coca cola beer ?

[yeasty]

i know its not "beer" but my buddy asked me "if all you are making is a sugar solution to throw yeast in to ferment then why not use flat soda ?" i was surprised at the question and was at a lack of answer other than "it wont be beer". what would it be ? .....other than gross....

 

[Hang Glider]

Colt 45













no wait, that's a "malt" beverage....

 

[yeasty]

i just read the "similar thread" does not sound good !

 

[moger777]

Soda generally has preservatives in it. I doubt you will get anywhere by fermenting it. If you used your own soda syrups you could probably make something. It won't be as sweet though but you may get something good.

 

[BigEd]

i know its not "beer" but my buddy asked me "if all you are making is a sugar solution to throw yeast in to ferment then why not use flat soda ?" i was surprised at the question and was at a lack of answer other than "it wont be beer". what would it be ? .....other than gross....

The simple answer is that the sugars in a soft drink, usually sucrose and/or fructose and/or glucose, are not the sugars you want as a starting point for beer. Mashing malted barley produces additional sugars like maltose, galactose, a number of complex oligosaccharides as well as dextrins. Throwing yeast in Coca Cola will ferment the sugars but you are right it won't be beer. Chances are it would be nasty stuff.

 

[944play]

Coke has phosphoric acid, the active ingredient of Star San....

 

[Killer_Robot]

Oops. See, I went and followed the other thread, then posted a reply there rather than here.

 

[EvilTOJ]

Pretty sure coca cola, if fermented, would taste just like caramel flavored starsan solution with a bit of rubbing alcohol put in for a crisp finish.

 

[Loweface]

Pretty sure coca cola, if fermented, would taste just like caramel flavored starsan solution with a bit of rubbing alcohol put in for a crisp finish.

Fermented Starsan? Hmm thats an idea?

Yes Cocacola shouldn't ferment but aren't you glad you've got the bug and can't stop thinking "Can I ferment that?"

Don't lose it you may invent something great...
(It just won't start with Coke as an ingredient )

 

[Boondoggie]

Coke has phosphoric acid, the active ingredient of Star San....

Which everyone claims is yeast food.

 

[yeasty]

sounds like from the other thread it is a bad idea. ill tell my buddy to try it and let me know...

 

[imprez25]

what about the "mexican" coke made with real sugar. Or some other craft soda producer who dosen't HFCS. (I'm thinking Goose Island Soda).

 

[Killer_Robot]

HCFS is just corn sugar that's had half of its glucose converted to fructose to make it taste sweeter - in short, exactly what yeast breaks cane sugar down into before actually eating it. Any difference to either fermentation or taste from either cane or unmodified corn sugar would be pretty minimal.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Why not just mix it with half a glass of beer? It's called a Russian...

 

[Brewmando]

It's too bad so many look at the negative aspect of this instead of asking "How can we make this work?". I catch flak from narrow minded people when I speak of the SUCCESS I had brewing with Mountain Dew. I used the recipe found in BYO magazine, made some minor changes, and made a beer that was very well recieved by almost all who tried it (five gallons consumed at a brew fest). Fermentables were 4 #'s DME and about 9 litres Mtn Dew. Because this was so good I've decided to make a wheat with Squirt and a porter with Dr. Pepper. Why? Because I can! If they turn out bad so what? I'll just have some brew to cook with. Just my $.02 worth.

 

[CiscoKid]

Yes Cocacola shouldn't ferment but aren't you glad you've got the bug and can't stop thinking "Can I ferment that?"

I see a YouTube series in the future. "Will it ferment?" Sure, it isn't as sexy as a blender and shotgun shells, but will it ferment? That is the question!



(Will It Blend? | Presented By Blendtec)

 

[Loweface]

It's too bad so many look at the negative aspect of this instead of asking "How can we make this work?".

...

Why? Because I can! If they turn out bad so what? I'll just have some brew to cook with. Just my $.02 worth.

I am actually with you on this. I'm always annoyed when someone asks about making Orange wine or some form of cooler and is always slapped down with shouts of pruno...

But I still don't think straight Coke will ferment

 

[McKBrew]

It's been done with Mountain Dew, so why not Coke. (Personally I think it'd probably taste like balls, but....)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/mountain-dew-beer-76518/

Recipe on this page.

Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Recipes - The 10 Wildest Recipes

 

[Killer_Robot]

Hey, I might try this myself. Or some sort of soda, at least. I don't know that I'll even waste a packet on it though: maybe use some yeast cake from my cider when it's done.

 

[size]

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.

 

[SteveM]

Hey, someone try it and see how it comes out.

 

[khiddy]

I fermented grape drink. Not grape juice, but grape DRINK (~15% juice, plus HFCS). It turned into slightly boozy grape soda. It was actually very, very refreshing!

 

[Killer_Robot]

I'm giving this a try today. I flattened a two liter of Coke (OG 1.045) and one of Sunkist Grape (OG 1.058), and added some yeast nutrient and half a Mr. Beer cider yeast pack to each. Just doing it right in the bottle with a little poured out for head space and the top covered with foil. We'll see what happens.

 

[size]

keep us updated! like i said i figure if this produced a good product it would have been done commercially by now, but i'm always curious about these things so let us know!;]

also what means of sterilization did you use, if any?

 

[Killer_Robot]

Since it's in the original bottles and all I did was vent CO2 and pour out enough for a hydrometer sample, all I sanitized was the spoon for the yeast nutrient. The yeast I sprinkled straight in from the packet. The foil's just going as an extra cover over a loose cap, so I'm not bothering to sanitize that either.

 

[Killer_Robot]

First question answered: the phosphoric acid in Coke isn't enough to kill yeast. There's no krausen, but I didn't expect any in a liquid that's all slimple sugars. On the other hand, tightening the cap for an little while makes the bottle pressurize nicely so there's definitely fermentation going on. Also, the Coke(phosphoric acid) seems to be fermenting at least as fast as the Sunkist(citric acid).

I figure I'll update again in a week or so unless something really unexpected happens, but for now the stuff's off to a good start.

 

[Killer_Robot]

As promised, a week past. Unfortunately, I was out of town most of the week and forgot to move the bottles to the one room that I left air conditioned. It wasn't that warm this week though, so hopefully it didn't get too heated up.

Both of them have fallen down around 0.998 or so. The Coke had significant krausen forming, and it tastes pretty vile. Maybe it's the sugar being gone, maybe it's flavor carried with it, I don't know. The grape is more recognizably grapish, though it's still pretty harsh. I'll have to see how things are in another week: then I'll see how they are again.

 

[Brewmando]

Keep in mind that the original Mtn Dew concoction had malt extract as half of the fermentables. A standard boil with the DME and NB hops was utilized then cooled and that was added to the de-carbonated pop. I suspect just fermenting pop will not be all that good of a thing but do please keep us posted.

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Anyone remember Cisco? I think we have reinvented the wheel.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

I was once bored enough to do just that. I boiled a 2-liter bottle of coke with some hops, cooled it and pitched some yeast. It fermented really quickly, almost completely removing all color to it, which was quite bizarre. The hydrometer reading was less than 1 and yes, it did taste horrible. I was never able to really drink it, just barely tasted it.

I'm sure you could use it in addition to other ingredients in a brew, but why not just add table sugar to the wort. I guess it would give you a nice bit of caffeine in a brew.