Not Quite Moonshine

I'll start off with a .gif of very active fermentation. Since my last experiment (cider) non-beer experiment was completed, it was time to try something new. While browsing beer-wine.com, I found something interesting: 24-hour Turbo Yeast.

When I started brewing, I always had wanted to see what happened when I threw yeast in with sugar or kool-aid. However, after researching it, there were a few issues. First, yeast is like us... it needs nutrients. It cannot live off sugar alone. When brewing beer, this is typically not an issue as the malts contain the necessary nutrients. Also, my kool-aid idea wouldn't work either because some of the chemicals in it would hinder the yeast.

However, what was included in this Turbo Yeast packet was everything needed for fermentation except for the sugars. Nutrients included. Hence, this project was pretty easy. All had to do was boil 6 lbs of sugar and sterilize the carboy, then add the yeast when ready.

The idea is that it will be at 14% in a 24 hrs. The .gif above was taken at about 16 hrs. It's difficult to see and I didn't have too much time to setup the shot, but the top layer of the carboy is fizzing like crazy. Later on, the bubbles grew a lot larger as well.

It should be ready by now, but I don't really know what to expect. I will certainly need to add some sort of flavoring I think. The carboy was quite cloudy last time I checked, so I'm also wondering if I want to let the yeast and nutrients sink to the bottom, then harvest it. Either way, I'll taste it and make a decision soon.


PS: An interesting point on the packet instructions were to avoid using an airlock. I was trying to think of the reasons behind this. One could that it was so active, it would almost certainly cause a blowoff. The lack of an airlock brings up the thought of contamination. Typically contamination happens when other yeasts from around the atmosphere find their way into your beer. However, my theory is that this yeast is so fast acting and powerful, that it muscles the other potential yeasts out. Also, the final product is done so quickly that there's little time to become contaminated.