AIBU to be angry ad DS16 for fermenting alcohol

[SassyBear2]

A strange smell was coming from DS16's cupboard and so I tried to find out what was causing that odour. When I opened the cupboard I found a conical flask with a cloudy liquid inside of it + airlock on top of it. This was clearly a fermentation setup. When I spoke to my DS about this he admitted that the liquid inside of the flask is yeast, water, sugar and yeast minerals and so the goal is very clearly to produce alcohol. I'm assuming it's because he's attending a party soon and so instead of going through the hassle of buying alcohol whilst under 18 he took matters into his own hands.

AIBU to be very angry at my son for producing alcohol? How should I approach this situation? Also is it uncommon for teens his age to be drinking or producing their own alcohol? Should I be concerned?

Then the same would apply to wine, beer, cider etc.

it is dangerous when done wrong, that’s indisputable. That also doesn’t mean it can’t be done safely by people who know what they are doing, of course. The problem is that most people don’t know what they’re doing!

I think he sounds very enterprising! And I'd buy him a home brewing kit for Christmas.

He might get interested enough to do a degree in brewing science, which would be cool.

I wouldn't be very happy about it, but at the same time I would be impressed he had done it.

As someone else has said, a discussion around the potential pitfalls of brewing your own (poisoning and explosions come to mind) and a trip to a local brewery.

I would be saying that in future, please let me know about your harebrained schemes, I won't necessarily be vetoing them, but I will be able to bring other considerations and practicalities to the table (is it legal, what about my house insurance, we have a two week holiday booked in a month, what happens during those two weeks? etc.)

But overall, it's good he has been using his initiative, it might just need tweaking.

Same!

I'd take my hat off to him! It's brilliantly inventive.

I bet it tastes naff but at least he's tried. And as a PP said at least its not weed or crystal meth!

As someone else has said, a discussion around the potential pitfalls of brewing your own (poisoning and explosions come to mind) and a trip to a local brewery.

What is it about this country that people who don't know prefer to repeat what other people who don't know rather than listen to people who do ?

The only way to get an explosion if you are brewing or fermenting is to add dynamite when you do it. Which isn't going to result in anything you can drink. Even if you wanted to poison yourself you would struggle - the risks are no greater than if you like licking raw chicken.

I guess you might get an explosion distilling if you managed to do it in an enclosed space with a leaky still and naked flame combination in just the right place.

And as agreed, methanol poisoning from using the correct ingredients isn't a thing - again it's something you would really have to work hard at.

The biggest risk the OPs DS seems to be running is having to deal with shed loads of people for whom science stopped at learning ice is solid water.

I'm someone who grew up with with my parents brewing beer, wine and cider @SerendipityJane . Nobody was ever poisoned but some blackberry wine did once explode in the pantry. It was nearly 60 years ago but I think it might have been bottled and corked before it had finished fermenting.

I agree. I had that happen with elderberry wine once, but the corks blew out. The bottles didn't explode.

I love this! I used to help my parents make wine and beer from a young age. Homegrown parties were all the rage in the 70s and 80s. I made elderberry and blackberry wine when I was 14.

Parents were out one Saturday and I just did it. My dad asked what it was and wished me luck.

We were allowed a pint, or a glass of wine with Sunday dinner from 14. They thought it was better than us sneaking off to the park, getting mortal on White Lightning.

Perhaps that was what happened. I do remember the inside of the pantry stained purple.

OK - if you really seal up your fermenting vessel (or over sugar your bottles for secondary fermentation) you can risk a relatively low power explosion. But I defy anyone to produce credible evidence that anyone has been injured in this way in the past century. However as a PP noted, the corks are the weakest point and so would pop before the glass shattered. Unless you really had dicked about and caged the corks onto thin glass bottles. And that is no longer homebrewing. It's just being fucking stupid.

Having a still and knowing how to use it proved invaluable when hand sanitiser was in short supply. I just quietly made my own and kept my head down. I wonder what the wonder preppers did ?

Oh yes, no-one was injured it just made a loud noise and a lot of mess in the pantry.

Fair play to him- sounds more like a science experiment than any real attempt to make alcohol!
Hit me up in the DMs and I’ll give your our family’s poteen recipe, perfected over 😅generations

I think your kid is fantastic! Bonus points for ingenuity.

I used to make wine from elderflowers or elderberriers we picked out walking. It's a fab hobby! Very low cost and elderflower sparkling wine is lovely! There's no way I'd be cross. I'd buy him the proper kit.

Make sure he doesn't try distillation. It's illegal and quite straightforward to do yourself very serious permanent harm/death with methanol poisoning.

Well there you go! I didn't say anyone got injured, but my nan caused a bit of a mess in her understairs cupboard when something went bang!

There's quite an active UK home distilling market 😎

Is the emoji you chose to use indicative of blindness caused by methanol poisoning? 🤔

Tel you what, you do the hysteria, I'll do the science.

It's safer that way.

E2A: Punctuation.

I'm impressed, I cetainly wouldn't be angry at this, it will taste awful and since its fermentation not distillation it won't produce methanol.

Buy him a home brew kit for Christmas OP, this is the sort of person we need to be encouraging into the sciences nowdays.

I'm impressed, I cetainly wouldn't be angry at this, it will taste awful and since its fermentation not distillation it won't produce methanol.

Where do you think the methanol in distillates comes from ?

Fermentation can most certainly produce methanol. However you'd need pectin in your starter juice. And you can treat that with pectinase if needed.

I'm perfectly happy with the science of it all. And enough people are doing it to keep supplies affordable.

@SerendipityJane OK, it's great that you're choosing to do some clandestine distilling; you understand how to keep yourself from death's door while doing it; and it's clear that you don't care about the law...

But this is a thread about a teenager who's trying to make booze in a conical flask hidden in his wardrobe. It's fab that he's found a practical application of his chemistry lessons. He's going to do great things as an adult. But right now his mum will still be washing his pants and trying to get him to do his homework on time

I think it's fairly reasonable to steer him away from distillation right now! Don't you?