Fermentation hasn't started

CornyKegs 728
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podz said:
Turbo yeast will start after an hour or two and only takes a few hours to ferment. You might have just missed the entire event.

Gravity measurement?
Click to expand...

The gravity is the same.

Now, there are lots of bubbles in the tube that I test the gravity in, but it simply tastes like sugar water.

I wish I'd just missed it.
 
podz said:
Which kind of yeast did you use?

To ferment sugar-water, you need a huge amount turbo yeast and a huge amount of nutrient. They typically both come in the same huge package.

Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064O78HE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Click to expand...

I followed the recipe there, but used SS Triple Distilled Turbo Yeast. It was a very large package.

I did stir it after I put in the package of yeast... would that destroy it?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Renegade-Boozer said:
I followed the recipe there, but used SS Triple Distilled Turbo Yeast. It was a very large package.

I did stir it after I put in the package of yeast... would that destroy it?
Click to expand...

Stirring shouldn't cause any harm. What temperature did you pitch the yeast into?

One thing you could try is putting it into a warmer room and see if that gets it started.
 
podz said:
Stirring shouldn't cause any harm. What temperature did you pitch the yeast into?

One thing you could try is putting it into a warmer room and see if that gets it started.
Click to expand...

I pitched at 26 degrees C. It says 30, but I'd slightly messed up the boiled water & cool water and ended up at 26. I never accounted for the mass of the dextrose.

I'll give it a shot at putting it in a warmer room. Thanks for the tips.
 
Aaaand... I'm starting to hear some gurgling through the water lock.

So it looks like your tip about the temperature change has got it jump started.

Now, it could be simply water expansion due to heat, but I really doubt that. I'll post back later on how things turn out.
 
Yep, turbo yeast needs high temps to work. It's designed differently than the typical brewing yeasts because off-flavors are not a concern - typically the product needs to be carbon filtered in order to be palatable. At least here in finnish supermarkets they sell bags of carbon right next to the packs of turbo yeast. Line a pasta strainer with coffee filters, then fill it full of the carbon and spigot right through your filter into another vessel. Probably you need to change the carbon after the first filter and then repeat the process a second time.

Another thing, turbo yeast doesn't flocculate very well at all so you need to add finings to get it clear (before filtering). Powdered gelatin from the baking section of the supermarket works just as well.
 
First, thanks a lot for the help. I was worried that I'd just burned all that dextrose and yeast. (I wish there were a Dogecoin tip in the forum software.)

podz said:
Yep, turbo yeast needs high temps to work. It's designed differently than the typical brewing yeasts because off-flavors are not a concern - typically the product needs to be carbon filtered in order to be palatable.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that 18 or so would be ok, but, apparently not. I've got it in my office near a heater now.

And, it's gurgling very nicely now. So, it's not water expansion -- the fermentation has started nicely here.


podz said:
At least here in finnish supermarkets they sell bags of carbon right next to the packs of turbo yeast. Line a pasta strainer with coffee filters, then fill it full of the carbon and spigot right through your filter into another vessel. Probably you need to change the carbon after the first filter and then repeat the process a second time.
Click to expand...

Hmm... interesting.

I've not seen any solid carbon at the home brew shop here. Is there anything specific I should look for? e.g. Could I use those wood-carbon bricks used for mini-gardens? (Sorry if I sound silly - but often many things like this can be repurposed.)

podz said:
Another thing, turbo yeast doesn't flocculate very well at all so you need to add finings to get it clear (before filtering). Powdered gelatin from the baking section of the supermarket works just as well.
Click to expand...

Ah... didn't know that. I do have a 2-stage packet set for that from SS. If I don't get enough flocculation, the supermarket is a lot closer than the home brew shop. I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks again! You've really helped a lot here! :)
 
Renegade-Boozer said:
I've not seen any solid carbon at the home brew shop here. Is there anything specific I should look for? e.g. Could I use those wood-carbon bricks used for mini-gardens? (Sorry if I sound silly - but often many things like this can be repurposed.)
Click to expand...

You're welcome.

If you live in the US, I think you can buy activated carbon in Wal-Mart at the aquarium supplies section. It's not "solid", rather lots of little pieces. Activated carbon being the key.
 
podz said:
You're welcome.

If you live in the US, I think you can buy activated carbon in Wal-Mart at the aquarium supplies section. It's not "solid", rather lots of little pieces. Activated carbon being the key.
Click to expand...

Ah! Right. Activated. I knew that there was something there that I was forgetting, but just couldn't remember.

And yes - I knew that granules are perfectly fine. (I meant solid as contrasted to a liquid, but thanks for the clarification there.)

From what you're describing though, it sounds like a counter-top water filter with activated carbon would work, e.g. a Brita. (FWIW - I wouldn't use a Brita, ever.)

It's still gurgling very happily behind me! :tank: I love the sound of happy yeast! :D
 
bu_gee said:
Why so much?
Click to expand...

Because we are talking about filtering out a significant quantity of really bad off-flavors from a full-sized batch of turbo wash. This is pretty nasty stuff and it needs a serious level of surface exposure to activated carbon to clean it up. The amount of carbon in a brita filter just isn't enough. You'd need like 20 of them, and they are expensive, whereas bulk activated carbon is cheap. Youl should be able tp pick it up for less than 5 bucks a kilo. If you are going to be making turbo wash often, then you should probably consider buying a 15kg sack of activated carbon - similar in appearance to the big bags of dog food you see in supermarkets.
 
podz said:
...Youl should be able tp pick it up for less than 5 bucks a kilo.
Click to expand...

Best I could do where I live on short notice was $20/kg ($13.50/kg + shipping). I think I may be able to do better, but I'll need to look around more.

podz said:
If you are going to be making turbo wash often, then you should probably consider buying a 15kg sack of activated carbon - similar in appearance to the big bags of dog food you see in supermarkets.
Click to expand...

I'll keep this in mind. This is my first experiment with it, so I'm really just playing around at the moment.

Again, thanks for the input. It's been very helpful! :mug:
 
Renegade-Boozer said:
Best I could do where I live on short notice was $20/kg ($13.50/kg + shipping). I think I may be able to do better, but I'll need to look around more.
Click to expand...

There isn't any free lunch. Activated carbon is the price you need to pay for fast, cheap booze that doesn't taste like piss. The temperature range was even specifically developed for people who live in "kerrostalot", i.e. tall apartment buildings with central heating where it's always too warm. These are the poorest city dwellers.

I've never used turbo yeast before, but I wrote a dissertation on it and that's why I know so much about it and it's target audience. It can be used for distillation wash, but in most cases it's not.
 
podz said:
There isn't any free lunch. Activated carbon is the price you need to pay for fast, cheap booze that doesn't taste like piss.
Click to expand...

Heh! Yup. I was a bit surprised at the difference when I looked though.


podz said:
The temperature range was even specifically developed for people who live in "kerrostalot", i.e. tall apartment buildings with central heating where it's always too warm. These are the poorest city dwellers.

I've never used turbo yeast before, but I wrote a dissertation on it and that's why I know so much about it and it's target audience. It can be used for distillation wash, but in most cases it's not.
Click to expand...

Interesting. This is the first time I've tried it, and I don't have a still. :) I basically just experiment with something new each time, and when I found out about turbo yeast, it sounded like a fun thing to try.
 
Renegade-Boozer said:
Heh! Yup. I was a bit surprised at the difference when I looked though.
Click to expand...

Here are a few sources of cheap, bulk activated carbon in the US:

http://www.milehidistilling.com/bulk-premium-quality-activated-stone-carbon-27-5-pounds-20x50-mesh/

http://www.brewhaus.com/Bulk-Activated-Stone-Carbon-Premium-Grade-04-085mm-275lbs-P1040C90.aspx


Google Shopping opens up some choices as well.

If you don't happen to live in the US, perhaps you could visit a small distillery and just ask to buy some from them.

Yes, it's interesting that, for example here in Finland, they sell turbo yeast and activated carbon, etc, in EVERY supermarket in the country (supermarkets being classified as either Prisma or Citymarket) as well as many other smalller stores. Turbo yeast is specifically designed to produce cheap alcohol fast, i.e. only by adding sugar and water you get 14% ABV in 24 hours and 20% ABV in one week if you add enough sugar. In finnish language, that is called "kilju" and it's production, posession, sale, and or consumption are all illegal. The police even have laboratory testing equipment to allow them to detect if somebody's homebrew is containing an acceptable amount of unfermentable solids in it or not. Yet turbo yeast, which is specifically designed to produce kilju, is not illegal here. Even more interesting to note is that the price of sugar is also highly controlled in this country because the authorities know that people need bulk sugar to make kilju, so it's sort of like a type of indirect alcohol tax on sugar for poor people. To further compound the interest, in many places where they sell turbo yeast they also sell bottles of essence flavoring. These generally resemble the flavors found in popular brand-name liqueurs such as Jägermeister, Amaretto di Sarone, etc and so forth.

The swedes actually developed an even faster turbo yeast a few years ago. I think it can produce 24% ABV in about 3 days or so. You see, both unemployment and alcohol taxes in scandinavia are extremely high. That creates a large demand for cheap booze. It's a social problem.
 
podz said:
If you don't happen to live in the US, perhaps you could visit a small distillery and just ask to buy some from them.
Click to expand...

That's an idea. I did find one other reasonable source, but need to email them as their online ordering doesn't seem to work properly.

podz said:
Yes, it's interesting that, for example here in Finland, they sell turbo yeast and activated carbon, etc, in EVERY supermarket in the country (supermarkets being classified as either Prisma or Citymarket) as well as many other smalller stores. Turbo yeast is specifically designed to produce cheap alcohol fast, i.e. only by adding sugar and water you get 14% ABV in 24 hours and 20% ABV in one week if you add enough sugar. In finnish language, that is called "kilju" and it's production, posession, sale, and or consumption are all illegal. The police even have laboratory testing equipment to allow them to detect if somebody's homebrew is containing an acceptable amount of unfermentable solids in it or not. Yet turbo yeast, which is specifically designed to produce kilju, is not illegal here. Even more interesting to note is that the price of sugar is also highly controlled in this country because the authorities know that people need bulk sugar to make kilju, so it's sort of like a type of indirect alcohol tax on sugar for poor people. To further compound the interest, in many places where they sell turbo yeast they also sell bottles of essence flavoring. These generally resemble the flavors found in popular brand-name liqueurs such as Jägermeister, Amaretto di Sarone, etc and so forth.
Click to expand...

That's simply bizarre. Kilju is illegal, but the yeast isn't... and it's sold everywhere...

Sad to hear that sugar is taxed like that. It just seems like a *****ey move on the part of government. (Not that making brewing your own isn't *****ey enough already.) But hey, what do you expect from busy-bodies that throw people in prison for smoking flowers?

My batch here is still happily gurgling away on day 5 with no sign of slowing down.

It is certainly much different than brewing beer or ginger ale.

podz said:
The swedes actually developed an even faster turbo yeast a few years ago. I think it can produce 24% ABV in about 3 days or so. You see, both unemployment and alcohol taxes in scandinavia are extremely high. That creates a large demand for cheap booze. It's a social problem.
Click to expand...

Faster at 24%!?! WOW! (Dunno if I'd want to try that or not...)

Regarding social problems, you may find this interesting:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtcltD8mOPw[/ame]

The fellow there (medical addiction researcher) puts forward that addiction isn't so much about addiction as it is about the lack of a better option to pursue, e.g. unemployment. So, solve the other problems, and the addiction disappears.

He's got a compelling argument.
 
As a follow up...

Horrible. Terrible. STAY AWAY!!!

Without filtering it through activated carbon, it's simply horrid. I did some more reading, and there are compounds in there that cause clinical depression, which explained why I was feeling like complete **** with suicidal thoughts.

I never even got drunk. I drank enough that I thought I would, but I was certainly a long way away from drunk. (SG was about 1.3 and FG was 1.03 IIRC. Yeah... struck me as bizarre as well.)

Filtering through activated carbon, it still tastes like ****. Either way, I had to drown it in lemon juice and sugar to make it even remotely palatable. Seems that the activated carbon filters out some of the alcohol, but that struck me as very odd -- drinking it without filtering it certainly had more effect than the filtered bits. I can't explain why that would be so. I thought that the activated carbon would let the ethanol through.

Also, dealing with activated carbon is just nasty. You have to clean it very well or it just pollutes your batch with carbon dust so that you end up with black/gray liquid. With limited facilities and equipment, this is very time consuming and annoying.

Anyways, I had read some on turbo yeast, but didn't think it would be that vile. I expected it to be drinkable. Not so.

For those in Australia, you can compare it to methylated spirits like Diggers alcohol -- it's similar. I use Diggers as a spray to kill pantry moths, but did a taste test to see, and there's a striking resemblance - both are vile. FYI - Diggers tastes vile! In fact, it is cheaper, faster and easier just to buy methylated spirits, if you can stomach them. (Yeah - it's THAT bad.)

This turbo yeast without distilling is a waste of time.

Definitely not recommended.

I'm dumping it and calling it a lesson learned. Which sucks, as I'd spent a fair bit on the ingredients and activated carbon. Dextrose certainly isn't cheap here at about $3.50/kg -- I can get organic cane sugar for significantly less. I can spend a lot less on a good beer or ginger ale and get far, far, far better results.
 
Isn't it ironic that in Finnish language it's called "kilju" (which is pronounced "kill you"). Kilju means "scream" in Finnish, but they named it so due to the double entendre - drinking this stuff will make you scream and it makes you feel like it will kill you.

Activated carbon doesn't remove alcohol. It's in use by every distillery on the planet. Anyway, activated carbon isn't a bad thing to have around the house - it has many uses.
 
podz said:
Isn't it ironic that in Finnish language it's called "kilju" (which is pronounced "kill you"). Kilju means "scream" in Finnish, but they named it so due to the double entendre - drinking this stuff will make you scream and it makes you feel like it will kill you.
Click to expand...

Oh, it's aptly named. I think the only thing I like about this stuff is the Finnish name! It is very clever.


podz said:
Activated carbon doesn't remove alcohol. It's in use by every distillery on the planet. Anyway, activated carbon isn't a bad thing to have around the house - it has many uses.
Click to expand...

This is what I just didn't get. I could drink 2 glasses of it filtered and not feel much of anything, but a glass of it unfiltered and I could certainly feel it. I don't know what was going on there. I left it for the prescribed time and followed the directions, but it certainly didn't seem like it reached the percentage of alcohol that the recipe said.

I'll read up on other uses for the AC. Won't be using it again for this stuff. :)
 
AC can be used as an emergency decontaminant and it doesn't go old just by sitting around in a bag. It has a surface area of more than 900 square meters per gram, so it is incredibly effective at decontamination of liquids (water, blood, kilju, etc).

It's used as a very simple, cheap and effective treatment for acute poisonings. For example, if you get hit by a poisonous snake or frog then it very well might save your life.

Doesn't hurt to keep 200 grams in your backpack, car, and medicine cabinet... The stuff is worth more than it's weight in gold.
 

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