Experimenting

I wouldn't say that I'm starting to brew, I"m just curious about the process of fermentation. I was starting an experiment with 3 different types of sugar: corn meal, wheat flour, and sucrose/table sugar. For each of the three, I made three different combinations of brewers yeast and sugars, totaling 9 experiments, in roughly half a gallon of luke warm water in a milk jug (using distilled water); I'm observing the changes over the duration of a week. The combos were:

1) 1/4 cup of yeast and 1 cup of corn meal (the others having flour or sucrose)
2) 1/8 cup of yeast and 1 cup of corn meal (same thing as above for this one)
3) 1/8 cup of yeast and 3/2 cup of corn meal (and so on)

I'm not quite sure if I used the airlocks properly or added too much/little water to them. Also, I mixed it up at first, but then a mass settled to the bottom of the jug within hours. I was afraid of mixing it after that cause it might screw up the airlocks and make a mess. After about 4 days, I don't see the airlocks going up and down and am worried if the reaction is occuring or not. When I take it out to measure it with the traille and proof barometer to read the ABV levels, should i poor it out of the jug of mix it up to include the mass of stuff at the bottom? Also the ultimate goal for the nine experiments is to see which sugar ferments faster: sucrose, corn meal, or wheat flour? The other experiment is if more yeast will affect the ABV levels and if more sugar affects the ABV levels. Can you help answer any of these questions or predict an outcome to them?

If I read this right - You are not converting your starch to sugar for the flour or corn meal. I think you should get almost no results for those.

I'm not trying to pick on you, but the experiment seems a little sophomoric. Are you over eighteen?

Good luck you noob. I think you may want a hydrometer to measure abv noob.

You are definitely a noob.:cross:

i don't think your gonna see anything other than spoiling bread dough with your "experiment". yeast needs SUGAR to ferment, not STARCH. corn meal, flour and such are starches, not sugars. one would need to mash a starch, i.e. BARLEY, to convert starch to sugar, only then is yeast useful..
what exactly are you trying to prove with this 'experiment'?

and don't mind bad brew, he's just happy that someone on HBT is less knowledgable than he/she.

badbrew, sorry dude, but it's one thing to post dumb $h*t and bad advice, but you sound downright childish in that last post. FWIW, hydrometers don't measure ABV, they measure gravity.

Nordeast: you could not of said it better. We all started out some where.
As for the experiment: maybe try the same thing but use sugars such as honey, molasses, maybe try agave nectar? And maybe try different strands of yeast?

oops...

clever_name said:

you can make moonshine with corn meal sugar and yeast. is this what you are doing?

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we don't do that here.

was just saying as to the nature of the question.

clever_name said:

you can make moonshine with corn meal sugar and yeast. is this what you are doing?

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If he is, he cant post it here. It's in the forum rules.

2. Discussions on distillation are not permitted as per Texas Law.

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...man, look at me - rules.

the sucrose will ferment indeed, as it's a simple sugar. grains contain enzymes and proteins that brewers yeast really need for a healthy fermentation, so the results of fermenting a simple sugar wash may not be desirable. i'm saying this assuming your sugar wash is simply an experiment and not intended for the aforementioned activities in this thread. but why not just try out a simple beer kit to learn the basic ins and outs of fermentation? i mean $h*t, if nothing else you'll get five gallons of beer. if you don't like beer, i'm sure you know someone who'd become your best friend if you handed them two free cases of craft beer.