High ABV Malt Liquor to make Trash Can Punch?

[TxAggieBrewer]

Howdy!

i've been lurking the forums for a couple years now, but just recently joined to ask a question for a friend that i could not find in previous posts.

i've been brewing for about 3 years, and learned most of what i know about homebrewing thanks to the people in this forum!... and the book "How to Brew"

my buddy wants to try and make a "trash can" punch. he has done some of his own research, and decided that he wants it to be a malt liquor based carbonated punch, please don't ban me for this... not my idea

anyway he wants the malt liquor to be somewhere in the 20-30% range and as clear in color as possible so that the punch he adds to it will dilute it down to about 10% and won't have a "beer" looking color. he really could care less about the taste of the malt liquor, since the punch will dominate in that category.

he is still in the theoretical stage of this venture. once he finds a good recipe to try, he will start the R&D stage with a little of my help throughout his 1st one or two batches.

well, is this even possible? is he getting in over his head or what trying to make a 20% ABV malt liquor? any info you might have will help!

 

[OldStyler]

So you want a really strong smirnoff ice to mix with hawaiian punch basically?

Girls will like it, and that's good.

Other than that, I have no clue how they make that kind of stuff. Sorry...

 

[TxAggieBrewer]

pretty much...

he's got it all in his head, hawaiian punch flavored malt liquor force carbonated to get a lot of people wasted

 

[DUNDASJ]

The only thing I could think of for your alcoholic base would be a sugar whisky base like moonshiners make to run through they're stills. To make the highest abv without distilling would be to ferment champagne yeast which would live up to and die at about 20% abv and ferment in water with sugar. But once you added flavorings you would start dropping the abv. The only way to make a 20-30% abv beverage would be to ferment something and run it through a still. Which after that's done your making moonshine not really a trash can punch.

 

[Maxkling]

So you want a really strong smirnoff ice to mix with hawaiian punch basically?

Girls will like it, and that's good.

Not just girls, but a lot of dudes also.

 

[Captain Damage]

Stripping the beer out of your beer requires expensive sub-micron filtration. The companies that make malt based beverages like Smirnoff Ice invest in it because on the scales they're producing it's cheaper than dealing with the taxes and other restrictions that apply to distilled alcohol.

 

[KayaBrew]

Hooray for frat boys!

 

[HexKrak]

A related video (NSFW - language)

 

[TxAggieBrewer]

The only thing I could think of for your alcoholic base would be a sugar whisky base like moonshiners make to run through they're stills. To make the highest abv without distilling would be to ferment champagne yeast which would live up to and die at about 20% abv and ferment in water with sugar. But once you added flavorings you would start dropping the abv. The only way to make a 20-30% abv beverage would be to ferment something and run it through a still. Which after that's done your making moonshine not really a trash can punch.

this sounds pretty feasible. now that i think of it more, maybe adding concentrated flavors to it instead of punch will keep it in the high ABV range he's looking for.

like these: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_21_74

 

[TxAggieBrewer]

Hooray for frat boys!

...literally!

 

[HexKrak]

He's looking to dilute it down to about 10%, regardless distiller's yeast and some other high gravity yeasts will ferment out to 25%+. So he can definitely hit his pre-dilute target without distilling.

As for dilution you have 2 options. You'll either need to stop fermentation somehow. You can either just add all the sugary punch mix and let it naturally stall out, or you will have to go about some method of killing the yeast such as pasteurization. Letting it stall out would be easier, but I think you'll run into inconsistency problems where some batches ferment out further than others.

 

[rexbanner]

IMO, the point of brewing is to make great-tasting alcoholic beverages, usually for much cheaper than you could buy them. Here's some alternatives to what your friend wants to do that might actually be worth the amount of time/effort/money:

1. Buy cheap vodka and use that instead.
2. Make apple cider out of 5 gallons of apple juice. I do this when I want to have a cheap summer party. I prefer to keep it sweet, but you can up the ABV to 10% if you like. A lot of people do, and seem to enjoy it.
3. Buy this http://www.sodastreamusa.com/Energy-Drink-compare-to-Red-Bull-P109.aspx make it, and mix it with vodka. People would probably think it would be pretty cool to have Redbull and vodka on tap.

 

[asterix404]

You could make beer with champagne yeast and then freeze distill out water. You will have to keep in at a very constant temp for the ice to form without getting too much ice to form... I would say like, 28... but it will taste like crap. Truly taste like crap...

 

[BierMuncher]

Brewing forum. Not hooch making.