Adding Caffeine To The Sweet, Sweet Nectar

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BayArea

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Ever since Four Loko has been banned, I figured I would produce something that you just can't get in stores.

I brewed a Black Death Stout from the recipe at Oak Barrel Winecraft. I also added 1 extra pound of dark dry malt to pump up the alcohol and 2 cups of brown sugar during the boil. The resulting (potential) alcohol should be about 7.1%. I even had a little sample to make sure it tasted good.

My little trick this round was my addition of some Walgreens "Stay Awake" pills. These have 200mg of caffeine (for reference a red bull has 80mg and a cup of coffee is ~100mg). The one good thing is that the bitterness of these pills is a similar bitterness to match the beer so hopefully it won't be noticeable with a 7.1% alcohol stout.

Instead of ruining a full 5 gallon batch with dirty powder I only did it in 2 dozen bottles. I ground up a pill and put in the powder in each bottle. If I wasn't so lazy, I would have boiled the pills to add a sterile solution (like I do with the priming sugar). My main fear is that the powder will introduce microorganisms to spoil the batch but hopefully the high alcohol will defend it with brute strength. Hopefully these will work out just fine! Does anyone have any similar experiences or good ideas for this concoction?
 
Not to give you a rude introduction on your first post, but.... that sounds horrible. Did you used to drink a lot of FourLoko and are really trying to fill that void in your life?

In all seriousness I hope it gives you what you want:mug:
 
I'm beyond that age where I need a good reason for a heart attack, but honestly - that's not a bad idea if your goal is to brew a caffeinated malt beverage.

Sooner or later, someone would be trying it.

I just don't know if it's legal or not. I can't imagine it wouldn't be, but I'm not sure.
 
While I admire your creativity, I would imagine those pills do not taste very good when ground up. If you want to get buzzed and caffeinated at the same time why not just swallow a pill with a big gulp of that stout? I understand how some people get a little caffeine coincidentally out of coffee beans and the like, but this sounds a bit amateur.
 
I mean there are worse things you could put in your beer.

Like your dead wifes cremated ashes.
 
Don't worry about the naysayers...this is part of why we homebrew...to make things that we can't get commercially, and to experiment at times.

I wouldn't worry about the pills contaminating anything...the pills are going to be at least aseptic, and as long as you are grinding them in a "clean" fashion (I would think a sanitized mortar and pestle would be best), I think you're correct that the beer environment would take care of any minor bacteria.

I'd be more worried about the taste, as kpr121 noted...still, you're putting it in a relatively large volume (12 oz), so for a strongly flavored beer like a stout, it may be OK...definitely report back as to whether or not there's any odd bitterness or flavor from the pills compared to the "undoctored" ones...

EDIT: I wanted to add that I did a quick google and there are multiple sites where you can buy powdered caffeine, and it's not terribly expensive...this could be an option for future experimentation so you're not introducing the inert stuff from the pill itself.

I did also want to mention that, from a medical standpoint, there's a reason why drinks like 4LOKO were banned...the caffeine really does mask the effects of the alcohol early on, but gets overwhelmed later, producing pretty profound, rapid onset intoxication. READ: you get sloppy drunk really fast, because you don't feel it at first, and alcohol poisoning is a real possibility if you're not careful...
 
Wouldn't worry about the sanitary aspect so much. After all, lots of people carbonate with "carb tabs", and you can't really sanitize those outside of using them like you would regular sugar.

I think your way is the best way to do things. If you crushed them all up and and added it to the fermenter or the bottling bucket I'd be worried about the pills settling unevenly, giving you potentially dangerous amounts of caffeine in a few bottles.

I did also want to mention that, from a medical standpoint, there's a reason why drinks like 4LOKO were banned...the caffeine really does mask the effects of the alcohol early on, but gets overwhelmed later, producing pretty profound, rapid onset intoxication. READ: you get sloppy drunk really fast, because you don't feel it at first, and alcohol poisoning is a real possibility if you're not careful...

I did like the media-designated nicknames for 4LOKO: "blackout in a can" and "wide awake drunk". These nicknames seem to be contradictory to me...but what do I know?
 
There are also caffeine gel tabs and liquids that might contribute less flavor if this turns out bad. Maybe try a vitamin shop next time.

If it were me, I would put half of that in each bottle. Two cups of coffee and one 7.1% beer is a bit much all at once for me. I would figure out a way to cut that in half so it's more like 1 average cup of coffee per bottle. I also prefer to be able to drink at least a two or three beers before I get myself into trouble...

In for results!
 
I keep hearing about FourLoko being banned, but I still see it for sale at my liqueur store...

It doesn't have caffeine in it anymore. Technically the ban didn't name 4LOKO specifically, but it instead banned all alcoholic drinks where caffeine had been artificially added. This included 4LOKO, Moonshot (of "Beer Wars" fame), and a few others.

Technically a brewer could make an "Imperial Double Russian Espresso Stout" with the same alcohol and caffeine level as 4LOKO and it would be just fine as far as the regulation was concerned, as the caffeine came naturally from the coffee that was added.
 
Pills are a little iffy. Your best bet would be to soak the pills into a tincture, then add that OR https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/water-joe-anyone-tried-yet-224879/ . I made a Breakfast stout that will be going into the keg tommarrow, warm and flat it tastes stellar.

I was tempted for the tincture route, but I wanted to make sure I was not adding too much weird stuff to the beer as the ground up pills were going in straight from a brand new bottle.
 
While I admire your creativity, I would imagine those pills do not taste very good when ground up. If you want to get buzzed and caffeinated at the same time why not just swallow a pill with a big gulp of that stout? I understand how some people get a little caffeine coincidentally out of coffee beans and the like, but this sounds a bit amateur.

The pills taste HORRIBLE. That being said, they actually kind of match the bitterness level of the stout. In my ideal world, the pills would mellow out so that it just has a slight aftertaste, if any.
 
I've done something similar when making soda, trying to duplicate Mountain Dew, but with cane sugar. At least used in proportions that a Mountain Dew would be (caffeine MG per MG) you don't notice the taste from it at all. I can't remember what the amount added was though (done a couple of years ago), but if I remember right it was something like 6 pills in 3 gallons.

I really doubt you would notice it in a stout at all.
 
Well that is good news. But my concentration is much higher (1 pill/12oz vs 1 pill/64oz). As you said, it will probably be masked in a complex and strong stout.
 
I did a test batch of beer with coca tea and yerba mate. It had enough caffeine and coca in it to make you feel a little crazy if you drank a whole pint.

I'd add caffeine via tea rather than pills, personally.
 
Wow, falling a sleep/passing out is how I know I've had too much.... I can't imagine just how drunk i could get if I could stay awake long enough....lol
let me know how this turns out, maybe I can finaly stop drinking coffee for breakfast!
 
I am at almost exactly 1 month into brewing a Kentucky breakfast stout with added caffeine. I used a powdered caffeine off of ebay, as it is easier than pills.

It is added to equal about 100 mg per 12 oz serving. Caffeine is VERY bitter, but under the KBS I am not worried, there is plenty going on in there.

I got essentially no feedback on my original post about this. Seems that the idea is just horrible to everyone here. I am going to secondary it off of the coffee grounds tomorrow then bottle it in 2 weeks. Will report back at bottling and after that.

Gauging the caffeine from the added espresso is a little harder, as there are more variables. I'm guessing I'll have around 130mg per 12 oz serving, all said and done.
 
I am at almost exactly 1 month into brewing a Kentucky breakfast stout with added caffeine. I used a powdered caffeine off of ebay, as it is easier than pills.

It is added to equal about 100 mg per 12 oz serving. Caffeine is VERY bitter, but under the KBS I am not worried, there is plenty going on in there.

I got essentially no feedback on my original post about this. Seems that the idea is just horrible to everyone here. I am going to secondary it off of the coffee grounds tomorrow then bottle it in 2 weeks. Will report back at bottling and after that.

Gauging the caffeine from the added espresso is a little harder, as there are more variables. I'm guessing I'll have around 130mg per 12 oz serving, all said and done.

Thanks for the reassurance with the Stout + Caffeine combo. Secondary, coffee grounds, and powder in the fermentation (I'm assuming) is a lot of variables that I didn't want to mess with. I simply split my batch and added the crushed up pills to one part so I could compare. Additionally, I wanted to make sure the correct dosage was in each bottle and not randomly dispersed or lost into the abyss at the bottom of the carboy.
 
I have thought about trying at some point to make a caffeinated brew. Personally I was going to see if adding a caffeinated beverage (redbull, monster) to the boil could possibly add a higher potential gravity because of the additional sugar in the batch along with a caffeinated beer, this seems a likely way to destroy the flavor of the beer. As for your idea of caffeinated pills, to avoid using the unnecessary filer I would be curious to see if you could use a cold water extraction process and be left with only caffeine. This would make it unbelievably easy to add to the priming sugar mixture I'd imagine.
 
With regards to adding coffee to the secondary, or even the boil, I found that one challenge can be that the grinds don't always settle out the way hop debris or yeast does. I put on a clone of Founders Breakfast Stout for a local homebrew Advent calendar, and found that there was some fine particulate (and yes, I used a coarse grind).

I'm considering using cold brew next time, because I can filter it multiple times. I don't mind a bit of mud in my coffee, but not really looking for it in my beer.
 
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