SWY (Sugar, H2O & Yeast)....

[Freezer66]

Nothing fancy or complicated OR so I thought. I've been doing this brewing, distilling thing for many years. After some significant life changes a few years back, I moved to Japan & tried something simple just to refresh my memory & to find locations of supplies, etc. I started by simple sure water and yeast and that's been about three or four weeks ago after which I remembered I used tap water a cardinal sin. Now I have 5 gallons of sugar water and yeast which is not moving so my assumption is that it's the chlorine or something they put in the water here.
Can someone suggest the next steps that I need to take to try to salvage this in some way. Thank you for your help.

 

[JohnSand]

If it's chlorine it can be evaporated out. Try boiling and repitching yeast. You don't have much money or time in it, so rather than spend more you can just dump it and start over. I began brewing with the simplest kits, you might go back to square one. Good luck, keep us posted.

 

[fluketamer]

whats the gravity how do you know it didnt ferment

also yeast dont like pure sugar water.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Your ferment stalled because the yeast cannot do their work without some nutrients. You could just add some nutrient, but there's still the fact that you used untreated tap water, and the chlorine in the water has already doomed your brew to taste like bandaids.

So I say dump it, and start over. Use distilled or RO water, and get some yeast nutrient from a homebrew store and follow it's directions (the nutrient I'm looking at says 1 teaspoon per gallon). Oh, and record your gravity (via hydrometer).

 

[Freezer66]

@Hoochin'Fool @fluketamer @john saunders
Gents, I appreciate the feedback from all three of you and recognize and understand what you're saying.
I don't want Band-Aid taste I just wanted to use up this sugar and started the process without thinking.
It would be nice to have a brew store somewhere near me but apparently those aren't readily available in central Japan.
Needless to say my incorrect calculations cause me to use way too much sugar in a rushed effort to just get alcohol for later use (distilling or whatever) and now we are here having the discussion of how to fix it.
Again, I really, really appreciate the replies as I am flying blind over here and can't just reach out to The Homebrew store down the road like in the US.
I'll let you all know what the outcome is. Arigato

 

[MaxStout]

Can you get Campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite)? That can remove chlorine and chloramines from water. One tablet treats 20 gallons (76 liters) of water. Crush the correct dose, dissolve in the water, let it stand several minutes.

If you can't get yeast nutrient, you can use some dead yeast. It doesn't matter what kind, you can use bread yeast. Make a slurry in some hot water and add before you pitch the active brewing yeast.

 

[IAmPistolPete]

While yes the water is an important consideration, it would have to be pretty bad to outright prevent a fermentation. And even with no nutrient additions the yeast will still convert a fairly significant portion of the sugar. So let's also look at the rest of the recipe....
- how much sugar did you add to the 5 gallons of water?
- what yeast did you use and how much? did you pre-hydrate to prove viability?
- what temp did you pitch & did it live at after?
- are you sure it didn't ferment at all? have you tasted it?
you may likely have a combination of issues but my money is on the yeast, not the water

 

[IslandLizard]

Can you get Campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite)? That can remove chlorine and chloramines from water.

Or if you can get it, use "meta powder"* instead. It doesn't need crushing and dissolves instantly, as it contains no binder.

* "Meta" powder being Potassium Metabisulfite or Sodium Metabisulfite.
1/16 teaspoon of the powder treats 5 gallons (21 liter) of tap water. Add, and give it a good stir.

 

[Freezer66]

whats the gravity how do you know it didnt ferment

also yeast dont like pure sugar water.

@fluketamer sorry, I forgot to tell you the specific gravity. It's 1.022. for reference in case I'm not reading my hydrometer correctly it's at the #5 on the Balling scale. IE: It's at the 22 mark.

 

[Freezer66]

Small update, I didn't mention that I'm keeping my temperature around 70°.

I couldn't find a can of tomato paste yet but we did have a packet of paste which is about the same size as 3 or 4 McDonald's ketchup packets. I put that in two days ago and gave it a good stir and today it looks like it wants to do something but is having a really really hard time.
I guess almost like going to the toilet you know you need to and you want to but you can't.
MTF....

 

[Freezer66]

Can you get Campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite)? That can remove chlorine and chloramines from water. One tablet treats 20 gallons (76 liters) of water. Crush the correct dose, dissolve in the water, let it stand several minutes.

If you can't get yeast nutrient, you can use some dead yeast. It doesn't matter what kind, you can use bread yeast. Make a slurry in some hot water and add before you pitch the active brewing yeast.

Ok, I'll try to search/order some Campden tablets. This maybe easier than boiling, degassing or carry many jugs of water to the house.

 

[Freezer66]

While yes the water is an important consideration, it would have to be pretty bad to outright prevent a fermentation. And even with no nutrient additions the yeast will still convert a fairly significant portion of the sugar. So let's also look at the rest of the recipe....
- how much sugar did you add to the 5 gallons of water?
- what yeast did you use and how much? did you pre-hydrate to prove viability?
- what temp did you pitch & did it live at after?
- are you sure it didn't ferment at all? have you tasted it?
you may likely have a combination of issues but my money is on the yeast, not the water

All great questions & here are the answers:
>DONT SHOOT ME for the this one 10lbs of sugar in 5 gal H2O! Yes, Yes too much BUT, I had to use it all or trash it. Sugar is difficult & expensive to get over here in larger that 1kg.
>Yeast: about 25g of Red Star at 75-80° & confirmed active. Since I've pitched 2 other types of yeast with same conditions & felt the same about the yeast more than the water but.....3 yeasts!
>Taste: it almost tastes like an apple cider with a slight alcohol content but my Proof scale.is showing less than zero!

 

[IslandLizard]

Ok, I'll try to search/order some Campden tablets. This maybe easier than boiling, degassing or carry many jugs of water to the house.

Please, only use Sulfites (Campden tablets or "Meta Sulfite" powder) in the (very) small amounts mentioned before, with the intention to remove Chlorine or Chloramines from your (tap) water.

The reason to remove Chlorine or Chloramines from all your water that's being used for fermentations, even distilling, is that they may carry over into the later stages, bound to and ruining other flavor and aroma compounds.

Sulfites added in larger amounts deter micro-organisms from growing and taking hold. Wine and mead makers use Sulfites at various stages in the process to their advantage to protect their musts from unwanted infections, and oxidation. Sulfites are not needed when fermenting a (sugar) wash, except for the little bit to remove Chlorine or Chloramines from your tap water.

 

[IAmPistolPete]

@fluketamer sorry, I forgot to tell you the specific gravity. It's 1.022. for reference in case I'm not reading my hydrometer correctly it's at the #5 on the Balling scale. IE: It's at the 22 mark.

Table sugar is 46 PPG [points-per-pound-per-gallon] so you are looking at 2 lbs sugar / gal water giving you an OG of 1.096 or roughly 12-13% potential ABV. If you are using an SG hydrometer and you are measuring 1.022 you already have about 9-10%ABV currently. All things considered a pretty good showing but probably all you're going to get without nutrients. If you have any handy you can try crushing a multivitamin or 2 & adding it to the sugar wash to give the lil yeasties a boost. DAP or some other type of nitrogen source would be helpful as well but it doesn't seem you have access to such products.

All great questions & here are the answers:
>DONT SHOOT ME for the this one 10lbs of sugar in 5 gal H2O! Yes, Yes too much BUT, I had to use it all or trash it. Sugar is difficult & expensive to get over here in larger that 1kg. A lot, yes, but not really TOO much...
>Yeast: about 25g of Red Star at 75-80° & confirmed active. Since I've pitched 2 other types of yeast with same conditions & felt the same about the yeast more than the water but.....3 yeasts! You don't say which RedStar but prob ok in the upper range of most yeasts' tolerance though likely stressed
>Taste: it almost tastes like an apple cider with a slight alcohol content but my Proof scale.is showing less than zero! a Proof [&Tralle] hydrometer/alcoholometer is only used for distillates. Does not measure correctly in any solutions containing anything other than alcohol/water. Sugar washes tend to have a bitterness to them [try sucking on a tablespoon of sugar!]

One last consideration is pH... sugar washes are [in]famous for pH crashes. You can buffer against it with some oyster shells or even several dried egg shells but be sure to sterilize them.

If your reading of 1.022SG is indeed accurate I think you oughta just take it for what it is and move forward with your plan of what you want to do with it.

 

[Freezer66]

OH SNAP! I just realized that I am surrounded by this byproduct which is made from the production of nihon saki. It's called sake-kasu or saki lees. For a training session I am going to boil this other screw up & start 1 small batch with saki kasu & restart my other screw up and see what happens. NO TAP WATER!! Don't know until you try. I have ordered some of the items that you all suggested. Thank you. I'll give an update when I have some results.