Rockstar, Redbull, Cofee, and Jolt Cola ... what do they all have in common? Caffeine!

WARNING

Caffeine is a powerful neurotoxin with an LD50 (Median Lethal Dose) of about 175mg / kg in humans. For the average American that weighs 185lb, this comes out to just under 15grams as an average dose to kill you. While it takes 15g to put you under, much less will make you feel very uncomfortable. Don't work with pure caffeine if you are uncertain about proper safety protocols.

The first question I always get is "Where do you get your caffeine?" Pure food grade caffeine is readily available on the Internet. Google it. Don't crush OTC caffeine pills. Get the real stuff. Caffeine pills use fillers that don't have a great texture and don't dissolve.

Without going into details, I will assume that you are fully versed with how to keep yourself safe. Just as a kind reminder, this means at least a dust mask, goggles and gloves. Caffeine is a poison. Be careful!

Caffeine is magical stuff, it can be added to just about anything. For use in beverages it must be dissolved in the liquid. Caffeine has a solubility of roughly 25mg / ml at room temperature. 1ml is a tiny amount. 25mg is roughly what's in a Coke.

Personally, I like making beverages in 5 gallon batches. To caffeinate a 5 gallon batch, I stir in 9 grams just after I turn off the heat. It won't take long to dissolve, pure caffeine behaves almost like sugar. It is important not to add it in while the liquid is boiling -- caffeine is sensitive to heat. This is why espresso has less caffeine than regular coffee. 9 grams per 5 gallons comes out to about 170mg per 12oz serving.

When measuring caffeine, use a high quality scale. For 5 gallon batches, I use a scale accurate to 0.5g. This means a given serving of any given batch, I could be off by no more than +/- 4mg. This is negligible. When working on smaller batches, the accuracy of the gram scale is unacceptable. For testing single serving beverages, I use a Jeweler's scale accurate to 0.001g.

Oh, one last note -- any good cook will tell you that the only way to know if your food is good is to taste it. Experimenting with caffeine is fun, but remember that caffeine will keep you up. Unless you intend on staying awake all night, don't taste your product in the evenings. Caffeine has a half life of about four hours. If you drink 200mg, four hours later there's still 100mg in your body. Learn from my mistake.

- Jm