Fermentation Time.

I'm really new. I have literally zero on hands experience with brewing/fermenting.
tl;dr at the bottom.
To explain: I'm a very science-y person, and I'm a fan of beer, etc.
I understand the basic science of everything I'm doing, though none of the hands on.
I'm experimenting with a different process in making, I guess, what would be a type sparkling wine when I'm all finished.
I'd go into it more, but from what I understand what I'm trying to do is.. illogical at best. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone trying to do what I'm doing, and because of that, and the fact I'm new I'd like to keep the snickers to a minimum. ; )
Though, I imagine if you guys are hospitable, many more questions will come and eventually, the full idea. (Or nothing at all if it fails miserably.)
Right now, my 'set-up' is very simple. Just a small half gallon jug and an airlock. Right now I'm basically fermenting sugar water. Its a cup and a half of corn sugar.
The yeast I'm using is EC-1118 Champagne.
Can anyone give me an idea of full fermentation timeline? Even just a ballpark guess?
Fermentation has started, although slowly. I pitched the yeast dry** into the mix at the suggested temp. for the yeast.*
*104-109F
**As suggested by the employee of the homebrew store I got the supplies from



tl;dr
EC-1118 yeast.
Half Gallon
Cup and a half corn sugar.

How long would it take to ferment completely?

General rule of thumb, 3-4 weeks in primary. It'll undoubtedly ferment out before that, but it's a good practice to leave your beer in primary for a bit after FG is reached.

The best rule of thumb is to check you FG one it has stopped for three days fermantation has stopped. Some of us like to leave it on the yeast for a couple of extra weeks so the yaest can clean things up. Time can verry with temp so there is no set "how long will it take".
Sugar water? Please fill us in on the rest of the details.

You did a cup and a half of sugar in 1/2 gallon of water? Let's see, that'd be about 1.25 pounds of sugar in 1/2 gallon of water. That should ferment out in 2-3 days, give or take a couple of days, depending on temperature.

You'll have a bad tasting liquid with approximately 16% ABV. EC-1118 will go up to 18% in a happy fermentation, but you added it way too hot. It may poop out before it gets to 16%.

Yooper said:

You did a cup and a half of sugar in 1/2 gallon of water? Let's see, that'd be about 1.25 pounds of sugar in 1/2 gallon of water. That should ferment out in 2-3 days, give or take a couple of days, depending on temperature.

You'll have a bad tasting liquid with approximately 16% ABV. EC-1118 will go up to 18% in a happy fermentation, but you added it way too hot. It may poop out before it gets to 16%.

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I sidestepped that part of the OPs post and just answered his question about time. But I keep checking back to see if anyone commented on how fermented sugar water would turn out... I'm thinking it'd taste like watered down alcohol (like the rubbing variety of said liquid), seeing as brewers use sugar to dry out a beer without increasing flavor or body.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

I sidestepped that part of the OPs post and just answered his question about time. But I keep checking back to see if anyone commented on how fermented sugar water would turn out... I'm thinking it'd taste like watered down alcohol (like the rubbing variety of said liquid), seeing as brewers use sugar to dry out a beer without increasing flavor or body.

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Oh, yes, it'll taste like ****, no doubt about that.

Sugar is commonly used in wines (particularly "country" fruit wines) to boost the ABV in low sugar fruits to make a wine in the 12-16% ABV area. . It works great for this purpose- usually at up to 2.5 pounds per gallons of wine, depending on the fruit being used. EC-1118 is used often, as it starts and goes fast, and is fairly neutral tasting.

But most often a sugar wash is used to make a substance which we cannot discuss here. In that case, the taste of the sugar wash doesn't matter a bit.

Oh yeah, it'll taste like arse for sure....

Yooper said:

But most often a sugar wash is used to make a substance which we cannot discuss here. In that case, the taste of the sugar wash doesn't matter a bit.

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I can tell you right now, that is not my plan.
Right now my plan is just to ferment the sugar water and taste it. I'm pretty much just experimenting with fermentation. I'll be trying different things, different sugars, different mixes etc. Then I'll probably try fruits etc.

My mom has some brewing experience from before my dad died and she said she had recipes and stuff and I basically said, Why would I do something I know will work? Where is the fun in that?

I realize I'm young, only 22. But I'm not doing this just to have alcohol, or to try and do anything illegal.
The only reason I'm doing this is out of a morbid sense of curiosity and the constant thought of, "I wonder what would happen if...."

TriForceGuy said:

I can tell you right now, that is not my plan.

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Yes, I fully understood that from your post. I didn't mean to convey the that that you were planning on doing anything illegal- just saying that sugar washes are uncommon for beer brewers but not for others. It's just that of course we don't discuss illegal activity here in the forum, and I wanted to make it clear that what you are doing is NOT illegal, unless you try to make this, um, drinkable.

Experimenting is fine, and part of the learning experience.

One thing to keep in mind is that some of us have been doing this since before you were born, and sometimes our experience can be helpful. I'm not telling you what to do- just making the suggestion that one of the great things about forums is that you can learn from others' experience, and not always do things the hard way.

You can make a drinkable beverage just as easy as you made the sugar wash. Just my $.02!

Yooper said:

Yes, I fully understood that from your post. I didn't mean to convey the that that you were planning on doing anything illegal- just saying that sugar washes are uncommon for beer brewers but not for others. It's just that of course we don't discuss illegal activity here in the forum, and I wanted to make it clear that what you are doing is NOT illegal, unless you try to make this, um, drinkable.

Experimenting is fine, and part of the learning experience.

One thing to keep in mind is that some of us have been doing this since before you were born, and sometimes our experience can be helpful. I'm not telling you what to do- just making the suggestion that one of the great things about forums is that you can learn from others' experience, and not always do things the hard way.

You can make a drinkable beverage just as easy as you made the sugar wash. Just my $.02!

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Sure I could've made a more drinkable beverage just as easily, it just wouldn't have been as fun. ; )
I knew from the get-go that what I was doing was going to taste like crap, I had no expectation otherwise.
And its not really about doing it the hard way, its more about wanting to see and taste the different stages and steps of the process.

Woah

Anybody else wondering what's REALLY going on here?

The OP reminds me of my brother. Can't convince him of anything because he knows better. If you really want to brew then buy some books and do some reading. Making a sugar wash to "study" fermentation just sounds completely stupid.

Darwin18 said:

The OP reminds me of my brother. Can't convince him of anything because he knows better. If you really want to brew then buy some books and do some reading. Making a sugar wash to "study" fermentation just sounds completely stupid.

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It sounds stupid to you because you don't understand my motivation for doing this.
Its not to just 'brew', if thats what I wanted I would've done so. Where is the fun and sense of adventure in taking a recipe from someone else, or doing what everyone else is doing? You know it'll work, it'll give you something drinkable. But, theres no fun in it. There's no mystery there's no sense of wonder. It just is.
I'm not trying this to just brew, if I wanted beer I'd go out and buy some.

*edit*
I do have another question; Because I'm using a small jug with an airlock; if I wanted to take the airlock off to taste it, would I be able to just put the airlock back on and keep fermenting?

I know of only one reason to make a sugar wash with a yeast that will go 16% to 18%. It is still called beer by some it is just called distillers beer. What is there to study, there is a thousand years of data to prove what fementation is. If you are a since guy like you say then you know the outcome of what will happen. Try making some beer even if from a kit and you will see the fun in it. But if you want to make shine look it up on another web site. Not trying to be a bad guy here but if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck! And if you are just wnating to make beer that I am sorry.

Gunrunner said:

I know of only one reason to make a sugar wash with a yeast that will go 16% to 18%. It is still called beer by some it is just called distillers beer. What is there to study, there is a thousand years of data to prove what fementation is. If you are a since guy like you say then you know the outcome of what will happen. Try making some beer even if from a kit and you will see the fun in it. But if you want to make shine look it up on another web site. Not trying to be a bad guy here but if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck! And if you are just wnating to make beer that I am sorry.

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The yeast was suggested to me by an employee of the brew shop near where I live.
I told him what I was doing and he suggested it because it leaves a very light taste when its done.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. It is a duck. It just may be a Eurasian Wigeon instead of a Mallard.

I hate to bump, but no one answered a follow-up question:
Since I'm using an airlock and a half-gallon glass chug: Would it harm anything if I took the airlock off and tasted the mix? Or should I just wait it out.
I was hoping to get an idea of what the mix tasted like during different times of fermentation.

TriForceGuy said:

I hate to bump, but no one answered a follow-up question:
Since I'm using an airlock and a half-gallon glass chug: Would it harm anything if I took the airlock off and tasted the mix? Or should I just wait it out.
I was hoping to get an idea of what the mix tasted like during different times of fermentation.

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Shouldn't harm anything. There are times when brewing a beer that you may wish to monitor the gravity before fermentation is over. So you crack open the lit/airlock and get a sample. As long as you don't drop something in it, it's usually not going to become contaminated. If the yeast aren't done, then it'll keep on kicking away after you seal it back up.

As for the experiment in general, I think it's a pretty good idea, letting you work out your curiosities and what-not. People brew SMaSH beers to get a better understanding of the way different malts/hops will play off of each other, or they'll play with different strains of yeast to understand the flavors and aromas they can impart. To me, this seems in the same vein as that.

...the only difference being that you'll probably end up with a pretty crap-tasting result. But, as I've never just fermented sugar water - or had un-distilled rum (but even that would have some flavors in it), I really can't say for sure.

Have fun.

Edit: Thinking about it a bit more, one thing I would think is that the wort you'll ferment when making beer will provide the yeast with additional nutrients (proteins, etc.) that you wouldn't really get from fermenting a sugar solution. So if part of this was to test out different yeast strains to see what they'll do (I know you never specifically said that was your goal, though), those results wouldn't necessarily carry over into beer making.

TriForceGuy said:

I hate to bump, but no one answered a follow-up question:
Since I'm using an airlock and a half-gallon glass chug: Would it harm anything if I took the airlock off and tasted the mix? Or should I just wait it out.
I was hoping to get an idea of what the mix tasted like during different times of fermentation.

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i think the main reason you're not getting many answers is because what you're attempting with your 'experiment' is one step away from something that could get people in trouble with HBT. or get HBT in trouble.
i totally get the inquisitive mind thing, don't get me wrong. but i still see no point in actually performing the experiment yourself. folks have been fermenting sugar washes for centuries and there's tons of data available that make your experiment unnecessary. i doubt your experiment is something you need to taste before trying out a beer/wine/cider/mead recipe, and it definitely won't teach you anything new about fermenting sugar water that you couldn't learn by reading. in fact, it really does seem like you're asking us home brewers and winemakers for some advice to assist you in an illegal act, thus the unwillingness to answer questions.
to answer your question, of course you can pull a taste sample from a fermenter and close it back up. i would assume with your inquisitive nature you'd be aware of the cans and cannots of brewing at home.

I’m like 8 years late to this conversation but I’m in exactly the same position as the first guy. Started a basic sugar wash with EC1118 and a helluva lot of sugar.
I’ve got 25 litres sitting in a Plastic brewing barrel I used to use for beer but I thought I’d try higher alcohol products for a change. The sugar wash seems the simplest way to make higher alcohol but I only mixed it yesterday so I’m not sure what to expect or what everyone keeps alluding to as something illegal, or do you mean moonshine ? Any help would be grateful.
Do you know of some other way to brew higher alcohol ?
What do I do with it when it’s done ?
Is it drinkable ?
What can I do with it ?
Can I filter it with carbon, mix it with fruit and botanicals for a secondary ferment ?
Can I just put flavour concentrates in ?
How do I store it ?
I know I could trawl the ‘net but it’s a lot more interesting to get direct answers from people who have the knowledge rather than hope Google knows the answers.

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I can't believe I wasted 10 minutes reading this thread.