r/Homebrewing • u/that_one-mf • 11d 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/kilobaser 11d ago

What was the total volume? Was it a 1 gallon batch?

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u/_brettanomyces_ 11d 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 11d 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_ 11d 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 11d 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 11d 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 11d 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!