Super easy home brew booze, for barter if things break down...

[Brianster]

I've been lurking a bit on this place tonight, was inspired to go here after trying to find some books on wild edible plants. The survival off of the land element has been something I found intriguing ever since I was a child, now, seeing how things are coming down, realizing having skills like these are invaluable. If stuff hits the fan, the all mighty buck turns into nothingness and we are forced to go back to a barter society, one of the important elements are going to be along what one can produce for trade. Alcohol is one of the commodities that top that list. It can be used to fuel a car "with some simple mods to the vehicle", it can be used for cooking/heating sterilization, and yeah, one can of course get a buzz from it as well. If everything dissolves to the basics, I'm sure there will be plenty of people interested in it, and there are few people that know how to make it. Here is the simple one that won't get your car to fire up, but is enough for the basics of the basics to start to produce alcohol with very little effort.

Ingredients:

1. Water

2. Yeast

3. Powdered Sugar (Confectioners Sugar)

4. And an airtight container to put it in (mason jars work well get the pint sized ones with the lids they come in a 12 pack and can be bought for around 9 dollars and the jars are reusable and new lids can be bought)

5. A few paper coffee filters to filter the yeast out of the finished product

Steps:

First take your container and sterilize it with boiling water

Second prepare your mixture of sugar and water if your using a pint sized mason jar fill it about 3/4 the way up with powdered sugar, then add warm water around 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit fill it up to about near the top leaving about a 2 inch space for air in the jar. Yeast likes a warm environment but not too hot or you will kill the yeast.

third put the lid on the container and shake until sugar dissolves in the water.

fourth remove lid and add package of yeast I use Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise highly active yeast which can be bought at publix in a 3 pack for about 2 bucks.

fifth put lid back on jar and shake until yeast mixes well with the water and the liquid turns a creamy vanilla color.

sixth remove lid and fill sink with warm water that is about 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit place jar in the warm water with lid removed while making sure water does not spill into open jar.

seventh let sit for about 3 hours making sure to check the water every 20 minutes or so and add more warm water as needed try to maintain the water temp at 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit to keep the yeast active.

eighth remove jar from water while the jar was sitting in the sink you may have noticed some foam coming up out of the jar this is alright do not panic this is supposed to happen it means the yeast is doing its job breaking down the sugar into alcohol and releasing Carbon Dioxide.

ninth now this step is very important you must put the lid back on the jar and seal it, then take a knife or other sharp object and carefully punch a small hole in the lid, then take a small bit of paper towel and jam it into the hole so as to make sure the carbon dioxide can escape from the jar but no air can get back in, this is very important because if you don’t have a way for the gas to escape then your jar can turn into a “glass grenade” as i call it and explode when the gas builds up.

tenth now place the jar in warm dry place such as an attic or garage (i keep mine in the garage near my water heater) and let it sit for 4 days to a week (or after you can look into the jar and bubbles are no longer rising to the top they will be very small bubbles and hard to see so look closely)

finally after waiting you can open the jar and drain the liquid now about 10 to 20% alcohol through about 3 coffee filters into another jar filtering it removes the yeast that builds up on the bottom. This type of alcohol made from sugar will be very strong and most likely wont taste to good unless you mix it with something to cover it up, I suggest putting some fruit into the jar and letting it sit another week to get some flavor, try cherries, peaches, cinnamon and apples also tastes pretty good.

Now some people will say that this is illegal to make and that you are not allowed to make alcohol at home, but it is perfectly legal as long as you are a LEGAL adult of the USA 18 years of age or older and as long as you do not sell, trade, or transport it to anyone for money or goods or services. On a final note I do not condone underage drinking if you are making this to drink yourself and you are under the legal drinking age then its your responsibility notmine I am not responsible for anything that you may do with this, by following my recipe you are agreeing to this.

This was taken from an outside web source, so do not claim the fame on the instruction myself. I'm going to try a variation of this one using a 3 liter bottle of soda from the dollar store, a balloon, and easy to access bread yeast. I have to pull the cap off of it overnight with the balloon attached to it to allow the Co2 to escape, which is the only added step. From there, add the yeast and cap, shake it up well, put the balloon back, and let it sit in the house a few days, and wallah, I just created booze, 8% alcohol content 3 liters of it, for just over a buck.

In raw survival mode, filters can be any piece of cloth, one can refine them by stacking them in layers with ground up charcoal in between as well.

One can replace the soda or it's container with any juice "or sugar water" if they desire, and of course, these are going to be things you will want to barter for in order to replenish your stock, as well as yeast of any kind. It's super simple at this stage, not refined, but enough to have a commodity that is worthy of bartering with, for it will be in high demand. One should consider stocking up on more refined yeasts in the process, they can be cultivated just FYI as well, so you can start out and refine your stock, but for the above purposes, off the shelf, stuff that's not considered all that valuable, is golden for those of us that know how to use it.

[Rick]

Nice post. Take some time to look through the threads and use the Search button at the top of the page. We have quite a few threads on brewing. Not just beer but on wine, mash and even a few on fuel.

[Batch]

Brainster,

That recipe is what we call thin mash. When you distill it down to about 120 or 140 proof it is a sweet moonshine flavor.

You can also just put the yeast in a fruit juice. There are many fruits and berries that grow wild that you can use.

If you want a punch with a little more punch you can freeze the wine and remove the ice. This is called jacking as in apple jack. Colonial settlers would just set their wine out in the cold.

It'll get you all jacked up on about 30% to 40% alcohol.

[LowKey]

confectioners sugar
????????
and new lids can be bought
????????

And where are you going to get these supplies when no longer available? The lids you can stockpile but you might want to come up with a more reusable method now rather than later.

But the sugar? You growing cane? Beets? Maples? Bees?

It would also be a good idea to learn how to perpetuate your own yeast culture. Or how to capture a new one.

[BENESSE]

Brainster,

That recipe is what we call thin mash. When you distill it down to about 120 or 140 proof it is a sweet moonshine flavor.

You can also just put the yeast in a fruit juice. There are many fruits and berries that grow wild that you can use.

If you want a punch with a little more punch you can freeze the wine and remove the ice. This is called jacking as in apple jack. Colonial settlers would just set their wine out in the cold.

It'll get you all jacked up on about 30% to 40% alcohol.

Now THIS is something I've got to try! It's right up my alley.

[Batch]

You don't need sugar if you use natural sweet fruits.

The lid is an air lock. It allows gas out and nothing else in. It can be made from almost anything if the purpose is considered. I have used balloons for air locks with a pin hole in them. I have used straws into other vessel filled with water.

But, making booze ain't rocket science.

[LowKey]

I know Batch. It's the perpetualization of internet 'trivia' that irks me, is all.

[Brianster]

You guys are on top of it, wow, just wow, this is the place to go in order to get set up for survival mode without any help from the outside. That's a good thing as well, since I'm passing along what I'm learning onto others who will also use it. This is life saving information for the masses.

I'll look up more home brew stuff on the forum first, it didn't seem to show up on the surface, so didn't know I should even search for something like that.

My little brother is an expert, has a massive brew setup going. I talked to him prior to trying it on the soda, he tells me they put a preservative in it which prevents yeast from surviving in. I looked for something that could make it inert, but nothing was forthcoming, so opted to try for a better source. I'm now running 3 experiments with it, and a 4th slated for tomorrow. I combined his info with stuff I've been googling around with, then hitting several stores looking for the right stuff, and have the following started and doing it's thing in overload quite well.

2 containers of apple juice, bread yeast, 1.39 per bottle
2 containers of apple/grape juice, with Champaign yeast, one packet was more then enough for both of them., (highest yeild)
1, 3 liter of Hawian punch juice, from 3 cans of frozen at a buck a piece, using another high yield accelorated yeast, this produces 15% in two days, or 20% in 5.

It was hard finding juice that was affordable "and" didn't have preservatives.

Next on the chopping block, that other 3 liter for lawn clippings, boiled down and nutrients and sugars extracted from. I know, not the best material to use, but it's strictly for simply converting what's growing wild around the area and converting it just for fuel. Also, extracting cultivating and improving yeast found from the wild is slated for planning up front.

Containers, those are another matter, one could create barrels from wood in the area using nothing more then stone tools...in an urban set up, there will be ample supply of "empty" soda containers because we can no longer dump them in a landfill. At least for a few years, so using those and the caps that's easily found is a viable survival scenereo. Then again, there are other things that create a plastic one could use as well such as clay jars...and anything plyable to become a cork.

Overall gents, I haven't even tasted or tested the final results on brew on the cheap ology, but can see so far, it's going to be fun and of great value to have nailed down, now and in a worse case spot.

Research along converting a regular old style car onto the stuff proves the old cars are simple to do, mine is fuel injected so gotta pioneer the work around with it.

[SARKY]

I prefer using a gallon wine bottle or a carboy and a ballon. Used to make a lot of welches ballon wine in my day.

[Batch]

Balloons are fine. I poke a small hole with a pin. But, if you bubble over it might still blow your airlock off. You can google homemade airlock to get options. Look at images as well. You'll quickly see how simple the device is.

As for containers in the wild. Earthen ware has been used for ever.

[Brianster]

Thanks for the tips guys. My research this morning led me towards finding and cultivating yeast from the wild. I'm in Central Cali, not a lot of diversity with the fauna and it's winter, so no fruit to forage around for. One spot pointed out to look for a white film on the skin of berries, that it's yeast that can be harvested. Referenced here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1980-09-01/Foraging-For-Wild-Yeast.aspx

Another takes it even further pointing out how you can mix flour and water together and let it sit for a while, it will snag the yeast out of thin air: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/13/raising-a-starter/

I'm going to get people telling me, how one is to find whole wheat in the wild..well I might as well take this experiment to it's core and gather some grass grains, dry and grind them up to make my own flour. I might make a bit of bread out of the mix as well to have some bread with my wine. lol.

The important part of these are to gather them fresh, making sure they don't have a purple tinge to them, that's a fungus that's really bad for you. I'm going to look strange gathering grass seed in the pasture, but so be it, might as well figure this stuff out now to be prepared in the worse case scenario. I'm seeing two varieties that have seed heads, one looks like a barley type of seed, the other, more of a wheat type.

[Rick]

1. Have you tried this before? In item 10 above you talk about keeping it on your water heater but in your second post you say you have tasted or tested so I'm confused.

2. Both the yeast references have been posted pretty extensively on here with how to's on sourdough yeast.

3. May I suggest you know precisely what plants you are harvesting?

[Brianster]

1. Have you tried this before? In item 10 above you talk about keeping it on your water heater but in your second post you say you have tasted or tested so I'm confused.

2. Both the yeast references have been posted pretty extensively on here with how to's on sourdough yeast.

3. May I suggest you know precisely what plants you are harvesting?

I'll repeat myself here along the OP: This was taken from an outside web source, so do not claim the fame on the instruction myself.

Just going with run of the mill crab grass seed, nothing fancy for the first tests. Have the jar of off the shelf water and flour sitting open in the sun for a couple of hours, going to cover it and let sit for a week or so and watch what happens.

[beetlejuicex3]

Do I understand that you mean to ferment lawn clippings with wild yeast?

If so, it seems doubtful you will produce anything fit for consumption but I am anxious to hear the results.

[Brianster]

Using random organic matter, such as lawn clippings are only meant for creating alcohol strictly for fuel. Used for that application, it's about what one can gather nearby anywhere, since using it for fuel will require larger volumes of mash to begin with. The alcohol content will likely vary dramatically, but the process remains the same, since I'll just freeze it after it's done it's thing, and extract the pure alcohol from it.

[ravenscar]

Using random organic matter, such as lawn clippings are only meant for creating alcohol strictly for fuel. Used for that application, it's about what one can gather nearby anywhere, since using it for fuel will require larger volumes of mash to begin with. The alcohol content will likely vary dramatically, but the process remains the same, since I'll just freeze it after it's done it's thing, and extract the pure alcohol from it.

remind me never to drink at his place

[Brianster]

remind me never to drink at his place

hands ravenscar two shots, and tells him one will give you a buzz, the other will kill you, lol. I'll make sure to forget to label the fuel container correctly that day as well, lol. If I get too much crazy things going on at once, It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to add some food coloring to the mix, just to be sure it never gets mixed up regardless.

[ravenscar]

sorry, i only drink segrams or jack
lemme get this strait, if i start scraping the outside of juniper berrys, i can start my own culture? some one help me out with instruction please(not you brainy XP)

[Rick]

Grapes are a really good example. If you look at dark grapes you'll notice a fine gray film over most of them. It's on light grapes, too, but easier to see on dark ones. If you wipe your finger across the skin of the grape it will wipe off. That's natural yeast.

[ravenscar]

i understand that, but how could i start and maintain my own yeast culture?

[Ole WV Coot]

DISGUSTING, JUST TERRIBLE!! I used to be considered as a "connoisseur" of fine, white elixir of these "Hills". I once said before, and I will repeat: " If your tied down, can't move and one drop of DECENT shine is placed on your forehead your tongue will beat your brains out trying to get to it". Now THAT is the ultimate test of the brew. My refined opinion only, with my hand in the air.

[Rick]

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6552&highlight=sourdough+yeast

[beetlejuicex3]

For fuel. Interesting idea. I like the idea of freezing it to concentrate it. but in a survial situation how would you accomplish freezing it during the swummer months? Distilling is more complicated but only requires a fire.

Natural or wild yeast float around just about everywhere. Leaving a fermentable item out in the open for a few days will usually result in wild yeast cultiviating it. Take precaustions to keep whatever it as sanitary as possible at the start so that bacteria do not take hold instead.

Wild yeast do not usually produce flavors we are accustomed to so it is unlikely you'll make a tasty beverage this way.

[Brianster]

For fuel. Interesting idea. I like the idea of freezing it to concentrate it. but in a survial situation how would you accomplish freezing it during the swummer months? Distilling is more complicated but only requires a fire.

Natural or wild yeast float around just about everywhere. Leaving a fermentable item out in the open for a few days will usually result in wild yeast cultiviating it. Take precaustions to keep whatever it as sanitary as possible at the start so that bacteria do not take hold instead.

Wild yeast do not usually produce flavors we are accustomed to so it is unlikely you'll make a tasty beverage this way.

I consider survival as in two modes. One being, if you were in the wilderness, as per the theme of this forum, and another, if our economy hits the fan and we were surviving in an urban enviroment that had no infrastructure, something that would have to be rebuilt and likely through the old fashioned barter system. With the latter, fuel would be a commodity since there would be no gas pumps working. This is also a reason I've been telling people to start planting gardens and raising livestock, stockpile seeds as well, including ones extracted from the veggies we eat on a regular basis, the latter may not be the best for you, but are engineered to maximize the yield which allows you to stockpile and share the spoils of your labor's with the many needy people that you will encounter.

In an urban setting, we could at the least plug in an appliance or two through an inverter or generator, I have both here, so the freezer would be a viable option. If I had no access to that, it would be a matter of trekking up to the high ground where it's colder. Also, slated on this chopping block will be to know how to build a still using stuff I find around the area, so if the worse thing happens, it too becomes part of the survival kit and if there no longer exists an infrastructure, there will not be any entities preventing me from erecting one.

[Brianster]

Success!!! who hoo, lol. The power yeast did it's thing, as stated within 48 hours, I am a happy camper. It doesn't taste bad at all, kind of dry but not bad.

[jbtusa]

It is totally illegal to distill alcohol in the USA without a federal permit. ATF has changed the regulations. Go to the ATF website and they make it perfectly clear that it is illegal to distill alcohol in any fashion without a federal permit, to include freezing even!

[BENESSE]

I can just hear the response..."we don't need no stinkin' permits"!
jbtusa, this is a tough crowd but a word to the wise never hurts.

[Rick]

Pictures. We need pictures or it didn't happen, Brianster.

jbtusa, sure would like to see your source on that. A link would help. The ATF doesn't make laws. They only enforce them. The 1978 act (H.R. 1337) allows for the brewing of up to 200 gallons of beer for personal use without being taxed.

Per the act, beer is defined as:

"Beer, ale, porter, stout, and other similar fermented beverages (including saké and similar products) of any name or description containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, brewed or produced from malt, wholly or in part, or from any substitute for malt."

[beetlejuicex3]

I like how one post noting how illegal it is to distill etoh without a permit is followed by Rick demanding pictures of the act!

You need a lawyer to post on this forum!

[Batch]

It is illegal to distill alcohol without a permit. You apply through the ATF and you need to have a seperate building or shed that will be locked. The still and the hootch has gotta stay locked when not being used and must be rendered unfit for consumption when it leaves the property.

I would like to see where the law says jacking is illegal.


By the way, ironically, you have to possess the still before you get the permit for it despite it being unlawful to possess a still without a permit.

The ATF agent that I talked to when going through the permitting process said just not to use it before I received my permit. LOL

To destill you do need more than fire. You need a sealed pot and a condenser. You also should have a thermometer.

A slag box will help keep you from making an ethanol bomb.

A reflux tube with the appropriate content really increases the efficiency of a still. I can make one run in a reflux still and it takes 3 in a regular pot still.

You collect at 176 and stop at 212. Pour off the first couple ounces cause that has methyl alcohol in it and that'll make for bad times.

Distilling leaves only ethanol (mostly)if you take it to 190 proof. So if you cut it down with water to your proof of comfort, you'll have less hangover.

Jacking removes water and leaves all of the baddys. So, if you over indulge you got some coming in the am. LOL

[Reverend Greg]

http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/faq.shtml#s3
Big Brother is always stealing our fun...whaat was going to do in the coming weeks is scrounge up the ingredients to make raspberry mead...raspberries,honey,yeast,and clean water,with the appropriate equipment,of course.shoulod pull down 12%-14% alcohol and still be drinkable.As an aside,if the worst comes to worse and we are the only government there is....What does it matter what The TTB says?I say be prepared for that case,just dont break the current laws.Now when It is a free for all,I will be having whiskey till the day I die.
(G)

[Brianster]

I suppose I can work out getting the permits for the still, I'd have to justify it as a business venture, selling the alcohol for fuel and having several locals convert their rigs for using it. It's intended use would do wonders for helping to boost the economy, since people spend so much for gas might as well give them an alternative. I'd likely rent a commercial building for it, and set up several at once, turning it into a factory. Still, regardless, it's good to know how to set up something like this, if indeed, there is no more government control or regulations. Never regretted being prepared for the worse.

Ok, showing the pics of the wine, have another batch I'm going to try next, then onto beer land, lol.

[Rick]

Guys, that's not true for beer. If you mean alcohol to include anything other than beer then I'll agree with that. But if you mean alcohol in any form then ATF allows the production of beer without a permit and no taxes.

"(a) Any adult may produce beer, without payment of tax, for personal or family use and not for sale. An adult is any individual who is 18 years of age or older. If the locality in which the household is located requires a greater minimum age for the sale of beer to individuals, the adult shall be that age before commencing the production of beer. This exemption does not authorize the production of beer for use contrary to state or local law.

(b) The production of beer per household, without payment of tax, for personal or family use may not exceed:


(1) 200 gallons per calendar year if there are two or more adults residing in the household, or (2) 100 gallons per calendar year if there is only one adult residing in the household.

(c) Partnerships except as provided in Sec. 25.207, corporations or associations may not produce beer, without payment of tax, for personal or family use."

[sgtdraino]

Nice post. Take some time to look through the threads and use the Search button at the top of the page. We have quite a few threads on brewing. Not just beer but on wine, mash and even a few on fuel.

This is my interest. Are there any threads dedicated to instructions on how to produce liquid fuel?


It is totally illegal to distill alcohol in the USA without a federal permit. ATF has changed the regulations. Go to the ATF website and they make it perfectly clear that it is illegal to distill alcohol in any fashion without a federal permit, to include freezing even!

Okay, but I would still like to know how, just in case. Are there any methods of producing your own liquid fuel that don't run afoul of the ATF?

[Rick]

I don't think there have been any instructions per se. But when all else fails:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/1980-07-01/Make-Simple-Low-Cost-Backyard-Stills.aspx

[Ole WV Coot]

You folks have read too much and watched the old Untouchable reruns way too many times. In this part of the country it has been made, consumed and sold ever since the first settlers found it was easier to carry a few gallons over the mountains than try to haul corn. You would have to have a major operation and sell tickets & free samples to get federal attention 'round here and probably anywhere else. Make it, drink it or use it in place of nitro, nobody really cares.

[NCO]

Going back to the bartering... http://www.brewery.org/cm3/recs/12_34.html

Should be totally legal to brew, up to the 100/200 gallons, tastes great when successful, and has been made the same way for about a 600 years too... And being a traditional recipe, that every family modifies a bit, there is no copyright/other issues with making it and calling it sahti!

[Brianster]

I had given the cider with the bread yeast too early of a review. When I capped it off, I added just a dash of high yield yeast, not sure if it was enough to carbonate it. I also heated it up, not to boiling, but pretty hot "thermometer broke so don't know how hot", as to not burn away the alcohol and sterilze it, I have the tabs now, and also added some sugar to the mix.

I opted to see how it came out today, allowing the yeast to settle and all. Well, it turned out wonderfully, it was nicely carbonated, and quite pleasant to drink, crisp, fruity, slightly tart, and not too sweet, I'd be hard pressed to find something this good in the hard cider isle at the grocery stores. So, I have close to 3 liters of it, this is just too cool.

Posting photo's as well for admin's amusement, lol.

I also talked to my bro who explained to me how a cheap still is created, and the process of how it works. This is just knowledge to have, not at all meant for others to follow. A cheap and simply way is to take a crockpot, one with the plastic lid, and drill out an area, attaching a copper line into it. The copper line then is submerged in ice water, preferably bent in a coil configuration, with the end open to drain into a bucket/bottle/etc.

Put in your wine in the crock pot, once it gets hot enough, it will convert the alcohol to steam, and it will exit through the copper line. As it goes through the line, it cools, and turns back into alcohol again, draining into the bucket, for the finished product. You will get around 80 proof, and this process can be repeated with the now distilled alcohol, back into the crock pot, producing a higher level of alcohol content.

Knowing this, it's not at all hard to do, but once you start re distilling it, it gets dangerous.

[Brianster]

I thought I'd check back in with this place. So far have done up several of the generic apple juice's into ciders, scaled it down to simply loosening the caps, and keeping them not fully indoors, it's a slower process with the colder temps, but getting better tasting cider in the process. Using Turboyeast primarily now, and that 7.00 for the big packet when a very long way. I have ran around 20 experiments with the home brew stuff, have not had a single go undrinkable, one was watery, but so far, and at the 100% success rate., This stuff is far too easy to make, not at all as difficult as people make it out to be.

So far, using the quick and dirty meathod, it's Cider all of the away if you want something that's optimal using the ultra low tech. system. Ie. shake up a spoonfull of yeast into the bottle, let it sit for a few days with the cap loose, done, just don't poor out the sediment, and that's abslutely all you gotta do.

Next on the chopping block...you guys remembered when I talked about using dollar store soda...well, I've done my research, so get to experiment here along the matter and it's likely going to succeed in spite of the preservatives. This is likely going to be an internet first, the only other place I found was using potassium sorbate, and the wine brewer go this batch to turn out fine even though he added the yeast "cultured" after it was added. Mine with the 3 liter is using potassium benzoate for it's preservative, same family different PH level of effectiveness, but same process, both prevent the yeast from reproducing....So, I just get it to do it's thing in a cup with some sugar and honey for a day prior to adding to the mix, in this case, a bottle of soda. I'm leaving the cap loose on the bottle to release the CO2 overnight as well.

If this works, it's taking on the most aggressive preservative and working completely around it, opening up the entire shelf to any juice or soda you want to turn into home brew. I'm over killing the culture, just to give this it's best chance, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of honey, 1 teaspoon of Turboyeast, and 1/2 cup of warm water.

[dscrick]

I ran across this cool little kit, only $9.99. Comes with a fermentation lock and 6 packets of a mix, each makes a 64 ounce bottle of juice into a drink with up to 14% alcohol content:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/wacky-edibles/e683/

[Rick]

That's kind of a cool air lock and should be easy to make. You could turn a shot glass upside down on it then you'd be ready to go as soon as the brew was.

[Brianster]

I'm just keeping the cap loose now, non airlock seems to be necessary, CO2 is heavier then O2, so it tends to create it's own vapor barrier regardless.

[Brianster]

Ok, this science unto itself has finally made precedence to put it to rest. Sodium Benzonatate not only kills yeast, it prevents any reproduction of it, I let my little experiment run for over a weak, none of the sugars converted to alcohol, so it's a no go, not until someone comes up with a way to neutralize the chemical. It's bad, very bad, and never will I drink anything that contains if, if it's this harsh on simple yeast, how much more so on the human body. I even supplemented the test subject with natural proven compounds, it's just overkill as a preservative, nothing I would ever want to use unless I want to preserve something for ingestion 1000 years plus...but that would be a post apocalyptic scenario.

I did find something from the dollar store, actually two, that can be used for home brew, they do have natural juices in the small containers for a buck, but the costs dollar per dollar don't compete with store bought brew. I am running the next experiment with Arizona Sweet tea, 43 oz, bottles, and the first one is kicking off quite well. There may be yet hope for the dollar store option, but their soda is absolutely not one of them, lol. I'm running it along side of the Kmart apple juice test subjects, their sale has ended, so am up to 1.29 per 64 oz bottles, plus yeast costs, so not as cheap as before, lol.

All in all, so far, zero failure except for that bottle of soda, and 100% cheap fun on this endeavor, this is a truly fun hobby to play around with, and it saves a nice amount on the pocket book... most hobbies actually have you spend more, this is a refreshing change of pace.