zima

[danmaddux]

Is there an easy way to make a non flavored malt beverage similar to zima or something like that?

 

[ong]

You might be better off approaching it from a mixology perspective rather than brewing... E.g., start with a vodka and soda, doctor it with lemon and simple syrup.

 

[Captain Damage]

The breweries making "malt beverages" like Zima and Smirnoff Ice, as well as hard lemonades and iced teas, basically start with an unhopped beer and use superfine filtration to strip out almost all of the flavor and color. The result is not much more than a weak alcohol solution that they then add flavoring to. They do this rather than mixing with distilled spirits to avoid taxes and distribution limitations.

 

[woozy]

Well, I found this:

HOW DO THEY MAKE IT?
Sure you want to know? Well, OK. There's really no reason you
couldn't make it yourself (not for sale, of course).
Mash 3.7 lb of any domestic 6-row malt with 1.76 gallons
of water to achieve a dough-in temperature of 122 F (50 C). Add
0.1 ounce of amyloglucosidase enzyme. This is the most energetic
enzyme available, and will essentially give you about 100%
conversion. Don't want any of those nasty unfermentable sugars
in there that might contribute to body! Let the mash rest for 26
minutes at this temperature. Raise the mash temperature to 150 F
(66 C) and let it rest for 40 minutes. Raise it to 162 F (72 C)
and rest for 10 minutes. Finally, raise it to 172 F (78 C) to
mash out.
Transfer the mash to your trusty lauter tun and sparge
with 172 F (78 C) water to achieve a total wort volume of 5
gallons.
Can't get the alcohol level we want from this wimpy wort.
Boil for 20 minutes, then add 0.74 gallon of 95% fermentable corn
syrup, and 0.028 ounce of hop extract. Yes, that's right. A
hopping rate of about 1 ounce of hop extract per 200 gallons of
wort.
OK, let's get our yeast to work. After 90 minutes of
boiling, cool it quickly down to 50 F (10 C). Aerate the wort
with sterile, filtered air to saturate it with oxygen (8 ppm),
and pitch 2 ounces of a neutral lager yeast.
This part is normal. Ferment at 53 F (12 C) for 10 days,
until the product has achieved 7.5% alcohol by weight. Chill to
40 F (4 C) to force the yeast to settle out, and transfer to an
agitation tank.
Oops, it still has a faint yellowish tinge. Add 1.23 lb
of a slurry containing 5.26 ounces of activated charcoal.
Agitate for 12 hours. Let settle, and double filter through
diatomaceous earth filters. This gives you a totally colorless
product.
Well, that's fine but we have more alcohol than we really
need. Add 2.48 gallon of dearated and slightly carbonated water,
to achieve an alcohol level of 4% by weight.
Damn, still not sweet enough. Add 1.72 lb of high
fructose corn syrup. While we're at it, let's put in 1.57 ounce
of tartaric acid. This is the key ingredient, since this is what
eliminates those nasty sensations of fullness, tartness,
sweetness, and astringency that conzumers hate so much.
Well, since we've gone this far, let's put a few more
chemicals in our product for good measure: 0.09 ounce of citric
acid as a secondary acid to back up the tartaric acid, 0.028
ounce of sodium citrate as a buffer, 0.89 ounce of Tastemaker
Natural Flavor (#12345) to give it a vaguely lemon-lime taste,
0.009 ounce of an anti-foaming agent like Dow Corning "Antifoam
FG 10" (can't let it have a head--someone might think it was
beer!), and a couple of preservatives like 0.185 ounce of sodium
benzoate and 0.185 ounce of potassium sorbate.
Whew! Well, I guess all that's left is to make it fizzy.
Let's inject 0.042 lb of carbon dioxide per gallon.
So, in answer to the curious folkz who have wondered what
in the world was going on out there in the mountains of Colorado,
this is how you make Zima. Be warned, however, that this is
potentially the tip of the iceberg. According to the patent
application, Coorz has plans (assuming that conzumerz by enough
of the ztuff) to expand their market by offering different
flavors of Zima. You'll know if the American conzumer as been
sucked in when you start seeing the adz for the other flavorz.​

If you actually like Zima you can probably edit out the snark, skip the perservatives and charcoal filtering and dilation and chemical carb and make .... something... from this.

 

[woozy]

(But when the topic is Zima, who wants to stay on?)

Funny all this talk about artificial lemon lime flavor. The one Zima I ever drank tasted like anise. Did I get a special licorice flavored one by mistake? I thought it was odd at the time because I didn't think licorice would have been a poplular market choice. But then I figured that maybe it gave the consumers a sense of faux sophistication.

I find it strange that people remember the height of zima popularity as from the early 90s. It was 1985 when I had my first and last zima. I always thought it dropped of the face of the earth in the next two years. Saw a reference to it 10 years later on the Simpsons ("I ordered a Zima-- not emphysema"; this Simpsons joke is probably the most positive and significant contribution Zima has made to the world) and I thought it was very odd that the Simpson's would be making such an out-dated reference to something so long past. (The character saying this was a trendy *********.) I guess I was out of touch during Zima's popularity.

 

[two_one_seven]

Well, I found this:

HOW DO THEY MAKE IT?
Sure you want to know? Well, OK. There's really no reason you
couldn't make it yourself (not for sale, of course).
Mash 3.7 lb of any domestic 6-row malt with 1.76 gallons
of water to achieve a dough-in temperature of 122 F (50 C). Add
0.1 ounce of amyloglucosidase enzyme. This is the most energetic
enzyme available, and will essentially give you about 100%
conversion. Don't want any of those nasty unfermentable sugars
in there that might contribute to body! Let the mash rest for 26
minutes at this temperature. Raise the mash temperature to 150 F
(66 C) and let it rest for 40 minutes. Raise it to 162 F (72 C)
and rest for 10 minutes. Finally, raise it to 172 F (78 C) to
mash out.
Transfer the mash to your trusty lauter tun and sparge
with 172 F (78 C) water to achieve a total wort volume of 5
gallons.
Can't get the alcohol level we want from this wimpy wort.
Boil for 20 minutes, then add 0.74 gallon of 95% fermentable corn
syrup, and 0.028 ounce of hop extract. Yes, that's right. A
hopping rate of about 1 ounce of hop extract per 200 gallons of
wort.
OK, let's get our yeast to work. After 90 minutes of
boiling, cool it quickly down to 50 F (10 C). Aerate the wort
with sterile, filtered air to saturate it with oxygen (8 ppm),
and pitch 2 ounces of a neutral lager yeast.
This part is normal. Ferment at 53 F (12 C) for 10 days,
until the product has achieved 7.5% alcohol by weight. Chill to
40 F (4 C) to force the yeast to settle out, and transfer to an
agitation tank.
Oops, it still has a faint yellowish tinge. Add 1.23 lb
of a slurry containing 5.26 ounces of activated charcoal.
Agitate for 12 hours. Let settle, and double filter through
diatomaceous earth filters. This gives you a totally colorless
product.
Well, that's fine but we have more alcohol than we really
need. Add 2.48 gallon of dearated and slightly carbonated water,
to achieve an alcohol level of 4% by weight.
Damn, still not sweet enough. Add 1.72 lb of high
fructose corn syrup. While we're at it, let's put in 1.57 ounce
of tartaric acid. This is the key ingredient, since this is what
eliminates those nasty sensations of fullness, tartness,
sweetness, and astringency that conzumers hate so much.
Well, since we've gone this far, let's put a few more
chemicals in our product for good measure: 0.09 ounce of citric
acid as a secondary acid to back up the tartaric acid, 0.028
ounce of sodium citrate as a buffer, 0.89 ounce of Tastemaker
Natural Flavor (#12345) to give it a vaguely lemon-lime taste,
0.009 ounce of an anti-foaming agent like Dow Corning "Antifoam
FG 10" (can't let it have a head--someone might think it was
beer!), and a couple of preservatives like 0.185 ounce of sodium
benzoate and 0.185 ounce of potassium sorbate.
Whew! Well, I guess all that's left is to make it fizzy.
Let's inject 0.042 lb of carbon dioxide per gallon.
So, in answer to the curious folkz who have wondered what
in the world was going on out there in the mountains of Colorado,
this is how you make Zima. Be warned, however, that this is
potentially the tip of the iceberg. According to the patent
application, Coorz has plans (assuming that conzumerz by enough
of the ztuff) to expand their market by offering different
flavors of Zima. You'll know if the American conzumer as been
sucked in when you start seeing the adz for the other flavorz.​

If you actually like Zima you can probably edit out the snark, skip the perservatives and charcoal filtering and dilation and chemical carb and make .... something... from this.

Really, if this is what you have to go through to get Zima then just go to the store and buy some......ugh I couldn't even read all of that and I have been brewing for 17 years.......

 

[danmaddux]

I guess I would be more interested in makimg something like mikes hard. Seems like its easier to just buy it. Bummer

 

[neosapien]

skeeterpee.

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

I guess I would be more interested in makimg something like mikes hard. Seems like its easier to just buy it. Bummer

Yeah neosapien is right, Skeeter Pee. You won't be sorry. Once you have the base you can go in almost any flavor direction and I think is what your looking for

 

[woozy]

Really, if this is what you have to go through to get Zima then just go to the store and buy some......ugh I couldn't even read all of that and I have been brewing for 17 years.......

If you remove the snark it's not that bad. Zima is a mass produced industrial product so is going to have a lot of freeze-hydro-vaporgummy stuff which the home-brewer will skip.

Basically if you want to make a Zima like beverage:

Mash
--Mash 3.7 lb of 6-row with 1.76 gallons water. (dough-in 122 for 26 min; raise to 150 for 40 minutes; raise 162 rest 10 minutes; mash out at 172
--Sparge at 172 to get a total volume of 5 gallons
Boil
--add .74 gallons of corn syrup (95% fermentable) and a bit of hop extract. (Make a tea with small amount of hops and add the liquid.)
--- Boil 90 minutes (not sure why). Cool Aerate.
Ferment
--- Pitch lager yeast (2 oz.)
--- Ferment at 53 for 10 days till it's reached 7.5% ABW.
--- Chill to 40.
--- Transfer.
(Filter? I'm not sure how to filter but I'm sure there are less than industrial ways. Or let your drink be somewhat yellowish.)

-- Add 2.48 gallons to dilute to 4% ABW.
-- Add 1.72 lbs corn syrup or sugar
-- Add flavoring; maybe lemon juice.

Now I'm not entirely sure how to carbonate and/or deactivate the yeast from eating this huge amount of sugar. But there are probably ways.

Keg or pressure carb. (I don't know how to do either)

Or I would be curious to try (except I don't ever actually want to make Zima) "bottle pasturizing"-- bottling and capping and letting it carb for a few days and then bathing the bottles in 190 degree water for ten minutes to kill all the yeast. (I'm going to try this the next time I make ginger beer.)

This ought to be doable. I'm not sure I'd want to drink this stuff (it reminds me too much of Zima) but it might actually be good.

 

[two_one_seven]

too much still. Make some beer it's easier.