Caffinated beer?

I'm addicted to those little caffinated packets you add to water. I get them in a box of 10 from Wallyworld under the name "Poweredge". I get the Tangerine Strawberry flavor. It's got like 10g of caffeine (two cups of coffee) per serving. Ingredients are citric acid, maltodextrin, sodium citrate, caffeine, aspartame and a bunch of other stuff like ginseng, vitamin b12 and yellow die numba 5. They taste pretty good and I was thinking about using them in a citrusy pale ale or something... right at bottling. There is no sugar so I figured I would prime as normal and add maybe a whole box, 20cups of coffee equivalent for a 3 gallon batch.

Any reason why this idea is stupid or bound to fail? I'm trying to do something different and unique....

Why not just make coffee stout?

I would recommend adding a half packet or so to a pint and decide if you like it.

+1 on trying it in small increments.

I've had Power Edge too (love the wild berry flavor) but they are excessively sweet. I routinely find myself mixing a serving in with 20 or more ounces of water instead of the recommended 16 just to knock the sweetness down a bit.

So you want to mix caffeine (stimulant) with alcohol (depressant)? Guess if you do that everything will cancel eachother out and your beer will be no worse for you than water.

Actually...it really messes you up. My buddies coffee porter will get the heart racing and get you smashed.

Haterade said:

It's got like 10g of caffeine (two cups of coffee) per serving.

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Your numbers are off. Typical caffeine content for a cup of coffee is around 100mg- a cup in this case being 8oz. 10g of caffeine is enough to kill you!

Ingredients are citric acid, maltodextrin, sodium citrate, caffeine, aspartame and a bunch of other stuff like ginseng, vitamin b12 and yellow die numba 5.

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The aspartame and maltodextrin will probably leave you with a lot of sweetness, since they're not fermentable.

They taste pretty good and I was thinking about using them in a citrusy pale ale or something... right at bottling. There is no sugar so I figured I would prime as normal and add maybe a whole box, 20cups of coffee equivalent for a 3 gallon batch.

Any reason why this idea is stupid or bound to fail? I'm trying to do something different and unique....

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I have a feeling that all the citric acid, sodium citrate, and artificial flavors are not going to do your brew any good. But hey, it's your beer. If you really (for whatever reason) want the caffeine kick, just use no-doz tablets crushed up, and some real fruit for fruit flavors.

Looks like you may be trying to clone this:

It's no different from the "Red Bull and Vodka" craze.

Didn't one of the BMC companies try this?

McKBrew said:

So you want to mix caffeine (stimulant) with alcohol (depressant)? Guess if you do that everything will cancel eachother out and your beer will be no worse for you than water.

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Redbull and Vodka and Jagerbombs are both along these lines. They get you drunk and keep you awake longer so that you can get drunker.

Personally, I hate Jagermeister and I hate Redbull but there's just a special kind of magic that takes place when you put them together in drink-bomb form.

I don't think 10g of caffeen will kill me. I probably drink about 1 - 2 g in a normal day, so I think I could handle 10g, as long as it isn't all at the same time.

I start the day out with a 24 oz "great one" from dunks and then have 2 or 3 10 oz cups before lunch, an additional 30oz. On a hung over day I'll use a cup of coffee to make my oatmeal instead of hot water (delicious by the way). In the afternoon I have a 32oz iced coffee (turbo with a shot of espresso if i need a boost). If I plan on sleeping that day I stop drinking coffee around 5:00 or 6:00 if I am going out I like to grab one of the big a rock star energy drinks (about 300mg of caffeine) right after dinner to get me wired for a night out on the town. While out I might drink a red bull and vodka, or something similar.

All in all I am severely caffeine addicted, I get horrible crushing headaches when I don't get a cup, and I think I might have to go on methadone if I every want to detox myself from coffee.

Wow.... and I thought I was bad! That is crazy. I've gotten myself completely off caffeine before, you just gotta "taper" off of it. Take only enough to keep the headaches away and then slowly reduce your intake. I got to the point where I didn't need it at all, but the bagel shop around the corner from my house started a promotion... $99 and you get free refills of coffee and soda for a whole year. Worst $99 I ever spent, now that I think about it... haha

Why not see if you can just get powedered caffeine. I am not sure if its available to be purchased by just anyone but that would probably be the best solution. It wouldn't add any other flavors or fermentables.

edit--Actually I did find some

When I was 22, I would have thought that this was a great idea. Now I think that it would just make for an incredible hang-over.