Still Spirits Turbo Distiller's Yeast?

Has anyone tried this in something really heavy like a barley wine? Champaign yeast will do the trick, but it's slow. These guys claim ferments to 18% alcohol and fast. I'd probably use a more standard ale yeast for the first week, then toss this in to finish.

I think that would not achieve the result you're looking for. I read somewhere (sorry, can't find a reference offhand) that turbo yeast will produce all sorts of off-flavors with a typical beer grain bill -- and I imagine even moreso with the heavy type you're describing. It's basically just designed to eat 10 pounds of sucrose with a dash of yeast nutrient for a "white lightning" sort of distilled product.

If you really really need your batch to be a lot stronger without waiting on the champagne yeast, just pour in some vodka when you bottle and don't tell anyone. Maybe run it through a Brita first if you're concerned with taste effects. Else, wait on the good yeast to run its course.

I live by the term "there are no free lunches". For something to ferment that quickly there has to be a trade off and off flavors may very well be it. I would play it safe and stick with a brewers or vintners yeast.

I'd agree that it probably is for distilling where you'd lose your off flavors through the distiiling process. Grain alcohol just tastes like grain alcohol until you cut and age it .

Back to the original question: has anyone tried it? This yeast is derived from a sake yeast, so most of the fuesel oil arguments don't hold.

I have some, but I travel a lot so I haven't gotten around to it...YET.

The packaging instructions just say the entire bag is enough yeast for a bazzilion gals so I have to do some calculations to get it down to 5 -10 gal batches.

I'm running an experiment with it. 2 lbs of sugar in about 2 quarts of water. OG 1140. Four grams of yeast. I finally found some more information on it, but that was after starting the experiment. The article I saw recommended pitching into 1/3 the sugar and then adding the rest after five days. That's a lot more than 48 hours! Also said it fermented best around 65-70F. Experimental batch is very fruity and down to 1100.

that turbo yeast makes beer tast like ****

Well, the experiment cooked itself. I found a better article on using turbo yeasts and they warn about overheating.

I used some DY to dry out part of the barley wine and it worked really well. No impact on the flavor, as far as I can tell. I did lower the temperature to 65F as a precaution. That probably kept the fermentation clean. I'll probably use it in the future to finish other high gravity ales.

Note to self: get back to this thread later after I return home ...