Here's a weird one, do a whisky but with ALL the grains. I mean wheat, corn, rye, oats, rice, barley, and maybe even quinoa or whatever else you can get your hands on. And do it in equal parts. Would it be good? Probably not but it would be a good starting point for tweaking ratios to get something awesome.
It would either be interesting or more likely it'd be terrible. The way to see what grains would work and work well together is research what grains can't go with which. Wouldn't have to make a terrible liquor, there's a lot you can research about brewing and distilling before making your product. If you ever get into it definitely don't make anything without hours of research and hundreds of dollars of preparation.
@@ianthescientist8827 you dont need hundreds of dollars to brew, ive made mead and wine several times now, and ive never spent more than $50 on any batch
What happens is the calcium phosphate attaches itself to the outside of the yeast cells and stops the yeast multiplying. However there is a finite amount of the phosphate and once it has coated the original yeast, you add new yeast which stays free and is able to do its thing
Important note, the jar of cool aid and the pack are different. The pack requires sugar where as the jar is meant to be an all in one drink mix so the sweetener is in it already.
The packet of Cherry you're using is unsweetened flavoring only. The grape tub/jar powder is sugar-free, pre-sweetened mix. It has a sugar-free sweetener in it that the cherry doesn't. You're probably tasting the phenylalanine in the Grape mix.
Hahaha! You used my suggestion! I'm glad you did this video because I had no idea where to start. And you used the Air Still...which I just happen to have : )
I personally have had great luck doing fruit ferments with K1V-1116. It's got a high alcohol tolerance and really let's the fruit shine through in terms of flavor.
I make a lot of homemade wine, been doing it for a few years now.. About 2 years after I started I found Red Star Premier Cuvée Champagne yeast and haven’t used any other kind of yeast since.. I haven’t found anything that it will not ferment, ferment fast, and ferment dry to anywhere between 15%-18% abv.. You should give it a try.. You won’t be disappointed..
Something I might try myself but you should definitely try....Donuts. Blend up a bunch of glazed donuts, add some amylase or some malt and ferment. I'm curious what flavors would come through. Would probably get a good yield too.
Enjoyed your video. Distilling and flavors are both parts of Chemistry. And, trust me on this, chemistry is definitely an experimental science. Not to detract from your fun but, I would be surprised that calcium phosphate would interfere with fermentation as it is also used as a fertilizer. The problem might be that it buffers the fermentation mix at a slightly alkaline pH. Try adding a tiny bit citric acid to get the pH down to below 6. I am in camp cherry. The flavor you got in distillation might be benzaldehyde which is a major component in cherry flavoring. Its boiling point is higher than water so I would expect it to be carried over more in the tails rather than the fore cuts. Please keep the videos coming.
Hey dude, just wanted to say, this is the first video I've ever watched of yours, I'm not in the home brewing/distilling community or anything like that and your merch was SO cool I immediately bought the shirt just because it's one of the coolest graphic tees I've ever seen. You've really done an excellent job.
: my homeade honey mead recipe. gallon /half gallon glass jugs :2/3 pounds of honey/1/2-1 gal.- :strawberrys :raspberrys > all mashed :blackberrys :2 bananas chopped or sliced :Blueberrys :Pineapple :Grapes-for fizz And water to 1/3 from the top for expansion :Yeast 2-3 tablespoons. Mix well and let sit for 3-5 weeks in a cool dry place (I stored in the bottom back of the fridge) And mix daily or as much as you feel necessary trying to keep the contents that float to the top mixed. When the berries and the fruits start to Brown when they're floated to the top it's time to skim and then separate solids from liquid. Bottle and enjoy.
I find that while EC1118 is a good powerful yeast, it does not contribute a lot to the flavour hence champagne yeast. A good wine yeast especially with the grape flavour would be K1V 1116 or 71B 1122 . I believe it would contribute to and lift flavour and aromatics
2:32 the part of me that insists my hands remain clear of any stickiness, cringes at the thought of your arm on the jar. Thinking of the sticky mess that was me attempting to make a dry mead 😅 I need a shower. Thanks for the video, funny to think I'm watching you do something illegal where i live.
Myself, I have made lots of wines and what they call here hooch or jailhouse kool-aid.. I have not really did a true distillation, I am trying to learn more first.. I have a fruit wine I make and a friend who does distillations said it should make a great spirit.. This is my recipe if you want to try it, that would be cool, I would love your opinion on how well it should distill.. I take 1 pound/part strawberries: 1 pound/part yellow Georgia peaches: 1 pound/part granny smith apples: 1 pound/part cantaloupe (very very ripe) 1/2 pound bing cherries (I prefer them all to be frozen, they mash better) 1/2 gallon Welches grape juice, sugar as needed water as needed to make 2 gallons (by volume) I try to make sure they are all at peak freshness just to the point of being to ripe to eat, I rinse then cut up small, freeze for at least a week, then thaw out prior to making, When I add my yeast the mash's temp is between 60 (f) & 70 (f) degrees.. I use a good wine yeast I add sugar as needed to get a good starting gravity.. Oh I also get a large navel orange fresh (not frozen) add only the juice & zest from it.. It seems to take the unwanted bite out, if you know what I mean, It, for me takes about 2 weeks to ferment and is sweet and very pleasant tasting, now since I do wine I continue to ferment then rack several times over 6 month period and add sugar a few times to keep it sweet and not going dry, I get about 12 to 16% alcohol.. I know for distilling you would distill after the 2 weeks.. I love watching your channel, I have learned so much what not to do and a lot that I will need to do.. You have been the inspiration for me to try to distill and make spirits.. If you choose to try my recipe and distill I would love to know how it turns out.. I made my recipe so it could be easily increased in size.. for wines I do 2, 4 & 6 gallon batches.. When I test I do a 2 gallon.. Sorry to babble on.. Loved this episode. Thank you for sharing. I have often wondered if you could ferment kool-aid..
My grandfather was a drunk at times, in his life. We lived in a dry county (and it still is today), and ole Peas. Still needed a drink. He made a still from a big pressure cooker. He taught me, at 10 years old to make moonshine. We used sweet feed for horses and Karo dark mixed in the sugar. We used ice cream buckets frozen to drop into the worm so we didn’t need running water. We literally carried it into the woods in jugs. Give it a try.
I made kool-aid wine when I was 6 years old and put it in my thermos for lunch in school... I might have to revisit the kool-aid thing. I use corn sugar for my sugar washes.. tastes better!
I wish I would have had one of those distillers when I was a kid - I had to use an drum barrel as the mash hopper - I used watermelons and apples instead of corn - it cut down the added sugar to zero. it was great grandpa's design & recipe - best side hustle ever.
I use a 55 gallon plastic drum and put a box fan on top of a board on top of the barrel with a filter in front and a water pump to keep the water circulating thru the cooker. I wired a tube to the top of the filter with holes in the side of the filter for the water to return to the barrel. It works great.
I heat up the wine before putting into the pot still (I have the same one) and it takes only about 30 minutes to start dripping. Without preheating (maybe 120-130 degrees) it takes about 1 1/2 hours to start dripping. Thus you save about an hours time.
Regardless of the kind of wine (meme or not) try batch feeding. Yeast get lazy when given too much sugar right up front. Try giving them half the sugar on the first day, add half of the remaining sugar after the next day or two. Then add the remaining sugar and let it ferment dry. There's a good chance it won't stall or it will stall at a much lower SG. Also if you want to make flavored drinks, consider making Kilju (water, sugar, yeast, and yeast nutrient) and then add the flavoring to the Kilju. A big enough batch of Kilju can let you experiment with lots of different flavors.
The reason the Cherry vodka mix was more citric acidy was because you used the package of cherry flavor and simple syrup. The Grape vodka mix however you used a Drink Mix, which already has the appropriate amount of sugar in it, so by adding the simple syrup on top of it you over sweetened it. It's possible you would've gotten more citric acid on the grape vodka had you not added any simple syrup, but you definitly would have had you used a grape flavor package. Also, I loved how much you said "Muppet" in the video lol. Great watch.
Jesse, from my understanding it kicks again because the "ites" or "ates" have been used up by the yeast. Similar to h2o2 breaking down organic matter. It oxodizes and breaks into water. Im loving the new meme content. Its really nice to see new stuff.
@Brodie Alcantra we would boil up 5 lbs of sugar and dump it into a 5 gallon glass carboy. Pitch with champagne yeast, attach a blow off tube and wait until it quits bubbling. Usually a few weeks.
I really like mixing tang and tea (a little weaker than the concentration called for on the instructions).. After watching this, I was reminded of my time in a village in Alaska. It was a dry village, so the natives would order cases of Vodka from Anchorage, and you named what seemed to have been the prevailing mixer of choice (everything in the grocery section was extremely expensive due to having to be flown in, and so my assumption is that the price on actual Orange juice was a little too spendy).
Top notch communication skills. It’s a breath of fresh air to watch a RU-vidr that can say exactly what’s on his mind about a complicated subject in a totally digestible manner.
For preserving fruity notes and taking away some tang I like Lalvin 71b as a yeast choice. I figure that would work alright but would probably need a yeast starter to kick through the koolaid. 1118 is a power house that quickly ferments anything and if that needed a second yeast pitch….. you really have to be on your game with 71b. But I would bet it would come through better on the still.
An acquaintance of mine once tried mixing TANG "Orange Flavored Drink" powder with Vodka. He called it "ZIP-TANG" in reference to the Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons. It was horrible. LOL!!
If you were to use cherry flavor Kool-aid, you should have used black cherry instead - it has a richer, more complex taste that entirely eclipses regular cherry. Another choice would have been watermelon flavor Kool-aid, which tastes fantastic; or better yet, use half black cherry and half watermelon together. Try this combination just as straight Kool-aid mixed as directed first, to see what it tastes like that way, then try your ferment-and-distill process. I'm sure you'll love it!
Hilarous I got recommended this after watching a guy make rot in a bottle. His name is CobraJFS, and what he's doing is genuinely dangerous. It's cool to see it done properly. I'll just say he mixed it all in a used plastic juice bottle (the juice, bread yeast, fruit, peanut butter, and, of course, bacon bits, oh, and a entire jar of honey, and five+ cups of sugar). This isn't a joke; he did it all on film on YT. He isn't doing it as a joke either it's horrific.
i like when he makes the point that hes making this presentation his way. he doesnt need advice on how to make it correct or what he should have done durring the presentation.
When I was in Germany a lot of bars had this little packets of different flavoured powders. You put the powder in your mouth then did a shot of corn vodka. Was yummy!
Have you ever considered fermenting chia seeds? I'm sure it would take a HUGE amount to make anything out of them but I couldn't find anything about anyone brewing chia whisky. Just a thought.
New to the channel and my friends and I used to mix Everclear with Kool Aid...without the distiller...we were in high school, so...Cheers and thank you for your time!
Was the grape cannister pure Kool-Aid mix? I've only ever seen that packaging come as a pre-sweetened mix that you just add water to. Might explain the "candy"ness.
One of my very first Brewing experiments was born from my curiosity about whether you could ferment pure sugar water. Ended up Brewing it in a largr water bottle with instant yeast. After 3 days, it was done and then I added the tropical punch kool-aid. My friends seemed to enjoy it q lot... so much that I didn't get to taste it
Ironically such beverage exists here in Brazil, it's called aguardente or cachaça, depending on the ratio(I'm not sure about the difference) and it's made of pure sugar cane, fermented and distilled. It's strong and burns when you drink it, but when mixed with lemon juice and sugar, it's absolutely amazing!
The grape kool aid is already mixed with sugar!!! It says it right on the container, oh man no wonder you liked it more lol everything tastes better with more sugar. The kool aid packets need sugar added whereas the kool aid in the larger plastic containers is already pre-mixed with sugar. Oh and Cherry Kool-Aid is hands down the best flavor, followed by the blue packet punch.
I use 1118e a lot, in fact not much else, it definitely gives the taste you are experiencing. Sometimes even a little musky bread impartment. 1118e is great for whiskey brewing and you get maximum extraction. It's a bit slow though, I will typically brew my mash for a month to the last bubble, it's worth it.
Are you sure the taste isn't artificial sweetener... I found that kool aid minus the alcohol has that after taste of sweeteners as appose to sugar... even though I added sugar to the kool aid
MEME SPIRITS !!!! never tried distilling before but I wonder if you use a siphon instead of pouring the wine into your still thingy it will get rid of some of the yeast flavour. That way all the yeast and particulate dont come with the wine.
The reason stuff with preservatives ferments after pitching more yeast when it stalls is that the preservatives bond to the yeast to prevent fermentation, but if you have more yeast than preservative, there won't be enough preservative to stop all the yeast, and then the yeast that isn't affected will replicate and ferment as normal with the preservative out of the way. And remember, manufacturers don't want to add more preservative than is necessary, so they're not accounting for you actively trying to ferment their product when they decide how much preservative to use. If you have any other questions, just ask. Even if it's not about fermentation. I know stuff. Be good, folks!
I really enjoyed your approach on this, I've done something in the same spirit and had fun results. Coming off a bottle of makgeolli I'd made, I used the leftover yeast from the bottle after drinking and let it eat some koolaid. I too had to take another batch of yeast and drop it in to get full result. Then distilled in the same type of tabletop unit. I had the same experience with the yeast pulling the color and some flavor out of suspension. The final product was a lot like you described. I didn't think to double down on the powder in the 2nd and third steps. Malty, beerlike and yeasty. Excellent! Always have fun!
Hi Jesse, i don`t know it anyone said it before, but the Calciumphosphate you mentioned at 1:50 is definitely not a preservative but a ph-regulator. Its in there to make the drink a litte less acidic. That is probably neccesary, because the first ingredient mentioned on the list is citric acid. Cidic acic is eventually also the reason why the fermentation was not to strong in the beginning. Yeasts normaly dont like it, if ph is to low. (Ideal for most yeasts is between 4,5 and 5.00). So maybe it could be interesting to know the pH at the beginning. If it is underr 4.5, it might be helpful to add some Natriumhydrogencarbonate until the pH is ok. By the way yeast nutriens: What you added as Yeast-nutrient was probably at least in parts Di-Ammonumphosphat, with ist the little sister of Calciumphophat, only that it contains ammonium instead of Calcium.
Yeast nutrient is urea and diammonium phosphate, so Calcium phosphate will not inhibit yeast growth. You were thinking about potassium sorbate, used a lot in food preservative. The -ate is just mean anion, such as acetate, ascorbate, permanganate etc.
my wife and I have been making homemade wine with left over candy because we own a candy store. When holidays roll through and leave any candy behind we frequently make the hard candy into wine.
I have the same distiller! The best flavor I've ever made was Jalepeno Corn Whiskey with brown sugar! and we added a charred jalepeno afterwards with some charred oak and let it chill for a week
In the early 80’s we had dorm parties in theCorps of Cadets. We made trash can punch with Everclear and Tang and sprite and 7 up. We called it Agent Orange. Fun times. 👍🏻
71B, lower sulfur producing and leaves fruit flavors more intact. EC1118 is a beast. The trade off is, I am certain you will need a second addition for sure. It will take longer to brew but will be good for flavors.
I used to take a shot of 100 proof vodka, add it to a bottle of water with some flavoring (kool aid or whatever) and got it nice and cold and it was quite refreshing in the summer.
I read some where that preservatives are ment to stop a fermentation from starting but a way around this is to use an activated yeast I buy apple juice straight from the store to make some apple Jack and to get around the preservatives I just prove my yeast and I never have a problem with it not working all the way out to dry I always end up with a every hard cider using bread yeast
They sell a hibiscus flavored ‘koolaid’ product at my local grocery store in the Hispanic section. I’ve tried fermenting it twice now with no luck. This gives me hope for success!
I had cancer back in the day, and one of the things that I started to do to stop drinking as much soda and things of that nature was to start drinking a little more Kool-Aid. Probably the most expensive thing about drinking it is the sugar. If you buy them bulk it's actually not that expensive. Meaning the drink mix. One thing that I don't like about Kool-Aid is that you really don't have that much of a selection anymore. I didn't drink it much when I was a kid
Thats awesome! Love the T-shirt! lol. Great they worked with you all on the design! I am considering getting that pot still....just start my journey. Have you tried the Kool Aid thats already sweetened? Ok...you have the sweetened Kool Aid with the other flavor..lol. But if you make Kool Aid from the packet & same flavor from the Pre-sweetened it will taste different! That might be the difference that you are dealing with.
My mime kool-aid cocktail recipe (that I have actually tried..). Soda stream bubbly water, a few squirts of watermelon kool-aid drops (water flavoring drops with artificial sweetener) and some vodka. Tastes kind of like a watermelon Jolley rancher cooler. Saw this video, and it came to mind...
My friends and I, when we were a lot younger, mixed packets of Crystal Lite (which has all the sugar in it already) into some cheap clear spiced rum that we found in my garage--can't remember the brand, but it's CHEAP. Tasted just like the Crystal Lite and bad alcohol, but it did the job. Turned so red that it would instantly stain anything it touched. We called it "Devil's Blood."
I did a run yesterday. Did basically this but with raspberry jello box. Undrinkable. Tastes like vitamins in worst possible way. I did it, so you don't have to.
When I was in college we made "Drool aid". It was everclear, bit of water, heaps of sugar, and cherry Kool aid mix. My god the times we had drinking Drool aid. BTW, your wife is 100% right cherry is the only way to go with Kool aid. I have ur back sister!!
Ok.... so a little preservative lesson: KoolAid (at least here in the USA) contains THREE separate preservatives. Now, for your purposes (distilling) It really depends on which preservative is in the KoolAid. Sulfites (in some wines) block the growth of microbes by interrupting the normal functioning of their cells, these are very effective preservatives, would probably kill off your yeast. Whereas acid preservatives (such as ascorbic acid and citric acid) retard the process of microbe growth by making the pH level uncomfortably low for the enzymes involved in microbial proliferation, but, not necessarily for yeast (more on this later). Calcium sorbate inhibits mold and yeast growth by preventing spores from germinating on foods. And then we come down to Calcium Phosphate, the one you noticed in the KoolAid. Calcium Phosphate Ca3(PO4)2 (or TriCalcium Phosphate/TCP as it's also known) is actually in Kool Aid to act as an anticaking agent to make powdered food free-flowing! So I don't think it is there to act as a preservative as much as a stabilizer for the product so you won't get a dried hunk of stuck together KoolAid instead of nice dry powder.. TCP can also be used as an acidity regulator and a stabilizer. It keeps the pH stable and helps the components in the product stay "fresh". When I read the ingredients for Kool Aid, I see three preservatives: Calcium Phosphate (as you noted, for anti-caking) Ascorbic Acid (Acidity regulator) and a nasty thing known as BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene - a strong antioxidant, and coincidentally, a treatment for genital herpes... yep) So, my (admittedly long-shot and unscientific) guess is that the pH was either a bit too high, or a bit too low for the yeast in the first fermentation due to the calcium phosphate not allowing the pH to rise or drop fast enough. (did the ascorbic acid keep it too acidic? Or the TCP keep it too basic, who knows?) While yeasts can grow, and even thrive, under a relatively broad range of external pH, yeast proliferates far better at acidic than at neutral or alkaline pH environments. It prefers between 4.0 and 6.0 pH. So I'm guessing that the Calcium Phosphate kept the wort just a wee bit too acidic or too alkaline during the first pitch, and by the time you had done the second pitch, enough of the Ca3(PO4)2 had reacted off already and there wasn't enough left in solution to keep the pH stable, or the activity of the yeast overwhelmed the amount of citric acid/TCP. Therefore it went to a pH that was just acidic enough and the yeast could finally take off. Again, that's a GUESS and I could be talking out me ass. But I'm pretty solid on the preservative info. That's all stuff I learned in university chemistry and that info is pretty airtight. P.S. - Grape is superior KoolAid... Make sure your wife knows she is wrong. 🤣😉
We did something like that in prison. Ferment premix kool-aid and ketchup. Ferment Distill with a rudementary distillation kit consisting of makeshift heat element. Bucket and a few plastic bags. Catch distillate inside a bag. Your bucket is boiled within. Droplets collect in bag when cold water is sprayed on it. Creates like a 60 proof clear liquor. Sometimes its not bad.
Culture the yeast so in the event you need to brew something with a preservative you have a set yeast you can use that has learned how to grow through preservatives.
My dad once made a black currant wine but ran out of fruit, so used concentrated ribena as a base. The wine was a clear pink and highly alcoholic. Wonder what it would’ve been like distilled…. Might be worth a try ;).
Hey there bro cool deal! Look in the Mexican food aisle for the masa that they make tamales and corn tortillas with. Just straight ground corn that's all it is. A little bit of food for thought and maybe a couple of tacos with the fresh corn tortilla
Now I'm curious about things like Tang (new Curaçao? Grand Memenier?) and perhaps a powdered lemonade like Countrytime (meme limoncello.... Memeoncello?)
Back in the day there was a flavor called Purplesauris Rex. I used to get it in the pouch with sugar included and 750ml of Everclear. Dump the pouch in shake it and pass it round. College at it finest!
Long time lurker, first time commenter. Than you for all of your content. It's really interesting and highly educational if you are in to this vocation.... I had an idea about meme spirits and think that it is in keeping with the theme..... Lucozade Energy Original - I do wander if this if even possible to ferment and would turn out much like irn-bru run.....
Bro. Yea. For sure. 71b is a great yeast lot of fruit flavor. Qa23 is a more black currant or raisin note. Those would be great. I’m gonna have to try this “hypothetical “
