Fermented Coca Cola Rum?

[Kifi]

Can you ferment Coca Cola, then distill it? It's high in sugar, high in acid, and has some interesting flavors to it, so I'm imagining that it would make a good rum. You'd have to let it go flat first, then oxygenate it, of course. Anyone tried it?

[Chiller]

Me and my brother were discussing this recently, it sounds like a great idea but I'm not sure if you'll run into problems with the preservatives and e-numbers: the drink isn't supposed to get infected after all. Do try it though and let me know if I can get me some Cola-rum !

[LWTCS]

Yeasty beasties will not work to completion.

NPR did a Coke story couple weeks ago and the recipe for a typical cola is not complicated at all.
I wonder how well a home made batch that was yeast freindly would do?

[Kifi]

Why won't the yeast ferment to dry?

[LWTCS]

Perservatives that prolong shelf life stop the poor lil bastards.

Could try brute force by virtue of volume...But then the taste would really be kinda,,,,,,yeasty then.

I think some fellers tried to bring the soda pop to a boil first to mitigate the effect of the perservatives..

Can't recall how well that worked though. Its in here some where.

I've done vitimin water, Ovaltine, protein powders,,,,,,,and metamucil too.

[aqua vitae]

If you can find Cola essence that's used to flavour carbonated water (Sodastream etc) that's free of preservatives you maybe could prepare a wash with water, cola essence and maybe some additional sugar and ferment it with some EC-1118 + nutrients?

[tafinaf]

Now you got me interested. I'm tempted to try it, as soon as I vacate one of my demijohns (all 6 in use currently, which is not that common). They are 1 gal demijohns only, so all I need is two 2-litre bottles. Not such a big investment if it doesn't work out. Cheaper in fact than honey I ferment at the moment

[Kifi]

If you can find Cola essence that's used to flavour carbonated water (Sodastream etc) that's free of preservatives you maybe could prepare a wash with water, cola essence and maybe some additional sugar and ferment it with some EC-1118 + nutrients?

Awesome - great idea, Aqua!

[Rargh]

or make your own syrup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCola_%28drink%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
The oils are quite cheap and it tastes fantastic. You could even taylor your recipe to suit you.

[tafinaf]

As promised, I kicked off an experiment. The initial results are not very encouraging. No yeast activity after two days. Made and pitched a new starter today, will see how it goes. Fortunately, if it all goes pear shaped, the waste is little more than two 2-litre bottles and a pound of sugar to bring the SG to an interesting level, no big deal.

[LWTCS]

Had to try i recon.
Also recon the next candidate will not take your que either.
And finally recon this subject matter will be back in 6/8 months.
.

[Prairiepiss]

Had to try i recon.
Also recon the next candidate will not take your que either.
And finally recon this subject matter will be back in 6/8 months.
.

Again! The last one was Dr. Pepper wasn't it?

Do a search for Dr. Pepper rum. It says the same thing that was said here. There are preservatives in the syrup to keep it from going bad. These preservatives will not let the yeasties work. More likely kills then.

[rad14701]

I highly doubt that even boiling would deactivate the preservatives...

[LWTCS]

No matter. I never took the que either.
More gound hog days forthcomming.

Yes sir i do beleive ir was dr pecker

[Prairiepiss]

It's Groundhog day!

[Prairiepiss]

And after seeing what I have seen. I do beleave you are corect Rad. I have a customer that makes food preservatives. That is the nastiest place only second to a hide tanning plant. The ECMs in their forklifts last 4 months almost to the day. They are eatin out from the inside by the acidic fumes. The trucks are 2 years old and look like they were dug up from the bottom of the river. And they put that stuff in our food.

[etch]

If you have your heart set on making this, you could try the recipe from open cola without the preservatives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCola_%28drink%29

[blanikdog]

I seem to remember somewhere in the grog sodden crevices of my brain that a lot of this was done in here years ago. Yep, just did a search and there are now 62 posts.

[tafinaf]

Of course had to try, how else?
To prove everyone wrong, it bubbles like there's no tomorrow. Started almost immediately after the new starter. I admit I did not bother with a starter the first time, just dumped the yeast in. Maybe that was the problem.

[rad14701]

Did you gas off the existing C02 prior to pitching your yeast...??? Any wash with existing C02 will fizz like crazy when anything is added, whether yeast, sugar, dirt, or anything else having nucleation points...

[Dnderhead]

I really dont see the object in this other than curiosity, the "coke" is more than a all grain
or any other wash/mash,and if you think your going to end up with "coke" flavored spirits
think again..

[Kifi]

I was expecting a light rum, perhaps with a faint whisp of cola in there somewhere. But to your point, more of an experimental pursuit than anything else.

A far easier way to get a cola flavored alcohol would be to make a neutral, and add some sugar and cola flavoring.....

[Risen]

What if you just made a neutral then ran it through a potstill with fresh coke added to it. Wouldn't that make for a clear coke flavored spirit?

[blanikdog]

I really dont see the object in this other than curiosity, the "coke" is more than a all grain
or any other wash/mash,and if you think your going to end up with "coke" flavored spirits
think again..

Dunder, I think it's because the youngins like to do as ginjo said "Lots of us here aren't doing things based on practicality, such as cost or necessity. Some of us like to tinker and measure things that we don't need to, all for the sake of it being a hobby and general inquisitiveness."

Us old, mature, experienced, disillusioned buggers don't have any bling, yo dude.

[rad14701]

What if you just made a neutral then ran it through a potstill with fresh coke added to it. Wouldn't that make for a clear coke flavored spirit?

You just go ahead and give that a try and let us know how easy it is to clean up the resulting mess...

[The Frederick]

Just thought of that now. Picked up a bottle of Pepsi, read the ingredients: 11g sugar per 100 mL of drink. So, what does that come out to, about 30 L to make a wash?

[Dnderhead]

as is I came up with about 5.5% if I did it right.
drop a hydro.in it and see.

[tafinaf]

I have been away for a long time, but a promise is a promise, so here is the (partial) result. I used two 2l bottles in a 1gal demijohn, topped up with sugar to raise the SG to an interesting level. Yes, rad14701, I degassed it before fermenting. After the first failed attempt I added more yeast and it fermented completely dry. I didn't do anything else, so the preservatives were clearly no problem for my yeast. Just normal dried bread yeast from the local shop.

It wasn't a great success as I am rather busy with family life and so I left it on the lees for far too long (a couple of months; I know, I'm bad), so it did not taste all that good. Or maybe Coca Cola does not take all that good with all the sugar removed, who knows. But the truth is, most flavour has gone. Possibly evaporated through the airlock.

I have now two 2l Coke bottles of about 14% ABV Coke wash waiting to be stilled. I will post update when that is done. Do not hold your breath, it may take me another 6 months to get around to doing that. This post is just an answer to all those who say it cannot be done. There are those who assume and there are those who experiment and learn from experience.

[Krewl Intent]

What about using a "natural" cola?

Like Hansens

-KI

[sparky marky]

I realize that the point of this thread is to actually FERMENT store bought cola and then pot still it but I would probably go down a different route.
I'd add home made cola syrup to neutral.
Keep it in the freezer and add to fizzy water or just take it as a shot.... Sounds pretty good actually