Wash not clearing

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Wash not clearing

Postby Jimmy » Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:50 pm

After getting a T500 I wanted something to run through it FAST so I grabbed a pack of Alcotec 48 as it's all I could get locally. I've never done the full sugar amount with it before, I used a couple when I first started but this time I put the full Del Monte and off it went, so far so good.

After about 8 days it had all died down so I figured it was time to clear. Whisked it all up and then did the business with the Turbo Klar, came back next day and it looks like milk, not clear at all! I wondered if maybe the fermentation had started again but I put the lid back on and no bubbles from the airlock. Never had this before with any other wash, they've all cleared fine.

Anyone else seen this!??!
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Re: Wash not clearing

Postby optic » Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:14 pm

Had the same thing happen with a Vodkastar wash about a year ago,I seem to remember adding another Turbo Klar to it and it did eventually clear after about a month.Hope yours dont take so long Jimmy,suppose its sods law when you need a wash ready to run A.S.A.P.

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Re: Wash not clearing

Postby alan » Sun Oct 30, 2011 9:18 pm

hi jimmy did you rack the wash off befor adding the turbo klar :D
a woman drove me to drink and i didn;t even have the decency to thank her
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Re: Wash not clearing

Postby Jimmy » Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:15 am

Racked it off again and left it a few days, seems to be clearing slowly... strange! I will see how it looks by the end of the week and might chuck another sachet of finings in if I think it might clear for the weekend.
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Re: Wash not clearing

Postby fredytee » Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:51 pm

does the wash clear better in warm or cold conditions?

just added some turbo klar to a bucket of vodka star and dont know if i should keep nit in the hotpress or the garage!

thanks
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Re: Wash not clearing

Postby Capt-Cudellez » Fri Dec 09, 2011 11:02 pm

Cold is best - When its around freezing my washes clear in no time at all.
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Re: Wash not clearing

Postby mozr » Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:08 am

Both my Vodka Star washes had trouble clearing after a good ferment with full sugar. Even then I could not get either to clear as good as my previous triple distilled. I am beginning to think that the activated carbon actually helps the finings grab hold of the yeast to help flocculation as well as get rid of some impurities.

It's a head scratcher.

Got an alcotec48 on just to test it. Will clear tomorrow, and leave it in the back garden.
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Re: Wash not clearing

Postby Capt-Cudellez » Sat Dec 10, 2011 11:29 am

Cool temps and time will clear most things - as Jimmy said previously, you have to be really gentle when stirring in liquid finings else you render them useless.

I find leaving them somewhere cool for 3-4 weeks will clear them without finings even if left on the lees - the stuff down near the bottom of the fermenter isn't great so I leave 5l in a 60L fermenter.

so I rack off 45-50L into the stripper then rack the last 5 in to a 30L fermenter - once you have done 4 of these I have 20 odd litres in the wee fermenter that I will add finings to.

I will do this over 4-6 weeks as I only strip 100l wash per spirit run for neutral - and only do a spirit run every 6-8 weeks or so. I'm only using 2 x 60L fermenters for Neutral on a constant cycle.
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