Turbo Yeast Sugar "Rum"

Washing Up

Looking for new small projects to keep me busy between batches of beer, I decided to test out the remainder of my turbo yeast on a wash.  Wash is the word used by some home distillers (illegal in most countries) to describe the fermented sugar water before distilling.  These moonshiners mix in large volumes of sugar and yeast nutrient with water and ferment it as far as the yeast will take it before dying of alcohol poisoning.  Alcohol is, after all a yeast waste product.  Once the wash is made, home distillers get to the illegal part of their process, heating up the liquid to the boiling point of alcohol (lower than that of water) and collecting and condensing the alcohol steam.

I decided to try the wash-making part of this process with my turbo yeast.  I have tried various other sugar water washes in my brewing history, including my first brew, which fermented four cups of sugar in one gallon of water with bread yeast.  At the end of fermentation, I added two Kool-Aid drink mix packets, bottled it up, and called it wine.  Later, I used some turbo yeast to ferment some old molasses and brown sugar into a lower-alcohol rum-like drink.  It tasted great when mixed with my homemade cola, but didn't much resemble rum when sampled neat.

Turbo Yeast Rum Ingredients

For this wash, I was mostly testing how far the turbo yeast will take down a sugar water mix.  For this simple recipe, I have the yeast nutrient, some unrefined sugar, and the yeast ready.  I wanted this batch to be small, so I calculated that 200 grams of sugar would hit the correct gravity at a total volume of 750 mL.

Sugar and Water

I hit my gravity number at close to 750 mL, but I ran into a problem with temperature.  The hot water I used to dissolve the sugar wasn't being cooled as much as I'd hoped with my cold top off tap water.  When I got to my required volume, we were reading over 100 degrees F.  This isn't really killing temperature for yeast, but it's getting close to the top of their comfortable range.  I cooled it down to 96 degrees F in an ice bath, moderating it a little bit.

My gravity reading was where I wanted it to be, 1.120.  Huge compared to the 1.040-ish starting gravity for beer, but this wasn't going to be any beer now, was it?

Reading Gravity

I hydrated (but didn't make a starter) of the turbo yeast, pitched, and hoped.

Ready to Ferment?

Ingredients and Method

Brew No. 043

28 Feb 2014

200g Unrefined sugar

Pinch of yeast nutrient

Turbo Yeast

Dissolved the sugar and nutrient in hot water.  Topped off to 750 mL, cooled to 96 degrees F.  Pitched yeast.

I knew that high-gravity mixes usually require a starter*, but the turbo yeast instructions didn't mention needing to make one, and I was over-pitching* a bit to help compensate.  It didn't work.  Three days later, still no fermentation.  I had to make some... alterations.

*Starter- A means of kickstarting dried yeast by mixing it in a light water/sugar solution for several hours to a day.  This allows the yeast to begin fermenting and growing vigorously in a small environment before being thrown into the larger environment.

*Over-pitching- Adding more yeast than a solution should require for fermentation.

Next Steps

I feared my turbo yeast was too old and unable to get this thing started.  Worried about contamination, I decided not to risk trying the turbo again with this batch.  I went to a tried and true cider yeast I've used for several batches with no problems.  I made a starter this time, getting the cider yeast up and kicking for several hours.  I moved the whole mix from a 750 mL bottle to a full liter bottle to accommodate the new yeast starter.  I lost some gravity by adding the starter (now 1.100), but the cider yeast should be able to get it started.

The cider yeast kicked in!  The day after I mixed in my cider yeast starter, it was bubbling and working steadily.  I'm not sure how long it will take or how low it will go.  I'll treat this as a test of the attenuation (fermentation) potential of this brand of cider yeast.

Whatever comes out should taste fine mixed with cola and consumed while holding the nose, right?

Trim Village

Turning Townie

As we finished our walk along the beautiful Trim Heritage Trail, it was time for something to eat, something hot to drink, and maybe something cold to drink. We headed west back to Trim village proper, and took a look up and down the High Street in search of a suitable venue.

The village of Trim straddles the River Boyne, and the town, unlike the surrounding countryside, is built up high above the riverbanks to prevent flooding. The modern town doesn't have nearly the same population or the political influence it had 700 years ago, but it is a fresh and interesting place to visit, especially as a rest from the noise and crowds of Dublin.

Trim High Street

Finding Food

We first ventured up the hill to a pub listed by Rick Steves as a great place for a drink. When we found it, we found a wonderful pub atmosphere, but it was empty but for us. When we found out there was no food menu, we had to move on.

Back on the High Street, we found several pubs, but none with a food menu! Across the street, we saw this charming food hall, An Tromán. This translates to The Elder Tree. Trim, after all, comes from the Irish, Baile (Town) Átha (Ford or river crossing) Troim (Elderflowers), meaning, Town at the Ford of the Elderflowers. The relation to Tromán and Troim is obvious, even to non-Irish speakers like us.

Exterior

Lunch was beautiful, diner-style, and served at diner prices. We had hot tea with sugar and milk with hot toasted sandwiches, salads, and Hunky Dorys potato crisps. After a long walk in the slight early-Spring chill, this was exactly what we needed.

Lunch at An Tromán

Sniffing out some Suds

After lunch, we needed to find some cold drinks. We walked around the corner from the High Street, which was still very quiet on this Saturday afternoon. Several pub signs dotted the hill north of the High Street, so up we went. These small pubs looked busier, and gentlemen were walking to and fro between the pub and the sports betting bookie next door. We chose one and went in.

This pub was hopping compared to the larger, nicer High Street pubs. Every television was tuned to live coverage from the horse racing track, and the patrons of the pub all had their betting tickets and were watching the races closely. So that explained the busy bookie next door. These gents were enjoying a Saturday afternoon at the pub losing some money on the ponies. Now it all made sense.

We weren't quite ready to start throwing down our bucks on the horses, but we did get a round of drinks as the pub regulars looked at us like the out-of-towners we were. They weren't unwelcoming, but we could tell that everyone to a man knew each other in that pub, and this couple with American accents were a bit of a novelty.

Before we finished our drinks, the pub got busier (and the average age of the crowd much younger) as a wedding party piled in for a pre-or-post-wedding drink. Probably post-wedding, pre-reception. In a small town like this, a local wedding would be a big deal that everyone knows about, and there was much celebrating.

After our drinks, it was time to go back to the bus stop and catch our ride back to Dublin. We saw more of the wedding party driving and honking in the streets on our way through town. Back at the bus stop, we waited and admired the castle, River Boyne, and the trail. All were clearly visible from the lonely bus stop at the edge of this small town. We reflected about how great a day it had been in this cute and historic Irish town. We hope to visit many more towns like this, in Ireland and on the rest of this great continent.

Retro Saturday: The Adventures of Lolo (NES) Floor 1 and Floor 2

Welcome back to Saturday, where we are all about retro. The next game, by request, is the famous action/puzzle (mostly puzzle) game The Adventures of Lolo. In Lolo, the eponymous blue hero must trek through the castle of King Egger. The mysterious looking-like-a-Rhydon King has taken Lolo's pink girlfriend/wife/possibly female round companion hostage.

The aim of the game is to make it through each screen and climb the stairs at the end of each floor. On each screen, Lolo must collect all the heart pieces to open the chest. Once the chest is open, he has to grab the key and make it to the exit door. A variety of obstacles and enemies stand in his way, and he (the player) must carefully plan and route his way through each room to avoid getting stuck or killed.

This week we take on the first two floors of the castle, as they are brief and easy. Later floors will take much longer as they require more maneuvering and thorough exploration.

St. Patrick's Day Weekend 2014: Part IV

After the parade, it was time to let the craziness commence! We weren't so much into the heavy partying, but we were curious about the sheer volume of humanity that would pack Dublin's popular tourist neighborhoods. Many of the big streets were closed to traffic as they were full of seething masses. We strolled through Temple Bar, the quays on the Liffey, and Grafton Street. We ended up at The Duke, our favorite Grafton Street pub to wait out the crowd over a toasted sandwich and a glass of something cold. After a long day and a long weekend, we hoofed it home to rest.

St. Patrick's Day Weekend 2014: Part III

Monday, St. Patrick's Day proper. Parade day.

We hoofed it downtown to grab a parade spot early. The parade was scheduled to kick off at noon, and we snagged a prime location at ten. The route was fully packed by 10:30, so we were just in time.

Time for the parade highlight reel. St. Patrick himself led things off. After that, a series of artistic and creative floats reminded me to the scene from Knocked Up. I'm freaking out, man!