I want to make wine from Mountain Dew Throwback

[goosen1]

Here we go!!! I started a 3 gallon carboy with the Soda Stream Fountain Mist syrup.

1 16.9oz Soda Stream Fountain Mist syrup
4 lbs sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon Yeast Energizer
3 teaspoons Yeast Nutrient
1 package Lalvin EC-1118
About 2 1/2 gallons water

I took the bottle of syrup and added it to a large sauce pan. Fill the same bottle with water, Shake it up and add it to the sauce pan. I set it to a medium heat and whisked the syrup about every minute for 10 minutes. Let the syrup cool.

This uses a 3 gallon carboy.

Add the syrup and sugar into the carboy then fill up with water.
Then add the energizer and nutrient and stir until all of the sugar is dissolved. I let the mix sit for around 10hrs until I pitched the yeast.
Add your airlock and wait

When I checked the starting SG it was right at 1.070

 

[goosen1]

This is a couple of hours later...

 

[slowjerk]

Does yeast eat Splenda? I don't even know. If it does that is certainly the way to go!

 

[goosen1]

That's a good question... I was just checking it out and what do you know, The airlock sure is busy!!!

 

[Arpolis]

Sucralose or splenda is an interesting substance that is made from Sucrose by replacing three oxygen-hydrogen groups in the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms. This chemical change makes the molicule chain very resistant to heat and digestive proccesses. However it does contain the proper molecules found in carbohydrates needed to produce alcohol and CO2. So it will work to a point but I bet your yeast wuill ignore the Sucralose in favor of eating the simple sugars and wait to eat it for last. They will probably become over stressed trying to break down the difficult molecule chains and poop out befor much more is done.

 

[goosen1]

Do you think that it will settle to the bottom after fermentation or stay suspended in the liquid with the coloring?? BTW Arpolis, Did you get any of those storms that rolled through yesterday? I know your area is in need of the rain like my area.

 

[Arpolis]

Yea I was hit hard with rain for about 7-8 hours strait. And loved every drop of it lol. However it rained that hard here because there was a HUGE grass fire that took out 130 homes not to far from me. :-( but back to the wine. I would bet most of it does stay suspended. Sucralose still dissolves like sugar so should be fine. I would not be surprised if this turned out pretty good.

 

[goosen1]

That's good that you did get some rain. It's the first time for over 3 months for us.

I don't have much money in this project so if it doesn't turn out good, At least I can say I tried it!!! I do have another bottle of syrup so I can back-sweeten to get some flavor into it.

 

[goosen1]

Thinking about it, When I boiled the syrup and let it cool, I skimmed some white stuff off of the top. Do you think I got that stuff out?

 

[Arpolis]

Not real sure what the white stuff would be. I know when you boil honey the white stuff or "Scum" as it is often called is proten that has bonded together along with other simple sugars. There may have been Amino acids that bonded with some of the sucralose to make that white stuff. But not all the sucralose would have been removed in my opintion.

 

[goosen1]

I'm sure it will be harmless. I just checked on the Dew wine and it's still working like it should. I'm kinda excited that this is still fermenting like this. We will see in a few days after the fermentation slows down so I can get a SG reading.

 

[goosen1]

On 8/3 before I pitched the yeast my starting SG was 1.070. As of today the SG is right at 1.030!!! It's right about where I thought it would be after 3 days. So far things are looking good for alcohol production!!! After that, I have a feeling I will need to work at getting some flavor in it.

 

[Arpolis]

Any update? How is it coming along?

 

[goosen1]

As of today, Its starting to clear but I do need to rack it and check the SG. I will do that in the morning when I get back from St. Louis.

 

[fredthecat]

im really surprised the preservatives were overpowered by a big yeast starter.. interesting implications for a lot of things if its true.

i was going to ask what the flavour of mountain dew comes from and suggest that you just make a mountain dew flavoured sugar solution for fermenting. is it a citrus base or something?

 

[goosen1]

Mountain Dew is a citrus soda with lime, lemon, orange etc.

I racked the Dew wine and checked the SG. I'm right at 0.994 and WOW!!! Talk about rocket fuel!!!! There are notes of the citrus flavors but the alcohol takes it over. Very dry but it could be drinkable after back sweetening.

 

[dover157]

Stumbled accross mine last night, put in the closet and forgot about it, and had to check on this thread. My 1 gal batch is drinkable, not good but drinkable. I did add some neon green coloring to it hoping to boost the WTF factor if I serve it to somone. After several months in secondary it smells like Trix ceral, and taste like watered down cheap wine...... Guess I should bottle it and see if I can get any takers, who knows it may actually be good when cold lol. Ill see if I can post some pics of my "green" as I have decided to call it.

 

[goosen1]

That's funny! When I racked mine into the secondary, There was this funky yellow muck (yellow dye) that resembled a hint of latex paint merking at the bottom of the carboy. I'm glad I don't drink Mt. Dew anymore... Well, Besides this project!!! Most of the dyes will be gone after I mix in the Super Kleer.... I hope!!!

 

[goosen1]

 

[slowjerk]

Mountain Dew is a citrus soda with lime, lemon, orange etc.

I racked the Dew wine and checked the SG. I'm right at 0.994 and WOW!!! Talk about rocket fuel!!!! There are notes of the citrus flavors but the alcohol takes it over. Very dry but it could be drinkable after back sweetening.

0.994! I think you did great. You can see I posted earlier on that I used a whole bottle of wine conditioner with my 4 liter batch to get it sweetened back up, and it was OK after that. It's Mountain Dew, so a real sugary taste is what you can aim for here, although with your "dewshine" I'd be tempted to blend it with regular dew to get the alcohol % back down a little.

I love coming back to this thread I started over a year ago and see how excited people are about it. If I'm ever known for anything, it's coming up with Mountain Dew wine, it's, my greatest achievement in life so far :fro:

 

[goosen1]

You know, I have had a lot of fun playin around with this Dew wine. I even told my wife that it tasted bad, I could dump it without getting upset because I have maybe $15 total into it.

If this really turns out good after back sweetening with the syrup, I will invest in the 5 gallon box for sure!!!

 

[goosen1]

Here is the Mt. Dew wine. I started this on 8/3/12 with a SG of 1.070. Today the SG is .992

 

[Arpolis]

And the verdict? Is it drinkable?

 

[goosen1]

As of right now it needs to mellow out, There is a lot of alcohol and a strong aftertaste. I will give it a few weeks then I will back-sweeten with a little syrup.

 

[Machalel]

Has anyone had thought to overloading the yeast with sugar, pushing it above its ABV tolerance in order to sweeten the final product?

 

[Arpolis]

Has anyone had thought to overloading the yeast with sugar, pushing it above its ABV tolerance in order to sweeten the final product?

If his stuff tastes like rocket fuel now then what do you think would happen with further stressed yeast in a Higher Gravity must and a higher ABV? It is usually better to get your gravity and ABV right first, then back sweeten.

 

[Brewmex41]

I wonder if using the individual ingredients for mtn dew, without the preservatives would work.

 

[slowjerk]

Check this out!~

http://byo.com/light-ale/item/1167-mountain-brew

 

[n00bBrew3r]

your carboy might explode lol.

 

[cleverley]

get enough of it and throw some champagne yeast in it! Or wine yeast. Or ale yeast. Or lager yeast.

I don't quite know that you could make "wine" from it, but you definitely could make something boozy from it!

I think so too.

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Was gonna do 3 gallons but decided on 5, pitched 1118 today.

View attachment 1421718830499.jpg

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Took two days (to get over the preservatives I'd imagine) but we officially have liftoff!!

 

[Brewmex41]

Boiled two 2liter bottles down and pitched red star champagne yeast.

View attachment 1422177126029.jpg

 

[maurtis]

I started a 3 gallon batch following goosen's recipe using the Mountain Mist syrup. My local grocery store carries it for $5 per bottle so I picked up two. One for the fermentation and the other to backsweeten with. I figured backsweetening (after a dose of sorbate to kill fermentation) with the syrup would help it taste more Mt. Dewy in the final form.

I would normally then rack to secondary, dose with k-meta, sorbate and super-kleer. But if I use more syrup to backsweeten I would think it would cloud up again.

Should I instead add the super-kleer after backsweetening? I wonder if it will pull out any of the flavor?

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

I started a 3 gallon batch following goosen's recipe using the Mountain Mist syrup. My local grocery store carries it for $5 per bottle so I picked up two. One for the fermentation and the other to backsweeten with. I figured backsweetening (after a dose of sorbate to kill fermentation) with the syrup would help it taste more Mt. Dewy in the final form.

I would normally then rack to secondary, dose with k-meta, sorbate and super-kleer. But if I use more syrup to backsweeten I would think it would cloud up again.

Should I instead add the super-kleer after backsweetening? I wonder if it will pull out any of the flavor?

I did the same as you. I have a few cases of these syrups(bought on clearance a while back). And was also thinking about the clearing thing. I'm just going to rack and back sweeten with more syrup and not bother with clarifying. That's if sweetening is warranted. Tasted it yesterday and it was pretty good and down to 1.020. The syrup has artificial sweetener as well as sugar so it still may retain a good sweetness when its done.

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Bottled today, here's leftovers on ice. Its actually really good. The leftover sucralose is sweet enough. Good Mt. Dew flavor, not very hot flavor. Pretty dangerous stuff (9.2% abv).

View attachment 1422668678163.jpg

 

[Brewmex41]

Mine did nothing.

View attachment 1422672787711.jpg

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Mine did nothing.

You used actual mountain dew right? Someone in this thread said it took 9 days to take off. I used the Soda Stream syrup.

 

[Brewmex41]

You used actual mountain dew right? Someone in this thread said it took 9 days to take off. I used the Soda Stream syrup.

Technically i used Freddy's brand citrus drop. Boiled 4 liters down to 3.5 then added an entire pack of red star champagne yeast. Thinkin about adding some kind of brett or something if it doesn't ferment just for fun.

 

[maurtis]

Fuzzy, so no backsweetening? My primary fermentation is over so figured I would rack, k-meta, sorbate, and super-kleer in a day or so. But if no backsweetening is needed, then off to bottling after a couple weeks of clearing. I am looking for a hint of Mt. Dew taste but not too sweet of course. I just did not want it too dry.

I used goosen's recipe as well. Fermentation took about a day or so to kick off. It was never a very vigorous fermentation, but I would give the carboy a swirl or two every few days and the outgassing was pretty obvious. That was about a week and a half ago and we are already down to 0.990 SG.