I think I made a mistake.

[helping]

Hi. I'm a newbe with a new Air Still. I made 23 litres of wash using warm tap water which may have 'harmed' the wash. Assuming I get say 4 litres at 60%, what is Plan B to rescue things? Thanks.

[PeterC]

Not enough information. What temperature? What yeast? If it is fermenting then it will not have mattered too much. Many yeasts cope with a 35C starting temperature. If it is not fermenting, now that it is cooler put some more yeast in.

[Wellsy]

What makes you think you made a mistake mate ?
Are you just concerned you used warm tap waster ?
Has it not fermented,does it taste funny etc

If you tell us why you think something is wrong the guys will have a better chance of helping you fix it.

Pop into the welcome centre and introduce yourself so we can all say hello

[helping]

Thanks for your replies.

Yeast: Classic 8 Turbo - 20-23C after dissolving Dextrose at 30C some 48 hours ago.

I’m worried about the sterilisation aspect as having used No Rinse Sanitiser, I then went and used warm/hot tap water to adjust the temperature which is advised against here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSYHm_tKo2c

[The Stig]

It'll be fine, those turbo packs can take just about anything.
Please drop into the welcome centre and introduce yourself so we get a better understanding of who you are and where your heading viewforum.php?f=3
Cheers

[wynnum1]

Not a good idea to use warm water on a turbo as made to do a quick ferment that can raise the temperature higher because the yeast can create heat but unlikely to kill all the yeast and may just be a little slow to ferment.
Have you taken a gravity reading to see how good is fermernting.

[helping]

53% after 24 hours. Thanks again for your inputs.

[The Stig]

53% after 24 hours. Thanks again for your inputs.

That isn’t right .
Use a hydrometer not your alcometer

[helping]

Image A has 3 scales:- 53 and 115 unknown “units” & 6.5% alcohol by volume. https://imgur.com/9k8xiB1

Image B seems self explanatory. https://imgur.com/SNHOyaP

[Sam.]

Image A measures specific gravity, you need to take a measurement at the start and end of fermentation and the difference helps you calculate alcohol percentage produced.

Image B measures alcohol content of distillate, ie after it had been through the still. Useless in the wash.

Might need to do some reading through the newbies section here and be careful of misinformation on you tube

[helping]

Thank you Sam for your reply.

I see that returning a hydrometer test sample to the wash is a no-no which I sadly did before knowledge of this. Using chlorinated water is not recommended as well. Assuming my wash is contaminated to some degree, would distilling the wash twice with an Air Still  get rid of all contaminants including say methanol? Is there a fix? Thanks.

[woodduck]

It will be fine mate, I've seen far worse things go in a wash with no ill effect (ever seen live dundar). Distilling is far more forgiving in the wash faze than making beer. Sanitisation is far less crucial.

[The Stig]

This has to be a wined up surely