Dissolving Sugar, Temperature Questions

[dongtokes]

I was in the process of dissolving 13 pounds of sugar in two one gallon batches when I accidentally let one of the pots get to a rolling boil. Is this okay? Might some of the sugars have been destroyed?

I didn't get an actual reading of the temp, but it was ROLLING, though for only about ten seconds...

 

[jmcquesten]

2 one gallon batches of what?

 

[dongtokes]

2 one gallon batches of what?

Of sugar in water...

 

[dongtokes]

I pitched my turbo yeast yesterday, I followed the directions on the package closely despite my wanting to hydrate the yeast prior to pitching. I can see bubbles rising, but I don't see much activity in the airlock. I figure the fermentation would be quite active as it claims to be able to produce 14% ABV in 24 hours. I used: 13 pounds sugar, 14 grams turbo yeast, and enough water to bring the total volume to 5 gallons.

Also, I started a thread on this yesterday, but didn't get much attention. I didn't add the sugar when the temperature had reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit. I just mixed it with water and put it on the burner until it was all dissolved. At one point half of the sugar I was adding came to a boil. I'm not sure if that is a bad thing or not.

 

[worlddivides]

Why would you dissolve 13 pounds of sugar into water?

Even if you fermented that with a yeast capable of going up to 20% ABV or so, the resulting drink would be so disgusting I doubt anyone could enjoy it...

 

[worlddivides]

What are you attempting to achieve? If you just dissolved sugar in water, it's not going to have any of the nutrients that yeast needs. Grains such as barley naturally contain tons of nutrients that yeast thrive on, which is why you normally don't have to add yeast nutrients to beer (although you can). Most fruit must for wines also have a decent amount of yeast nutrients (although nowhere near as much as wort for beer, so yeast nutrient is oftentimes added to must before fermentation).

Since even a healthy fermentation of sugar water would taste quite nasty, I imagine a fermentation where the yeast are stressed and only provided table sugar would be even worse.

If you were planning on distilling your sugar water after it was fermented, we don't talk about distillation on HomeBrewTalk, as it's illegal within the United States (where the forum's servers are located), although I know there are other forums dedicated to talking about distillation.

 

[jmcquesten]

Why would you dissolve 13 pounds of sugar into water?

Even if you fermented that with a yeast capable of going up to 20% ABV or so, the resulting drink would be so disgusting I doubt anyone could enjoy it...

I stopped trying...not worth it.

 

[wallybangbang]

Of sugar in water...

Well DUH! Great answer.

I would ask you why your dissolving sugar in water but I wont give you the chance to answer "why not".

 

[Qhrumphf]

None of this seems like a good plan.

Screams someone who's very much underage, but who knows.

 

[dongtokes]

What are you attempting to achieve? If you just dissolved sugar in water, it's not going to have any of the nutrients that yeast needs. Grains such as barley naturally contain tons of nutrients that yeast thrive on, which is why you normally don't have to add yeast nutrients to beer (although you can). Most fruit must for wines also have a decent amount of yeast nutrients (although nowhere near as much as wort for beer, so yeast nutrient is oftentimes added to must before fermentation).

Since even a healthy fermentation of sugar water would taste quite nasty, I imagine a fermentation where the yeast are stressed and only provided table sugar would be even worse.

If you were planning on distilling your sugar water after it was fermented, we don't talk about distillation on HomeBrewTalk, as it's illegal within the United States (where the forum's servers are located), although I know there are other forums dedicated to talking about distillation.

Well, the thing about turbo yeast is that it has nutrients added, a sort of fortified yeast. I don't want to talk about distillation, just fermentation.

None of this seems like a good plan.

Screams someone who's very much underage, but who knows.

I'm fairly certain I'm not underage, but thanks for the concern.

 

[dongtokes]

Wow, you guys are full of questions about my question, but seem to avoid actually answering the question. Why can't you assume I enjoy an unfiltered, 20% abv, carbonated drink?

 

[Yooper]

Wow, you guys are full of questions about my question, but seem to avoid actually answering the question. Why can't you assume I enjoy an unfiltered, 20% abv, carbonated drink?

Well, a) you are not in the 'fermentation' area of the forum, and instead in the 'liquor' area, so some assumptions are made; b) fermented sugar water (ie 'wash') tastes horrible, so nobody would drink it.

This thread is going nowhere, and we don't need argumentative type of posts so it will be closed.

 

[BigMack]

You're very defensive about what you're doing. That isn't going to get many people to want to help you out when you are aggressive with them.

The only way to know if fermentation is happening is to measure the gravity of the concoction you've got going.