coca cola beer ?

[Killer_Robot]

That's right, I forgot to mention color. Both flavors are lighter in color than before, though not immensely: in the bottle they look the same so it's only obvious if you shine a light through or pour a hydrometer sample. The cola has more yeast/trub in the bottom than the grape, though that may be imbalance on how much yeast and nutrient I put in each bottle. I can't imagine much other reason for the disparity.

I expect the comments that this would be better as an ingredient to a recipe rather than a solo fermentation are correct, but then I'd never know what the soda itself does. I also wonder how much of the bad taste is just how the base flavors would normally be when flat and without sugar. Really, my highest hope is that a little time, priming, and some light splenda backsweetening can make a mildly sweet, gently fizzy alcoholic soda. But I expect less. Hey, it's fun either way while I wait for my beer to ferment.

 

[IXVolt]

mildly sweet, gently fizzy alcoholic soda.

Sounds like a Rum & Coke would be a safer bet.

 

[Loweface]

Just some curious questions. I'm glad you're trying this out with an open mind. I think that is the difference between this and a hooch thread.

If it is just the lack of sugar what does backsweetening do?
If you backsweeten what point does it become the same as fermenting out sugar water to add to coke?

Making a malted beverage with coke added and fermenting would lead to a completely different profile as straight coke? Leads to a similar question to part b of above too?

 

[Killer_Robot]

If I backsweeten it wouldn't be the same amount of sugar it had in it before. Think the difference between a Woodchuck cider clone and apple juice with vodka added: apart from any changes to the flavor profile itself, one has enough sweetness to take off the dryness and one is fruit juice. I don't know if this will work at all with soda, and I don't expect it's something I'll repeat as is, mind.

The catch with all this is that I could do that all easier by working with soda extracts rather than the prebottled final product. A light-bodied malt fermentation with cola extract might be interesting to try more seriously, for example, or that Mountain Dew recipe. A big question here is how much the fermentation process alters or destroys the flavors of the soda. If it's not purely a bad change once the simple loss of sugar is accounted for, it might go other places. If it is, then it goes down the drain. I don't think anyone's going to tell me not to throw away the batch this time.

This really is making me appreciate the idea of the 2 liter bottle for small experiments, though. In future beer making I might want to make an extra gallon and split off some wort so I can try different flavorings or fermentation conditions if it's really this simple.

 

[Killer_Robot]

Tried after another week, pouring a little cup of each to sip, then chill and sip, then add a little sugar(much less than the starting beverage) and it was interesting. The Coke seems fairly dark still, and the flavor has changed a lot since the last week, citrus and spices much more evident, though still rough and harsh when unsweetened. When cooled and sweetened it got much more interesting, more of a spiced wine sort of vibe though obviously not exactly. The grape seems to have gotten less purple and more blue than last week. As for the flavor, it's still discernably fruity and all, but there's something a bit more chemical to it that didn't quite go away when chilled and sweetened, and I don't think it was there last week. This remains a weird experiment.

 

[Killer_Robot]

Okay, it's ready to drink!

I aged it a couple more weeks, added enough cane sugar to prime and leave about a quarter of the original sweetness. I can say fairly that the experiment was a success for the Coke at least: I got something that was both drinkable, and interestingly different from just adding vodka to Coke.

Color: somewhat lighter than the source beverage, it has a color more like that of iced tea.

Head: More persistent than I've seen in any soda that wasn't a root beer. It took some patience to get it to die down.

Flavor: Strikingly different than normal cola. It's considerably tarter and the citrus and spice elements are much more in the forefront, a lot of orange peel and cinnamon evident. Overall effect is still not unlike a spiced wine. On the down side, a somewhat chemical finish. I'm guessing it probably needs more aging among other things.

This isn't so bad - I don't think I'm going to mind finishing it up over the weekend before it goes flat again. Just the same, I don't think I'll make it again as is, though as an addition to a fruit wine or spiced beer it might be pretty good.


EDIT: Eh, I take some of it back. Maybe it's a certain sort of eccentric charm that wears off quickly or something, but after the first glass the chemical aftertaste and sourness seemed a lot sharper. Maybe it's the phosphoric acid, or who knows what else? Oh well, it was worth trying.

 

[stageseven]

This is one of those things where I assume if it worked, it would have been done by now...

...but hell, maybe i'm wrong.

Haha, I guess I'm the only one who saw this thread and thought, "doesn't Warsteiner already do this?"

Anyway cool experiment. It'd be intersting to try with that new Mt. Dew or Pepsi Throwback that uses real sugar instead of corn syrup.

 

[Killer_Robot]

I think the taste that was bothering me was the phosphoric acid without enough sugar to cover it up: I tasted the starsan while brewing today and it was pretty similar.

On the other hand, the grape soda(with citric acid) was almost too good. Bright purple/blue and very fruity. I had enough while brewing to make me slip up at the final pour into the fermenter and land some on the carpet.

 

[Rowdog]

I ran out of bottles for my Pilsner so bought some cheap cola. I decided rather than pouring it away i stuck it in a 2 liter demijohn with some high tolerance yeast, nutrient, and left it for a week. It's bubbling away like a mofo..

I'll let you know how it goes but I just had a sip and it tastes absolutely horrendous! May be good for cleaning the toilet, however.

It's sat in my kitchen now, I might let it "mature" for a while and see what happens!!

 

[joshesmusica]

i'm really just wondering what this would be like with a yeast that throws out some flavors. man this is so stupid it makes me curious, especially the idea of blending it with some dme boiled with some hops. i already have some 5L buckets for experimenting, i may just have to try something like this. like a porter with some coke, or like was mentioned a wheat with some sprite.

also, i gotta say, i love the optimism the persisted past all the pessimism in this thread. because, why not try these dumb things out? most of the great inventions in life have either come from optimistic experiments or dumb, accidental luck.

 

[Rowdog]

I've been fermenting shop bought cherry juice also makes a lovely fizzy wine. Make sure it doesn't have sodium metabisulfate or potassium sorbate in it and there is a green light to ferment!!

 

[DeBrewer]

Super old thread... On this topic, I did make a Jack & Coke beer a few years ago. I used 100% Honey malt to make a 5 gallon batch, then aged on Jack Daniel's wood chips, and then added an entire bottle of the Soda Stream cola syrup when I kegged it. Tasted strikingly similar but obviously with a lower alcohol content. Went over well at a beer festival.