Can Coca-Cola rot or spoil?

[Mr Skeptic]

I just got randomly curious, and am wondering whether coca-cola can rot or spoil (when still pressurized inside its container). From what I hear its some pretty nasty stuff and I'm wondering whether anything can live in it. And has anyone ever had some laying around for a long time that they think is spoiled?

[Xittenn]

I just got randomly curious, and am wondering whether coca-cola can rot or spoil (when still pressurized inside its container). From what I hear its some pretty nasty stuff and I'm wondering whether anything can live in it. And has anyone ever had some laying around for a long time that they think is spoiled?

 

 

Did you watch The Road? I had to do a little google after I watched that movie asking just the same question. There were suggestions that if left in a cool, unexposed location that it may survive. From what I read diet goes bad in a few months but regular tends to have expiration dates as along as one year. There were no conclusive statements that I could find! I think my father has some really old coke from the sixties unopened, maybe one day ...

Edited December 23, 2010 by Xittenn

[Moontanman]

about 15 years ago i was given the task of cleaning out lockers at the Dupont site where I worked, some of them had been abandoned for more than 25 years. I found several cans of Coke and Pepsi that were more than 25 years old. They were all flat but drinkable if you were real thirsty and wanted some sugar water...

[Mr Skeptic]

about 15 years ago i was given the task of cleaning out lockers at the Dupont site where I worked, some of them had been abandoned for more than 25 years. I found several cans of Coke and Pepsi that were more than 25 years old. They were all flat but drinkable if you were real thirsty and wanted some sugar water...

 

Hm... can you compare that to fresh coke gone flat?

[michel123456]

(...) I'm wondering whether anything can live in it.

 

Is that your question?

[John Cuthber]

I tried fermenting cola once. It didn't work because the stuff was too acidic. It's possible that some of the bugs that grow in weird conditions like acid mine drainage water would do just fine in cola.

Incidentally, after I removed some of the acid with calcium carbonate the stuff fermented perfectly well, (the resulting brew was still undrinkable though)

[Moontanman]

Hm... can you compare that to fresh coke gone flat?

 

To be honest it just tasted like flat Coke, it was warm and sweet but no carbonation other than that is tasted like Coke. It's quite possible that coke in a bottle would survive a lot longer as a carbonated drink, glass would prevent the escape of carbonation better than thin aluminum i would think. I know that food canned in glass will last many years and at least still appear to be good, i have a jar of jam my grandmother canned at least 45 years ago and it still appears the same as it did all those years ago. I have seen jelly turn to sugar crystals but as long as it's sealed it seems to be ok. I've seen tomatoes that had been canned many years ago opened and used as food

Edited December 24, 2010 by Moontanman

[michel123456]

I don't know about Coca-cola, but about champagne we know.

[imatfaal]

And Whisky

[the tree]

I tried fermenting cola once. It didn't work because the stuff was too acidic. It's possible that some of the bugs that grow in weird conditions like acid mine drainage water would do just fine in cola.

Incidentally, after I removed some of the acid with calcium carbonate the stuff fermented perfectly well, (the resulting brew was still undrinkable though)

Was this with the standard yeast you get in wine making kits?

And Whisky

See, everyone knows that nothing can survive in whisky - and that Ribena has an expiration date of more than a couple of years. But as I had this misfortune of discovering, when stored in the same bottle, the top can be covered in some kind fungi in the space of the week - I'm still not sure how that happened.

[CharonY]

I would say that unopened cola would be virtually sterile. During the manufacturing process there is little which promotes growth, and the things in there, like the pH (phosphoric acid) and high sugar content (close to 200 mM based on rough calculations) would be stressful to most cells. Opening it up would be a different thing, though. Still, osmotic and acidic stress for most, and I am not sure whether there may be additional nasties in it.

Edited December 24, 2010 by CharonY

[Mr Skeptic]

I would say that unopened cola would be virtually sterile. During the manufacturing process there is little which promotes growth, and the things in there, like the pH (phosphoric acid) and high sugar content (close to 200 mM based on rough calculations) would be stressful to most cells. Opening it up would be a different thing, though. Still, osmotic and acidic stress for most, and I am not sure whether there may be additional nasties in it.

 

Yeah, that's basically what I was figuring too.

 

I don't know about Coca-cola, but about champagne we know.

And Whisky

 

Maybe I should get myself a few glass bottles of coke, and hide them somewhere and see if they're worth something a few hundred years from now