Yet another post about Alcotec 23%

[BrewBoy]

Not been on here for a while but still been brewing but I have decided to give high alcohol a go.

I have got the Alcotec 23% kit. This contains yeast, nutrient and liquid activated carbon. The instructions say use 10.5kg in of Dextrose Monohydrate in 18 litres of water and not to use any other type of sugar. I have eleven 1kg bags of brewing sugar that should be adequate. The kit also says to add the carbon yeast and nutrient all at the start.

My questions are
1) The destructions say add all the sugar at the start, should I actually add it in stages or won’t it matter?
3) What would be the difference if I used normal granulated sugar?
3) I have read on here about filtering through carbon granules after fermentation has finished. Will the liquid carbon be enough and do you think I should add the liquid carbon after fermentation?
4) Has anyone else had experience of this kit (or the triple still kit) and what were your results like if you followed the instructions exactly?
5) You can buy those flavourings from homebrew shops but they are a tad expensive. Has anyone tried to flavour with the Monin coffee syrups? As they do gingerbread, hazelnut, amaretti, caramel, chocolate, etc, etc, I thought this would be a very cheap way of making some very tasty liqueurs at normal liqueur strength.

Thanks for your help.

 

[MattN]

Hi BrewBoy

Don't add the sugar in stages.

Brewing sugar is fine (but 5kg from Tesco of T&L is only £3.99)

You will still need to filter it after you have cleared the liquid unless you are going to add a strong flavour to it.

The liquid carbon should be added at the start, with the yeast.

Follow the instructions.

Can't help you with number 5. (Some people use SodaStream flavours with good results.)

Regards

Matt

 

[SloeBrewer]

The reason you need to use brewing sugar is that it is dextrose, whereas granulated is sucrose. Yeast find dextrose easier to ferment and you get a cleaner fermentation will less off-flavour with dextrose. Bear in mind that most high-alcohol yeasts won't go above 18% ABV, and you you will see why this yeast needs special treatment. If you use ordinary sugar, chances are you won't get much above 18% ABV.

Charcoal filtering is an absolute requirement. The activated carbon that comes with it is a start, but you will find the brew spells and tastes yeasty and slightly fruity, probably due to ester formation. Your best bet is to trickle it through a half meter length of 3-inch pipe, packed with activated carbon, to clean the spirit base up.

IMO, the high-alcohol yeasts are not worth it.

 

[Robbo]

Gervin GV4 yeast claims to ferment upto 21%.

Those monin syrups look ideal until the postage and packing is added to the price......too expensive in my view.

 

[ricardo]

Booker wholesale stock the Monin syrups don't know
7.66 incl vat.
70 cl bottles

 

[BrewBoy]

After about 9 days the brew is still bubbling away. Not done a hydrometer reading yet so not too sure how far away from finishing it is. It is looking very black and smells rather alcoholic. I’ll probably leave it till Sunday before I add the finings.

I’ve decided to try a bottle of Monin Hazelnut syrup to flavour it as my local supermarket stocks them. At £2.99 for a 250ml bottle it is cheaper than a little 50ml bottle of spirit essence and should hopefully do at least 2 bottles, maybe 4. I’ll play around with ratios and post back my results. My only reservation is that the colour might not be quite right so may need to put a drop of food colouring in it.

I'll post back my results soon.

 

[BrewBoy]

Fermentation appeared to have stopped so did a hydrometer reading, this was pretty difficult to read as it was almost of the scale. It looks to have been about 0980, so I guess that’s finished. I didn’t do a reading at the start but it had 10.5kg of brewers sugar dissolved in 18 litres of water.

I put the finings in and it’s looking a lot clearer this morning. I hope it goes as clear as water. I’ll leave it a week before siphoning into bottles and flavouring.

 

[clum]

Brewboy,

Question.. I have also started this.. How quickly did it clear when you added the turbo clear to it(that's what I have) ?

I have added the turbo clear to mine and it says leave to stand for 24 hours but it is still the same grey colour it was before..

My batch sounds like it was going along at the same time scale..

Regards,

Clum :electric:

 

[BrewBoy]

I put the finings in 3 days ago and it still isn't clear but it is clearer than it was, looks like a light grey water now. Imight put some bentonite in it to seeif that helps. Bit disappointed with the Turbo Klar as it certainly hasn't cleared in 24 hours.

 

[Moley]

I have added the turbo clear to mine and it says leave to stand for 24 hours but it is still the same grey colour it was before.

I've only done one of these washes, using the Turbo Clear finings, and I was very impressed by the level of clarity within 24 hours. It wasn't totally clear, that took the rest of the week, but it was mostly clear.

Did you de-gas first? Their instructions are quite specific.

 

[clum]

degassed the hell out of it.. I was wznting this for a party this saturday aswell

Think it will safe to drink cloudy?

im also disappointed.. Dangit..

Regards,

Clum :electric:

 

[clum]

I could not wait on the grey cloudy mix clearing I had to try a bit! :

I took out 2 bottles of the stuff and left the rest to see if it will clear in time :pray:

First bottle I used a german herbal mix for the taste. Supposed to make it taste like Jaggermeister. It was ok a firm favourite at the party. It also turned the mixture black so it masked the cloudyness :party:

Second bottle I mixed with vanilla extract and mixed some red food colouring in (Halloween party remember) and this done the trick :twisted:

Everyone at the party enjoyed it! Well they said differently but when they keep coming back for more this tells a different story :rofl:

Also everyone skelped my cerveza brew so the party was a success! The tidy up was monstrous but lot's of nice new glass bottles to play with now so no need to go raiding family and friends glass bin the night before bottling day!

Sorry BrewBoy I know I stole your post here.

Regards,

Clum :electric:

 

[BrewBoy]

Well my stuff hasn’t completely cleared and looks a bit hazy. Last night I racked it off into 5 demi johns and made a bottle flavoured with Monin Hazelnut syrup. I mixed 150ml syrup with 550ml alcohol and gave it a shake. It tastes pretty good, I may have used a bit too much syrup as it was a touch too sweet but it was nutty, had good mouth feel and disguised the strength well. There was a hint of an aftertaste but it wasn’t too bad. I also tasted it neat, it was actually quite drinkable, very surprising really as I was expecting it to be horrible, the liquid carbon must have removed lots of off flavours.

I’m going to leave it in the demis now for a few months in the hope that it clears some more. Then I’ll get a range of Syrups to flavour it, particularly looking forward to trying the Gingerbread one Monin do.

 

[Duncs]

Not been on here for a while but still been brewing but I have decided to give high alcohol a go.

I have got the Alcotec 23% kit. This contains yeast, nutrient and liquid activated carbon. The instructions say use 10.5kg in of Dextrose Monohydrate in 18 litres of water and not to use any other type of sugar. I have eleven 1kg bags of brewing sugar that should be adequate. The kit also says to add the carbon yeast and nutrient all at the start.

My questions are
1) The destructions say add all the sugar at the start, should I actually add it in stages or won’t it matter?add all thr sugar at the start
3) What would be the difference if I used normal granulated sugar?yes, use dextrose, you'll not achieve 23% using regular sugar
3) I have read on here about filtering through carbon granules after fermentation has finished. Will the liquid carbon be enough and do you think I should add the liquid carbon after fermentation?add the liquid carbon at the start, you'll still need to carbon filter after as well
4) Has anyone else had experience of this kit (or the triple still kit) and what were your results like if you followed the instructions exactly?yes, mine turned out at about 21% and had to be filtered through carbon after
5) You can buy those flavourings from homebrew shops but they are a tad expensive. Has anyone tried to flavour with the Monin coffee syrups? As they do gingerbread, hazelnut, amaretti, caramel, chocolate, etc, etc, I thought this would be a very cheap way of making some very tasty liqueurs at normal liqueur strength.those monin syrups are nice in coffee but really not nice made into a liqueur

Thanks for your help.

 

[LionOfNarnia]

Thought I'd chuck in my 2p worth here (even before I write an introduction or a profile!) as I've had quite a few successful 'turbo' brews this year.

Indeed I use the word 'Turbo' as a generic name for all unflavoured hi-A brews

As regards clearing, I agree that the supplied finings are NOT particularly great.

What I've found is that the best way to get a water-clear final wash is to add 2 more steps to the process-

(after decanting the cloudy-grey wash to a clean FV)

1) Do a 2nd clearing with 50 ml of 'Ritchies' wine & beer finings, for up to 48 hours.

2) Run the wash through a Harris Vinbrite filter.

At that point it's ready to bottle & chill :)

Now, as by my watch it's well past beer'o'clock on a Friday, I'm gonna have a nicely chilled bottle of 7.6% brown ale ("Halty Dawg") - my slant on the £8 "Sweet Newkie Brown" kit from Wilko

:

 

[clum]

Thanks for the advice. I have now done this and have a clear substance suitable for human consumption :thumb:

Regards,

Clum :electric:

 

[BrewBoy]

I have left my 'stuff' to clear on its own and its pretty clear now, just a touch hazy now. Tried the flavoured bottle again and its not bad, just think its lacking in overall flavour but it's very drinkable as it is :drink: .

I have also bought one of the little spirit essences to try, Balliihoo do a range for £1.89 each, they only make one bottle but that's enough for an experiment. The instructions say use 275g sugar for a 750ml bottle. I might use half that as I found the bottle with Monin syrup a bit sweet with 150ml syrup added.

Overall I'm quite impressed with the kit, the resulting wash doesn't taste too bad on its own and it is clearing nicely. I think I made a mistake with part b of the finings as it was of a gel consistency and difficult to mix in with my short spoon.

 

[BrewBoy]

I'm sold on this stuff now. It is very clear now, I think the finings didn't work very well due to inadequate degassing. Something to remember for next time. It also tastes pretty good neat, that turbo yeast flavour is fading into the background.

I have flavoured one bottle with Monin syrup and the other with spirit flavouring. To be honest, there is not much difference. The Monin syrup lacks the colour of a bought liqueur but has a reasonable flavor, could do with a touch more though. Could be fixed with some food colouring and flavouring. The spirit flavouring has the colour but it lacks the flavour, it certainly needs a lot more. In terms of price, I think the Monin syrup works out slightly cheaper. Both are nice though.

I think I'll try Monin gingerbread next and a spiced run spirit flavour. :drink:

 

[mm707]

you need to run it through a plastic pipe with activated carbon in it to get the best results. No off taste or smell. It's the same process they use to filter vodka.

 

[BrewBoy]

I was thinking about doing that but decided it's not worth the extra expense this time round. I might do it if I make it again.