How clear is clear?

by **HangOver** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:47 pm

I only noticed tonight that the 24L wash tub has about an inch of sediment on the bottom.

Out of curiosity I drew another x4L of wash but this time syphoned it from the top. It looks much clearer than the one from yesterday. I put these in the fridge too. I now have x4 2L bottles in the fridge that look pretty similar.
I was wondering when the wash is described as "clear" does it mean clear as in transparently clear eg water/vodka? The x4 bottles i put in the fridge look more like weakly diluted orange cordial or very weak tea.
As i havent done this before just not sure HOW clear is clear?

by **quietman** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:25 pm

Mine was as clear as water both times, perhaps you could try using a wine filter.
Regards, Q

by **HangOver** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:38 pm

i'll check out the homebrew place tomorrow if its still not clear.
so yours just looked clear and colourless like water?

by **quietman** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:12 pm

perfectly clear and colourless, like water
Q

by **pi55ed** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:28 pm

I have done my turboklar 2 days ago, and iam going to syphon mine off tonight into 5 litre bottles with 4 litres in each....... hopefully mine will be very clear too...

Looks a bit pink but maybe thats the tub still having a little tomato around the rim ??

It looks clear enough tome though........

Even with my turbo yeast i have never got it 100% clear, but comes out at 40% and crystal clear.....

Will let you folks know tonight

Hopefully as clear as a NUNS conscience

by **Jimmy** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:20 am

The tomato wash always seems to come out a little pink, but it's not like watery soup or anything, just a slight tint. It works fine though! Every time I've used a turbo it has looked like milk while it's working, then cleared down to being pretty much like water. Depends what else you put in...?

by **pi55ed** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:50 am

Ok 8-30pm here and syphoned mine off too, it too is like very diluted orange cordial, or for a better word, looks like pi55.....

but very clear pi55 .

My guess is that the colour is from the tomato red pigment..

It tasted very sweet mine, quite pleasant and drinkable as it is....

Only hope there is alcohol in it,,,

It smelled like strong wine in the container, but when i got some in my mouth it was very sugary to taste, but in the bottles smells like wine...

I took approx 18 litres out without hitting the bottom to be safe

Is the sweet sugary taste suggesting it wasnt done, or that there was a lot to start with, as it was going for 19 days.........

by **quietman** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:55 am

I suggest you distill it and see
Regards, Q

by **Jimmy** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 3:19 am

If it is sugary then there was either too much sugar for the yeast, or else it wasn't finished. The only way to tell properly would be to take a start and finish reading with a hydrometer - says the man who appears to have lost his...
Anyway, get a batch run through and see how it comes out! It does taste quite nice even before it is distilled, but it's better after!

by **quietman** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 3:31 am

go for it pi55ed
Q

by **pi55ed** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 3:52 am

If there was too much sugar for the yeast, does that mean there will be no alcohol ??

by **Jimmy** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:30 am

No, what I mean is that because the yeast can only get to a certain percentage (say 14%) then once it hits that it doesn't matter how many more bags of sugar you put in because it won't be able to process them. It's possible that your yeast has done all that it could but there is still more sugar that another type of yeast could potentially have used or that you could have left out to save money. That's the most likely explanation, providing the yeast wasn't killed off in some other way. In my recipe, that's what has worked for me so far but different brands of yeast may take more or less sugar. Mine had a sweetness to it anyway but I think it was deceptive as the tomato wash tastes different to the turbo types.
Run it through the still and measure it - it's the only way to be sure!

by **pi55ed** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:14 am

1st batch is going through....... had a taste of 1st drops to tongue taste and definately spirit coming out initially, we will see what the volume percent is in approx 1+ hours, although didnt burn the tongue like the turbo brew does on its 1st few drops....

If it does come out at less than 40% i will turn it to alcopops and thin it down, i have a feeling its not going to hit 40% but i will know later......

Anybody got a good recipe for 10 litres of wash using wine yeast instead of bakers yeast?????
What happens if i put too much of ''any yeast'' into my early stage of a wash, will it just use up more sugar, and leave more sediment? or give a cloudier wash???

by **Jimmy** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:55 pm

Hmmm, I wonder what has happened there! What brand of yeast did you use out of interest? You can always take less to get a higher percentage too. Perhaps it wasn't actually finished, the sweetness would indicate that the wash could have been stronger.
Yeast is a funny thing, in theory it doesn't matter too much if there's not enough because it will make more of itself with the oxygen, but obviously if you put a ton of it in then you'll end up with a lot of sediment. The idea is basically to get the job done with as little as possible, it's not an exact science (well, not in a home setting anyway).

by **pi55ed** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 4:17 pm

SPIRIT AT LAST...

I used Allinsons dry bakers yeast as per the tomato menu,

I put my 1st batch through, and got 900 ml which is exactly 30% ABV with my spirit hydrometer..

Could i have gotten that to say 40%, if i had taken less out than 900ml..