Fermenting coca-cola or pepsi

I wonder what would happen if you pitched some ale yeast into a 2 liter bottle of coca-cola or pepsi? Of course first open the bottle and let it go flat. It might taste horrible but who knows... maybe someone on HBT has already given something similar a shot?

The phosphoric acid, like StarSan, will kill yeast.

Those two already taste horrible in their "natural" state... imagine them fermented, you can have nightmares now.

Mix them with some rum. A lot faster, and tastes lots better.

I suppose you could try it with the cola flavoring you buy to make your own. I don't know what you would use for the 'base'.

Yes, I have wondered about it too.

Jennifer

I'm on the "I think this is a bad idea wagon". However, this would be extremely easy to find out what would happen. Just flat a twoliter bottle and pitch about a quarter of a packet of dry yeast in there. Put a blowoff of some sort on there and let us know.

I think I've read somewhere about making beer using Mountain Dew as the base instead of water.... not that I would try it but you can ferment anything with sugar.

cclloyd said:

not that I would try it but you can ferment anything with sugar.

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I don't know why this came to mind, but...

"I've got nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?"

cclloyd said:

I think I've read somewhere about making beer using Mountain Dew as the base instead of water.... not that I would try it but you can ferment anything with sugar.

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Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Recipes - Mountain Brew

I say go for it. You never know until you try, and isn't that part of the beauty of this hobby?

I posted a thread awhile back about Mt. Dew and I got the idea from a recipe in BYO mag. I think it was called beelzibub ale or something. Also seen a utube where a guy fermented cola. Don't think it turned out.

Might as well give it a shot. Another thing I'll note is to add some yeast nutrient: fermenting just flavored sugar won't go clean and quick without it. As for the flavor: cola is mostly cinnamon, vanilla, and citrus essences, so think of it in those terms. Problem is, a lot of those might go out the airlock when you ferment.

EDIT: Posted when I'd followed the related thread link here, and then forgotten I was in a different thread. Oops.

I'd be sure to aerate really really well too. Should be an interesting experiment

I've made root beer by fermenting a low-hop Blonde (with 12 oz. MD) and adding extract, then backsweetening.

just outside of DC. Musta been '95. I didn't pay rent, but earned my board by cleaning up after the parties we had every weekend.
One such Sunday morning, I find a half empty 2L Pepsi with the cap off. For no reason I can come up with, I put the cap on (after making sure there weren't any butts in it) and set it in a nice shady spot on the balcony.
I knew almost nothing about brewing at the time, aside from the couple of friends who had made jailhouse wine (in jail. You don't do that when you don't have to. Eww).
So anyways, after about a week or so I remembered the Pepsi. I took it to the railing and carefully opened it. IIRC it gushed. I smelled it. I think it smelled acrid, but didn't make me gag or anything. Then I took a swig. It tasted nasty. That much I do remember. But I had had worse drinks mixing all the flavors from the Slushy machine with a pint of cheap vodka.
So, I drank it. Really wished I hadn't. I got a buzz, but I'm not sure it was from an alcohol, or some other microbial waste product.
What I learned is not everything that's drinkable should be drunk. I mean, look at Bud Lite.

'We're science: we're all about coulda, not shoulda.' - Patton Oswalt

It has crossed my mind a few times I should try an experimental batch of stout using Dr. Pepper as the mash liquor. WTHN. It's not like the Mr. Beer is busy doing anything else.

The link for the Mountain Dew beer is
Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Recipes - The 10 Wildest Recipes

larrybrewer said:

I wonder what would happen if you pitched some ale yeast into a 2 liter bottle of coca-cola or pepsi? Of course first open the bottle and let it go flat. It might taste horrible but who knows... maybe someone on HBT has already given something similar a shot?

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What if you boil the coke in a pan till it turns into a syrup then use it the same way you use malt extract that may work

janzik said:

I don't know why this came to mind, but...

"I've got nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?"

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Sad that no one in the thread acknowledged this, I thought the same thing XD.