Grape Juice left out overnight, now has fizz

Grape Juice left out overnight, now has fizz - Shadows of different crystal glasses filled with drinks reflecting on white wall in sunlight

So I left some grape juice out overnight, I forget how long, but now it has developed a "fizzy" taste. Also when you open the bottle you can hear the fizz escape. I've put it back in the refrigerator, is it still safe to drink? It tastes okay.



Best Answer

I'd be very wary of this, if only because it seems to have fermented remarkably quickly. The fizz is likely the result of carbon dioxide being produced by yeast eating the sugars in the grape juice; this is the same process that carbonates beer or sparkling wines.

The thing is, most of these yeasts are introduced deliberately, and they take a while to do their job. In my experience with home brewing, it would generally take at least a few days for the yeast to begin producing significant carbonation. If you truly did just leave this out overnight and it's already noticeably carbonated, that seems to be a very aggressive or efficient strain of yeast. Since it's impossible to know for sure, the safe thing to do would be to throw it out.

Wild fermentation of this kind is used to produce certain beer styles, and other fermented goods such as sauerkraut, so it's not unsafe by definition. I would exercise caution here only because that level of carbonation seems very unusual to me, and grape juice is unlikely to be precious enough to justify the possible hazard.




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What does it mean when juice gets fizzy?

So, returning to your orange juice, once it has been opened, it is exposed to yeasts in the atmosphere. These start to ferment the sugar in the juice, forming alcohol and CO2 and thus making the juice fizzy.

Can you drink grape juice that was left out overnight?

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, perishable foods that are supposed to be refrigerated, like juice, can only be left out at room temperature for two hours before it's considered unsafe to consume.

Why did my juice explode?

The presence of yeast in the soft drink, which is manufactured by Urstromquelle GmbH & Co. KG in Brandenburg, can cause a fermentation process. This in turn could create a build-up of pressure inside the plastic bottles that could make them burst. The fermentation will also start to make the juice go cloudy.

Can sparkling grape juice ferment?

Sparkling Grape Juice is drier and less sweet than grape juice. It's made from white grape juice. The more expensive ones use natural carbonation: the grape juice is let ferment a bit to create natural carbonation, then it is flash-pasteurized. This kind of makes it somewhere in between wine and juice.



How Welch's Grape Juice Is Made | Washington Grown




More answers regarding grape Juice left out overnight, now has fizz

Answer 2

It's probably safe to drink. If it's fizzy, but doesn't smell bad it's likely a natural grape yeast from the white bloom on the skin of the grapes.

Wine makers test their brew by smell and taste and only use chemistry to find out how much a shift of chemistry is predicted to get it to taste the way you want.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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