Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Jailhouse fermenting

chochu3 - 29-3-2005 at 22:33

I was talking to friend today and showed hime ferminting yeast. Then he told me in jail they take bread, fruit, and kolaid to make alcohol. Is this really possible from bread even though has yeast it is still active after being baked.

12AX7 - 30-3-2005 at 01:10

Well, I can tell you one thing. After a week on the countertop, a loaf of bread smells noticably alcoholic, where it was a mere bread odor before. (Much longer and mold sets in, of course.)

Tim

chochu3 - 30-3-2005 at 04:08

Well I decided to try and put these contents together to see if if the yeast is still active will get back later, whenever.

[Edited on 30-3-2005 by chochu3]

chochu3 - 31-3-2005 at 20:26

Today I woke up and did my usaul. I started to wonder about the bag with contents mentioned above, I looked and to my wonder I saw the signs of fermentation. The bag had grown in size so I decided to burp it and retie the bag. No smell of alcohol yet but I think it is possible.

Mr. Wizard - 1-4-2005 at 09:49

I doubt the original yeast were still present in the bread. Yeast spores are floating all over the place, as are bacteria, and you can start a fermentation with the 'wild' spores. The downside is you can also start a nasty bacterial colony as well, with no real alcohol production. Often a batch of mash, beer, brew, pruno, or whatever will be completely ruined by the accidental growth of bacteria, which gain the upper hand over the yeast. Think of it as weeds taking over the garden. Most brewers go through great pains to clean, and disinfect their equipment and boil the ingredients to kill these other competitors. If you don't use a yeast culture to give the new mash a running head start, you take a big chance. Keeping a culture of a successful brew is one way to insure success. All yeasts are not the same, and many are optimized to yield more alcohol, and flavor with certain starting products. Certainly there is no EXACT way to do this.

Not just possible, but common

Hermes_Trismegistus - 1-4-2005 at 10:10

and a "source", of yeast is not really required, because we live in a floating sea of yeast. Saccomyces cer. is EVERYWHERE, and grows so fast that it almost always dominates the competition in conditions that favour it's growth.

the bread is used as a form of starch, remember to keep the straw above the level of fluid in the bag and to try to keep air out, leave some of the c02 above the liquid level.

be warned though, it tastes like CRAP.

If you want a really high alchohol content you have to use a lot of sugar, but unfortunately most fruit served in the joint is canned, and contains added preservatives which inhibit yeast growth.

This is why the most commonly requested dessert in jail is RAISINS (dried and so don't require preservatives).

soak some of those up in boiling water (from the tea water on your tray) and then mash them up and add them to the mix with any extra sugar you can get (from packets). and then add that to your mix

a common mistake is to be stingy on the sugar. SUGAR IS YEASTS BEST FRIEND. As long as it's not present in such a quantity that it's crystallizing out, you're pretty much golden.

If you are having problems, some guys chew up the raisins and then spit the pulp into the mix to speed it up....(yeast lives in your mouth)....but I guess it all comes down to how bad you need to get drunk...

I'll warn you again though...it's a slimy frickin concoction that you end up with, and if the bulls find your boozbag you are gonna get written up for contraband.a

Good luck.:cool:

chochu3 - 2-4-2005 at 02:14

Ok Iv'e done a few fermentations and such, but the case here was to know if bread could ferment it. As said certain type of yeast can be floating in air and contaminate reaction. When I picked a bread I read on ingredients it contained 2% yeast and enzyme active soy flour. Could the soy flour be the culprit of fermentation activity? And I put a good amount of sugar, I don't like to starve my cells, I'd rather they become obese.
One more thing my brother in law whose always getting locked up, said this shit causes a bad ass hangover.:mad:
Could anybody tell me how its possible to make alcohol out of rice, what is the cell which brakes down the carbohydrates.
Another thing raisin wine tastes shitty, do not recommend to my worst enemies.

[Edited on 2-4-2005 by chochu3]

chochu3 - 2-4-2005 at 02:14

thanks you for the help, had to give credit where credit is due , plus I accidently double posted.

Another thing my mixture is starting to smell like budwieser, but might just be the bread. I let it ferment for another week as advised by person who told me this and I will post my results. Whats the easiest way to test for an alcohol, availibilty towards OTC chems.

[Edited on 2-4-2005 by chochu3]

Esplosivo - 2-4-2005 at 02:56

The yeast used in the bread (that 2% of yours) die during baking, only maybe a few spores survive. Besides, modern day biotech has 'created' strains of yeasts which produce more CO2 so that the dough rises easily with less alcohol production. The yeast you probably have in there is some naturally occuring yeast, which is found everywhere around us.

An easy but inaccurate test for alcohol could be carried out by obtaining potassium permanganate (from a pharmacy, or search around), acidifying this with some sulfuric acid (do not use muriatic acid) and mix a small quantity of this purple soln to the alcohol. Decolourization could occur if the mixture is warmed in a water bath at approx 60 deg (although temp is not really that imp, just warm it up).

Now for the rice I really wouldn't know, there are various enzymes which can 'split' up starch in the rice into various products (mainly alpha-dextrins, maltose and maltotriose) which can be fermented by the yeast, such as salvary amylase present in saliva. Maybe chemoleo can provide us with a little help here, he is quite the biotech expert around here.

Hope this helps.

Edit: Typo

[Edited on 2-4-2005 by Esplosivo]

chochu3 - 3-4-2005 at 01:36

Thanks for all the help, so there might be a chance that some of the spores used to cook bread were still alive. Mostly highly unlikely. Also contamination with the natural yeast which are all around us could be making this thing run.