How did sugarcane juice ferment in the fridge

[Jokester]

I bought sugar cane juice with lemon and ginger crushed fresh and bottled in soft drink plastic bottle and put it in the fridge.
It was ~80F when I bought it (ambient temps in South India) and 1 hr later went into a 35F fridge.
4-5 days it sat in the fridge. And opening it today I shook it before opening and ended up with a geyser. I tightened the cap back before losing more than a sip or 2.
So how did that happen ? Yes sugar cane has plenty of all sorts of yeast and bacteria as does all items on the planet, but still fermenting in the fridge is a bit much - I thought.
I believe its more vinegar than alcohol but the carbonation was impressive.

 

[Miraculix]

As long as it is not frozen it will ferment!

 

[Jokester]

Aaaah, I didn't know that. The microbes are ofcourse abundant on all these things, essentially it was crushed literally hours after it was pulled from the dirt.

 

[RM-MN]

Loosen the cap and let off some pressure, then tighten it when it starts to foam. Repeat several time a day until it no longer foams.

 

[Jokester]

Loosen the cap and let off some pressure, then tighten it when it starts to foam. Repeat several time a day until it no longer foams.

That's gonna be hard to do, since I already drank it. I just didn't expect it to be fermenting, but I guess 5 days is enough for it to build up and gas out. BTW It was not bad, in fact it was a slight enhanced sourness, which I actually liked. Almost like it had more lemon and less sugar. Good trade IMHO.

 

[Miraculix]

That's gonna be hard to do, since I already drank it. I just didn't expect it to be fermenting, but I guess 5 days is enough for it to build up and gas out. BTW It was not bad, in fact it was a slight enhanced sourness, which I actually liked. Almost like it had more lemon and less sugar. Good trade IMHO.

Sounds like Indian kvass to me

 

[RM-MN]

Almost like it had more lemon and less sugar.

Less sugar for sure as whatever was fermenting it ate the sugar.

 

[hottpeper13]

I get frozen apple cider that is untreated and let it thaw in the fridge. After a short time it will start to fizz and after 2 weeks it has a foam cap when poured. You can taste the sugar depletion daily,drier and drier. Some where between 8-12 weeks it goes buratic or kinda poopy and gets tossed.

 

[NewJersey]

OJ from the supermarket can/does ferment. It's normal

 

[Jokester]

Man I wish I could get this high grade sugar cane juice in the US. I can get black sugar cane (which in India is eating sugar cane, green is the crushing sugar cane in India) this time of the year but needs a twin adjustable roller crush setup. Which I cant get in the US. That would make some awesome ferment base. Likely vinegar would be the end product though, but still delicious.

 

[NathanYearout]

Man I wish I could get this high grade sugar cane juice in the US. I can get black sugar cane (which in India is eating sugar cane, green is the crushing sugar cane in India) this time of the year but needs a twin adjustable roller crush setup. Which I cant get in the US. That would make some awesome ferment base. Likely vinegar would be the end product though, but still delicious.

Near me we have a huge grocery store that has products from tons of different countries. Luckily they've had entire sugar cane plants there and they're good quality too. I made a soda from one since I've always preferred sugar cane drinks to just regular sugar.

 

[Jokester]

I can get sugar cane in North Carolina. How do I crush it to make the "juice". In India they have a device with 2 rollers they can get closer to each other, for progressive crushing till its literally dry chaff. I should get pics or video of it and upload it. Maybe today I'll get the video, but cant upload cos I got no cloud access on that phone till I'm back in the US late next week.
BTW its near impossible to ferment it to alcohol without boiling it IMHO. There's so much yeast and bacteria on them, it will turn to vinegar. Which BTW is very very drinkable TBH, less sugar more sour - love it too. Alcohol is secondary for something this cool and natural.

 

[Jokester]

Sugarcane juice crusher

 

[Elric]

If you can get to a city with a large enough Indian populatio, check with Indian kitchen supply stores to see if they have any available. Alternatively I found this on amazon with a quick search.
Amazon sugarcane roller

Up here in Toronto we have numerous little snack stands, drink shops and grocery stores that have these machines to make fresh sugarcane juice, it isn't limited to Indian shops as well, plenty of south east Asian and Caribbean ones also have them.

 

[Jokester]

I think I'll just make more trips to India and maybe start fermenting stuff over there. LOL. I cant imagine I'll be craving sugarcane wine for a few months now, and at that time, I'll plan my next India trip.