r/fermentation • u/Sympathy_Vast • 1d ago
Beer/Wine/Mead/Cider/Tepache/Kombucha Did I accidentally make wine?
Hey y’all. Long time member. First time poster.
TLDR, I combined tart cherry juice, a very active ginger bug, and lots of sugar; let it sit for a couple months, and I swear it tastes just like store bought wine. Is it considered wine?? Or am I tripping?
So I have been fermenting for a couple of years now, but so far I have made a few batches of ACV, and I have made severesl successful and superrr fizzy ginger bugs.
I usually use apple juice & my ginger bug to make what I call kombucha to those who don’t know what I’m talking about- but I’m pretty sure it’s considered a ginger beer.
Random fact: Obv yall all know the store bought “ginger ale” is ginger inspired at best, BUT to those of y’all women who find yourself with that first trimester nausea, it is WONDERFUL at ACTUALLY making it go away. I’ll put a recipe after my post.
Anywho, my SIL gave me some organic tart cherry juice for my son’s tummy, but he didn’t take to it and it wasn’t working.
So, I had the bright idea of combining it with a good amount of sugar, and my ginger bug, and making one of my fermented drinks.
Well- the first out of two bottles, I pulled off the counter and into the fridge after a few days.
But my other bottle, well, she sat on the window ledge for a couple months 😅🤣🤣
I just opened her up tonight and fixed me a glass, and to my surprise, it tastes JUST like store bought wine.
However, I’ve never dabbled in wine making before, and am acquainted with it, at best.
But y’all… this tastes JUST like wine, and after drinking a glass, it gave my tummy that familiar warmth that wine does, and made me feel more relaxed.
Did I accidentally make wine? Or is this considered something else? Anyways, thanks in advanced, and thanks for responding.
Peace!
Recipe for upset tummy, nausea, etc:
Combine ginger bug and apple juice in glass bottle, and let sit for a few days to ferment.
When very bubbly, fix it the following way.
Take a glass, and muttle fresh strawberries, and a heaping tablespoon or two of sugar, at the bottle of the glass.
Fill with ice, and pour in your wild soda (the fermented apple juice and ginger bug), and drink with a straw for added experience, lol.
You could also muddle blueberries, black berries, or whatever you like.
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u/lucrac200 1d ago
Well, you made an alcohoolic drink. Liquid + sugar + yeast = alcohool beverage + CO2.
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u/Sympathy_Vast 1d ago
Thanks for the science! My drinks are usually doer bubbly. Like, busting out the seams bubbly. This one was pretty flat, besides a small hiss when I opened the lid. Not sure if that changed anything about what you said or not.
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u/lucrac200 1d ago
Bubbles=CO2. As long as there is sugar in the liquid, the fermentation continues*.
When the sugar is eat by the yeast*, you have no more CO2 generation, the yeast' shit / piss (alchool) is left in the liquid and the CO2 in the air.
- terms and coditions apply :))
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u/Abstract__Nonsense 1d ago
Well two things could’ve happened. Either it didnt really ferment, in which case it should’ve tasted very sweet and you were imagining the wine like effects, or the seal on the bottle wasn’t good and gas was escaping the whole time. In the future you really want to make sure you’re not leaving fermenting bottles out if you haven’t measured fermentable sugars to the bottles pressure rating, because instead of bad seals you can get exploding bottles and those aren’t fun.
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u/Sympathy_Vast 23h ago
Could’ve been the seal, but it still popped a little when I opened it, but not like my wild sodas.
However it wasn’t sweet. Like I said in my post, it tasted EXACTLY like wine. I was skeptical, so the relaxation wasn’t placebo, because I couldn’t have anticipated that, or it warming my belly.
But, it seems everyone was right, and I did make some wine. Will be doing again!
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u/Abstract__Nonsense 22h ago
Well something happened to the gas, there would’ve been more produced than the bottle could likely hold. My guess is that the seal is good enough for a certain amount of pressure, but once it exceeded that it started to leak out, still retaining some once the pressure got low enough. If you do try this again definitely don’t rely on that though! Get yourself an airlock for the fermentation.
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u/Sympathy_Vast 21h ago
Oh I most def agree with the seal part. I’ve had that experience with any glass bottle that has a metal lid like the one I had for this one.
I have the best success though with empty kombucha bottles with a plastic lid. The amount of carbonation is insane 🤣🤣
You’re 100% right about the seal.
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u/EuphoricJob8538 10h ago
Im assuming from the length of the post combined with the gratuitous information that the drink indeed contained alcohol
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u/Sympathy_Vast 9h ago
Lolol. I’m a talker regardless of alcohol consumption 🤣🤣 I did very much have a chill evening reading my book and relaxing before bed, tho!
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u/longtimegoneMTGO 1d ago
A fairly short time fermentation of ginger beer can have a decent amount of alcohol in it. Even after just 3 days, it can be up to around 2% ABV. Not a lot, but still more than is considered safe during pregnancy.
After a month or two, you've converted all the sugar to alcohol, same as you would making regular wine, and likely a similar finished strength, assuming roughly the same starting sugar content as fruit juice. Watch out with sealing that up though, more pressure can be generated than you might assume, and it can easily be enough to explode a well sealed glass bottle.
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u/Albino_Echidna Food Microbiologist 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wild yeast absolutely cannot get to store bought wine strength, OPs drink is going to be 4% or less, likely closer to 2%.
Edit: there are exceptions to this, but in the context of the ingredients/processes used by OP the limit will be much lower.
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u/Sympathy_Vast 23h ago
And to add, what I made during pregnancy is NOT what I made on accident today.
I pulled my drinks off the shelf after 2-3 days of fermentation, and there is not a HINT of any alcohol flavor.
My wine, however, defff has a taste.
Kombucha is also 1% and is 100% safe for pregnancy.
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u/reptifishv8 1d ago
Not true at all. Lambic beers and wild fermented wines and cider regularly ferment much higher than that. Brettanomyces can go to 14-15%.
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u/Albino_Echidna Food Microbiologist 1d ago
Yes, in very specific cases you can find some wild varieties that can get higher, but as a very general rule the limit is in the 4-5% range.
A truly wild yeast is virtually never going to see 10%, and yeast from a ginger bug definitely won't. There are some Brettanomyces that can get into the double digit range for sure, but it's very unlikely to be contributing for OP given what they used and how they ran this.
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u/Sympathy_Vast 15h ago
Thanks for commenting!! And to add- as you stated, those cases or not the norm.
Fermenting a ginger bug + apple juice for three days is not hurting my baby.
But it IS helping me nourish him or her by allowing me to eat food that by baby needs by helping me not dry heave all day, or throw it all back up.
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u/Sympathy_Vast 23h ago edited 23h ago
Nah, I do not agree with that whatsoever
#1, most OBGYNs are fine with a glass or so everyone so often of real wine during pregnancy
You can state whatever source you want that says “no amount is good” but that’s also the reason bleach bottles have to say “don’t drink”. Because people are stupid and take things to access.
I do not drink while pregnant, but I also don’t drink often when I’m not. Maybe 3 times a year, max.
However, my wild soda is way below the threshold of alcohol, and the proof is in the pudding.
Believe me, I did my own research. The drink I made was not alcoholic.
Comparing my usual recipe with the apple juice, to what I made on accident. Nah, not even close to the same alcohol threshold.
According to your statement, kombucha is also not safe during pregnancy, and it 100% is.
Have you been pregnant, and specifically been given the do’s and dont’s on pregnancy?
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u/purplethirtyseven 17h ago
Totally agree. When my wife was pregnant people were so adamant that she couldn't have anything to drink, ever, except her OB. She was the head of the high risk OB department at a major hospital and she said "if you think women can't ever drink while pregnant, how do you think the human species is still around?" Be smart about it and don't abuse it and you're fine.
I find the same extreme opinions in the brewing community (less so in fermentation in general though) about needing to sterilise everything. If you exercise good hygiene and wash your equipment there is no need to kill everything with chemicals. I mean people have been making fermented food and drinks for hundreds or thousands of years and we're still alive (and using their recipes).
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u/Sympathy_Vast 15h ago edited 15h ago
People have so many opinions. And think they know everything better than the one who is actually pregnant, or the husband supported said woman.
I’m sure the excessive hours of research I’ve done about what goes into my body, and what affects my infant, is abundantly above what some random person with no firsthand experience knows off the top of their head.
And exactly. How do you think we got to where we are now? I promise it wasn’t by only drinking water
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u/longtimegoneMTGO 17h ago
I do not have the right parts myself, but I have been along to all the related doctor visits with someone who was.
She asked about this, and was told that while the older thinking was that a little bit wasn't going to cause a problem, more recent research has been able to link some fetal development issues to even very small amounts of alcohol that would have been within past recommended levels. That's why I'm aware of it.
If you choose to ignore that advice, that is of course up to you, but you may at least want to mention the small alcohol content when recommending it to pregnant women so they can make their own informed choice after speaking to a doctor.
On a side note, it is very likely that what actually soothed your stomach was the ginger itself. The same doctor recommended some simple steeped grated ginger as a tea to help my stomach discomfort when I was on a course of steroids for a skin issue. It worked like magic every time, and takes about 5 minutes to make.
Ginger is incredibly soothing even without the fermentation step, you could remove any safety worry by just not fermenting it, and instead using a carbonated water based ginger soda recipe.
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u/Sympathy_Vast 15h ago
Right, so there is SO many things wrong with what you’ve said.
1.) I have not just “accompanied a friend” to a OB appointment, I have pregnant not one, not two, but three times.
Who do you think read the studies? Who do you think read vaccine inserts to check the ingredients? Who researched the best prenatal to take. Who researched and knew what size fruit my babies were during each week. Can you tell me without googling how much a 38 week baby weighs in utero?
Or what about which day after delivery, vitamin K starts being produced by a newborn, again, without googling.2.) Legit DOCTORS say that a glass of wine every so often (meaning once every 3+ months) is not only allowed, but in certain cases recommended. ESPECIALLY for heart health. Did you know, that a woman’s heart and body gains EIGHTY PERCENT blood volume when she is pregnancy. And that the heart is working 50% harder than it does when not pregnant?
Wine is not only allowed, but can help immensely with heart health, and helping any hesrt issues caused my pregnancy. (That I first hand had with BOTH pregnancies of my full term pregnancies.)
Can you show me a SINGLE study that says Kombucha is unsafe during pregnancy? If so, please cite sources.
And to even further my point- I’m not even suggesting a woman drink straight wine when she is pregnant. I AM suggesting that Kombucha, or fermented ginger drinks are safe, allowed, and beneficial.
Have you’ve been nauseous to the point that you throw up multiple times a day for not a couple days, but several WEEKS? If so, please go to the doctor. That’s not normal.
You are not at all qualified to speak on a subject you clearly are fully informed on.
What do you think women in the olden days drank? You think they all of a sudden switched to unsafe drinking water? Did you know the “wine” back then was because it was unsafe to drink the contaminated water. Even the Paul tells Timothy to drink a little wine for his tummy troubles. You can Google and read it yourself.
And lastly, there is no research that “even small amounts” cause fetal harm or demise.
You know what does? An alcoholic mother that drinks vodka bc she doesn’t want to, or doesn’t think she can, stop drinking.
Off the top of my head, I am aware that alcoholism during pregnancy can cause birth defect, small weight birth, and premature labor.
Guess what? My two babies who made it earth side… 7 pounds 14 oz, and 7 pounds 11 oz. Which if you didn’t know, is very much on the larger size of babies.
You know what ginger beer did help me do? Eat and not malnourish my in utero baby? You know what it did help? Me eat protein, even when the smell made me sick.
And lastlyyyy, your point of “fermentation didn’t help”. Bruh, do you even ferment? If so, you’d know that fermented drinks like that contain VERY beneficial microbes, pro and prebiotics. So yes, the fermentation itself actually DID help my stomach, and anyone who ferments knows that.
All in all, you can claim what you want. Misinterpret what you want, and misrepresent all you want.
But it doesn’t change the fact that a wild soda not only is allowed, but beneficial during pregnancy.
The only harm alcohol does to a baby is in excess. And every husband, wife, and mom knows it.
I think we are very much more informed on what goes in our bodies, than the random joe blow.
Edit to add: nobody is discussing or brewing Labmic beers. I am fermenting a ginger bug for 3 days tops and drinking it.
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u/Select-Mode1688 1d ago
Not tripping, that's fruit wine basically. The ginger bug yeast ate all the sugar and made alcohol, couple months is plenty of time for that cherry juice to turn into something proper