A mad food scientist on TikTok has published a video of his winemaking experiment using Mountain Dew, and he’s sharing his secret method with the world.
The transformation took Charles Biolo about a month to complete, a process that he initially documented in five separate TikTok videos which have garnered nearly 24 million views total.
Chicago-based Biolo admitted at the beginning of the recent how-to video that he wasn’t sure it was going to work, explaining that the only thing needed to make wine is sugar and yeast.
“My plan was simple: Combine Mountain Dew with honey and yeast in a mead kit and let it ferment for a few weeks and see what happens,” he said.
While it might seem like a lot of sugar at the beginning of the process, Biolo shared that all of it ends up being consumed by the yeast, producing hooch as a result.
He added that the preservatives in the soda, which would prevent the bev from turning boozy, are rendered ineffective at higher pH levels, so Biolo added a bit of baking soda to alkalize the mixture.
To Biolo’s shock, the concoction already started fermenting by day two — but he continued the experiment for another four weeks before adding a clarifying agent for a less cloudy appearance.
A few weeks after that, he confirmed that the drink was done. The wine he created had an estimated alcoholic content of 13.9%.
In another surprise to Biolo, the drink “didn’t taste completely like battery acid” — he described it as a smooth, citrus mead with a “slight chemical aftertaste.”
