Here's my second experiment in making an alcoholic water that can be concentrated into rum/vodka which I will show the steps involved below. With what I learned from the first experiment this time all bottles have fully fermented.
Technically this is rum since it's made from sugar but the goal is just to produce a clean alcohol similar to a vodka which is usually made from potatoes or grains.
I had most of the dry ingredients in the bottles for a few weeks until I located my home made yeast nutrient. The one with dextrose reacted with the other ingredients turning it a dark brown. This apparently didn't change the final outcome but I wouldn't let this happen next time.
Bottle 1
1 liter water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp yeast nutrient (deactivated bakers yeast, see my blog)
1/4 tsp DAP
1/8 tsp magnesium sulphate (epson salts)
1/8 tsp bentonite
1/16 tsp Red Star Premier Cuvee Yeast
Bottle 2
1 liter water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp yeast nutrient (deactivated bakers yeast, see my blog)
1/2 tsp DAP
1/8 tsp magnesium sulphate (epson salts)
1/8 tsp bentonite
1/16 tsp Red Star Premier Cuvee Yeast
Bottle 3
1 liter water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp yeast nutrient (deactivated bakers yeast, see my blog)
1/2 tsp DAP
1/4 tsp magnesium sulphate (epson salts)
1/8 tsp bentonite
1/16 tsp Red Star Premier Cuvee Yeast
Bottle 4
1 liter water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp yeast nutrient (deactivated bakers yeast, see my blog)
3/4 tsp DAP
1/4 tsp magnesium sulphate (epson salts)
1/8 tsp bentonite
1/16 tsp Red Star Premier Cuvee Yeast
Bottle 5
1 liter water
1 cup dextrose (+ 25% extra to achieve the same gravity reading)
1 tsp yeast nutrient (deactivated bakers yeast, see my blog)
1/2 tsp DAP
1/4 tsp magnesium sulphate (epson salts)
1/8 tsp bentonite
1/16 tsp Red Star Premier Cuvee Yeast
Results:
The Original Gravity for all bottles was 1.09
Bottle 1 Final gravity 0.989 - 13.2% alcohol
Bottle 2 Final gravity 0.989 - 13.2% alcohol
Bottle 3 Final gravity 0.99 - 13.1% alcohol
Bottle 4 Final gravity 0.99 - 13.1% alcohol
Bottle 5 Final gravity 0.99 - 13.1% alcohol
Final thoughts
Most activity stopped after a few weeks which indicated a quick fermentation. The bottles sat for almost a month. I put a bit more yeast in each bottle a week before the end because I thought the fermentation could have stalled but the results show all bottles fully fermented showing a major improvement in the recipe most likely due to adding in more yeast nutrient (deactivated bread yeast).
All bottles had a similar slightly yeasty, very mildly sweet flavor except bottle 2 which has the most flat, neutral almost alkaline flavor. Interestingly more DAP and magnesium sulphate didn't help the fermentation above the level in bottle 2 so there is a range where too much additives aren't helping the fermentation and adding an undesirable flavor.
I am going to use recipe 2 as my starting point and try to fine tune it further in my next experiment using different amounts of water to try and get a cleaner tasting result. The bulk of the water will be removed by freeze concentrating it anyway. I'll add this to the post tomorrow!
I wanted to add a few pictures of my attempt at concentrating this. I'm a bit perplexed as to why the freezing wasn't able to concentrate it. My alcohol gauge isn't very accurate at low levels and didn't change after removing 2/3'ds of the water. More testing to come...
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