Making alcohol? Am I making wine, beer, or rum? And is it safe?
So I successfully made some very bitter wine, and am on my next alcoholic project. For now I’m using bakers yeast but plan to get wine yeast soon, before I make mead.
I added a relatively large amount of maple syrup to a relatively larger amount of water ( 2 litters all together). I also added a 1/2 cup sugar. The yeast isn’t reacting like it did with the wine. I’ve been leaving my 2 litter bottle open to allow air in. When I put my ear up to the opening I don’t hear the fizzing sound, like I did with the wine.
The Safety Part: some of the top part, where the foam forms there is black. It looks a little like mold, but I figured it might be from the darker color of the syrup.
In any case is it safe to drink when I siphon it from the top to filter out the yeast at the end?
is there a way to make it safe for sure. Should I add more sugar, to make more alcohol, and raise the %. Any other suggestions are welcome, because I really don’t want to start over again.
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5 Responses to “Making alcohol? Am I making wine, beer, or rum? And is it safe?”
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You’re making some kind of insane fermented drink. It is definitely not rum, atleast in the finished state. If you distilled it, it would become something resembling rum. But this is too low in alcohol to be called rum, or even pre-rum.
If you had any idea what the alcohol content of this would, it would be easier to determine how safe it is. Anything over 10% is safe. When you get above 5% its almost certainly safe. Under 5% is probably not safe. You can’t easily obtain this information, though. It’s a guessing game. If it looks like mold, it probably is. If it is mold, then its under 5%. And if its under 5% and has mold, it isn’t safe.
Not sure what you are making. Most Maple Syrups have preservatives, thus won’t allow true fermentation to take place. Rum requires distilling, and unless you have a still, this isn’t going to happen.
Technically, when make wine, you want an air-tight container with an air lock, that will let the co2 release, without letting air in. Air is bad when making wine.
I wouldn’t drink it. If you did I think it would make you puke.
You sound like you should be distilling this not fermenting it. Be very careful if you start distilling stuff you need constant heat. I would stick to beer and wines and leave the spirits alone for now. You can always learn more about distilling and use this knowledge later. Throw the stuff away you might get sick.
Your fermenting liquids, but you don’t seem to have the knowledge to make the drinks "work". Generic bread yeast mixed with random amounts of sugary waters isn’t going to cut it. Adding more sugar will not solve your problems and using proper yeast strains is a must. Also oxygen is very, very bad for the fermenting process. You need an airlock on your fermenter to allow Co2 to escape while allowing no O2 to enter. I recommend buying the book The Joy of Home Brewing. There’s so much more to know than just adding sugar, water and yeast together. Good Luck!
Considering you used Maple syrup and sugar, I’d guess you’re making Rum. As for the black part, dark rum is made from molasses, so you could be right when assuming it’s from the darkness of the maple syrup. I wouldn’t worry about the fizzing sound not being there, since you said the wine was bitter it probably has something to do with the difference in pH level between the grapes and syrup. Whether or not it’s safe to drink… I really can’t tell you, but let someone know before you drink it so someone can tell the ambulance what happened just in case.