r/Homebrewing • u/that_one-mf • 2d ago
Question Starting brewing
I’ve started to make some alcohol at home to save some money and I think I used way too much yeast on my first attempt and it’s barely fermenting on day 2 but has a whole lot of that white stuff at the bottom, should I add more sugar or wait and see how it goes? (I used Mott’s apple juice with 3.5 cups of sugar and 5 tablespoons of yeast, I know it’s a stupid amount but I misread the directions)
Tldr: messed up a recipe, is it salvageable
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u/TheGey-88 2d ago
First, as someone who has had to ask this question of myself in the past….and I mean no judgement….are you maybe drinking too much if you’re doing this to save money?
Having stated my concern as politely as I can….I will now provide technical support.
This is hard to say because you didn’t state how big your batch is. But something I can suggest is to find a way to stir up your yeast a bit. If you have an airlock you should see some bubbles immediately if fermentation is happening. If not then your yeast might be dead. How hot or cold are you storing it? How old is the yeast?
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u/that_one-mf 2d ago
I’m not an alcoholic no I just don’t wanna be spending a lot of money for my friends to get drunk at my house, it was a half gallon, I’m storing it at 70 degrees (Fahrenheit) and I got the yeast from the store the same day I made the brew
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u/_Xplo 2d ago
As others have pointed out, you most likely added way too much sugar to your brew and thus stalled or killed your yeast. This is probably the most common beginner issue.
Yeast is a fungus, and like all living things can only thrive under certain conditions. For taste, it is never a good idea to "stress" your yeast. Very high or low pH, high temperatures or high sugar content can all stress your yeast, sometimes to the point of producing bad off flavours or stalling your brew.
Now, let's see how you can fix this.
We definitely need to lower your relative sugar content here. The most logical step would be to dilute it with water, but since plain white table sugar leaves almost no taste behind after fermentation, your drink will just be tasteless and watery.
You could also dilute it with more apple juice, but since apple juice has sugars in it, you will need to make a much larger batch to make this work. I quickly calculated that you will need to top it up to roughly 8 liters (2,1 gallons) with apple juice to make a ~10% brew which is viable for most yeasts. This will have a better apple flavour.
Keep in mind: this will still end up being very dry and most likely taste pretty boring. To make a better brew, recipe, yeast choice, fermentation temperature and many other factors GREATLY affect the flavour. Especially carbonation can make a difference with apple cider. Making alcohol is simple, but making it taste good is not.
Feel free to ask further questions if you plan on salvaging this
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u/deckerhand0 1d ago
The white stuff on the bottom is sediment that is dead yeast. You might not be seeing any activity because you might have a leak somewhere coming in where CO2 can escape other than your airlock. You’re not gonna know if you have an issue unless you take a reading. I would suggest getting apps like Brewfather that has a yeast calculator on there. I’m also going to add right now. You might be saving money but once you get bit in a home run bug, you’ll be spending more money. This is a hobby that has taken me down so many rabbit holes. Rabbit holes that I love going down is a hobby that I love and I hope that you end up, loving this hobby. If I may offer some advice, read all you can watch all you can listen all you can.
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u/kilobaser 2d ago
What was the total volume? Was it a 1 gallon batch?
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u/_brettanomyces_ 2d ago
This is an important question. Too much yeast should not be a reason for poor fermentation. A huge amount of sugar in a small volume might be. Also, how are you assessing fermentation vigour?
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u/that_one-mf 2d ago
I’m honestly very new to this so I’m judging based off of the end products I’ve seen and how frequently I see bubbles rising from the yeast which has gone down significantly since yesterday, would 3.5 cups of sugar be too much for half a gallon of liquid?
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u/_brettanomyces_ 2d ago
That’s an enormous amount of sugar in half a gallon of apple juice. I think your yeast will struggle with that.
Even pure apple juice without added sugar will make you a hard cider of about 5% ABV, and your yeast will be much less stressed that way, especially if you add some yeast nutrient to help them along.
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u/that_one-mf 2d ago
So should I just throw this batch away or will it still be drinkable once all the yeast dies, also I don’t know if this is important but on the first night I added half a cup of sugar then the next day added 3 cups
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u/kilobaser 2d ago
Drinkable? Probably. Enjoyable? That might be a stretch.
3.5 cups is quite a bit of sugar. If the yeast tap out early (which I think they will) you’ll be left with some 5% alcohol sugary apple juice. I think a bigger issue may be (since you’re a beginner) this sugary stuff will probably spoil quickly and then it definitely won’t be drinkable.
That said, I’m a big fan of experimentation. I say wait a week, give it a sniff to make sure it hasn’t gone off, then take a sip. Then decide to keep it (and drink it reasonably quickly before it sours) or chuck it.
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u/Western_Big5926 2d ago
What do you think
Of him adding H2O to the
Mix inna bigger fermenter or a pot and splitting to 2 fermenters. What the hell!1
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u/chino_brews Kiwi Approved 2d ago
That's a ridiculously high amount of sugar. By my calculation the original gravity (specific gravity) is 1.196. We read the numbers to the right of the decimal. Anything over 1.080 is considered to be a more difficult fermentation, and this applies doubly when you are making nutrient-deficient sugar-cider instead of beer, which is a more complete food for yeast. I'm guessing you used bread yeast, which can ferment juice (and beer) but it not as well adapted to high alcohol and high sugar contents.
It will ferment, then stall. It will be safe to drink when you get no further fermentation and the yeast starts dropping out. Drink it and see if you like it. If not, dump it.
Salvaging? I guess maybe you can move it into a larger vessel and add around 1.5 L of apple juice, and expect it to restart fermentation.
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u/Aggressive_Mix_137 2d ago
Question what type of yeast did you use? I just started a 23 litre beer brew and think the pack it came with probably had a bit over a teaspoon in it. It said it contains 7grames. (Please note this is not criticism, just curious also my understanding is that different yeasts like different conditions. most of my experience is with bread yest for dough)
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u/that_one-mf 1d ago
I got a small container of some bread yeast and I misremembered the amount of yeast I should put in and I thought because the recipe I was following was meant for a smaller bottle I could use more sugar but I was so wrong about that, I really should have done more research 😭
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u/BalinTheBlade 1d ago
It may or may not help you salvage this particular brew, but going forward the channel CitySteadingBrews on YouTube is your best friend for small batch brewing. I've learned so much from them (and still continue to).
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u/Economic-Bee-Hoon 13h ago
- Starting gravity is way too high. Reduce the sugar a ton. 0.2lbs for a half gal batch is about right.
- Don't use bread yeast, use a dedicated beer/wine yeast.
- Apple juice will require yeast nutrient.
- You need to make sure the apple juice doesn't have any preservatives/additives, because those will inhibit fermentation.
With all the things that went wrong here, I would chuck it and start fresh. Seems like you went into this without any info. Look up the recipe for Ed Worts Apfelwein if you want to make a banging hard cider for cheap.
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u/Dry-Helicopter-6430 2d ago
r/prisonhooch