Alco~Coke

[RobWalker]

thanks for the reading material, I picked up a bottle of raspberry and cranberry with some activated carbon and turbo finings on a whim today to make something like this :thumb: any idea if it'll carbonate up in the bottle like beer after using those fining agents?

about £6 for the whole thing, and I think the sodastream concentrate makes 12L, so that's another £1.50 off the overall price...£4.50 a gallon for alcopops? nice. :

 

[jodape]

Just put 2 litres of sugar-water going. Already burping away :shock:
Can read more here

 

[alank950]

Alco~Coke
I have made this a few times now and it has always come out well!
And Like My Raspberryade it was originally posted on Jimsbeerkits Forum.

4.5L Water
800g White Sugar
3g Youngs High alcohol Wine Yeast
5g Yeast nutient
200ml DIET Coke Concentrate (from Dunelm Mill, Home Bargins or Currys)

1)Add yeast and a few spoonfuls of sugar & yeast nutient to a glass of lukewarm water cover and set aside.
2)Put sugar and half the water in a pan and heat till all sugar is dissolved.
3)Add the rest of the water to cool down the sugar water and add to Demijohn.
4)The mixture should be cool enough for you now to add your yeast starter but please check and allow it to cool further
if in ANY doubt (your looking for below 30c).
5)Top up with water, it doesn't bubble up too much so you can leave about an inch space before the neck then
fit airlock and leave it alone!
6)Fermentation should start pretty rapidly and will take about 10-15 days.
7)If you are patient with it it will go crystal clear on its own without fins or pectins.
When its clear and has finished bubbling add a further 4.5L of water and the Coke concentrate.
Add more water or coke to suit your tastes.
8)Batch Prime these on the low side, I use about 6g per 1L because I have had this stuff fizzing everywhere when
bottles are opened.
9)Bottle and leave to mature, I drink mine after about a week!

Its a very hyperactive drunkenness and has lead to a hell of a lot of dancing and what surprised me is it isn't far off tasting like proper coke! 5% approximately

Please note before you ask:
I use DIET COKE CONCENTRATE because it contains artificial sweeteners to keep use coke tasting like coke and keep it sweet!
If you use normal coke the sugars are fermented leaving the coke very bitter and tasting horrid. The overall drink comes out tasting good, and the colour and clarity is identical to big brand cokes!

I have some clearing at the moment so will post a picture in a few minutes.

Its a very hyperactive drunkenness and has lead to a hell of a lot of dancing
I will have to give this a go...lol...

 

[alank950]

Have you ever tried the Root Beer concentrate.?.I posted an earlier thread asking if anyone knew how to brew up some Jeremiah Weed sour mash brew..i think this Root Beer concentrate will be pretty close.

 

[alank950]

The SodaStream Root Beer bottle describes its flavour as: ‘Non-nutritive sweeteners (acesulfame potassium, sucralose)’
I guess this will not ferment out like ordinary sugar and still retain its flavour?..if not could i add a sweetener like cologran and if so how much per 4.5ltr batch?..

 

[tbert33]

Newb here and would just like to know if it would be ok for me to replace the white sugar with caster sugar. Got a few bags of the stuff lying around and id like to use them.

 

[RobWalker]

yeah t-bert, any white sugar (aside from jam sugar as it'll come out cloudy) is fine :thumb:

alank: you could, but bear in mind the difference in weight and quantity when adding...I recently added about 0.5oz of tabletop sweetener to a batch of cider, then realised it's meant to be measured in spoonfuls, like in tea and coffee...the soda stream concentrates use concentrated flavour and sweetener in place of sugar, if you could get no sugar concentrated flavour from somewhere, you could easily add tabletop sweetener to it. like you say, the lack of the sugar means it doesn't ferment :thumb:

the best way to calculate how much to sweeten by is to take a hydro reading. on the hydrometer, there's a table that says sugar per gallon. choose your desired gravity and add enough sugar per gallon to reach the proverbial gravity. :

by the way, OP - I thought the original gravity was high for an alcopop! didn't realise this was for 2 demi johns full. I will be making two now :

 

[tbert33]

Cheers Rob Walker. Ive got all the ingredients now. Just going to drag all my equipment out of the loft, sterilise them overnight then kick it all off tomorrow morning. I shall take pictures as i go and post them here.

 

[tbert33]

So today i commenced my first batch of Alco Coke and i managed to take some pictures up until the point of transfering to the DJ for fermenting. Here are the pics:

The yeast mixture:

The sugar and the sugar once it has been dissolved and the rest of the water added:

Transfering to the DJ:

Adding the yeast mixture and topping up with a little more water:

Let the ferment commence:

 

[alank950]

Good pics..you may notice when fermentation starts and gets going it will foam up through the airlock some..This happened to me as i filled the demi john up a little to much,either that or i used a little to much yeast..its mellowed out now and is fermenting ok with no foaming..

 

[tbert33]

Good pics..you may notice when fermentation starts and gets going it will foam up through the airlock some..This happened to me as i filled the demi john up a little to much,either that or i used a little to much yeast..its mellowed out now and is fermenting ok with no foaming..

Cheers Alank950. Well its sat in the fron room now. not much is happening tet. maybe 1 airbubble every 10/15 mins or so. Im thinking that ll go to the hardware shop to buy a thermometer to check the room temperature. Just before i started it i thought i had a thermometer only to find i didnt once id stuck it in a DJ. Is this normal having only 1 bubble every 10/15 so mins or at this stage should it be bubbling more.

I did notice that when i made the yeast mixture it did smell quite chemically. Im just hoping everything is ok with it.

 

[tbert33]

oh another point... all of the yeast is now sat on the bottom of the DJ. Is this right? apologies if i sound this this is like the 3rd home brew that i have troed in the space or 3 or 4 years.

Thanks

Tom

 

[alank950]

oh another point... all of the yeast is now sat on the bottom of the DJ. Is this right? apologies if i sound this this is like the 3rd home brew that i have troed in the space or 3 or 4 years.

Thanks

Tom

At this stage i think you could irrate it a little with a shake to get it going..add a little lemon juice it will feed the yeast or better still yeast nutrient..a thermometer is essential..
I am no expert either ..thats the best thing about home brewing..finding what works best for you by expermenting and asking advice..

 

[tbert33]

Thanks agsin for the info. The yeast mixture has a teaspoon of yeast and a teaspoon and just under half of yeast nutreant. Ive just given it a swish around and im off to the shop to try and get a thermometer. Just out of interest how much lemon juice do you think i should add 9r should i add more yeast nutrient? apologies for all of these questions.

 

[alank950]

Thanks agsin for the info. The yeast mixture has a teaspoon of yeast and a teaspoon and just under half of yeast nutreant. Ive just given it a swish around and im off to the shop to try and get a thermometer. Just out of interest how much lemon juice do you think i should add 9r should i add more yeast nutrient? apologies for all of these questions.

You should not need to add any more nutrient i dont think ,a few teasspoons full of lemon juice wont hurt..what sort of yeast did you use and was it in date?.I assume it should be fermenting well by now although if its below 18c you may need to place it in a warm water bason to get it going..you dont want it to warm either ..thats where the thermometer comes in..

 

[tbert33]

It was the Youngs Super Wine Yeast Compound. Best before date is 06/09/13 so im good with that. Got myself a room themometer. I need to go and get a themometer that sticks to the DJ tomorrow.

 

[tbert33]

Ok so the temperature is bang on 18c and since i gave it a quick shake 30 mins ago ive not had a bubble. Anyone point me what to do now??? should i leave it heat it a little throw in some more yeast?

 

[alank950]

Ok so the temperature is bang on 18c and since i gave it a quick shake 30 mins ago ive not had a bubble. Anyone point me what to do now??? should i leave it heat it a little throw in some more yeast?

Place it in a bath of water and raise the temp to around 25c..how much yeast did you at at the beginning?..it should not need any more..try the lemon juice also..previous posts indicate that sometimes this can be slow to start so i wouldnt panic..
Did you notice much activity from your yeast starter when it was in the glass?

 

[tbert33]

Not much no. It just smelled quite chemically - thats the yeast nutrient i guess. ive been keeping a very close eye on it and the airlock has started bubbling again (although not loads) so ill leave the bath for now but heat up the room a little and see how we go from there. Thanks for all your help today. Ill keep my eye on it and if needs i will throw it in the bath to heat up.

 

[RobWalker]

if it's bubbling at all, just let it go. there's nothing for the yeast to feed on in there, so it'll take a while compared to beer.