How Milk Washing Cocktails Works

Why would you make a cocktail with ~curdled~ milk? Join George as he answers this question by accidentally making the best cocktail he’s ever tasted, thus achieving lasting Internet fame.*
*We need your help with this last step.
Correction: 4:03 I’m showing the phosphate groups getting protonated by the acid, but in reality there are some amino acid sidechains (which are not on my drawing) that would get protonated way before the phosphate groups would. The pKa of the first proton to leave on the phosphate group is roughly 2.2, so it actually wouldn’t be protonated at pH 4.6. However, other previously negative amino acid sidechains would get protonated, and the overall charge of the casein glob at the isoelectric point would be zero.
#cocktails
#milkwashing
#breakthrough
#moleculargastronomy
#bartending
#mixology
#espressomartini
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Credits:
Executive Producer:
Matthew Radcliff
Producers:
Elaine Seward
Andrew Sobey
Darren Weaver
Writer:
George Zaidan
Host:
George Zaidan
Scientific Consultants:
Leila Duman, Ph.D.
Brianne Raccor, Ph.D.
Cori Running, Ph.D.
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell
Reactions is a production of the American Chemical Society.
© 2024 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.
Sources:
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[@ACSReactions]

Peanut Butter Washed, Curd Incubated Espresso Martini (aka the Best Espresso Martini Ever) PB-washed vodka Smear a generous portion of peanut butter on the bottom of a mug Pour about 300 mL vodka on top (gently, so as not to disturb the peanut butter) Cover and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours Curd-incubated espresso Prepare a 15% citric acid solution (you can buy citric acid powder online; make a 15% solution by adding 15 g of powder to a measuring up and filling it with water to the 100 mL mark) Curdle about 100 mL of milk using the citric acid solution Add citric acid in small batches, 1-5 mL at a time, and stop the moment you see the milk start to break (adding too much acid will make the final drink taste off) Spin the curdled milk in a centrifuge (4000 rpm for 1 minute) or filter through a coffee filter If centrifuging, pour off the whey (save it, you’ll need it later) If filtering, keep the whey (save it, you’ll need it later) Pull two shots of your favorite espresso (ideally low acid coffee) If you centrifuged the milk, pour your espresso in the centrifuge tubes that contain the curds. Cap the tube and shake vigorously, then centrifuge at 4000 rpm for 1 minute If you filtered the milk, pour the espresso on top of the curds in the filter (gently, so as not to disturb the curds) Note that this might be hard to do with such a low volume of coffee - if it doesn’t work well, try it with cold brew At this point you should have curd-incubated coffee Build the drink In a cocktail mixing glass, add: Ice 2 oz peanut-butter washed vodka ½ oz Kahlua 1 oz curd-incubated espresso ½ oz whey ¼ oz simple syrup Rest easy knowing no one will ever outdrink you *Note: instead of effing around with a centrifuge or filter, you could try to adapt this recipe that uses milk powder: punchdrink.com/articles/milk-punch-powder-technique/ If you do, leave a comment and let us know how it went!!!

[@reinei1]

I will 110% (rounded up) try this recipe sometime (proably soon) when my girlfriend comes back (shes a huge coffe fan/nerd) to hopefully get a cocktail we both enjoy (I hate the acidic aftertaste of coffe) and report back!

[@DionDPR]

​@reinei1 how's the taste?

[@SylviaRustyFae]

​@@DionDPR The PB vodka takes a day to make...

[@DionDPR]

@SylviaRustyFae no worry, just asking for an update, also notification, hehe

[@maheshprabhu]

Should you leave the espresso on the curd and then remove it? Or should you let the espresso seep down from the curd past the filter?

[@johnford7847]

"Chemistry works" (14:40) Darned straight it works. Nice video. Thanks for sharing.

[@Psychx_]

Lipophilic compounds (such as many bitter tasting agents) will diffuse into the milk proteins and thus get removed from solution when those are denatured and precipitated. Btw. your blood contains Albumine and alpha-Glycoprotein in order to allow for transporting lipophilic compounds in the watery medium that is blood plasma - it's the same principle (with thousands of papers available) minus the precipitation. Greetings from a pharmacologist.

[@FrigginCatsBruh]

Thank you! 😊

[@Phootaba]

I love this channel. This channel is criminally underrated!

[@LeRoiJojo]

I could totally see a new bar concept called The Centrifuge where they serve milk-washed cocktails.

[@adamwalker6420]

The guy who invented the Tea Time cocktail (Dave Arnold) has operated bars in NYC and has a company that makes centrifuges for home and bar use (the spinzall). Met him a few times and he is a quality human being.

[@maheshprabhu]

​@@adamwalker6420 $1200 for the spinzall, I'll pass.

[@quintessenceSL]

Drinking before noon. "FOR SCIENCE!"

[@willemvandebeek]

I love this channel, I learn something new every fricking time.

[@DH-bf9xb]

With this and some brined chicken working your way towards a fantastic Reactions dinner party.

[@MindMessed]

I could stand to see more cocktail or cooking themed Reactions videos.

[@mmelt]

KZbin needs more science content and men who can make long sleeve t-shirts work. This did not disappoint.

[@yesthatsam]

You have to do this a spinoff serie ! Every month a new cocktail ❤️

[@BackYardScience2000]

In the future, I'm going to cite this video as a source for my scientific paper. 📜

[@adamwishneusky]

Awesome video! Going to try milk washing (and fat washing, been meaning to for ages). I just wish you had also compared the espresso martini with one that was milk washed, and/or your three part process minus the peanut butter. Curious about removing its influence

[@jonathanhassell818]

Damn. Now I need a centrifuge for cocktails 😂

[@adamwalker6420]

If you are serious, Google spinzall.

[@FrigginCatsBruh]

Or a funnel and cheesecloth 🤷

[@jonathanhassell818]

@@FrigginCatsBruh Still takes hours though

[@Rungus27]

this was my favorite reactions video to date! awesome work George!

[@Anton-V]

Thank you for this video, now I can show it to the people that show me the video of the milkwashed coke that supposedly proves coke is toxic or something, I hate when people just believe any TikTok they see

[@dancoroian1]

Lmao damn, never seen that...what do they claim is happening just of of curiosity?

[@Anton-V]

@@dancoroian1 they don't say anything at all, the video goes like this: "See what happens when you mix coke with milk" (Timelapse of coke being milkwashed) "See why you shouldn't drink coke?"

[@kyokoyumi]

When he's basically describing alcoholic cheese-making lmao Just get cheese cloth and collect the curds that way, folks :) Way easier than buying a centrifuge.

[@MyHandleIsGood]

I was sceptical at first, but I just tried milkwashed Jack Daniels and it is absolutely delicious. I didn't have any citric acid, so I used a little bit of vinegar.

[@TalEdds]

Just reminded me about Pilk, that is a tasty beverage I haven't had in a long time.

[@SpencerBarrett1173]

Great info! Butter also contains milk solids, which you missed mentioning during the section on fat washing.

[@SpencerBarrett1173]

Thanks for your time on this video. You did a great job breaking this down for people. I will say Kahlua for an espresso martini isn't my favorite, but I'll try the pb vodka with my recipe; 1.5 oz vodka, 1 oz espresso, .5 oz Creme de cacao al Vanille(tempus fugit), .25 oz simple. Make sure to use espresso and not coffee so that the oils will form a frothy head without using any cream.

[@filipegaspar3572]

For flavour purposes it should be interesting to curd the coffee directly with the milk instead of separately. I'm pretty certain that the extractions aren't the same

[@markstyles1246]

Wait... is this technique why adding lactose to beers, meads, liqueurs, etc. is supposed to give it "that old-fashioned flavour"?

[@iiinsane4]

I really wanna see you have other people try it. Still a really nice video

[@FrigginCatsBruh]

Facts but just make your own.

[@IanGrams]

Huh, I hadn't heard of milk washing before but that's pretty interesting technique to separate hydro- and lipophilic compounds out of things. I'm not much of a drinker but ngl I kinda want to try George's spin on the espresso martini now 🤔

[@foxylovelace2679]

I would love to see more food science. Its a niche that is sorely lacking on youtube.

[@robotuprising1711]

This guy does not react the way i do when i taste vodka

[@playgroundchooser]

14:28 Fluffy Cameo if you're interested. 😂

[@AlexSmith-ft1sj]

Loved that and learned as well.

[@tomduke1297]

so, what i heard is: i should buy a truckload of vodka, put peanutbutter into the bottles and resell it for twice the regular price. ;)

[@SymBiotiX]

I love milk washing. Is there any sort of ratio you could point to for how much citric acid or citrus juice we might want to add?

[@TheRealPolecat]

Your fame has gained another subscriber. Really enjoyed this video. (Now wondering if I can speed up the infusion using a vacuum chamber. Could this be a new hobby? 🤣)

[@dj_laundry_list]

I have some coffee that is so acidic that it curdles the milk unless I put a lot of milk or somehow increase the pH. Maybe I'll try straining it...

[@ACSReactions]

Ooh, try it and report back! You could also try pouring the coffee into the milk instead of the other way around. That way you're gradually bringing the pH down from the barely acidic milk, instead of putting milk into highly acidic coffee and slowly bringing the pH up.

[@mhyzon1]

The “correct” way to make English tea is to have the milk in the cup first, then add the tea so as to not curdle the milk for exactly the same reason

[@ACSReactions]

We'll weigh in on a lot of controversial topics on this channel, but we're absolutely not going to touch the "correct" way to make English tea.

[@duncanmackenzie321]

Missed pilk opportunity :(

[@sagarnegi9464]

Intriguing to say the least, but it was fun to watch and something good to learn as well😊

[@markstyles1246]

I also kind of want to see How To Drink try this over several different drinks. But maybe a guest spot, because as much as watching him get slowly drunker and using a centrifuge would be fun...

[@Noneblue39]

I used to drink coke and milk bc it tasted so good. Fascinating to learn the science of it

[@moonlit_workbench]

this is a fascinating video, thank you! ...so you drink the liquid, can you make milk paint out of the leftover caesine?

[@theafro]

Interesting stuff, I can see some delicious experiments in my near future! Here's to 9am drinking! (it's ok if it's in the name of science!)

[@mattgies]

I didn't catch the rationale for including the peanut flavor variable. How do the drinks compare without adding peanut to the typical recipe?

[@muhangiphilemon3588]

Fascinating

[@ibid49]

Ok. Um thanks. But what if A) you don't own a centrifuge, and/or B) you want to make cocktails for more than one person in less than half an hour.

[@ACSReactions]

For A, you can use a coffee filter to extract your curds, it's just a tiny bit slower and a tiny bit more work. For B, well, doing things in a practical sort of way isn't really our thing here.

[@Aqualyra]

😂👍​@@ACSReactions

[@AidanRatnage]

So when sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey was she just drinking milk?

[@ACSReactions]

I believe she was eating whatever this is, until the incident with the spider: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junket_(dessert)

[@mr.hi_vevo414]

What if you wash it without separating the fat/curds and water? Letting it settle, without mixing it, could give the drink a flavour that continues to change as you drink it

[@youngchemist]

Can you mix coconut oil with coffee or tea and centrifuge it? Some doctors here keep recommending this to lose weight.

[@Petch85]

1:53 Let me just pull up the wiki page for milk washed🤣

[@toastedpine]

You figured out the secret. Coke = Sprite + Brown stuff

[@FrigginCatsBruh]

Bro LOVES vodka at 9:28 am

[@omara5079]

Where can I buy this centrifuge?

[@deaultusername]

make a icecream from the coke curds

[@SeungCanFade]

Please, take the forbidden cheese.

[@SylviaRustyFae]

0:50 I feel the only time this can be a thats what she said is when one of my fellow transfems says it xD Not me personally tho, im intersex XXY and its def far from bein anythin describable as too long xD

[@gabriellahsdancingheart8808]

What if you just don't brew the tea as long?

[@colin351]

Is this how they make crystal pepsi

[@punkdigerati]

They really had to twist your arm to do this one, huh?

[@kraagaard]

Kool!

[@scottmichaelharris]

Mmmm cocktail cheeses.

[@ilanmagen]

cheers

[@McRootbeer]

Makes me wonder... what if you fat washed in...yogurt ?😮?

[@andrewmyers2920]

Video pitch. I make alcohol and drink it for...science...yeah the science.

[@maxmusterman3371]

Cmon now, do you actually think science can make taking drugs even more enjoyable? Wait...nice

[@mrJety89]

OO OOH

[@yoskkdkdk]

you didn’t remove the citric acid

[@AnthemUnanthemed]

now that you have revolutionized the alcohol industry do you think you will be revolutionizing the ketamine cupcake club? or the Amphetamine tea time? are you gonna get into cannabaking as well or is that too intimidating bc they already know what they are doing?

[@incorporealnuance]

I almost didn't click on this video because of the channel name, I thought this was one of those "react" channels

[@Aqualyra]

😂

[@woopygoman]

But tannins are good for you! Don't!!

[@bernadettemcgreevy4771]

🥱

[@molkhal]

I want my 16:57 minutes back

[@ACSReactions]

No, your time is ours now. You can't have it back. We're keeping it.

[@malcolmsilva]

Now I want to see what @HowToDrink does with this

[@RicardoLipasAugusto]

@DANFELLOWScoffeecocktails should definitely try this!