The yeast we sell in our store Pure Distilling Premium Yeast is able to produce 5 liters of pure alcohol per fermentation but there is a trick to it.
Most yeasts claim to be able to produce "up to 4 liters of spirit" and most of them can. Still makers often boast that their stills will produce "a little over 4 liters per 25 liter wash" and most stills do.
In our brewery we have tried many, many stills, and even more spirit yeasts and have found this yeast is able produce not only a good volume of spirit but also very clean spirit for that volume.
Here's how we do it.....
Firstly I should mention another great aspect of this yeast is that it is stackable. We use large 60 liter temperature controlled boilers to do our ferments in and this yeast is one that stacks well. That means we can load double the amount of ferment ingredients (2x sugar + 2x yeast + 2x water) into a single boiler and ferment it all in the same time as the yeast instructions indicate. For simplicity I will show you how to achieve 5L's of distillate from a single batch (25L ferment) from the Pure Distilling Premium Yeast.
- 10 liters boiled water added to empty fermenter
- 6 kg's white sugar dissolved within
- add cold water to get volume of 27 liters
- let mix cool to 30 degrees Celsius
- sprinkle contents of yeast packet over top of mix, do not stir
- set fermenter temp to 28 degrees C
- in around one hour your wash should be foaming at the top, this is good
Day Two
- Put hydrometer into the fermenter when you see that the froth has cleared
Leave the wash to ferment out. When you reach zero on the hydrometer remove it and put the lid of the fermenter back on.
Wait three additional days with the temperature controlled at 28 C for the wash to clear.
I should mention that we do not use clearing agents because when producing a fine spirit we found that there is a slight oily residue in the final product that comes from clearing agents. That is not entirely bad for the homebrewer but without that residue it is certainly a more professional result.
Day Six / Seven (fourth day of clearing)
- Move wash to your still
- Bring your still up to the boiling point as quick as your still can heat. Example your still may have two or three power buttons, use all to get up to the boiling point quickly
- Once boiling drop the still temp to the lower power setting that allows for a slow boil (simmer), When the distillate starts pouring out turn on your cooling water
- Distill the wash until your alchometer reading shows at 50%, this will take three to four hours. Do not continue to readings lower than 50% (ie: 40%) as you'll start picking up the yucky yeast smells and flavours.
This method works this way......
The slower clearing method (without the use of clearing agents) allows the yeast to fully finish eating the wash's remaining sugars thus increasing your spirit output.
Allowing the still to run until the distillate reaches 50% produces a larger yield (more spirit).
Is going to 50% ok?
Yes. Near all of your distillate will have been produced at 95%+ so the last part of the distillation run really doesn't drop the final alcohol levels by much so distilling down to 50% at the end of the run is perfectly fine and gives you that additional few hundred mls more of pure spirit.
What we have learned in our brewery....
- We don't add carbon to our washes as they make the spirit harsh which is ok for whiskeys but less desirable for liqueurs
- We don't use spirit stabilisers in our washes as they do impact slightly on the taste of the final product
- We don't use clearing agents as they make the spirit slightly oily. This can be seen when washing empty bottles and glasses.
So following this simple recipe you can achieve a yield of over 4 liters - up to 5 liters. We average 4 and 3/4's liters per still run, and you are producing not just pure spirit but very fine unadulterated spirit that is smooth, clean, and suitable for mixing into any decent top shelf drink.
Happy brewing!
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