Video Transcription – Howdy folks, and welcome back for another Heads episode. In this episode we are going to be discussing the turbo yeast mash. While there is a lot of bad rep around turbo yeast, we definitely recommend starting this way for new distillers.
It’s so easy, and it’s super cheap, so you can really get the process under your belt with a couple batches without really breaking the bank, and to be honest I still use turbo yeast mashes, especially when I am doing something like using one of my essences. Turbo yeast mashes are really pretty simple.
You just mix sugar with water, add the yeast, let it ferment, and you should be good to go with the distilling process. There’s a couple optional extras that we can add in that we will discuss later on in this video. But, to begin with, we’ve just got three gallons of warm water and 18 pounds of sugar.
We add the sugar to the water and stir it all in. Again, we used warm water just to help the sugar dissolve and we will be adding the other two gallons of water later on. So, now that we’ve got the sugar mostly dissolved, we are going to add back in our cool water to help cool back down the mash. Generally, you want to add until there is about 5 or 6 gallons of total liquid.
With all the sugar dissolved and the cool water added, it is just about lukewarm temperature which should be fine to add your yeast. Cut open the yeast packet, and pour the entire thing in. give it a quick stir to mix the yeast in, put the lid on, and you should be ready for fermentation.
- With our 48-hour turbo yeast, it will generally take about 48 hours to reach 14% alcohol by volume, and 5 days total to reach about 20% alcohol by volume.
- Generally, you want to ferment it at a little bit warmer temperatures than you would a typical, beer yeast or wine yeast, at 70-85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Optimal temperature would be about 77 degrees Fahrenheit. At temperatures higher than 77 degrees Fahrenheit, the yeast are going to produce more byproducts, giving your final distillate a slightly funkier flavor. So, as you can see, turbo yeast mashes are very easy and simple to do.
They are also very cheap since a 25 pound bag of sugar at Costco costs about $10, and the bag of yeast costs about $4. As a beginning distiller, this is a very cost effective way for you to get your feet under you and learn about distilling without breaking the bank. Hopefully you found this informative and good luck to you.
And as always, thanks for tuning in!.
Contents
- 1 What is the ideal fermentation temperature for moonshine?
- 2 What temperature is too hot for fermentation?
- 3 What temperature is too low for fermentation?
- 4 Is the ideal temperature for fermentation just above 25C?
- 5 What percent alcohol can yeast survive?
- 6 How do I know if I killed my yeast?
- 7 Why is my yeast not foaming?
- 8 Does heat destroy fermentation?
What is the ideal fermentation temperature for moonshine?
Key Conditions for Optimum Fermentation › › Key Conditions for Optimum Fermentation As any wise man and Beatles fan will tell you, a good thing will happen if you let it be – may it be love, a tender rack of barbecued ribs or, in the case at hand, fermentation.
Enter yeasts, living microorganisms that readily grow in sugary solutions, produce enzymes (sucrose and zymase) that break up sugar or starch, and convert it into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide gas. ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the superstar species of yeasts, instrumental to baking, brewing, winemaking, and other such vital enterprises since ancient times.) The process of turning sugar into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide uses up almost 95% of the sugar, making these the chief products of fermentation.
The remaining 5% of sugar contributes to the simultaneous formation of several by-products: impurities such as glycerol, volatile acids, fusel oils, ethers, aldehydes, esters. These substances not only make for great band names, but also give character to ethyl alcohol with ever fascinating flavors and colors.
Temperature: high temperatures kill the yeast plants, low temperatures decreases their activity. The higher the temperature, the faster the rate of fermentation, but the lower the alcoholic yield. The optimum temperature is 78º F. Never exceed 90º F. Proportion: the optimum sugar to water ratio is 2 pounds to 1 gallon. Yeast and time: the usual proportion is 1 cup yeast to 5 gallons of water. At this ratio, in the right conditions, the yeast will produce enough ethyl alcohol to stop fermentation in 14 days. Yeast reproduces rapidly in sweet solutions, so less is better, but it will take a little longer for active fermentation to get going. Stand by your mash, and let experience guide you. Vinegar inhibition: when exposed to oxygen, the mash or wine will tend to promote the growth of another fungi that will manufacture vinegar. No oxygen, no vinegar. Settling time: when fermentation is complete, the mash or wine will be turbid and must settle. Settling will take several days or a week, even months in the case of wine. Chilling the fermented mash and/or filtering it will speed the process. Siphon or decant the clear solution and discard sediment. Try not to aerate the mash or wine unnecessarily, thereby risking the formation of vinegar.
After fermentation, the mash will be no more than 16% and usually not less than 3% ethyl alcohol by volume. It’s a dilute alcohol solution, so now’s the time to crank up your whiskey still and distill in high spirits. Posted by Jason Stone on April 20, 2015
What temperature do you distill yeast at?
What Makes a Great Yeast For Distilling? – There are all kinds of yeast out there, but not all of them are optimized for distilling; that’s why distiller’s yeast are selected based on specific criteria. First and foremost you’ll want a yeast that makes a delicious distillate–but there are other important factors to consider. Besides flavor considerations, you’ll want a yeast that can completely finish the available sugar and make as much alcohol as possible. Why? Because at a distillery, any leftover fermentable sugar is basically money left on the table. On the contrary, if we were starting a brewery, we might want a yeast strain that leaves behind some sugar.
This is called attenuation, A yeast that can achieve full attenuation is one that will finish all of the available sugar. Another important parameter is temperature tolerance. Some strains require lower fermentation temperatures (65-75°F). However, keeping fermenters that cool can be a challenge and requires a lot of cooling capacity, which can be expensive and requires a lot of energy (aka higher utility bills).
That’s why with distiller’s yeast, we prefer a strain capable of fermenting above 90°F, which normally allows fermentation to progress in less time and with less energy cost. That brings us to another criterion–speed of fermentation. Some strains can finish sugars in less time than others.
What temperature is too hot for fermentation?
Dare I say it, but it looks like here in the UK we’re summer weather has reappeared. And fingers crossed, there are some warm days ahead of us. But was does summer weather mean for your ferments? And what might you need to do differently when fermenting in the summer? Like us, the microbes love being warm.
- Warm, but not hot—to visualise this, think sitting in the shade in your back garden in with a nice breeze blowing, rather than baking on a black sand beach in Greece in the middle of August.
- Optimal temperatures for fermenting range between 18-22°C/65-72°F, so if a ferment is too cold, it will still ferment, but just take longer.
It if gets too warm it will speed up the rate at which the bacteria work, meaning your ferment will ferment quicker, which sounds good but isn’t necessarily the case. Or if say left in direct sunlight in a suntrap of a kitchen it could get too hot (above 42°C/107°F), the beneficial bacteria will die.
- When a ferment ferments too quickly, it can mean that the different beneficial bacteria may not have enough time to do their jobs in terms of lowering the pH of the brine, creating the associated by-products and at the very basic, persevering the food.
- Generally, the bacterial fermentation process takes place in two stages, but more on that another time, and each stage needs to provide the bacteria with adequate time.
Another downside of fermenting too quickly in warm weather is Kahm yeast. Kahm yeast crops up in a ferment when all the starches and sugars are used up by the bacteria fermenting at a faster pace. And this can also happen when the external temperature is warm and the pace of fermentation is sped up by the heat.
Try to find a fermentation spot with the ideal temperature range. You can check the temperature with a thermometer, leaving it over a couple of days to get a consistent reading.
Always keep your ferments out of direct sunlight and avoid storing in places that retain lots of heat in warm weather.
Promptly refrigerate a ferment when it’s had it its fermentation time. Try not to leave anything at room temperature once it’s ready, particularly if the room is warm.
Find a cool spot to do your fermenting. Fermenting in your greenhouse at the height of summer isn’t a good idea.
Remember to vary your fermentation spot may vary by seasons, and also note that different ferments can also work better in different environments and different temperatures. I get a much less explosive kimchi in my ferment cupboard, but my water kefir prefers a corner spot on my kitchen worktop. But working this out is very much about trailing and taking note.
If you do get Kahm yeast, scrape it off, transfer the ferment to a clean jar (I wipe around the inside the jar with a bit a kitchen roll soaked in ACV to clear off the residue before transferring) and pop it in the fridge, this will stop the yeast from growing.
Free feel to share another other warm weather fermentation tips you use or are thinking of trying out! And if you want to troubleshoot any of your ferments or start a new one and need a bit of support, you can now book a Fermentation Power Hour. These sessions help you to boost your fermenting confidence and ask all the questions you need.
What temperature is too low for fermentation?
Brewer: Todd Ashman,Titletown Brewing in Green Bay, WI – Understanding what happens during fermentation when temperatures fluctuate better helps the brewer determine what needs to be done. The quality of the beer and vitality of the yeast both need to be examined.
- The pitching temperature of wort depends on the yeast strain — some ale strains routinely start fermenting around 70 ºF (21 ºC) and others start much warmer.
- Fermentation is exothermic, which means it will create its own heat.
- Having the ability to cool the fermentation once it starts to take off is an imperative.
I’ve heard of fermentations rising in temperature as much as 20 ºF (11 ºC) in six hours. The reality is if you aren’t keeping your fermenters cool, there may be a limit to what you can expect from your brewing efforts. However, since yeast growth and fermentations are exothermic and therefore generate heat, figure that the temperature within the fermenter can be as much as 8 °F (4 ºC) higher than outside of the fermenter during the early days of fermentation.
So beers that are fermenting in refrigerators set at 65 °F (18 ºC) are most likely fermenting at about 72 °F (22 ºC). If you pitch when the wort is on the cool side (below 70 ºF or 21 ºC), you face a sluggish start and leave yourself open to bacterial or wild yeast contamination. Obviously, brewing is a series of compromises — sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t type of practice — so be prepared.
If you have day-to-day environmental temperature changes in the 65–90 ºF (18–32 ºC) range, chances are, your beer isn’t actually cooling down that much. The only time external temperature fluctuations may legitimately be a factor is during the first 12 hours of fermentation.
If temperatures do swing drastically in these initial hours, the fermentation may become sluggish and a good deal of your yeast may drop out of suspension. The only way I could see this happening would be a major “environmental” change, like putting the fermenter in a very cold ice bath or refrigerator.
This assumes that an adequate pitch of viable yeast was made and the wort was properly oxygenated. There are a variety of methods of cooling down wort. If you just need to get the temperature down a few degrees, try applying cool towels around your carboy.
- If you are looking for more of a shift, immerse about half the height of the carboy into an ice bath to cool it.
- Temperature will also affect the rate of growth of the yeast.
- If the temperature is too high, yeast growth will be too vigorous, producing an excessive demand on nutrients and your beer will be depleted in these nutrients.
This can have an effect on subsequent conditioning. In addition to this, and probably more importantly, a higher growth temperature will change the yeasts metabolism, producing a different range of by-products, which can have a major effect on flavor.
If the temperature is too cool, the fermentation will be sluggish, resulting in an opportunity for the growth of contaminants, such as wild yeast and bacteria. In terms of fermentation, lager yeasts are routinely fermented between 40–54 °F (4–12 ºC) while ale yeast is used from 55–70 °F (13–21 ºC). The optimal fermenting temperatures of yeast vary considerably.
Some ale yeasts for example, do not perform well below 65 °F (18 ºC). The Narragansett (Chico) strain is notorious for this, as well as certain Belgian and wheat beer strains. Common symptoms of fermenting too cold are stuck fermentations, poor attenuation (high finishing gravities) and off-flavors — especially diacetyl.
What is the best temperature for alcohol yeast?
The optimum temperature range for yeast fermentation is between 90˚F-95˚F (32˚C-35˚C). Every degree above this range depresses fermentation. While elevated temperature is problematic in all phases of ethanol production, it is specifically hazardous during the later stages of fermentation.
What is the best temperature for yeast to work?
How to prepare yeast – Add easy-blend dried yeast directly to the dough mix, in accordance with the packet instructions or recipe. Dried granular yeast and fresh yeast should be tested (this is called ‘proofing’) before being added to the dough mix, to make sure they are still active.
Dissolve the yeast in a bowl of warm water with a pinch of sugar, and leave for 5-10 minutes (follow the packet instructions for the exact quantities of yeast and water). If the yeast is still active, it should begin to froth up. If it doesn’t, it means the yeast is stale, and should not be used, as it won’t cause the bread to rise.
It’s important to note that, when mixing the yeast with water, the temperature shouldn’t be too high or it will kill the yeast. The optimum temperature is 38C/100F. If you don’t have a thermometer, mix 300ml boiling water with 600ml cold water, then measure out the required quantity of water to add to the yeast.
What temperature kills yeast Celsius?
Function – The fermentation rate increases up to a temperature of 40.5 o C (105 o F).1 In order to control the height of the baked good, yeast kill should be accomplished by 50% of the bake time. During baking, yeast starts to die at 55.5 o C (132 o F). An absolute yeast kill is at 60 o C (140 o F).2
What temperature do you pitch yeast in mash?
What should you do to avoid these off-flavors and to brew better beer? –
Properly cool your wort to a temperature a few degree lower than your optimal fermentation temperature. Pitch the ‘right’ amount of yeast. Monitor the temperature for the first 72-hours and then slowly raise the temperature.
For an ale yeast, the ideal temperature for pitching and for fermentation is absolutely below 80°F degrees Fahrenheit, and for most ale yeast strains, the ideal temperature is closer to 68°F. This can certainly vary, but as a rule of thumb* 68°F is certainly a good temperature to be at.
At the end of a brew day, I prefer to cool my beer until it is a degree or two lower than my target fermentation temperature. For instance, if you want to keep your fermentation at 68°F, try to cool the beer to 66-67°F. If you are cooling with tap water, the last few degrees might take a while, or you may simply have water that is too warm to achieve this.
If you can get it at least to the low seventies you should be ok, though, and ready to make some great beer. *Many people know that “Rule of Thumb” is a somewhat sexist term, as it refers to the width of stick that you can acceptably beat your significant other with.
- I use this term with as much humor as possible and certainly don’t mean to offend anyone.
- Many of you are probably thinking, “I’ve pitched beer at 85°F before and fermented beer.
- I drank it.
- Why do I need to go lower?” Well, you want to go lower because you want to brew better beer.
- Fermentation creates heat.
Why yes, you can pitch your yeast when the wort is at 85°F, but if fermentation creates heat, where will the beer go from there? Up. It might hit 5 to 7°F over your starting temperature before it cools back down. Heat spikes during the first 72 hours of brewing and creates the most distinct flavors in beer.
Distinct flavors can be good, but some of those flavors are not good and will overwhelm the ingredients that you spent hours putting together. For a lager strain, you need to pitch your yeast into wort that is around 45-55°F. It is especially important to cool the wort for a lager to pitching or below pitching temperature before you toss your yeast in.
While you can sometimes brew a great beer without doing this, you will often be stuck with a beer that has a strong diacetyl off-flavor, which is an acceptable flavor at low levels, but not really ideal.
Why is fermentation at 37 degrees?
Why must the temperature be kept at 37 deg C during fermentation of glucose solution? – 4896 admin 10/02/2021 at 11:28 am (last edited 10/02/2021 at 11:28 am ) At 37 deg C, the enzymes in yeast are the most active, so fermentation process will be fastest.
Is the ideal temperature for fermentation just above 25C?
When it comes to sourdough baking, understanding the ideal temperature to proof/ferment your dough can be a bit of a challenge. Especially when you are trying to use temperature to give you predictable, consistent results. I’ve had the opportunity to make sourdough bread in both hot and cold extremes, and everything in between! Hopefully this post will help you use temperature to your advantage, so you can get the results you’re looking for.
- Ideally, your dough should be proofed in a draft free and humid area that will have a consistent temperature.
- Humidity levels of 60 – 80% work best for dough proofing.
- Sourdough tends to ferment best within a temperature range of 75F – 82F (25C – 28C), as this is the temperature that yeasts work well at.
- For a more sour and developed flavor, temperature ranges that are either above 82F (28C) or below 50F (10C) are ideal, depending on which sour notes you prefer, and how long you want to ferment for.
Now, the real question is:
- How do you obtain optimal temperatures?
- What are the benefits of changing the temperature of your dough?
- How can you control results to give consistency and more control over the result of your bread (including flavor consistency)?
If you’re ready to take your baking to the next level and gain a good understanding of how to get more consistent results that are perfectly unique to you, read onThis is going to be a full guide into everything I know about proofing temperatures when it comes to sourdough baking, and how you can manipulate temperature to give you consistent results every time.
What happens if you ferment with high temperature?
Fermenting at a higher temperature can cause your yeast to grow too quickly and run out of nutrients before it finishes consuming the sugar in the wort, leading to an incomplete fermentation.
What is typical fermentation temperature?
Controlling the temperature of actively fermenting wort can have a major impact on the flavor of the finished beer. Fermenting above the normal temperature range may produce excessive fruity-flavored esters or harsh-flavored fusel alcohols. I once brewed a batch of ale during the summer and allowed the fermentation temperature to exceed 80 °F (27 °C).
The finished beer tasted like a batch of Juicy Fruit gum! Most homebrewers do not possess a sophisticated means to maintain fermentation temperatures in a suitable range. This is the reason that historically many beers that needed to be fermented in a cool environment (particularly lagers) were brewed during the winter months and stored in caves or cellars.
This is also why I ferment ale in the winter and mead in the summer, when my basement is in the proper temperature range for each type of fermentation. Normal ale fermentation temperatures range from 68 to 72 °F (20 to 22 °C) and lager fermentation temperatures from 45 to 55 °F (7 to 13 °C).
- Also keep in mind that the heat generated by an active fermentation can warm a typical 5-gallon (19-L) batch of beer by 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 to 8.3 degrees Celsius).
- Even though a basement in a northern climate may be cool enough to keep ale fermentation from overheating, it is often not cool enough to properly conduct lager fermentation.
On the other hand, fermenting below the normal temperature range for a given yeast strain may result in a sluggish or incomplete fermentation. So what if your brewing area does not hold a desirable fermentation temperature during the time you wish to brew? Following are a number of techniques to help manage fermentation temperatures that vary from the simple to the sophisticated.
What percent alcohol can yeast survive?
Selecting Yeast in Beer Brewing and Wine Making – Humankind has benefited from fermentation products, but from the yeast’s point of view, alcohol and carbon dioxide are just waste products. As yeast continues to grow and metabolize sugar, the accumulation of alcohol becomes toxic and eventually kills the cells (Gray 1941).
Most yeast strains can tolerate an alcohol concentration of 10–15% before being killed. This is why the percentage of alcohol in wines and beers is typically in this concentration range. However, like humans, different strains of yeast can tolerate different amounts of alcohol. Therefore, brewers and wine makers can select different strains of yeast to produce different alcohol contents in their fermented beverages, which range from 5 percent to 21 percent of alcohol by volume.
For beverages with higher concentrations of alcohol (like liquors), the fermented products must be distilled.
How do I know if I killed my yeast?
HOW TO PROOF YEAST – Proofing is how to test yeast for vitality.
Fill a 1 cup measuring cup (or a half-pint jar) with 1/4 cup of water that is 110 degrees (or close). Add 1 tsp honey or sugar. Add 1 tsp of yeast. Stir and set in a warm place undisturbed for 10 minutes.
After the 5 minute mark, you should see signs of life. After 10 minutes, the yeast should be foamy and bubbly and expanding. It should have expanded to fill over half of the cup/jar and have a distinct yeasty smell. This is yeast that is alive and well.
Why is my yeast not foaming?
What if Yeast Doesn’t Foam? – If the yeast does not foam after proofing, there could be a few reasons why. The most common is that the yeast has either expired or was not stored properly. If you’re working with yeast that does not foam, you’ll need to discard the yeast and buy a fresh batch before continuing the recipe.
What happens if you ferment with high temperature?
Fermenting at a higher temperature can cause your yeast to grow too quickly and run out of nutrients before it finishes consuming the sugar in the wort, leading to an incomplete fermentation.
Is 24 Degrees too hot to brew beer?
Brewing In Summer – How To Beat The Heat! Short Answer: The simplest and most efficient way to ferment at a selected and constant temperature is to use a refrigerator to ferment in. Simply purchasing and using a ‘Fridge Temperature Controller’ to control the fridge and ferment your beer at the temperature you would like.18-20 degrees is optimal for Ales, whilst 13-14 is optimal for Lagers! In Depth: Realise that the following paragraph will contradict what is written in the instructions of most brewing kits (especially Australian ones) where the suggested temperature is often quoted as being in the mid twenties.
- A maximum of 32 degrees is listed as the upper limit in one well known brewing kit! The yeast will have no difficulty working at these temperatures.
- In fact it will flourish, fermenting out the beer in rapid-fire time.
- Unfortunately, the object of brewing beer is not to ferment out the beer as fast as you can, but to produce beer as good as you possibly can with the equipment and ingredients you have at hand, and to do this you must ferment at lower temperatures.
“Why are lower temperatures better than higher temperatures?” When yeast is asked to work on brewing wort at higher temperatures (above 25 degrees) it will produce a large amount of fermentation by-products, such as esters and fusel alcohols. These by-products are responsible for all sorts of weird flavours in beer, flavours that are not associated with good beer.
- Esters produce fruity type flavours in beer, which in low levels can have a positive effect on your beer but start fermenting above 25 degrees and you will finish up with a beer that tastes like tropical fruit punch.
- This particular problem is most obvious when using a lot of malt and pure brewing yeasts.
The most common problem associated from brewing at high temperatures with kits is the dreaded “Yeast Bite”. This is particularly nasty and once you have encountered it in a brew you won’t forget it in a hurry. It leaves a foul harsh yeasty bitterness in the beer making it undrinkable.
This is a problem we see regularly in the shop during the warmer months of the year, and is one which can easily be avoided with a little forethought and planning. “How do I stop the brew from getting too warm?” There are several ways to do this, and these are listed below. No doubt you will have some ideas of your own.
All of these methods have been tried and tested by our customers or ourselves.1. Do not use any boiling water to mix all your ingredients, we add two litres of cold water to the fermenter first, add the malts and stir vigorously. You do not need boiling water to mix your malts and sugars a little elbow grease will do the job nicely.
- By keeping the initial temperature of the brew down you stand a much better chance of maintaining a reasonable temperature.
- Aim for a pitching temperature of 22 degrees or below.
- Another thing to consider is that the while the brew is fermenting it will tend to maintain the temperature it was at when fermentation began.
This will occur even when the air temperature around it is as much as 4 to 6 degrees lower. For example if the brew starts to ferment at 28 degrees it will tend to stay around this figure even if the air is 22 to 24 degrees.2. We recommend you freeze some small-sterilized containers of ice and add them to the brew after you have mixed the malt.
This will help to get the temperature down, as water from the tap in Cairns is already 26 to 28 degrees.3. Brew in the coolest part of the house, preferably an area that gets good airflow. Do not brew in your garden shed it is to hot.4. If you are having difficulty keeping the brew cool try wrapping a wet heavy cover around your fermenter, towels are ideal.
All you will need to do is keep the cover wet. As the water evaporates it cools down the fermenter. If you have ever had an alcohol swab applied on your arm you will now how cold it feels. This is because alcohol evaporates very quickly.5. The method I find easiest to use is to place the whole fermenter into a trough of water.
- This is very effective, especially if the brew has overheated and you need to cool it quickly.
- To maintain an even temperature all you need to do is to freeze some water filled 1.25 litre plastic bottles and place them in the trough.
- We keep 8 frozen at all times and once the brew is made we place the fermenter in a plastic crate filled with water and add 4 frozen plastic bottles (Coke bottles are great) change the bottles over each morning and night.6.
One final piece of advice. I find it a good idea to reduce the amount of priming sugar you put in your bottles at this time of year to a level teaspoon. This occurs because during the warmer weather the beer carbonates very quickly in the bottle and, if left for several months, will become very gassy.
Does heat destroy fermentation?
◄ BACK Cooking your ferments is a delicious way to enjoy them, but high temperatures will kill the good bacteria in the ferment, which may be what got you interested in fermenting in the first place! If you have excess fermented food or are okay with compromising the probiotics, there are a number of delicious ways you can enjoy cooked fermented foods.
Why is 30 degrees the optimum temperature for fermentation?
In the production of ethanol the process of fermentation is carried out at a low temperature (30⁰-40⁰). Above 40⁰ the enzymes would permanently lose their structure (denature). At a temperature lower than 30⁰ the process would be too slow. Fermentation is conducted in the absence of air.