Fermented water

A picture of a cheap fermentation vessel (regular plastic buckets of 10l) with integrated fermentation lock (by drilling a hole inside the bucket and inserting the locke herein).

Fermented water (known as kilju in Finland), is a liquid containing exclusively water and approximately 15–17% ethanol. Since it does not contain any sugar it is completely dry.

Crude fermented water may be distilled to moonshine. Fermented water for consumption is clarified to avoid wine fault, it is a flax-colored liquid with no discernible taste other than that of ethanol; an alcoholic beverage used as an ethanol base for drink mixers.

Production

Fermented water is cheap to make because it is made by fermenting refined sugar, yeast, and water exclusively.

Ingredients

An easy way to produce fermented water is to obtain turbo yeast kits (contains Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals) that instructs on the package the quantity of white sugar, and tap water needed.

• Inverted sugar syrup
  • Water
  • Sugars in wine: White sugar (or crystallized sucrose) is cheap and common. Also, partial refined sugar like brown sugar should be avoided, for example molasses produces a distinct flavor in rum.
• Yeast in winemaking: The most common yeast associated with winemaking is Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is excellent at producing ethanol. Yeast are dependent on a few nutrients (often included in yeast kit sanchets) to produce as much ethanol as possible, the most important ones are:
  • Thiamine: Increases the resistance of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae against oxidative, osmotic and thermal stress.
  • Yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN), is the combination of free amino nitrogen (FAN), ammonia (NH₃) and ammonium (NH₄⁺) that is available for the wine yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to use during fermentation. Outside the sugars in wine, nitrogen is the most important nutrient needed to carry out a successful fermentation that doesn't end prior to the intended point of dryness or sees the development of off-odors and related wine faults.
  • An Invertase is only needed for undissolved sugar, since sugar dissolved in water (inverted sugar syrup) is cleaved to glucose and fructose. However, an Invertase is an enzyme that cleaves the glycosidic linkage between the glucose and fructose molecules in sucrose. This helps the yeast metabolize the sugars faster.

Inverted sugar syrup

Further information: Syrup § For fermentation

Inverted sugar syrup for fermented water is usually home-made by fully dissolving sugar in cold tap water. Yeast requires oxygen rich water that do not exceed 25 degrees Celsius.

A common manual way to dissolve refined sugar is to mix with water in a container which is half filled, and then sealed and shaken. However, a mixer or blender may be used to automatically dissolve the sugar, in turns, if necessary.

Yeast

Yeast, and yeast nutrition, is mixed in the syrup. One gram pure yeast consumes approximately 0.2 grams sugar. When wine yeasts ferments, glucose is fermented at a faster rate than fructose.

Yeasts will usually die out once the alcohol level reaches about 15% due to the toxicity of alcohol on the yeast cells' physiology while the more alcohol tolerant Saccharomyces species take over. In addition to S. cerevisiae, Saccharomyces bayanus is a species of yeast that can tolerate alcohol levels of 17–20%.

Measurement

A classical hand-held must weight-type refractometer.

1. The must weight must be zero: A fermentation lock should indicate less than a bubble per minute. Then the residual sugar is measured with a must weight refractometer/hygrometer. If there's sugar left, then more yeast should be added to consume it, and this measurement process should be repeated. A solution with sugar is not fermented water, but fermented syrup.
2. Clarification: The solution is clarified, typically with a fining agent like bentonite.
3. Alcohol by volume: Only when the must weight is zero, and when the solution has been clarified, an alcoholic hydrometer, or an ethanol-type refractometer, will display accurate alcohol volume. Residual sugar after an arrested fermenatation will give false values.

Alcohol adjustment

Since fermented water contains no flavors, water may be added to cut down the ABV if desired.

Legality

Winemaking is legal in most countries. However, fermented water is based on sugar (a plant extract) instead of grapes.

Fermented water can be used as a legal option to moonshine to produce mixed drinks.

Finland

The Finnish Alcoholic Beverages Act 1 March 2018 legalized the manufacture of fermented water and wine from fruits, berries and other carbohydrate sources, without the pretense of making proper wine.

Sweden

In Sweden it is legal to produce fermented water and there is no upper limit on the alcohol volume produced from the yeast.

Usage

Homemade fermented water may prevent methanol poisoning incidents that may stem from diluted black market moonshine. However, the simple production process also makes it accessible to underage drinkers.

Consumption

Fermented water contains a similar alcoholic content of wines as both beverages are fermented on yeast, however fermented water differs from wine and other fermented beverages in that it contains no fruit juice or residual sugar after manufacture. Drink mixer concentrates should be used to substitute 40% distilled spirit with yeast fermented spirit in cocktails, because it contains 2-2.7 times more water than distilled spirit.

Homemade alcopop

To make homemade alcopop (typically to 3–7%) water is added to fermented water to dilute the ABV accordingly. The solution is then carbonated with a soda machine, and soft drink syrup (which will lower the ABV approximately 10%) is added. Alternatively it can be made as a carbonated soft drink when served before the fermentation process is complete. Fermented water made this way is high in sugar and carbon dioxide (CO₂) content, and do not need to be diluted with water because it has little to no alcohol depending on how many days it has been fermented, being similar to a sweet lemon soda.

Moonshine

See also: Moonshine by country § List of modern moonshine

Crude fermented water can be refined into modern moonshine by means of distillation to vodka, or neutral spirit, but it is illegal in most countries. It is distinct from rum because it is typically made by molasses, a byproduct of the sugar refining process, or fresh sugar cane juice that has a discernible taste of its own.

Moonshine names, commonly distilled from fermented water:

• Cuba: Gualfarina
• Finland: Pontikka
• Latvia: Kandža
• Nicaragua: Cususa
• Poland: Bimber
• Russia: Samogon
• Saudi Arabia: Aragh
• Sweden: Hembränt (HB)

See also

• Fermented tea
• Free Beer
• Mead

References

This article "Fermented water" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Fermented water. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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