Fermenting a sugary alcoholic beverage

[Jokester]

I ran into a bunch of John Daly hard iced tea and John Daly 1/2 and 1/2.
8% abv and sweet as candy.
I put them in a 5gal jar and put champagne yeast in it.

Has anyone tried what that would do ? ferment the sugars ? I guess that's a good experiment to check with my refractometer and my hygrometer cos I have the original cans as well to check for reference.

Thanks.
Srinath.

 

[kh54s10]

It all depends on whether there are any fermentable sugars as to why it is sweet. If there are no fermentable sugars - nothing will happen.

 

[Jokester]

John daly does have sugar in it, and not a small amount, probably 10% by volume, nearly as much as coke, sickly sweet, perfect for my yeastie beasties to turn that into 7% or so of good old alchy, then I will test with both hygrometer and my refractometer and be sure. Then cold crash freeze concentrate it and drink it.

 

[Yooper]

John daly does have sugar in it, and not a small amount, probably 10% by volume, nearly as much as coke, sickly sweet, perfect for my yeastie beasties to turn that into 7% or so of good old alchy, then I will test with both hygrometer and my refractometer and be sure. Then cold crash freeze concentrate it and drink it.

If it doesn't have preservatives, that will work. But if it does (and I suspect it does), then it won't.

 

[grampamark]

Not to pick nits, but a hygrometer measures relative humidity. Just sayin...

 

[RPh_Guy]

Reminds me of the days when I used a sphygmomanometer.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Reminds me of the days when I used a sphygmomanometer.

enjoying your off the cuff remark.

 

[Lefou]

It all depends on whether there are any fermentable sugars as to why it is sweet. If there are no fermentable sugars - nothing will happen.

If it's loaded with artificial sweeteners adding yeast won't achieve what you're looking for. Cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup will work, though.

 

[seatazzz]

enjoying your off the cuff remark.

I see what you did there....

 

[Jokester]

If it's loaded with artificial sweeteners adding yeast won't achieve what you're looking for. Cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup will work, though.

Things "loaded" with artificial sweeteners have 1/200th (aspartame) to 1/1000th (sucralose) the quantity of the equivalent sugar. A can of diet coke has 0.2 gm aspartame, while regular coke has 39gm sugar.

Aspartame/sucralose are chemicals, and are of course not fermentable, and they do not put those in John Daly or any other alcoholic beverage that's not listed as low carb, in fact I don't know of a single alcoholic beverage with artificial sweetener in it, with that one that had monk fruit sweetener as well as the stevia sweetened long island ice tea being the closest.
Though stevia and monk fruit are likely edible by microbes IMHO they are not artificial, they are from plants and stevia is about 150 times as sweet as sugar, monk fruit is 300X. I'm sure they are edible by microbes, though they may preferentially feed bacteria over yeast.

I am not adding sugar or corn syrup and yeast to increase the ABV of this sugary concoction, I am adding yeast to replace the sugar already in it because I am a low carb guy. I'm pretty sure its got real sugar, but it also has preservatives, I'm sure, so it would not ferment on that count alone. Lets see.

Now my little encouragement here is - honey. Honey has antiseptic in it, as in, it kills microbes, however its the viscosity that prevents it from getting fermented. Now if you dilute it, it ferments rather easily and makes mead. I used champagne yeast in the John Daly super ferment. Has a distinct taste, so I'll detect it if it is even taking hold.

Cool.
Srinath.

 

[RPh_Guy]

A hydrometer you tell you everything you need to know --- whether it has sugar and whether it is fermenting.

 

[TheMadKing]

And to add - refractometers don't work in the presence of alcohol so don't bother with it

 

[bracconiere]

if it's already 8%...not much is going to happen....and wouldn't it be easier to just make a pot of tea, and add sugar, if you're looking for dry hard tea? not sure if that would have the nutes for the yeast....but just saying....

 

[Vale71]

I am not adding sugar or corn syrup and yeast to increase the ABV of this sugary concoction, I am adding yeast to replace the sugar already in it because I am a low carb guy. I'm pretty sure its got real sugar, but it also has preservatives, I'm sure, so it would not ferment on that count alone. Lets see.

That's very unlikely re. the preservatives. Most likely it was either filled under aseptic conditions or dosed with dimethyl carbonate which loses its effectiveness pretty quickly through spontaneous degradation.

Of concern could still be the high ABV and the possible lack of nutrients for the yeast, and of course the fact that you cannot aerate before pitching (unless you like your spiked tea thoroughly oxidized) which is also detrimental for the yeast.

 

[Krasdale]

I did it with sweet Italian malt liquor
No big deal

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

And to add - refractometers don't work in the presence of alcohol so don't bother with it

While it is true that the reading of a refractometer is inaccurate in the presence of alcohol the reading changes in the direction of fermentation. So while one doesn’t know the correct ABV one can see whether the SG is dropping or not. The online calculators are pretty easy to use to get an ABV using a refractometer and the small margin of error, I believe is acceptable for home brew.

 

[TheMadKing]

While it is true that the reading of a refractometer is inaccurate in the presence of alcohol the reading changes in the direction of fermentation. So while one doesn’t know the correct ABV one can see whether the SG is dropping or not. The online calculators are pretty easy to use to get an ABV using a refractometer and the small margin of error, I believe is acceptable for home brew.

Agreed that you can see whether fermentation is working or not, I have not found the online calculators to be accurate enough for my personal preferences (down to 1.000+/- 2 SG) since you need to know your wort's correction factor which is a somewhat pain in the butt of a procedure - so a hydrometer is a much better method for measuring specific gravity in the presence of alcohol

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Agreed that you can see whether fermentation is working or not, I have not found the online calculators to be accurate enough for my personal preferences (down to 1.000+/- 2 SG) since you need to know your wort's correction factor which is a somewhat pain in the butt of a procedure - so a hydrometer is a much better method for measuring specific gravity in the presence of alcohol

Indeed it is a matter of preference, I often make small batches so needing a couple drops verses several ounces is a plus for me, and when the readings are consistent I know I can package, so long as it isn’t stuck.

 

[Jokester]

That's very unlikely re. the preservatives. Most likely it was either filled under aseptic conditions or dosed with dimethyl carbonate which loses its effectiveness pretty quickly through spontaneous degradation.

Of concern could still be the high ABV and the possible lack of nutrients for the yeast, and of course the fact that you cannot aerate before pitching (unless you like your spiked tea thoroughly oxidized) which is also detrimental for the yeast.

Oooo preservatives are unlikely ? great to know. The cans were not carbonated, they pretty much were flat at open.

I did it with sweet Italian malt liquor
No big deal

Oooo you fermented a malt liquor+sugar concoction ? You get some of that sugar converted to alcohol ? More details please.

That's more interesting, and I am hoping the "real ingredients" mean it has real tea, real lemon juice and of course sugar. Now if you look at what the youtube guy (forget his name) used for yeast nutrient when making mead, it was tea, lemon rind and chopped up raisins. He just used a couple of team bags in a gal of wash. This likely has a couple tea bags per 6 pack, What's that 1/2 gal, so 2X his number, and I also have more lemon hoping the raisins don't have something that turns up the nutrition for yeast so much more than without them.

Refractometer to be used to compare fermenting John Daly to fresh JD wont show a change ?

Thanks.
Srinath.

 

[Jokester]

This drink isn't fermenting. Its got some preservative, it will ferment in a quart bottle with a whole packet of yeast in 1/2 quart, but putting it in a 5gal and its death.
I am going to have to yeast cake this into my other batch and hope the yeast makes it through the preservative.
Cool.
Srinath.