Using Caffeine

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Br3nt

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I am presently working on a beer that I would like to add a caffeine kick to. I've read some of the other threads. This is not a coffee beer.

This is a Scottish Ale. I'm looking to use a liquid form of Caffeine. This product has been suggested.

http://www.energyfiend.com/caffeine-content/5150-juice-caffeine-liquid

If anyone has tried this could you please give me your input. If not any input would be appreciated. This is suppose to be less bitter in liquid form. I plan on adding it after racking. I want something that will give almost a Red Bull kick.

Any advice is welcomed.
 
Wow, that stuff looks scary and I am a major caffeine addict too. That said, I don't think it would be something that would mess up your beer if you are putting it in at the time of drinking it. If you put it in at bottling or before, it may cause some adverse reaction. That is the fun with experiments though! You'll be the expert after this. I would say adding it to some of your bottles at bottling would be smarter so you dont mess up a whole batch. But more power to you if you do the whole batch. I bet it will cause that much more anticipation.
 
Be careful. Caffeine is a controlled substance for a reason, it's actually the active ingredient in a lot of bug spray. In a large enough quantity it will make your heart explode, like the bugs.
 
I'd use Wake-Ups caffeine tablets, one or half a tablet per bottle (100mg or "equivalent to a cup of coffee"). I think it'd be too "risky" to mix it in the whole batch. LD50 is actually 150-200mg PER KG of mass so it probably won't happen but the lethal dose doesn't take into account genetic factors, predispositions or health priors.
 
Be careful. Caffeine is a controlled substance for a reason, it's actually the active ingredient in a lot of bug spray. In a large enough quantity it will make your heart explode, like the bugs.

Caffeine is not a controlled substance actually which is why you can readily buy caffeine pills, liquid, etc..
 
Coke zero has 45 mg/16 oz. Red bull has about 2x that much. Coffee comes in about 200 mg.
Just make sure you do the math right to get in that range.
For 5 gallons (640 oz) you'll need between 1800 and 8000 mg (1.8 - 8 g).
Caffeine is very soluble in water, so grinding up some No-Doz will work well. I don't know about the liquid you asked about, but No-Doz provides zero taste at the concentrations you are using.
Be careful.
 
Caffeine is not a controlled substance actually which is why you can readily buy caffeine pills, liquid, etc..


You are right I misspoke. What I meant to say is that its highly regulated to purchase pure caffeine, but after some quick searching I am wrong on that point too.

I am right about it being a highly dangerous and potential harmful substance in its pure form.

To the OP, why dont you just load up on some of these...I here they are delicious...:D
200px-Fourlokoproducts.jpg
 
Hm... this is making me want to try making a coca tea beer again...

And I'm intrigued by that 5150 stuff in general.
 
Should be interesting to try; caffeine is added to tons of products, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, I can't imagine it'd be too bad if you measured the amounts out to match a cup of coffee or a cup of green tea (actually more caffeine than coffee), both of which have less caffeine than a red bull or some other sugary energy drink
 
Should be interesting to try; caffeine is added to tons of products, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, I can't imagine it'd be too bad if you measured the amounts out to match a cup of coffee or a cup of green tea (actually more caffeine than coffee), both of which have less caffeine than a red bull or some other sugary energy drink

I'm thinking caffeinated jello shots currently... sounds very dangerous, lol
 
I'm thinking caffeinated jello shots currently... sounds very dangerous, lol

Yeah, so dangerous to add caffeine to a drink; no one's ever done that before :rolleyes:

- Coffee
- Put Dunkin Donuts on the hazmat list
- All tea
- All Iced teas

- Red Bull
- Monster
- Rockster
- Amp
- Burn
- Kabballah
- Stoked
- Beaver Buzz
- Pitbull
- Launch

It's only dangerous if you screw up the proportions, same with alcohol
 
Yeah, so dangerous to add caffeine to a drink; no one's ever done that before :rolleyes:

- Coffee
- All tea
- All Iced teas
- Red Bull
- Monster
- Rockster
- Amp
- Burn
- Kabballah
- Stoked
- Beaver Buzz
- Pitbull
- Launch

It's only dangerous if you screw up the proportions, same with alcohol

Uh, you're not adding highly concentrated liquid caffeine to something when you drink coffee or Amp. You buy it in a can or in a low-dosage extractable form and drink it. Not really comparable to this stuff, where a couple shot glasses of it could hospitalize you.

Jello shots are like time-released alcohol, there's a delay before it hits you. Add potentially a ridiculous amount of caffeine to them, and yeah, they can easily become dangerous. I'm not someone who shies away from mixing pretty much anything with anything, but I'm thinking about this stuff in the hands of a college kid making jello shots... it'd be so easy to overdo it.
 
highly concentrated liquid caffeine

Caffeine in it's purest form is actually a white powder, not liquid; and it's perfectly safe if you watch the measurements, which is something I've said at least twice already:

It's only dangerous if you screw up the proportions, same with alcohol

Add potentially a ridiculous amount of caffeine to them, and yeah, they can easily become dangerous

Reading comprehension. It works.

in the hands of a college kid making jello shots... it'd be so easy to overdo it.

Ever been to college? Jello shots are the least of anyone's worries. Now jungle juice, THERE was a drink that'd knock your (and her) socks off.

And finally - this is a homebrew forum; no one except you is talking about doing jello shots in college
 
Reading comprehension. It works.



Ever been to college? Jello shots are the least of anyone's worries. Now jungle juice, THERE was a drink that'd knock your (and her) socks off.

And this is a homebrew forum; no one except you is talking about doing jello shots in college

God forbid we discuss a substance someone's thinking about putting in his beer.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-11-03/news/27080105_1_caffeine-red-bull-powder

Caution is advised when dealing with concentrated drugs, that's all I was getting at.
 
There's a difference between discussing something and using overboard scare tactics.

You can discuss drinking alcohol responsibly without scaring someone with the story about some idiot frat boy who drank himself and had his stomach pumped, and you don't need to overhype things to get your point across

In that site you linked to, I actually found this a lot more interesting - GANGNAM STYLE - finally explained: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-09-07/news/33682557_1_gangnam-psy-dance

I always thought he was saying "Open condom style" :ban: . . . suddenly the song has lost some of its allure
 
There's a difference between discussing something and using overboard scare tactics.

You can discuss drinking alcohol responsibly without scaring someone with the story about some idiot frat boy who drank himself and had his stomach pumped, and you don't need to overhype things to get your point across

There's also a difference between a canned energy drink and a bulk caffeine solution that's orders of magnitude more concentrated than said energy drink.

Discussing this product responsibly requires pointing out that caution is necessary.

You can step down off that high horse now, boss.
 
There's also a difference between a canned energy drink and a bulk caffeine solution that's orders of magnitude more concentrated than said energy drink.

Discussing this product responsibly requires pointing out that caution is necessary.

You can step down off that high horse now, boss.

Difference between saying "watch out, use caution" and "OMG - YOU COULD F*CKING POISON YOURSELF IF YOU EAT IT ALL". Scare tactics.

Take a chill pill, bang your old lady, and relax.

No one's talking about dumping a whole pack of caffeine powder into a cup; like I've said three times already, there's no danger if you measure it out.
 
Difference between saying "watch out, use caution" and "OMG - YOU COULD F*CKING POISON YOURSELF IF YOU EAT IT ALL". Scare tactics.

Take a chill pill, bang your old lady, and relax.

No one's talking about dumping a whole pack of caffeine powder into a cup; like I've said three times already, there's no danger if you measure it out.

All I said was:

I'm thinking caffeinated jello shots currently... sounds very dangerous, lol

Not really a "OMG YOU COULD POISON YOURSELF" post, more of a casual "that sounds fun but could get out of hand" thing. Look at your response referencing low concentration extractions of caffeine and industrially packaged beverages. Reread the conversation and see if you can figure out why it went down that road.
 
Thought I would share from my experience. I bought 100 grams of synthetics caffeine from PureBulk.com while in school, it is very very very bitter, even when using the equivalent of 100mgs caffeine.
 
I made a small 1 gallon batch of stout to which I added 800 mg of USP grade caffeine powder, which ended up being 80 mg/12 oz bottle after all was said and done . There is no detectable taste and the buzz is nice but not overwhelming. If I do end up giving any of them to anyone, it will be only one at a time. Not that I think someone who has a caffeine tolerance (like me) and a healthy heart couldn't handle it, but I'd rather play on the safe side.

From my understanding the danger lies in the nature of the effects experienced when alcohol and caffeine are co-administered. The individual doesn't feel drunk or tired as quickly, so they end up drinking more. There is also the danger of them drinking well past the point where their body would just give up and pass out, which is definitely bad. This is only an issue with people who are binge drinking, and taking in a lot of caffeine. 80 mg of caffeine is equivalent to a Red Bull, and similarly is not intrinsically dangerous.
 
So I'm reading along in this thread, have no personal interest in 'boosting' up some drank, then I read this.

Caffeine in it's purest form is actually a white powder, not liquid; and it's perfectly safe if you watch the measurements, which is something I've said at least twice already:

Now I can't get the image of someone snorting caffeine out of my mind. :rockin::mad::drunk:
Now I'm off to google 'snorting caffeine' then come back and finish reading the thread.
 
So I'm reading along in this thread, have no personal interest in 'boosting' up some drank, then I read this.



Now I can't get the image of someone snorting caffeine out of my mind. :rockin::mad::drunk:
Now I'm off to google 'snorting caffeine' then come back and finish reading the thread.

I would be really careful with this if you really want to snort pure caffeine powder (using NODOZ pills are different because the dosage is controlled, but still not too safe) because the amounts are very tiny. You need a scale that is precise down to 10 mg. Also I would recommend doing a 'plateau' hit to find out how your body reacts to it (a small, measured dose) because most likely snorting it will make the effects either stronger, quicker, or both, so you need to be careful.
 
I just found this funny, effect on a caffeine crazed spider, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Caffeinated_spiderwebs_modified.jpg
 
a cup of coffee or a cup of green tea (actually more caffeine than coffee), both of which have less caffeine than a red bull or some other sugary energy drink

Coffee usually has about 200mg of caffeine. Green tea comes in at about 40mg. Source Mayo clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211) .

I agree with you that if you get the amounts right, you're good.
 
Thank you for the input.

I'm going to split the batch. I'm interested in the 5150 because it's a good concentration, easy to manage and very little bitter after taste from my understanding. They also have a sweetened version but I plan on staying clear of that. I plan to keep the dosage to around the same as a cup of joe.

I've been leery to say what I am making because a few local breweries have stolen my ideas and made money.

I will say this Ale is going to be for a group of gamers mainly DND and I want it to be a +1 or even +2 Ale. If any of you roll dice I'm sure you have a smile on your face. Don't laugh at us 40 somethings getting together drinking magical brew, smoking kick ass cigars and freeing the world of evil. You just don't know what you're missing.:mug:
 
Don't laugh at us 40 somethings getting together drinking magical brew, smoking kick ass cigars and freeing the world of evil. You just don't know what you're missing.:mug:

This is so weak I don't even know what to say.






















Chaotic evil is where it's at. :rockin:
 
Let us know how it turns out. This is something that I would try myself in different smaller batches of beer. I am a caffeine addict for sure and will fall asleep halfway though a night that I am drinking if I dont have a soda or redbull in the middle.
 
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