Best Sugar Wash for Neutral

gizzer48

What wash would anyone recommend for neutral spirits?

Tried turbos with awful smells/taste in final product ,running a 4 inch dash with 7 pro cap bubble sections.

FloridaCracker

TPW without turbo.

Sunshine

plain sugar wash with apple juice

punkin

TPW (tomato paste wash) is probably the most common sugar wash out there. Also originally known as Birdwatchers Sugar Wash.

gizzer48

What strain yeast would you recommend for tpw ?

punkin

EC1118 or 1116 is the most popular. I like the 1116 (red star Premier cuvee)

bachman

I have to agree with TPW, but I just use bread yeast

FloridaCracker

So do I. There may be "cleaner" tasting yeasts (of course there are) for a neutral but I have had no problem in getting rid of any yeast flavors in the spirit. Waiting until the wash is crystal clear really helps.

Rpman2

@punkin. Where can I get the EC1118 or 1116 from in Melbourne. I've been getting the turbo classic from brewcraft in Oakley.

punkin

The red star yeast should be available (in small packs anyway) from pretty much any HBS. If you have a good relationship you could ask them about sorting a brick for you.

Rpman2

@punkin. Much appreciated

crozdog

@Rpman2 said: punkin. Where can I get the EC1118 or 1116 from in Melbourne. I've been getting the turbo classic from brewcraft in Oakley.

try winequip

Kapea

I am a yeast farmer. I keep a yeast bank of beer yeasts, and use packets of dry wine yeasts. I have to say that Red Star Bakers Yeast works very well for sugar washes, and at $3.49 for a two pound brick it is a very good value. You can dump a shitload of rehydrated yeast into your fermenter and the lag time is about 87 seconds. Easy, speasy 1, 2, threesy. I have had it ferment sugar washes that started at SG 1.110 down to <0.990

But an original gravity of 1.080 or less is mo bettah. It finishes a whole lot faster and drops clear in just a few days.

Red Star Premier Cuvee will attenuate the black right off of a car tire. Very powerful fermenter with high alcohol tolerance.

FWIW, I liked WPOSW for my sugar wash. Never tried TPW.

However, I use UJSM for making my neutral now. The grains make a better tasting neutral, and the grains provide enough yeast nutrients so that chemical yeast nutrient additions are not necessary.

SBB_

It wont matter a lot what you use, even bakers yeast is going to make a superior spirit to the dreaded Turbo yeast.

Rpman2

Thanks guys. No more Turbo yeast for me.

FloridaCracker

I use the Red Star and it has never let me down. Cheap.

bachman

Can't beat it for the price, I only use it for tpw washes, I usually have an SG around 1070 and it finishes at least at 1000

gizzer48

How much of the red star yeast would you use start a 50 litre wash with SG of 1070??

bachman

Maybe a couple of tablespoons sprinkled on top

Anavrin

We have a recipe over here in the UK using red lentils as a yeast nutrient, just soak 500gr of lentils in boiling water until it cools then add to make 25litres of wash containing 5kg of dissolved sugar, and pitch 60 grams of bread yeast, always ferments dry and clears well, if a little orange coloured from the lentils.

Some people also slightly boil the lentils and/or mush them up in a blender.

Kapea

I use a half cup of dry yeast in 25L of wash (it's cheap, why not?). Rehydrating the yeast before pitching helps the yeast to be healthy and produce significantly less undesirables during fermentation. The yeast will work dry right out of the bag, but rehydration is easy and makes for way better fermentation and distillation.

To rehydrate I put 500mL of water only in a 1L Erlenmeyer flask and heat it in the microwave to 100-104 dgrees F (25 seconds in my microwave). Then as I swirl the water in the flask I sprinkle the yeast into the water slowly enough so that the yeast doesn't clump and make dough balls. Then I let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes. At 15 minutes you'll notice some foam forming. At 30 minutes it will be climbing out of the flask.

Then I pour it into the fermenter and stir.

This is rehydration, NOT making a starter. Making a starter is something completely different. Only use water to rehydrate. Do not use any type of sugar in the water. It interferes with the rehydration process.

A quart size mason jar works just as well as an 1L Erlenmeyer flask.

bachman

There is a tpw calculator on a different forum, it will give you everything you need to know, you can Google it also

FloridaCracker

I use a full cup for 26 gallons, rehydrated like Kapea stated except I do add a very small amount of the wash in with the warm water. Maybe half a cup to a gallon of warm water. Within 15 minutes you better be ready to stir it in or you will have a cleanup on aisle 5.

Moonshine

@bachman said: There is a tpw calculator on a different forum, it will give you everything you need to know, you can Google it also

https://calc.StillDragon.org

Anavrin

Impressed with the Calc page, is it new or has it always been there?

I'm on my mobile phone most of the time so only see the mobile version on the forum

fadge

Its a slightly hidden gem, when it was linked early on on another thread, I saved it as a bookmark synced from pc to phone, so easy on the phone when out in the shed wanting a calc. I use the diluting calc the most.

fadge

Rpman2

Hi guys. I've got some citric acid from bunnings. What's the best to use.

Kapea

Cleaning the scale off of your pH meter's probe.