How I Make Vodka with Bakers Yeast Pt. 2 Distillation 

Thanks Shane.... Cheers!

Cheers rocco moco

Hey there.... Bought this setup from my local Home Brew shop and it is perfect for the newbie. I am starting to get a little more adventurous now and thinking about making my own setup. What I have is made by Still Spirits and they do not sponsor me, but worth considering. Here is a link to their web site stillspirits.com/products/turbo-500-still

Thank you for your reply, Im in Sydney, where did you get yours from?

Bought it from a Home Brew shop here in Brisbane.....

1st, use a yeast with less aftertaste 2nd, Make the cuts just after and before the bad flavours arrive.... Strive fore neutral flavored spirits.....

Problem with my T500 Reflux is that the boiler heats at one speed - Flat out..... Yes, you can remove the saddles but realise that the boiler is still over 100C and the only way you reduce the temp is through the reflux water supply. I thought about installing a thermostat to be able to reduce the temp but decided I will wait until I make a larger pot still. A proper Pot Still does not go above 78 to 85C and you can do a stripping run. In my experience, doing a stripping run in a Reflux still and putting it back in for a final distill, you will not be able to remove the Foreshots, Heads and Tails. They seem to be bonded together

Hey Video Plus, this works for me but others break the distill down to Forshots, Heads, Hearts and Tails taking only the Hearts. This would not leave much end product using Bakers Yeast so I gather the Heads and Hearts and run it through a Carbon Filter a few times. Each to their own taste I suppose..... Happy Brewing

@@pauljacobs5390 I mean "Forshots" for "head", my English not the best... This your way looks nice and this your method with precise temperature also reduce other things who come on higher temperatures. Thank you for this video and instructions.

Hey ADude, I simply siphoned out the clear and did not put the hose anywhere near the sediment. There is probably a little that gets disguarded, but not enough to worry about.

Hey Damon, It would definately add to the shugar content of the Wash, but you would have to watch getting a too high or low PH count - this copuld stall your distill. Regards Paul

sorry to be off topic but does anyone know of a method to log back into an instagram account? I stupidly lost the account password. I love any help you can give me

@Otis Luciano Instablaster :)

@Malik Gordon thanks so much for your reply. I found the site through google and Im in the hacking process now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

@Malik Gordon it did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. I am so happy! Thank you so much, you really help me out !

No problems masato... Cheers

Hi... You can put 1/4 yeast and wait an extra week or two for it to finish fermenting. In this case I chose to finish fast and carbon filter to purify the end product. I have just finished a batch with a low 50g of yeast and it took 16 days to stop fermenting and ended up with a low ABV percentage but was still more pure than the faster method. Using 1/2 cup of yeast makes it finish in 3 to 4 days. I still put it through Carbon Filtering and it is nearly zero odor like pure vodka.

From my experience and mistakes in the past, when I used un-distilled water, the impurities in the water slowed the distill and sometimes stalled the process. It has been a constant battle for me to find pure water. I was buying 10 ltr Coles water but found there was a metallic effect in the distill. I am presently using the same water, boiling it for an hour, allowing it to cool without a top and then running it through a carbon filter. Kinda sucks having to do this but worthwhile for the end effect. What sucks more is my Brother-in-law lived 15 minutes away and his tap water is perfect........

@@pauljacobs5390 i'd just go to that house and explain it to the new tenants... Hi u dont know me but i know ur house. Let me buy your water 🤣

ابو نوره وش تسوي هنا

معزوم علي كاسة عرق 🍸

Somewhat true Glen.... There is very little Acetone and Methanol produced with a Sugar Wash, but there is definitely some..... I like to air on the side of Caution and discard the first 50ml... It is up to the individual to determine how much they discard, with me it is 50ml..... I like to end up with perfect Neutral Spirits from a sugar wash so I am happy to throw away suspect bad stuff..... Happy Brewing Glen.....

It is a Turbo 500 and available from Stillspirits.com - have a look there for dealers in your country

The still is called a turbo 500 made by still spirits and yes its available to buy online and costs around £400 gbp.

@@jay71512 Thank you Mr. Jay.

Hi Lychee Calpico. Sugar is Sugar, it comes down to personal taste. If you can imagine the output of your still offering a sliding scale of quality, the best part to keep completely neutral is in the middle of the distill. I personally try to eliminate the first bit as it has a strong odor that usually taints the distill requiring extra carbon filtering. The end or Tails again comes down to your quality expectation. As soon as the output starts to get that terrible burned smell, I usually make the cut and do not use the remainder un-distilled. My brother is not so picky, he discards the first 50ml and runs the still until there is nothing left to come out. He doesn't seem to mind the "Off" flavor, whats more he uses only Turbo Yeast. Each to their own I suppose.

The ethanol is what you are after. It is the ethanol that you drink.

Go to www.stillspirits.com and click on Where to buy..........

Hi Wahid. Make sure your apples are ripe and sweet (stay away from over-ripe decomposing apples, this will polute and stall your wash). I personally would pulverize them with a mixer then strain the mixture through cheesecloth to separate the pulp from the apple juice. At this point it would be a good idea to take a Specific Gravity reading to determine the potential ABV (Alcohol By Volume). Nature is not that generous with Sugar and I would guess you might get around a potential 5% ABV If you are using Bakers Yeast, it dies when the Wash gets to around 10%ABV. If you are using a winemakers yeast you might be able to get away with around 15%ABV before the strength of the alcohol kills the yeast. (the higher ABV, the more alcohol you get) If you have not already got one, get yourself a Specific Gravity Hydrometer for Brewing that measures the sugar content of your wash - measure the SG of your Apple Juice, slowly add sugar mixing well and re-measure the SG until you can reach the maximum potential of your yeast. After you distill, separate the Foreshots, Heads, Hearts and Tails (I usually keep all the Hearts and a little Heads and throw away the rest) What you will have at the end is Apple Brandy, dilute to your desired strength and enjoy........ Happy Brewing Wahid

Hey Mary, nice to hear from you. I have a T500 Reflux Still made by Still Spirits. You can not buy direct from them, but if you go to their web site and scroll down to the bottom of the page you will see a link for their Stockists. Here is the Still Spirits link stillspirits.com/ Regards Paul

@@pauljacobs5390 great ty xxx

Simply smelling it will let you know it is poor quality. Many distillers will tell you to save the cuttings and put them in the next distill. I personally do not like doing this, prefer to concentrate on getting the best quality distill. The Still Spirits Turbo 500 Still will cost you $550+ Australian. Here is a web site, there may be one in your area you can check. distilleryking.com.au/collections/turbo-500 Cheers Shane :-)

Or this web site..... stillspirits.com/

I have used Turbo Yeast in the past and because I like to get zero odor spirits I had to run it through two batches of carbon filter a total of 8 times but even then I could still taste that TW flavor. My Brother absolutely loves TW for the total volume of spirits produced and surprisingly likes the flavor, when I go to visit him he proudly makes me sample his Whiskey, Bourbon, Vodka and Gin... and it all tastes the same to me with the TW. He also only discards the initial forshot and a bit of the tails. I suppose everyone is different, I personally prefer to run low yield Bakers Yeast for the incredibly pure Hearts. I have 3 x 25 ltr bins nearly ready for a Christmas stripping run in my pot still and then the final reflux run. I predict 7.5ltrs of 85%ABV Stripping Run which should yield me around 4ltrs of 94%ABV after cutting (to my taste)..... Hope this helps.... Happy Brewing Dean (Edit, I can tell you about my brother because he doesn't have a computer and has never been on RU-vid - I put my Vids on a DVD and this along with the advise from his Home Brew Shop is the extent of his research)

@@pauljacobs5390 thanks for the quick reply. I'll definitely give this bakers yeast wash a go and compare. Your videos are informative and easy to follow, love your work. Merry Christmas.

If you use turbo yeast you absolutely must carbon filter it. No other option. It comes out pretty nice after filtering

HI Gary, thanks for the comment... A.B.V. is Alcohol By Volume and in the wash use your Hydrometer to regulate the potential ABV to 10%. I find that if you just put in more sugar it is not converted into alcohol leaving a high amount of sugar in the wash that you need to distill. Your end product will be much better if you use ALL of the sugar leaving none. Now realize that this 10% is the potential alcohol within the wash or say 2.5 ltrs in a 25 ltr wash (not accounting for Heads and Tails separation) I distill my Bakers Yeast Wash through a Reflux Column and it gives me 2.5 ltrs of 94% ABV or 188% Proof. If I were to distill through my Pressure Cooker Pot Still, the max I have got is around 80% to 83% ABV. I personally am very critical when making my heads and tails cut, I do not like any odor in my Vodka so I tend to make my tails cut early - Could include more Tails and Carbon Filter to eliminate the odor but I like it pure. Can't say if it is better than your Vodka Yeast, but definitely worth a try and compare. Hope this has helped.

A wine / champagne yeast will permit an ABV of up to around 16% so it is a better choice over baker's yeast. Turbo yeasts are known to produce a lot of off-flavours and are not used by experienced distillers.

Where is part one making the wash ,and baker's yeast

Methanol is only produced from fermenting fruits or grains. Sugar wash does not contain cells and so cannot produce methanol. However like all fermentations it contains acetaldhyde and other nasties that you wouldnt want to drink. It is good practice to throw away the 1st 50/100mls of any distillation run. Hope this helps.

Thanks jay71512, good answer :-)

jay71512 thanks, very informative.

My standard recipe for turbo 500. 25L water, 5kg sugar, 2L of any non citrus shelf juice (apple/pear/pineapple is good its for acid content only), 1 cup cornflakes (food variety for the yeast) 100g bakers yeast. 7-10 days... @ 20-25c......siphon slowly into your turbo leaving as much of the bottom inch or 2 as possible so its nice and clear..... run....should get 3ish L @ 90ish%.... dilute 1:1 with nice water. Enjoy.... no need for any of the crap Still Spirits want you to use, clarifiers and god knows what...

Never came across Jaggery before so asked Mr Google. "It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap without separation of the molasses and crystals" I think it will definitely influence the end product taste. If you wanted neutral spirits that you then flavor, I suggest using cane sugar. The Date, Palm and Molasses may influence your PH levels. Give it a try and let me know (cant get it where I am)

@@pauljacobs5390 thanks for your valuable reply

@@pauljacobs5390 you should check out in indian market.

2 to 3 weeks for the yeast to do its thing, and allow as much time as you can to allow the wash to settle and become clear. You can distill before it is clear but this tends to give you a compromised end product.

Like gelatin powder?

I thought I read gasoline for a second haha

Comes down to personal choice. I personally like zero flavored vodka and from previous experiences I found the first off the distill tended to give my distill an unfavorable taste. In the end it comes down to what is right for you is the right way to do it I suppose.

Happy to help Yazeed but I am afraid I do not fully understand the question.

@@pauljacobs5390 im sorry but im not fluent in english , so what is this 01:12 Thank you

Hi Yazeed, I will give a large answer, to make it easier for you copy the answer and put it in this Translator www.translate.com/ The Ceramic Saddles are used in the Boiler to help minimize frothing and bubbling. I never have a problem as long as I do not over fill the boiler. Keep in mind that if you do not let your wash settle and let all the yeast settle with it, you will have yeast in the boiler and that could lead to excessive foaming as it boils that can result in it spewing out the distillate end. Make it a rule to wait the extra time for your wash to become as clear and translucent as possible. Hope this helps.

@@pauljacobs5390 thaks alot

Hi glenncol, you are absolutely correct, I just had this confirmed from Still Spirits. Again, it shows me how easy it is to get the wrong information. Thanks for the advise, I will place a note in the Description above.

Sorry that came across a little harsh. was not intended that way

*advice*

Sometimes I do, but in this case I used only Time.....

@@pauljacobs5390 I see, glad it worded well!

Hey Arkenshin, there will be a strong alcohol vapour that could be mistaken, and if you make your tails cut a little late there will be an odor added to the vapor. I found out that not regularly cleaning my Column added more off odour to the distillate. I make my cuts earlier than most and it has virtually no flavor but still has the alcohol vapor

Nope, when you do your next run, separate your run into progressive 500ml bottles. This way you will be able to smell and taste (wet finger) the difference. I find the last bit of the run to be completely unpalatable so I choose not to include it in my final product. That being said, my brother throws away the first 50ml and uses all the rest, he doesn't seem to mind the flavour. Me personally, I want my Vodka to be completely neutral flavor for mixing into other drinks. In the end, if it is an acceptable base for your flavoring, you can use the tails.

Hi Eli, After using the reflux column I was able to get 94%ABV in the final Distill

@@pauljacobs5390 how many distillation for it?

Only one on the reflux column. I would only do multiple distills if I used the Pot Still

@@pauljacobs5390 can i do that without citrid acid & DAP?

Hi Ghr Med, I make no attempt to conceal the fact that I am learning as I go here. I am simply recording my attempts to do stuff. Sadly I have been working 5 sometimes 6 days a week for the last couple of years, and this leaves me little time to refine my vids. I am approaching retirement soon and plan to only work a couple of days a week. I am looking forward to uploading a heap more vids and refining my processing.

@@pauljacobs5390 hi dear , i m sorry , i just mean that few about temperature would have been welcome . Best regards from algeria .

Hey Aaron, there are two things I do. 1 - After the yeast finishes and you have a specific gravity of .95 or less (meaning you have used all the sugar) - let it sit for a week or until you can reasonably clearly see from the top to the bottom. If it is still a little murky, 2 - Use Still Spirits Turbo Clear or Alcotec Turbo Klar..... Distilling a merky wash means tou are also distilling yeast and this influences the flavour. When I first started I was too eager to wait but soon found an answer - Have several washes on the go at different stages of progress. Hope this has helped.

My wash been fermenting for 2 weeks, its at 1.050

It may have had a larger sugar content at the beginning. What was the Specific Gravity just before you added your Yeast?

I forgot to check, added 6kg sugar half a cup of bakers yeast, 1tablespoon of epson salf, pinch of bi-card soda

There is only three reasons a Distill will stall and not use all the sugar - 1. If it is too hot or cold - 2. there is not enough yeast - 3. there is impurities in the water used - 4. There is too much sugar used. It looks like the latter is the problem you have. I found that when using Bakers Yeast the ABV stopped at around 10% and the increased alcohol actually slowed and eventually killed all the yeast. It is better to put in just enough sugar for 10% but don't dismay. You can still salvage your wash by either waiting for gravity to settle all the wash for a clean end, or use a Turbo Clear product I mentioned earlier. Remember to first siphon off all the slightly murky fluid to separate it from the sediment at the bottom. After this use the Turbo Clear. If it is still a little murky after all this, do not worry as this has happened to me. I simply distilled it and even though it had a slight taste from the yeast, i activated carbon filtered it several times until it had no odor.

Good point...... Cheers Kevin, will do....

@@pauljacobs5390 thank you enormously

@@voltare2amstereo thats very interesting, and surprised me, thank you.

Hey Wingmanalive, great message content and I hope others read it as well. Way back in the beginning, I started doing these vids to help my Brother start the hobby and he ended up with the same gear as me. He started with Turbo Yeast and swears by it. He jokingly says he only has 20 ltrs left so he better do another run. I have tried Turbo in the past and found there is a flavor remaining that I did not like. I was using Still Spirits Turbo Yeast. I have tried triple distilling, but seem to get poor results from my reflux column. Have to admit I am tempted to retry with Still Spirits new product Turbo Yeast Pure. Thanks for the tip on the heads and tails. I was aware of there only being little Methanol in a Sugar Wash but was also aware of Acetaldehyde (20.8C), Acetone (56.2C), Ethyl Acetate (78.1C), Ethyl Butyrate (121C), Ethyl Formate (54C), Hexylacetate (171.5C), and the hangover compound Acetaldehyde (20.8C). To eliminate these compounds I make my heads cut around 75ml and my tails cuts early. Have to admit I am interested in trying this new Turbo Pure product, triple distilling and triple carbon filtering to see if the end product will give me more bang for my buck..... Take care in these uncertain times Wingman...... Cheers Paul.....

@@pauljacobs5390 No problem. Carbon filters are indeed the best way to remove any off flavors and what I use, if you can believe it, is your common Brita water filters. The cartridges are relatively cheap and I use one for every batch and then toss. They have carbon inside the filter which does the same job. Buy the pitcher and it comes with one or maybe two cartridges out of the box. A 4 pack at Walmart is like $14. Distill a bottle and pour it in, then run it through again. A lot of people don't know this but in many cases the difference between cheap and top shelf vodka is simply in the filtering. I've researched it and found people who buy the cheapest vodka they could find, then filter it as many as 10 times and have noticed a HUGE quality difference. Add a dash of lemon extract and you have Citron. Dash of cherry, vanilla, whatever. Now, I've also seen some complex carbon filters that are 8 levels deep with a cotton and carbon sandwich but it doesn't need to be that extreme. I'm sure you know this but those who don't, carbon has millions of microscopic holes that trap the particles in the solution you don't want. However, that gives it a usable lifespan and depending on the solution being cleaned may render the filter ineffective quickly. Not unlike a dirty aquarium filter, the carbon can only absorb so much. This is why I swap out cartridges after every run. I wish I had a reflux still but my 5 gallon stainless steel pot still works great, I just have to run it through a couple more times. The Liebig condenser is awesome and the build quality is superb. It's a lifetime piece of equipment. I just have to replace the seals every couple of years. They're cheap though. Have a good one!

Hello when yo say triple distilled do you add water into the boiler or just the alcohol. Thanks. Just a beginner, love your vids.

@@seahealthproducts4786 Makes no sense to add water because that's what you're distilling out of the solution to begin with. Just be careful because as with each run the ethanol content (proof) increases making it more dangerous to handle. By all means please avoid using open flame for your heat source. I use electric hot plates. At 180 proof it is very flammable. It's the reason many old fashion stills exploded, they had a small leak they didn't see in the still head leading to distillate running down the pot and then BOOM. I've made my mistakes as well like turning on my hot plates and forgetting to turn on my condenser. I come back expecting half a gallon of shine and the room smelled like ethanol with steam shooting out the condenser. The second I turned on the pumps the shine flowed like an open faucet. You can't get distracted because that's when mistakes are made! First run in the still (pot still) expect a good 100-120 proof. Second run you'll be over 150. Final or spirit run is where you'll max out at 175--185 proof. A fourth run won't yield much more. The good thing about reflux or column stills is they will get you you're highest proof ethanol in one pass. They are more expensive however and slightly more complicated to operate. The still head or column is packed with a medium like marbles or has multiple plates so that while the ethanol steam passes through them the impurities fall back down and what eventually makes it's way out is very pure. The taller the column the more efficient it is. There's no limit on cost or size as I've seen 500+ gallon stills with 10' tall columns. Those types of stills can pump out product at like a gallon a minute. Imagine that!

The math here went sideways somewhere. Not accounting for the foreshots, heads, tails, a 25 litre wash at 10% ABV can only produce (at best (0.10 * 25 * 100/90) = 2.75 litres (approx) of 180 proof spirits. 15 bottles of 180 proof would be 11.25 litres. It would take a 100+ litre wash to produce those. Hope i didn't misread the above.

Hey Aiden, it is there at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2Dti5JqA_tY.html Regards Paul

Aiden Nymes It does produce other nasties, though. ethylacetate, acetaldehyde, aceton, methylacetate, etc.

you can smell the acetone and other bad stuff in the fore shots, i would not drink it.

There shouldn't be any "heads" produced from pure sugar. That doesn't make sense to me either.

The youtuber "nilered" hat a very informative video on "how to make alcohol at home (ethanol)". he is a chemist and he mentioned that only ethanol is produced from fermenting pure sugar in that video as i remember correctly.

i keep that for alcool burner ;)

I confused the heads rich in metanol and the tails. I'm not english native, sorry. I use the forehead for my alcool burner. Forehead, is the good word ?

@Kurt Lamprecht ;D what is the name of the wast part ?

@@gutinnec foreshots, heads hearts and tails are the english for the different stages but i know what you mean

Hey Mark, same here with my wife...... What I do is sometimes let a few wooden barrel chips "rest" in it for a few months, and sometimes add a bit of flavoring....

Hey Nathan, what you say makes sense..... I live in a part of the world that has the reputation of the worlds Sun Cancer capital, so tghis relates to not too much rain. Since I use tank water I have to limit the water use. What you say is right, and those with no water restrictions should do as you suggest. Regards Paul