These recipes really are so simple, there just isn't much to say. However, for anyone who is new, interested, and curious about the absolute basics, I will try to dig in to whatever details there are.
Ingredients:
- Juice.
While many of the preservatives that are added to your typical grocery store juices (i.e. Potassium Sorbate) are inteded to stop fermentation from taking place, they can typically be overpowered by pitching more yeast. In the beginning, it's basically a battle between the preservatives and the yeast...so give enough reenforcements to the yeast army, and in some time they will multiply and prevail. In this recipe, I used juice found at Aldi that was only treated with pasteurization, but had no preservatives added. Pasteurization is basically a process of incrementally increasing temperature and dropping it before it can negatively impact the flavor of the juice; each successive run takes the temperature a little higher than before, and through this process most bacteria and wild yeast are killed off. This is a great base for a fermentation as you have a low likelihood of infection, and no preservatives for your yeast to battle. - Yeast
After coming from a background in primarily brewing beer, I've found I tend to prefer using dry wine and champagne yeasts. These take a little longer than ale yeasts, but can survive in higher concentrations of alcohol by volume (ABV). A typical wine yeast seems to ferment up to around 13% ABV and, while this isn't a strict set value, it generally works out as long as there's enough sugar to get you there.
Optional Indredients:
yeast nutrition - this often results in a longer fermentation time because the nutrients produce a sulfur-like smell as they ferment. This smell burns off as the wine or hooch conditions, but still I personally only add nutrients if I'm concerned that my yeast may stall out (stop fermenting).
additional sugar - this is tricky. too much sugar and the yeast will die off from alcohol content before it burns it all up...resulting in a drink that's potentially way too sweet to enjoy. (If this happens, I often serve by cutting with seltzer water etc.)
priming sugar - once you're satisfied that fermenation is done/nearly done, you can add sugar to the solution just prior to bottling. This will cause the fermentation process to continue in the closed bottle. The CO2 resulting from this continued fermentation will dissolve into the beverage since it's trapped, resulting in a delightful fizzy drink. (caution, there is such a thing as too much, and if you're using glass bottles, this can result in a dangerous explosion).
Supplies:
- really none. If you prefer to ferment in a dedicated container with an airlock, by all means do so, but personally I've found that I really prefer the simple stupid approach - I just ferment the juices in the bottles they came in! No need for an airlock, I just "burp" it (crack the lid to relieve pressure) once in a while. This saves me from having to use guess work when it comes time for priming sugar. Since the bottle is closed off, the drink will usually be carbonated before it's even noticeably alcoholic.
To bottle individually, let the fermentation run its full course, then chill the beverage AND THE BOTTLES YOU WANT TO TRANSFER IT INTO, and use a siphon to gently transfer the liquid.
Note: Personally, I may still prime at this time, it really just depends on how the batch feels.
In order to give some headspace in the bottles, I do tend to spread the drinks out across a couple of bottles. This isn't entirely necessary, but it helps :)
That's really all there is to it! Take some juice, dump in some yeast, cap it off, vent pressure occassionally, and ONCE THE JUICE STARTS LOOKING CLEAR/CLEAN, it's ready for consumption! (If you open one up and you're not crazy about the taste or smell, just cap it off and wait. Often times with wine yeasts, there can be a period of conditioning required to achieve the peak flavors :)
Video: UPDATE 30 Nov 2021, Burping Closed-Bottle Fermentation
[Video: UPDATE 21 Dec 2021, Checking fermentation progress by opacity and flavor](Link to be added.)
Feel free to respond with questions etc. and I will update the recipe if there are elements that need to be added or corrected.
