20%

[alawlor66430]

How much sugar do I need to make 23 litres of 20% alcohol with water

 

[Moley]

400g in the litre x 23 = 9.2kg.

Note, that's sugar in the litre and not sugar added to the litre.

But it won't work unless you use a wash yeast and then charcoal filter.

 

[alawlor66430]

I've ordered some alcotec yeast that will ferment to 22%, will that be ok? what is charcoal filtering

 

[tonyhibbett]

Never used a turbo yeast, as I've heard the flavour is not great. Bear in mind that the higher the concentration of alcohol, the greater the amount af acetone and methanol is produced. Brandy, for example, at 40% abv, has these toxins removed as part of the distillation process. Fortified wine, such as port at 20% abv, has brandy added to increase the alcohol leve. This is a much safer approach.

 

[graysalchemy]

The charcoal filter removes the nasties out of the alcohol (supposedly) If you don't you will be producing headache juice with a touch of methanol in it :sick: :sick:

 

[calumscott]

Is it just the speed of production that causes the problems?

After all the Japanese produce Sake to 20-something percent but I guess they spend a lot of time and love on it?

 

[Jonny69]

I'm under the impression that under low alcohol concentrations, healthy yeast cleanly converts sugar to ethanol, but under higher concentrations where it is at the limit of where it can survive, it starts to struggle and the chemical 'mistakes' it makes results in the production of other alcohols such as methanol.

 

[tonyhibbett]

The methanol and acetone are produced anyway. It may be that they they concentrate more at higher alcohol levels, but whisky starts off as malt beer (minus hops) so the toxins are there already but more highly concentrated as alcohol levels rise. I heard today that a test will soon be available to show just how sclerotic your liver is.

 

[graysalchemy]

The methanol and acetone are produced anyway. It may be that they they concentrate more at higher alcohol levels, but whisky starts off as malt beer (minus hops) so the toxins are there already but more highly concentrated as alcohol levels rise. I heard today that a test will soon be available to show just how sclerotic your liver is.

Looking forward to that one Tony :thumb:

 

[PD]

quote....

I heard today that a test will soon be available to show just how sclerotic your liver is.

oh good............. :whistle: can't wait....

 

[mm707]

I use turbo yeast with 8 - 9 kg sugar, clear using alcotec or youngs finings and then filter it 3 or 4 times through a approx 2m pipe ( about 5 cm wide ) with activated charcoal in.

no yeasty smell or taste. Then I add essences which you can get on line to make baileys, aniseed / ouzo etc. Not too strong but about 20% + :)

 

[alawlor66430]

Could I use de activated carbon instead i have around 30 tons of it at work sitting doing nothing

 

[prolix]

supposedly methonol is a by product of friut based fermentation not grain something to do with fruit sugars, whiskey producers only brew to about 6% off the grain suppose efficency comes in to it.

Sucrose should not produce methonol but will produce the rest of the esters and funnky fusols but the yeast at those heights won't eat them so maybe thats why whishkey sticks to 6

activated charcoal is a must so they say but how does it know to leave the alcohol alone? damn smart sh*t thats what I say

 

[CiderJoe]

Just water, sugar and yeast taste terrible! :)

 

[tonyhibbett]

Charcoal can also be added with the yeast as well as final filtering. A jug filter works well with tapwater but does little or nothing to improve the flavour of purely sugar fermented stuff.

 

[tonyhibbett]

It would seem that methyl alcohol is a product of the breakdown of pectins rather than fermentation. Parsnips and apricots have lots of pectin, and so do apples. The larger amount of ethyl alcohol produced by turbo yeast would therefore have no bearing on the amount of methyl alcohol produced, but more the ingredients used. We have all heard the tales of west country hard cider drinkers going blind and French red wine and brandy drinkers living longer and healthier lives, but one thing is pretty clear, regular drinking of large amounts of high concentrations of alcohol didn't do George Best a lot of favours in the long run!

 

[alawlor66430]

I just want to make a base for lots of variations in flavours, once my 23 litres of 20% booze is ready it will be bottled and used in experiments its not for drinking as it is, I have lots of ideas for new and unusual drinks but I need a decent % base to start with

 

[mm707]

activated carbon will not remove any of the alcohol.