment than the bakers yeast......
I wonder if i could make a demijohn of tomato puree wine, would this work? and i wonder how many tubes it would take at 200g per tube?
Could make a summer blush wine if i add some extra sugar what you all think????????

just an update, Essencia Ultra Pure its better than the 48hr turbo, but only just.

Stick to the tomatoe wash

Not sure if there\'s a point that\'s been missed here
I have no idea how long the tomato wash recipes\' been around, but I can understand why the lot over at home distiller use it.....Lots of them make big batches i.e. 50, or even 100 litres plus
So in that case, there\'s a cost imperative.....
I haven\'t done a test or different yeasts - it\'s something I\'ve been thinking about though.....
The point of using table sugar to produce a sugar/turbo wash is that it\'s supposed to produce \"neutral spirit\" to reduce the possibility of \"inherited flavours\", when used with commercial flavourings.
Personally, I\'m just into making as good a quality of neutral spirit as possible, so I can then try, and work out which of the commercial flavourings are (to my taste/opinion) the most enjoyable.
Yes, if like Jimmy says, there\'s no chance of getting locally sourced turbo\'s etc then it\'s a case of experimenting to work out what is best for you. Personally I\'m not quite so fussed about cutting the costs down as far as I can...
I don\'t like using bread yeasts, it tends to \"poop out\" when it\'s got as far as the alcohol tolerance (which is quite low). Hence I prefer either turbo\'s or decent wine yeasts (Lalvin ones by preference). That way it\'s easier to control the variables (nutrient, acidity, etc etc). Plus bread yeast doesn\'t flocculate very well, and it\'s too easy to disturb the sediment (whether finings have been used or not).
It\'s a bit like when I mix my batches of wash.....I try to make it so that it will convert directly to as near to the designed 14% as possible (in the case of the SS triple distilled yeast turbo pack) with a hydrometer. So I can retain maximum control of those variables.
Hence, I\'m guessing that unless you try to get as high a purity level as possible, there\'s always gonna be the likelyhood of having a small amount of residual flavour from the original wash, which would be tomato from the tomato wash......

I\'ve tried a few different yeasts maybe 4 or 5 and for me the bakers yeast gives the least off smells and tastes.

For me the money does come into it or i wouldnt have started this in the first place but the cost difference between bakers and a turbo is at a guess about $5 per wash, over the amount of bottles you get that cost is insignificant really.
Anyhow for me tomatoe was gives best results and no residual tomatoe aftertaste.
I havent used a wine yeast yet, i will one day, i like th shound of usung a desert wine yeast

I\'ve tried a few different yeasts maybe 4 or 5 and for me the bakers yeast gives the least off smells and tastes.

For me the money does come into it or i wouldnt have started this in the first place but the cost difference between bakers and a turbo is at a guess about $5 per wash, over the amount of bottles you get that cost is insignificant really.
Anyhow for me tomatoe was gives best results and no residual tomatoe aftertaste.
I havent used a wine yeast yet, i will one day, i like the sound of using a desert wine yeast

I\'ve used both the "dessert/high alcohol" wine yeast and the Lalvin EC1118. I\'m not sure where the former actually falls in the category of wine yeasts (or whether you\'d get it outside the UK - it\'s produced/marketed by Youngs) whereas the Lalvin EC1118 is specifically a champagne yeast - though I\'d guess that it wouldn\'t be too hard to just use it in something to get the high alcohol and then backsweeten enough to make it like a dessert wine.
I haven\'t tried either for producing a wash yet (next batch ). I\'d guess that the trick would be getting the right nutrient/acid levels, to reduce the possibility of stuck ferments, reduced "lag phase", etc etc.
I can\'t see why it shouldn\'t do the trick though. The Lalvin one is tolerant to about 18% ABV, though I\'ve read that you can push it to 20% + if the ferment is managed correctly.
It\'s just a bit weird for me, thinking about comparing the use of yeasts like that for wash, I mean, if sugar has the right nutrients/acids etc, is it really any different from making a batch of fruit wine ?? Probably not.......
Definitely worth a try though. The turbo packs I get are about £3.50 and it\'s got me wondering, because I already have the nutrients and acids, for my wines/meads, so it would be a saving of about £2 to £2.50 (3 $US +).
If/when I try it, I\'ll post the exact recipe I use (and method of course).......