apple cider causing people to get DRUNK AS &#^%, need some help... is it poison?

[liebertron]

I fermented some apple cider about 6 months ago and everyone who drinks this stuff gets DRUNK. 16oz of it and you're toasted. Two different people have put the stuff down and gone back for more because of how easy it is to drink only to get sick later in the night because they underestimated how much alcohol is in it. My wife drank one glass and was done for the night.

It smells like apple moonshine but tastes like any other apple cider.

At this point is there any way to determine alcohol content? I really wasn't paying much attention to this, I was just going to make some hooch and call it a day but now I am very curious as to how strong this actually is.

A few people have said that they think something is wrong with it because of how quickly you get plastered by it. I have been telling people I put antifreeze in it to mess with them, but I assure you its 6 ingredients (dont worry, I eventually come clean with em).

Ingredients: Apple juice and two cans of frozen apple concentrate, brown sugar, wyeast cider yeast; after fermentation: potassium sorbate and 1 campden pill to stop fermentation and two more cans of frozen apple concentrate to back sweeten.

Made a 2L yeast starter from the juice.

Any ideas whats going on here?

 

[FastAndy]

Sounds like you made alcoholic cider.

 

[Rob_B]

Sounds like a lot of fermentables. It's easy to get a 10% or more abv with cider when you start kicking up the sugar content. Then on top of it you backsweetened it to make for an easy drinker. Next time take a hydrometer reading before and after to get your abv. If you're really curious of your alchohol content White Labs is selling a kit that you send them samples and they do the science on it for you.

 

[liebertron]

Sounds like a lot of fermentables. It's easy to get a 10% or more abv with cider when you start kicking up the sugar content. Then on top of it you backsweetened it to make for an easy drinker. Next time take a hydrometer reading before and after to get your abv. If you're really curious of your alchohol content White Labs is selling a kit that you send them samples and they do the science on it for you.

Is it possible to be even in the 15-18% range? Or even 20%?

 

[carltjones]

Very possible.

 

[maverick9862]

You say it smells like moonshine but tastes like cider... If it tastes sweet like cider you bought from the store, then the batch is probably at the upper alcohol tolerance of the yeast (thus leaving un-fermented sugars). The Wyeast website puts one of their cider strains at a 12% tolerance. Depending upon your pitching procedures, you may have gotten higher than that and could be approaching 16% or something similar to a champagne strength. 16oz of champagne would be quite the serving.

However, your use of apple juice (high in fruit sugars) and brown sugar, along with a warm fermentation could produce a high amount of fusels resulting in the moonshine smell. This could also lead to the fuzzy feeling of being drunk and awful hangovers.

Probably not poison, even with high fusels and 16% ABV.

 

[liebertron]

You say it smells like moonshine but tastes like cider... If it tastes sweet like cider you bought from the store, then the batch is probably at the upper alcohol tolerance of the yeast (thus leaving un-fermented sugars). The Wyeast website puts one of their cider strains at a 12% tolerance. Depending upon your pitching procedures, you may have gotten higher than that and could be approaching 16% or something similar to a champagne strength. 16oz of champagne would be quite the serving.

However, your use of apple juice (high in fruit sugars) and brown sugar, along with a warm fermentation could produce a high amount of fusels resulting in the moonshine smell. This could also lead to the fuzzy feeling of being drunk and awful hangovers.

Probably not poison, even with high fusels and 16% ABV.

I also made a GIANT yeast starter. I now remember that I made a 2L starter and then split the 2L into two different 5g primary buckets. Then I added 2 gallons of juice on top of each to make an even larger "starter". I ended up fermenting 10 gallons in two buckets and kept making bigger starters. Is it possible to make a yeast strain going full blast and pass its tolerance because of how quickly its fermenting?

 

[Rob_B]

Is it possible to be even in the 15-18% range? Or even 20%?

Very easy to do. I made a raisin wine a couple years ago that clocked in at 18% with some champange yeast. No fermentation issues at all. Most of the sugars you had in there are completely fermentable too.

 

[maverick9862]

Sounds like you did something similar to a "progressive feed schedule". Folks striving toward the upper tolerances of a yeast strain will start with the usual gravity range and then keep adding fermentables every few days. This way the yeast isn't shocked by a high gravity and has a really strong culture going.

If you look at the 1L starter as the original colony, then added 3 gal of moderate level gravity, then added another 2 gal of high gravity, it could be considered a "progressive feeding schedule". Of course the efficiency is impacted by nutrients, the temperature, the strain, but sure, you could have passed the tolerance listed by Wyeast (which is just an average of sorts anyhow).