# Using Coke As An Adjunct?



## waggastew (15/12/12)

Had a thought come to me last night. Using a small amount (300-400mL) of Coke in a malty pale ale. The sugar will ferment out and you should be left with the caramel/drying caffeine flavours that should compliment the beer. Might give it a go an report back.

Stew

PS. Not suggesting the use of Class-A drugs in beer...........


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## _HOME_BREW_WALLACE_ (15/12/12)

waggastew said:


> PS. Not suggesting the use of Class-A drugs in beer...........




Bugger! There goes my pun.

Back on topic, I'd be worried about the taste of the preservatives that will probably be left after ferment, but 300-400ml might not be enough to leave a noticable taste. What recipe did you have in mind?


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## donburke (15/12/12)

_WALLACE_ said:


> Bugger! There goes my pun.
> 
> Back on topic, I'd be worried about the taste of the preservatives that will probably be left after ferment, but 300-400ml might not be enough to leave a noticable taste. What recipe did you have in mind?




might also be useful as a sanitiser, might have enough phosphoric acid to keep the ph low enough :icon_cheers:


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## waggastew (15/12/12)

Hadn't thought too much about it. Maybe:

Base malt
100-200g light crystal
400mL Coke
60-30min hopping so you can taste the Coke?

Hadn't thought too much about the pH effect......


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## bruce86 (15/12/12)

could you use the syrup from soda stream instead of the already carbed stuff? not sure if that may be better for ph or not.


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## Nick JD (15/12/12)

A lot of the flavours in coke would be quite volatile - was watching a TV show a while back, and one of the main flavours of cola is lavender! Makes sense, next time you drink some think about lavender and it's totally there.

Best to pour it into secondary or primary close to FG. 400ml of coke at 2.5pH isn't going to knock down a finished beer (4pH) much.


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## waggastew (15/12/12)

Like the secondary idea JD!

Might do a 5L mini batch just in case the whole thing turns out to be a bad idea........

Was maybe thinking of using Cascade as the hop? Thoughts?


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## Nick JD (15/12/12)

waggastew said:


> Was maybe thinking of using Cascade as the hop? Thoughts?



I'd go with "floral", but citrus would compliment well.


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## Dunkelbrau (15/12/12)

Nick JD said:


> A lot of the flavours in coke would be quite volatile - was watching a TV show a while back, and one of the main flavours of cola is lavender! Makes sense, next time you drink some think about lavender and it's totally there.
> 
> Best to pour it into secondary or primary close to FG. 400ml of coke at 2.5pH isn't going to knock down a finished beer (4pH) much.



There is an open source cola recipe with cinnamon and orange oils and all sorts in it.
I also heard the same thing about lavender etc in coke!
Here's a link! http://www.opensoda.org/


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## Nick JD (15/12/12)

Jurt said:


> There is an open source cola recipe with cinnamon and orange oils and all sorts in it.
> I also heard the same thing about lavender etc in coke!
> Here's a link! http://www.opensoda.org/



I think it was _Jimmy's Food Factory_. You know the guy who makes processed food in his barn to show how it's done? Great show. 

The one where he made a cornflake cannon was epic. Or maybe it was a rice bubbles cannon? Either way, it was a cannon.


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## waggastew (15/12/12)

Did a quick Goooooooogle. Been some experiments done by people in the US

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/coca-cola-...843/index3.html

One tip was to reduce the coke down to a syrup before adding.

Currently midway through the boil on this extract version:

Coke Is It!
American Pale Ale
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 4.0
Total Grain (kg): 0.520
Total Hops (g): 9.60
Original Gravity (OG): 1.047 (P): 11.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.009 (P): 2.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.93 %
Colour (SRM): 12.7 (EBC): 25.0
Bitterness (IBU): 31.1 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
0.380 kg Dry Malt Extract - Light (73.08%)
0.020 kg Crystal 120 (3.85%)
0.020 kg Crystal 30 (3.85%)

Hop Bill
----------------
1.6 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
4.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil) (1 g/L)
4.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
150mL of Coke, reduced down to about 30ml of syrup, added after 6 days in primary

Fermented at 19C with Safale US-05


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## NewtownClown (15/12/12)

Interesting. i made an english mild one year that a number of friends _complained_ that it tasted like coke. I had reserved a liter of wort from the boil and reduced it in a saucepan to a syrup of about 300 ml and added it back to the boil.

I haven't drunk Coke in years. What preservatives in coke ( I am guessing some citric acid and, from a previous post in this thread, phosphoric acid). Any Sodium Metabishulphite, AKA E223?


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## waggastew (15/12/12)

No E numbers, just phosphoric acid. Some of the people on the US site fermented straight coke and the yeasties went OK. Diluted about 1:15 it should not be a problem.

Just went into the fermentor, will pitch at 18degC. Coke syrup will go in on Friday.

Will update when bottling.


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## Nick JD (15/12/12)

waggastew said:


> No E numbers, just phosphoric acid. Some of the people on the US site fermented straight coke and the yeasties went OK. Diluted about 1:15 it should not be a problem.
> 
> Just went into the fermentor, will pitch at 18degC. Coke syrup will go in on Friday.
> 
> Will update when bottling.



There's a fair amount of E150, but that's caramel colouring - so it'll change your EBCs by a bit.


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## tiprya (15/12/12)

I like the idea of boiling/reducing the coke down. I think it could add some interesting flavours.


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## waggastew (15/12/12)

Nick JD said:


> There's a fair amount of E150, but that's caramel colouring - so it'll change your EBCs by a bit.



I calculated it out to be about 50 SRM in its normal form


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## waggastew (9/1/13)

Quick Update

Just bottled the beer after quite a long primary (I was away over xmas). Taste of the hydro tube is not bad, definite aroma of Coke. Strangeish aftertaste; tannic, drying, and sort of chemically.

Will update again in a few weeks after bottle conditioning.

Stew


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## Sammus (9/1/13)

Nick JD said:


> I think it was _Jimmy's Food Factory_. You know the guy who makes processed food in his barn to show how it's done? Great show.
> 
> The one where he made a cornflake cannon was epic. Or maybe it was a rice bubbles cannon? Either way, it was a cannon.



If ahb had a like feature I would like this post. I lolled. thanks! Also inspired me to check out that show!


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## Damien13 (9/1/13)

Sammus said:


> If ahb had a like feature I would like this post. I lolled. thanks! Also inspired me to check out that show!




heheh same..... you're frigging hilarious Nick... See you Friday at GoldCLUB?


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## Nick JD (9/1/13)

Damien13 said:


> heheh same..... you're frigging hilarious Nick... See you Friday at GoldCLUB?



Bells on.


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## Amber Fluid (10/1/13)

You could try just adding a little cola syrup to a glass of beer. Even though it won't be exactly the same at least it will give you some idea and if it is really crap then I wouldn't bother wasting ingredients and the time.


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## mkstalen (10/1/13)

This reminds me of the XLR8 Alcoholic Cola from the late 90's. Anyone else remember it? frankly I thought it was rotten...


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## waggastew (16/2/13)

Well its been 5 weeks since I bottled this beer so its time for a proper taste test.







Appearance - Golden with a light fluffy head. Definitely more pale ale than amber ale in appearance

Aroma - Dank pine/citrus note from the hops with a slight grainy background. A definite caramel sweetness.

Flavour - Smooth mouthfeel. Nice Centennial hop flavour. Firm bitterness that lingers. Very drying on the palate that could be hops or the caffeine from the Coke. Slight caramel flavours but not over the top.

Overall - A nice pale ale. Not sure what the Coke bought to the table? The caramel could have been the Coke or the crystal. The drying palate could have been the Coke or the hops. It definitely doesn't showcase Coke but I would need to do a side by side with a 'Coke-less' version to really get a better picture.

I wouldn't expect the homebrew world will embrace using Coke as an adjunct but as far as novelty beers go its quite drinkable!

Stew


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