The Fastest Way to Make Your Own Alcohol from Sugar

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A simple guide to making booze from sugar and water
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Fermenting sugar and water is one of the fastest and easiest ways to make your own alcohol at home. Commonly known as a "sugar wash," this method uses only sugar, water, and yeast. It's not known for being the tastiest on its own, although you can flavor it to make liqueurs or add to mixed drinks. We're here with everything you need to know to get started making your own alcohol from table sugar!

How to Make Alcohol with Sugar: Quick Steps

Dissolve 14 lb (6.4 kg) of sugar in about 2 US gal (7.6 l) of water. Pour the sugar and water into a food-grade container with an air-tight lid and airlock. Add more water totaling 6.6 US gal (25 l), then add a packet of yeast and seal the container. Let it sit until the airlock stops bubbling, about 7–10 days.

Section 1 of 2:

Making Alcohol from Sugar

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  1. The size of your container will depend on the size of the batch you’re making. If you want to make 5.5–6 US gal (21–23 l) of alcohol, choose a container that holds at least 8 US gal (30 l). [1] You can use a large jug or bucket . If you use a bucket, make sure it has a food-grade lid with an airtight seal.
    • You’ll probably need to purchase your airlock separately. This is a transparent gadget that releases CO2 from the container without letting in oxygen.
    • If you’re using a container with a lid, drill a hole into the lid that’s the same diameter as the rubber grommet that comes with your airlock (or purchase a bucket that already has a grommet for an airlock). Push the grommet securely into the hole securely.
    • If you use a jug, choose an airlock with a rubber stopper that will fit into the mouth of the jug.
  2. Use a brew sanitizer to rinse your fermentation vessel (the bucket or jug), along with every accessory you’ll use, including the rubber stopper or container lid and airlock, plus a long-handled spoon and a funnel. [2]
    • Most sanitizers should not be rinsed after you use them, but follow the instructions on the label.
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  3. Heat the water in a large pot on the stove, then slowly stir in the sugar until it’s completely dissolved. If the sugar doesn’t dissolve even after the water is at or near boiling, add a little more water to the pot.
    • With these measurements, you should get about 6.6 US gal (25 l) of alcohol. If you’re using regular yeast, you’ll probably get a result of around 10% alcohol by volume (ABV). To get a spirit with higher alcohol content—closer to 15–20%—use a yeast meant for distilling, like Turbo yeast . [3]
    • If you want to lower the alcohol in the finished spirit, use less sugar.
    • You can also use a sugar wash calculator to determine how much water and sugar to use based on your desired total output or ABV.
  4. When all of the sugar has been dissolved, carefully pour the sugar and water solution into the container you're using as a fermentation vessel. Add cool, distilled water to reach your total desired volume—for the recipe we’re using here, add water until you have a total of 6.6 US gal (25 l).
    • Leave about 1.5 to 2 gallons (5.7 to 7.6 L) worth of space at the top of the container. This allows room for the foam and gases that form during fermentation. If you don’t leave enough room, the pressure can build and pop the lid on the vessel, leading to contamination.
  5. Use a cooking thermometer to check the sugar water mixture in your container. If it’s higher than 100 °F (38 °C), let the container cool off until it’s the right temperature—if the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast. Then, pour in one packet of yeast and stir until there are no clumps of yeast left floating in the water. [4]
    • You can use any type of yeast you like for this, as long as it’s active—yeasts intended for champagne , beer , or wine may give you the best flavor, but instant dry yeast will also work.
    • Follow the instructions on the yeast packet—some may direct you to hydrate the yeast in a small amount of water before adding it to the larger batch.
    • Some people like to add yeast nutrients at this stage to help feed the yeast—it’s not strictly necessary, but it may help speed up the fermentation process.
  6. If you’re using a plastic bucket, tightly push the lid onto the bucket to form an airtight seal. If you’re using a jug, push the stopper into the neck of the jug securely. Then, push your airlock into the opening in the lid or stopper. [5]
    • Fermentation is an anaerobic (lacking oxygen) process, so an airtight seal is necessary for proper fermentation.
  7. Adding clean water or vodka to the inside of the airlock allows carbon dioxide to be released from the fermenting solution while air is kept out. The drop in available oxygen will cause the yeast to stop multiplying and start producing ethanol and carbon dioxide. [6]
    • If the fermenting bucket is sealed without an airlock to vent the fermentation gases, the bucket will explode and most likely make a huge mess.
  8. If the mixture is fermenting, you’ll start seeing bubbles in the airlock within a few hours. Keep an eye on that bubbling over the next few days—when it stops, the mixture is finished fermenting. The exact time to ferment the mixture will vary depending on the type of yeast used and how much sugar you added. In some cases, this can take as little as 2 days. [7] However, it’s more likely to take around a week.
    • Keeping the mixture at a temperature of 70 to 80 °F (21 to 27 °C) will promote optimum performance from the yeast.
    • Use a refractometer if you want to measure the exact alcohol percentage in your finished spirit.
    • Once the fermentation stops, it is time to purify the alcohol.
  9. After fermentation is complete, use a clearing agent (also called a fining agent) to remove suspended yeast and other material that may be present. After you add the finings, reseal the fermenter with the lid or stopper and the airlock and allow the liquid to clarify for two or three days. [8]
    • If you’re using isinglass, a common clearing agent, add 0.5 to 1.0 gram of isinglass per 5 gallons (19 L) of batch. Try to find isinglass that doesn't contain sulphites, as some people are allergic to sulphites.
  10. Siphon or carefully pour off the liquid into a glass carboy or other airtight container such as a cornelius keg. Leave the unwanted sediment behind in the fermentation vessel.
    • If you need to, leave a little of the alcohol behind—the solids in the bottom of the container will give the spirits an unpleasant texture.
    • Don't store the alcoholic liquid in the fermenting vessel for more than a month as it can oxidize over time.
  11. To remove any remaining sediment, pour the liquid through a carbon filter or wine filter . This will further clarify the liquid and remove residual yeast.
    • Seal the alcohol in airtight jars to preserve it.
  12. Once the mixture is filtered, you can drink it if you’d like—although these spirits typically don’t taste very good. If you’d like, you can flavor the sugar wash by adding lemon juice, lime juice, or a liqueur essence like Amaretto. [9]
    • Some people make sugar washes to distill into a stronger spirit, but this is illegal in the U.S.
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Section 2 of 2:

FAQs

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  1. Fermenting your own sugar wash is legal in the U.S.— making homebrewed wine and beer is legal on a federal level, and this is a similar fermentation process. You’ll likely achieve an alcohol concentration similar to wine or a strong beer. Every state has its own laws around homebrewing, though, so check your state's statutes to be sure it's legal where you live. [10]
    • Using a still to distill your sugar wash into a stronger spirit is illegal.
  2. Try fruit or fruit juices for a better-tasting spirit. Making your own fruit wine is similar to making a sugar wash. And because the fruit will add flavor to the finished spirit, the result usually tastes a lot better than making alcohol from sugar. [11]
  3. If you add yeast to sugar water and leave it to ferment for about a week, it will produce alcohol. The amount of alcohol in the mixture will depend on how much sugar you used, what type of yeast you added, and how effectively the yeast consumes the sugars. [12]
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Expert Q&A

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  • Question
    How can I add flavor to alcohol?
    Tom Blake
    Professional Bartender
    Tom Blake is a Bartending Expert and the creator of the Crafty Bartending website. He has over 10 years of experience in the industry as a professional bartender, bar manager, and traveling bartender. Throughout his career, he’s worked in all sorts of venues & positions, and notably traveled his way through Europe, the UK, South-East Asia and Australia, all while bartending. He is the author of “The Bartender’s Field Manual”, which covers a myriad of topics, including bartending as a profession, the composition of alcohol and spirits, and craft cocktail recipes.
    Tom Blake
    Professional Bartender
    Expert Answer
    Infuse the resulting mix with any ingredients you like. Add sugar to make it a liqueur. For instance, add strawberries and extra sugar to the mix and let it ‘steep’ for a few days, similar to how you would with tea.
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    Not Helpful 15 Helpful 41
  • Question
    Is this legal? Would it be classified as moonshine?
    Anthony Kolka
    Community Answer
    It's legal if you don't sell it or distill it. it is illegal to distill alcohol without having either a "distilled spirits permit" or a "federal fuel alcohol permit" in the US.
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    Not Helpful 28 Helpful 58
  • Question
    Does it give off a smell while making it?
    Community Answer
    It can give off a couple of smells. Sometimes, if the yeast isn't wine yeast and it's just regular bread yeast it can give off a rotten egg smell but that goes away when it's done fermenting.
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      The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.
      • You can make a cheap airlock from a balloon. Just put a pinhole in it and stretch it over the neck of the bucket or carboy.
      • Airlock your container as soon as possible to prevent contamination.
      • You can substitute the sugar with honey to make mead.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-nWIebKBRM
      2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-nWIebKBRM
      3. ↑ https://whats4chow.com/2016/08/10/how-to-ferment-sugar-wash-to-make-vodka-part-1/
      4. ↑ https://www.myfermentation.com/other-spirits/basic-sugar-wash-recipe-zerz1905zwoo
      5. ↑ https://www.myfermentation.com/other-spirits/basic-sugar-wash-recipe-zerz1905zwoo/
      6. ↑ http://www.chemguide.co.uk/organicprops/alcohols/manufacture.html
      7. ↑ https://whats4chow.com/2016/08/10/how-to-ferment-sugar-wash-to-make-vodka-part-1/
      8. ↑ http://byo.com/malt/item/645-fining-your-beer-techniques
      9. ↑ https://www.myfermentation.com/other-spirits/basic-sugar-wash-recipe-zerz1905zwoo
      1. ↑ https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrewing-rights/statutes/
      2. ↑ https://www.foodrepublic.com/1295660/turn-juice-into-alcohol-in-hours/
      3. ↑ https://www.myfermentation.com/other-spirits/basic-sugar-wash-recipe-zerz1905zwoo/

      About This Article

      Article Summary X

      To make alcohol from common table sugar, you’ll need a carboy, an airlock, a pot, yeast, sugar, and water. Before you get started, sanitize all of your equipment so bacteria doesn’t ruin your batch. Then, measure out 1 ¼ cup (.25 kg) of granulated sugar for every 1 quart (1 liter) of water you want to use for your alcohol. The more water and sugar you use, the more alcohol you’ll make. Fill the pot with your desired amount of distilled water, then heat the water on a stovetop until it’s hot. Gradually add the sugar to the water, stirring continuously until it’s all dissolved. Next, take the sugar water off of the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Funnel the sugar water into the carboy. Now prepare the yeast by mixing it with warm water per the instructions on the packet. Use 1 packet of yeast for every 2 quarts (2 liters) of water you’re using. Funnel the activated yeast into the carboy and stir everything thoroughly. Secure the carboy with your airlock. The airlock will allow CO2 to escape from the carboy while preventing oxygen from getting in and disrupting the fermentation process. Finally, store the carboy in a dark, cool place for about 1-2 weeks. You’ll know the fermentation process is finished when you no longer see movement inside of the airlock, meaning no more CO2 is being emitted. If your alcohol is cloudy, you can add a clarifying agent to clear away the suspended yeast. Siphon or pour your alcohol into a sanitized glass container for storage, leaving behind any sediment. To learn how to purify your fermented alcohol, scroll down!

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