How much time does the fermentation take? (with details)

[rezaking886]

Hello to all of my colleagues!
Well, to be honest, I'm a beginner and THIS is my first time. Well, I tried to make a "Homemade Sugar Moonshine", which is a mix of pure water and ethanol. (40-50 percent ABV).
I just want to understand how much does it take for it to ferment well. (you can tell me how to calculate )
Let me tell you the amounts I used (Metric):
1. 2.5 Litres of water
2. Half a kilo of sugar
3.about 25-30 mL baking yeast (active and dry)

Ok, these were the Ingredients, Now I'll tell you what I did step by step:
-I tried this using only normal and standard kitchen items. (No airlock, etc.)
-I used a normal pot which has a little hole on it's lid.
1. I boiled the water (70-80 degrees celsius)
2. I added the sugar and made a water-sugar solution
3. I let it off the heat and let it cooldown to room temperature
4. I added the yeast and stirred it well enough to combine.
5. I did put it in dark and warm place.
6. I stir it every hour to make sure all of the CO2s get out. (I remove the lid)
7. It's been about 12 hours since I did add the yeast and combine it.
8. It doesn't have a steady temperature and cools down so I did heat it again to room temp. (6 hrs after start)

Please tell me the time needed for fermentation (according to the ingredients and what I did)
Is everything okay? Did I make any mistakes? (Should I dump the batch or not?)
Should I stir it or shake it? Is that even necessary?
I will be very thankful, Cheers!

 

[NTBeer]

Hello to all of my colleagues!
Well, to be honest, I'm a beginner and THIS is my first time. Well, I tried to make a "Homemade Sugar Moonshine", which is a mix of pure water and ethanol. (40-50 percent ABV).
I just want to understand how much does it take for it to ferment well. (you can tell me how to calculate )
Let me tell you the amounts I used (Metric):
1. 2.5 Litres of water
2. Half a kilo of sugar
3.about 25-30 mL baking yeast (active and dry)

Ok, these were the Ingredients, Now I'll tell you what I did step by step:
-I tried this using only normal and standard kitchen items. (No airlock, etc.)
-I used a normal pot which has a little hole on it's lid.
1. I boiled the water (70-80 degrees celsius)
2. I added the sugar and made a water-sugar solution
3. I let it off the heat and let it cooldown to room temperature
4. I added the yeast and stirred it well enough to combine.
5. I did put it in dark and warm place.
6. I stir it every hour to make sure all of the CO2s get out. (I remove the lid)
7. It's been about 12 hours since I did add the yeast and combine it.
8. It doesn't have a steady temperature and cools down so I did heat it again to room temp. (6 hrs after start)

Please tell me the time needed for fermentation (according to the ingredients and what I did)
Is everything okay? Did I make any mistakes? (Should I dump the batch or not?)
Should I stir it or shake it? Is that even necessary?
I will be very thankful, Cheers!

First, your assumption about what your resulting beverage will be is off. You cannot achieve 40 - 50% ABV by fermentation alone. That can only happen through distillation. What you have started will yield about 10% ABV if the yeast tolerates that much alcohol. Looks like that is right at the upper limit for bread yeast.

STOP STIRRING IT. This is going to be rough enough to drink if everything goes well. You are unnecessarily oxidizing your beverage.

Room temperature is fine as long as that above about 15 C. Fermentation produces it's own heat. Extra heat produces harsh fusel alcohols you probably don't want. If you are going to heat it, do so gently.

Yeast don't punch a time clock. Be patient and don't expect it to finish at a specific time. Do you have a way to measure gravity? If not a hydrometer should be the first brewing specific tool you get. otherwise, expect to give it around 10 days to finish. Not everything that the yeast is doing is something you can observe.

Are you planning to bottle this? If so, do you want it carbonated or still? Without a more alcohol tolerant yeast, carbonation will be a problem.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

All of the above. You have a gravity of about 1.077, so could yield about 10%. You can't get 40 to 50% without distillation or freeze concentration, which are illegal. If you did distill it, you'd get about two cups of 50% moonshine. Typically, about half of what you yield is drinkable and the other half is thrown (heads = hangover, tails = tastes like arse), so that's a cup of drinkable (but still probably not good) booze. What you have mixed there will take a long time to ferment, and may not manage to fully ferment at all - there isn't enough nutrient. Sugar is 'macro' food for yeast, but doesn't provide the nutrients needed to be healthy and finish the job. Much like people who try to live on sugar - they're very lazy.

 

[rezaking886]

First, your assumption about what your resulting beverage will be is off. You cannot achieve 40 - 50% ABV by fermentation alone. That can only happen through distillation. What you have started will yield about 10% ABV if the yeast tolerates that much alcohol. Looks like that is right at the upper limit for bread yeast.

STOP STIRRING IT. This is going to be rough enough to drink if everything goes well. You are unnecessarily oxidizing your beverage.

Room temperature is fine as long as that above about 15 C. Fermentation produces it's own heat. Extra heat produces harsh fusel alcohols you probably don't want. If you are going to heat it, do so gently.

Yeast don't punch a time clock. Be patient and don't expect it to finish at a specific time. Do you have a way to measure gravity? If not a hydrometer should be the first brewing specific tool you get. otherwise, expect to give it around 10 days to finish. Not everything that the yeast is doing is something you can observe.

Are you planning to bottle this? If so, do you want it carbonated or still? Without a more alcohol tolerant yeast, carbonation will be a problem.

Thanks for the advice bro. How much ABV will I achieve if I distill it? (cause I have planned to distill it after fermentation done)
Thankfully I don't want no carbonation. Can you tell me the definition of "Bottling" since I am a beginner? sorry if it's hard to make me understand.
Should I shake it if stirring is a bad idea?
Thank you very much bro, your advice helped me a lot.

 

[rezaking886]

We

All of the above. You have a gravity of about 1.077, so could yield about 10%. You can't get 40 to 50% without distillation or freeze concentration, which are illegal. If you did distill it, you'd get about two cups of 50% moonshine. Typically, about half of what you yield is drinkable and the other half is thrown (heads = hangover, tails = tastes like arse), so that's a cup of drinkable (but still probably not good) booze. What you have mixed there will take a long time to ferment, and may not manage to fully ferment at all - there isn't enough nutrient. Sugar is 'macro' food for yeast, but doesn't provide the nutrients needed to be healthy and finish the job. Much like people who try to live on sugar - they're very lazy.

Well, I can add more yeast if you think they won't make any alcohol. What do you think?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Adding more yeast won't make a difference. There's already enough yeast, you need to add nutrients. You've posted this in a 'Craft Beer' forum, which isn't appropriate. Distillation is illegal in most parts of the world, so discussion of it is limited to a specific 'Distillation' forum on Homebrewtalk. I'm going to report this to thread to moderators, to get it moved to that forum. There should be people on there who can help you with nutrient additions.

 

[rezaking886]

Well, according to what NTBeer says, I'm going to let it sit for 10 days, without taking any action. is that a good idea?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

It is, but I'd still be surprised if it fully fermented in that time.

 

[NTBeer]

"Bottling" is taking your large batch of beverage and putting it into smaller, individual size containers, eg bottles.

In the future ( too late now for this batch) some common readily available things you might want to add to your "wine" for yeast nutrients are raisins, molasses or fruit juices.

What ABV you can achieve with distillation depends on your equipment and process. I have no experience with that.

 

[rezaking886]

It is, but I'd still be surprised if it fully fermented in that time.

Well, I don't care much if it gets ruined since it's my first time.

 

[rezaking886]

"Bottling" is taking your large batch of beverage and putting it into smaller, individual size containers, eg bottles.

In the future ( too late now for this batch) some common readily available things you might want to add to your "wine" for yeast nutrients are raisins, molasses or fruit juices.

What ABV you can achieve with distillation depends on your equipment and process. I have no experience with that.

Should I heat it every while? (cause it get's cold every 2 hrs and so)

 

[bernardsmith]

To ferment well (that is to get yeast to eat sugars and pump out carbon dioxide and pee out alcohol you need to treat them , they yeast, as if they were people. You like to live and work in a small range of temperatures, so does yeast. In other words, Don't heat your wash/mash. Keep it the same temperature 24/7. You need nutrients in your food (eating ice cream or candy as meals in place of fruit, vegetables, and protein will make you unhealthy) - same with yeast. You prefer to be with friends but you don't want to feel crowded - same with yeast. You prefer to be your own boss when it comes to doing what you want to do - same with yeast. Those are the main underlying principles of fermentation.
Distillation is simply taking the alcohol that the yeast have made and concentrating it by removing the water but since alcohol turns to steam (gas) at a lower temperature than water you boil off the alcohol, trap it as a gas, cool that gas and collect the liquid alcohol as it condenses leaving behind the water.

 

[rezaking886]

To ferment well (that is to get yeast to eat sugars and pump out carbon dioxide and pee out alcohol you need to treat them , they yeast, as if they were people. You like to live and work in a small range of temperatures, so does yeast. In other words, Don't heat your wash/mash. Keep it the same temperature 24/7. You need nutrients in your food (eating ice cream or candy as meals in place of fruit, vegetables, and protein will make you unhealthy) - same with yeast. You prefer to be with friends but you don't want to feel crowded - same with yeast. You prefer to be your own boss when it comes to doing what you want to do - same with yeast. Those are the main underlying principles of fermentation.
Distillation is simply taking the alcohol that the yeast have made and concentrating it by removing the water but since alcohol turns to steam (gas) at a lower temperature than alcohol you boil off the alcohol, trap it as a gas, cool that gas and collect the liquid alcohol as it condenses leaving behind the water.

Hmm, good example. But if I don't heat it, it becomes cool and may become deactivated.

 

[doug293cz]

Hmm, good example. But if I don't heat it, it becomes cool and may become deactivated.

How cool does it get?

Brew on

 

[rezaking886]

How cool does it get?

Brew on

It gets cold enough that it stops fizzing. (no more bubbles)
Cheers

 

[doug293cz]

It gets cold enough that it stops fizzing. (no more bubbles)
Cheers

Looking for actual temperature, or even a quantitative estimate.

Lack of fizz may not mean anything. When the beer cools it can hold more CO2 in solution, so it will have a lag time before the liquid saturates with CO2 again, and starts bubbling. Also, things will slow down a bit at cooler temps, and this will exaggerate the previous effect.

Brew on

 

[rezaking886]

Looking for actual temperature, or even a quantitative estimate.

Lack of fizz may not mean anything. When the beer cools it can hold more CO2 in solution, so it will have a lag time before the liquid saturates with CO2 again, and starts bubbling. Also, things will slow down a bit at cooler temps, and this will exaggerate the previous effect.

Brew on

well, it's not a beer, it's a moonshine (water-sugar-yeast). which is different i guess?
hmm, i might let it sit without doing anything, not even heating it. what do you think?

 

[doug293cz]

well, it's not a beer, it's a moonshine (water-sugar-yeast). which is different i guess?
hmm, i might let it sit without doing anything, not even heating it. what do you think?

But yeast is yeast for the most part, and the physics of gas bubbles are the same.

Brew on

 

[rezaking886]

But yeast is yeast for the most part, and the physics of gas bubbles are the same.

Brew on

yea that's tru, but unfortunately i still didn't understand if i should do something (heating, shaking, stirring, removing lid, etc.) or not

 

[rezaking886]

to be honest, i'm not planning to be a professional brewer, i don't sell these, etc.
i just wanted to make a homemade moonshine (personal use), withouot using any kind of tools (only kitchen items).
Please answer the above question from the last messages, thanks.

 

[rezaking886]

what should i do some please tell me

 

[Gnomebrewer]

What is the ferment temperature? Or room temperature that it's fermenting in?

 

[rezaking886]

What is the ferment temperature? Or room temperature that it's fermenting in?

hi, it's about 21-24 c.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

In that case, you don't need to heat it at all. Leave it in the room at that temperature. Stir in a tablespoon of tomato paste or molasses to give it some nutrients.

 

[rezaking886]

wow, thanks very much, much love

i figured it out