| Bread | Raisins | Sugar | Yeast | Amount | Time | Extra | Time | Result |
|--------------+---------+------------+-----------------+--------+------+-------------------+------+-----------------------------|
| Ryebread | Yes | 80g sugar | 0.3g TS Bulldog | 1.5l | 3h | - | 48h | Alcoholic, light color |
| Ryebread | Yes | 80g sugar | 0.3g TS Bulldog | 1.5l | 8h | Cherry jam | 24h | Less alcoholic, fizz |
| Ryebread | Yes | 100g honey | 0.3g TS Bulldog | 1.5l | 8h | - | 24h | No sweetness or fizz |
| Pumpernickel | Yes | 200g jam | 10g fresh | 1.5l | 8h | Ginger | 6h | Foam, not sweet |
| Pumpernickel | Yes | 100g jam | 10g fresh | 1.5l | 8h | - | 12h | Foam, not sweet |
| Pumpernickel | Yes | 80g sugar | 10g fresh | 1.6l | 8h | Blackberry jam | 12h | Foam, sweet |
| Pumpernickel | Yes | 80g sugar | 10g fresh | 1.6l | 8h | Pineapple pulp | 12h | Sweet, light color |
| Rye bread | Yes | 80g sugar | 10g fresh | 1.6l | 8h | Banana pieces | 12h | Sweet |
| Rye bread | Yes | 80g sugar | 10g fresh | 1.6l | 8h | Lemon pieces | 24h | No fizz, not sweet |
| Pumpernickel | Yes | 80g sugar | 3.5g frozen | 1.6l | 8h | Apple pieces | 24h | Funny smell, apple juice |
| Pumpernickel | No | 80g sugar | 7g frozen | 1.6l | 8h | Apple pieces | 12h | Apple juice |
| Rye bread | No | 100g sugar | 7g frozen | 1.6l | 8h | Blackberry jam | 24h | Light color |
| Pumpernickel | No | 100g sugar | 7g frozen | 1.9l | 8h | Apple pieces | 12h | Same as usual |
| Pumpernickel | No | 100g sugar | 10.5g frozen | 1.8l | 8h | Apple pieces | 18h | Dark |
| Pumpernickel | No | 100g sugar | 0.6g TS Bulldog | 1.7l | 8h | Apple pieces | 24h | Dark, bit of fizz |
| Pumpernickel | No | 100g sugar | 0.5g TS Bulldog | 1.8l | 8h | Apple, blackberry | 24h | Dark and a bit of foam |
| Pumpernickel | No | 90g sugar | 7g frozen | 1.7l | 8h | Apple, strawberry | 24h | Bit fizzy |
| Pumpernickel | No | 100g sugar | 0.7g TS Bulldog | 1.8l | 8h | Strawberry | 24h | Fizzier after long storage |
| Pumpernickel | No | 100g sugar | 0.8g TS Bulldog | 1.9l | 8h | Strawberry | 24h | Light color (toaster) |
| Rye bread | No | 100g sugar | 0.6g TS Bulldog | 1.7l | 8h | Apple | 24h | Light color (toaster) |
| Rye bread | No | 100g sugar | 1.25g dry yeast | 1.7l | 8h | Apple, strawberry | 24h | Medium color, fizzy, cloudy |
| Pumpernickel | No | 100g sugar | 0.8g dry yeast | 1.8l | 8h | Blackberry | 24h | Dark (toaster), bready |
* Insights
- Brewer's yeast is overkill, but super convenient. A similarly
convenient option is to take a cube of live yeast, cut it into
smaller cubes and freeze them. At 42g and 12 slices this makes for
3.5g per portion. They can be stored for a few months and unlike
regular fresh yeast won't grow moldy.
- Yeast requires more nutritients than plain sugar. My brewer's yeast
happens to have them (which explains why it works so well), but for
the regular kind you'll want to add fruit sugar. Plain honey
doesn't work well at all, to make mead with that you'll need crazy
amounts of honey and patience. Non-sugary fruit doesn't work well
either (like lemons).
- Apple works shockingly well, with the result tasting more like fruit
juice than anything I've tried before. Maybe cider production is
where it's at, there's also apple-based kvass.
- Adding raisins before fermentation seems to be superfluous when
adding fruit later on.
- Alcohol content increases with yeast potency, sugar and brewing
time. With regular yeast there's seemingly no alcohol.
- It's unclear what exactly increases foam production. Brewer's yeast
supposedly helps because there's "top-cropping" variations, but I
got by best results with an overdose of fresh baker's yeast (which
is the same kind, but more aggressive). In any case, you get more
foam if you pour into a clean and dry glass.
- Yeast doesn't die even when cooled or frozen. This is useful to
ensure carbonation by not filtering it all, at the expense of having
to be careful not emptying the jar.
- Carbonation happens when yeast is growing under low-oxygen
conditions, so it's important to leave little air when filling the
fermentation jar. After fermentation is done, there should still be
ongoing gas production. It will continue in the fridge at lower
speed, ensuring the drink is carbonated.
