Taking the caffeine out of Red Bull so I can drink it at night

Summary

Dans cette vidéo sponsorisée par Raycon, l'hôte exprime son amour pour les boissons énergisantes, en particulier Red Bull, malgré sa sensibilité au caféine. Après une réponse négative de Red Bull à sa demande de version sans caféine, il décide de créer lui-même une version réduite en caféine en utilisant un solvant organique pour extraire le caféine. Après de nombreux essais et des défis tels que la séparation des phases et la déshydratation, il obtient un sirop presque sans caféine. Il le transforme ensuite en soda en utilisant un système de carbonatation à domicile, concluant que le résultat a un goût similaire à Red Bull, mais avec moins de caféine.

Takeaways

• 🥤 L'auteur est un grand fan des boissons énergisantes, en particulier de Red Bull, mais il est sensible au caféine et a du mal à dormir si il en prend tard dans la journée.
• ✉️ Il a contacté Red Bull pour suggérer une version sans caféine, mais l'idée a été rejetée. Il a donc décidé de faire lui-même une version de Red Bull sans caféine.
• 🔬 Il a utilisé un solvant organique, le DCM (chlorure de dichlorométhane), pour extraire le caféine de la boisson en raison de sa faible solubilité dans l'eau et sa capacité à ne pas mélanger avec elle.
• 📊 Il a dû tenir compte du pH de Red Bull, qui est plus acide que le café, ce qui rend l'extraction du caféine plus difficile.
• 🔍 Il a utilisé la propriété chimique pKa du caféine pour calculer la quantité potentiellement extraitable, bien que les valeurs disponibles fussent incertaines.
• 🧪 Après avoir concentré la boisson en évacuant l'eau, il a procédé à l'extraction en utilisant le DCM, en étant très prudent pour éviter la formation d'émulsions.
• 🌀 Il a dû répéter l'extraction plusieurs fois pour augmenter l'efficacité, puis a séparé le caféine de l'DCM en utilisant un séparateur à trois voies.
• 🏜️ Il a utilisé un aspirateur pour évacuer le DCM restant du sirop, puis a vérifié la présence du caféine par des tests de point de fusion et de chromatographie en couche mince (TLC).
• 📊 Il a estimé que le caféine obtenu était à environ 90% de pureté et contenait probablement de l'eau, ce qui a conduit à une réduction du caféine de 24% dans la boisson finale.
• 🥤 Finalement, il a transformé le sirop en soda en utilisant un appareil à soda, et a comparé le goût de son Red Bull réduit en caféine avec le produit original.

Q & A

Pourquoi l'auteur a-t-il décidé de contacter Red Bull pour une idée?

L'auteur a toujours aimé le goût des boissons énergisantes et souhaitait une version de Red Bull sans caféine qu'il pourrait boire le soir sans problème pour dormir.

Quelle a été la réponse de Red Bull à l'auteur après son email?

Red Bull a répondu en moins de 24 heures, mais a rejeté complètement l'idée de l'auteur.

Quel est le problème principal que l'auteur a identifié pour créer une version de Red Bull sans caféine?

Le problème principal est que l'extraction du caféine pourrait dégrader ou modifier le goût de la boisson en changeant ses autres ingrédients.

Quel solvant organique a-t-il utilisé pour essayer d'extraire le caféine?

L'auteur a utilisé un solvant appelé DCM (Dichloromethane) pour essayer d'extraire le caféine de la boisson.

Pourquoi l'auteur a-t-il dû contrôler la température lors de l'utilisation du déshydrateur?

Il craignait que la chaleur excessive ne détériore le goût de la boisson, donc il a réglé le déshydrateur sur le plus bas paramètre de température.

Quelle est la différence de pH entre le café et Red Bull, et pourquoi est-elle importante?

Le café est légèrement acide avec un pH d'environ 5, tandis que Red Bull et d'autres sodas sont beaucoup plus acides. Cette différence est importante car le caféine n'est pas facile à extraire dans un environnement acide.

Quelle méthode a utilisé l'auteur pour déterminer la quantité de caféine qu'il pourrait extraire?

L'auteur a utilisé la valeur pKa du caféine, qui est une mesure de l'acidité d'une molécule, pour calculer la quantité de caféine qu'il pourrait extraire.

Quel a été le problème lors de la première tentative d'extraction avec DCM?

Le DCM a formé une émulsion avec la boisson, ce qui a rendu la séparation des couches difficile et a nécessité de redémarrer le processus.

Comment l'auteur a-t-il éliminé le DCM de la boisson après l'extraction?

En utilisant un vide et en agitant vigoureusement, l'auteur a permis au DCM de s'évacuer à cause de sa volatilité élevée.

Quelle a été la conclusion de l'auteur sur le résultat final de son expérience?

Bien que l'expérience n'ait pas abouti à une boisson complètement sans caféine, l'auteur a réussi à en faire une version réduite en caféine, ce qui lui permet de la boire plus tard dans la journée.

Outlines

00:00

🥤 Création d'un Red Bull sans caféine

Le narrateur exprime son affection pour les boissons énergisantes, en particulier Red Bull, mais reconnaît être sensible au caféine, ce qui le rend difficile de s'endormir après 16h. Il souhaite une version de Red Bull sans caféine qu'il puisse consommer le soir. Après avoir envoyé un email à Red Bull sans succès, il décide de créer lui-même une version sans caféine en utilisant un solvant organique pour extraire le caféine sans altérer les autres ingrédients. Il explique le processus, les défis liés à l'acidité du Red Bull et la nécessité d'éviter l'utilisation de produits chimiques.

05:01

🔬 Extraction du caféine à l'aide d'un solvant

Le narrateur décrit son processus d'extraction du caféine à partir de Red Bull en utilisant du DCM (chlorure de méthyle). Il évoque les étapes consistant à concentrer le sirop de Red Bull en évacuant l'eau, à ajouter du DCM et à effectuer une extraction en minimisant la formation d'émulsions. Il reconnaît avoir commis une erreur en ne prenant pas en compte la tendance du DCM à former des émulsions, ce qui l'oblige à recommencer le processus avec une approche plus douce pour éviter la formation d'émulsions.

10:02

🌡️ Élimination du solvant et purification du caféine

Après l'extraction, le narrateur explique comment il a éliminé le DCM du sirop en utilisant un vide pour faire évaporer le solvant. Il décrit ensuite le nettoyage du DCM en utilisant une solution saline et un déshydratant avant de sécher le caféine. Il exprime son inquiétude de ne pas avoir extrait suffisamment de caféine, mais finalement, il obtient une petite quantité de substance solide qu'il espère être du caféine.

15:05

🔍 Vérification de la pureté et de la quantité de caféine

Le narrateur vérifie la quantité et la pureté du caféine extrait en utilisant une balance et en mesurant le point de fusion du caféine. Il compare ses résultats avec ceux d'un échantillon de caféine pur et conclut que son caféine est probablement d'environ 90% de pureté. Il admet que son Red Bull n'est pas complètement sans caféine, mais plutôt réduit en caféine, et il exprime son intention de continuer à chercher une méthode pour en faire un véritable Red Bull sans caféine.

20:18

🍾 Reconstituer le soda et goûter le résultat

Après avoir éliminé le DCM, le narrateur reconstitue le sirop en ajoutant de l'eau distillée pour atteindre le volume initial. Il utilise ensuite un appareil de soda à domicile pour carbonater le sirop et le transformer en soda. Il décrit le goût final comme étant très proche de celui du Red Bull original, mais avec une légère différence dans l'odeur et le goût, attribuée à l'extraction du caféine. Il conclut que, bien que le projet n'ait pas été parfait, il a réussi à créer une version de Red Bull avec moins de caféine, ce qui lui permet de le consommer plus tard dans la journée.

25:18

🎧 Remerciements et promotion de Raycon

Le narrateur remercie ses supporters et mentionne le rôle de Raycon en tant que sponsor de la vidéo. Il partage son expérience positive avec les écouteurs sans fil Raycon E25, qu'il utilise régulièrement lors de ses travaux de laboratoire. Il apprécie leur portabilité, leur confort et leur qualité sonore. Il recommande Raycon aux spectateurs et les encourage à utiliser son lien spécial pour obtenir une réduction de 15% sur leur achat.

Keywords

💡Boisson énergisante

Une boisson énergisante est un type de boissons contenant généralement des stimulants tels que le caféine, destinées à augmenter l'énergie et la concentration. Dans le script, l'auteur mentionne être un grand fan des boissons énergisantes, en particulier de Red Bull, non pas pour le caféine, mais pour la saveur chimique qu'elles ont.

💡Caffeine

Le caféine est une substance stimulante présente dans de nombreuses boissons énergisantes, y compris le Red Bull. L'auteur exprime sa sensibilité au caféine, indiquant qu'en consommer après 16h rend son sommeil difficile, ce qui motive son désir de créer une version de Red Bull sans caféine.

💡Extraction

Extraction fait référence au processus de séparation d'une substance d'un mélange. Dans le script, l'auteur utilise l'extraction pour essayer d'enlever le caféine du Red Bull en utilisant un solvant organique, DCM, pour séparer le caféine sans affecter les autres ingrédients.

💡Solvant organique

Un solvant organique est un composé chimique utilisé pour dissoudre d'autres substances, souvent dans le but d'effectuer une extraction. L'auteur envisage d'utiliser un solvant organique, spécifiquement le DCM (chlorure de méthyle), pour extraire le caféine du Red Bull sans altérer le goût du produit final.

💡pH

Le pH est une mesure de l'acidité ou de l'alkalinité d'une solution. Dans le script, l'auteur mentionne le pH de Red Bull (3,43) comme un facteur clé pour déterminer la facilité d'extraction du caféine, car les conditions acides peuvent affecter l'efficacité de l'extraction.

💡pKa

Le pKa est une mesure de l'acidité d'une molécule, déterminant à quel point elle est prête à donner un proton. L'auteur cherche à déterminer le pKa du caféine pour calculer la quantité de caféine qu'il pourrait extraire du Red Bull, mais il est confus par les valeurs disparates trouvées dans la littérature.

💡DCM

DCM est l'abréviation de dichloromethane, un solvant organique utilisé dans le script pour tenter d'extraire le caféine du Red Bull. L'auteur a utilisé ce solvant précédemment pour extraire le caféine du thé et du café, mais il doit s'assurer qu'il n'affecte pas le goût final.

💡Filtre à buée

Un filtre à buée est un appareil de laboratoire utilisé pour séparer des liquides immiscibles. L'auteur utilise un filtre à buée pour séparer le DCM du sirop de Red Bull après l'extraction, espérant que le caféine se concentre dans le DCM.

💡Chromatographie en couche mince (TLC)

La chromatographie en couche mince est une technique de séparation des composés d'un mélange. L'auteur envisage d'utiliser la TLC pour vérifier la pureté du caféine extrait et pour confirmer qu'il s'agit bien de caféine en comparant sa migration sur le TLC avec celle d'un échantillon de caféine pure.

💡Point de fusion

Le point de fusion est la température à laquelle une substance solide se transforme en liquide. L'auteur teste le point de fusion de la substance extraite pour confirmer qu'il s'agit de caféine et pour évaluer sa pureté, car un caféine pur a un point de fusion bien défini.

Highlights

Sponsor mention: Raycon

Personal preference for the taste of energy drinks, specifically Red Bull

Caffeine sensitivity and its impact on sleep

Initiative to contact Red Bull for a caffeine-free version

Decision to create a caffeine-free Red Bull independently

Challenge of selectively extracting caffeine without altering the drink's other properties

Use of an organic solvent, DCM, for the caffeine extraction process

Difference in acidity between coffee and Red Bull and its effect on extraction

Investigation of Red Bull's pH level and its relevance to the extraction process

The importance of caffeine's pKa value in determining extraction efficiency

Preparation of Red Bull syrup by removing water and carbonation

Extraction process using a separatory funnel and the challenge of avoiding emulsions

Removal of DCM from the syrup using a vacuum to ensure safety and taste

Isolation and purification of extracted caffeine

Verification of extracted substance as caffeine through melting point and Thin Layer Chromatography

Reconstitution of the syrup into a soda form and the final taste test

Reflection on the project's success and the possibility of making a completely caffeine-free Red Bull

Acknowledgment of Patreon supporters and the video's sponsor, Raycon

Transcripts

This video has been sponsored. By Raycon.

For as long as I can remember,

I've always been a big fan of energy drinks,

but maybe surprisingly, it's not even for the caffeine.

I just like the weird chemical taste that they have,

and for some reason, I've always liked Red Bull the most.

My only issue is that I think I'm a bit sensitive to caffeine,

and if I ever have one later than 4:00 PM,

it makes it almost impossible to fall asleep.

So for years, I've wanted them to make a caffeine-free Red Bull

that I'd be able to drink at night.

I never really did anything to make this happen

until this past January when I decided to email Red Bull.

I honestly didn't think they'd ever respond,

but I figured that it was worth asking just to see what they'd say.

I was very surprised that they actually got back to me in less than 24 hours,

but I was very unsurprised that they completely rejected my idea.

Now knowing that they weren't going to help me at all,

I had no choice but to somehow do it myself.

The only issue, though, and the main reason

why I didn't try doing this years ago,

is that it might actually be impossible.

This is because most of the time when you extract something,

you're willing to completely destroy the thing that you're taking it from.

In this case, though,

I had to somehow take out just the caffeine

and not touch or modify anything else that was in there.

I also couldn't use any chemicals

that might be left behind,

and if I took out even small amounts of certain ingredients,

it could really change the flavor.

This left me with very few options,

and after thinking about it for a long time,

I felt that there was only one way to do it.

By using an organic solvent that doesn't mix with water,

it might be possible to selectively pull out just the caffeine.

I did something like this years ago

where I used a solvent called DCM

to extract the caffeine from tea and coffee.

The caffeine that I got was surprisingly pure,

and it didn't seem to pull out much else.

There is a major difference, though,

between coffee and Red Bull, and that is acidity.

In general, coffee is slightly acidic with a pH of around five,

but Red Bull and other sodas tend to be a lot more acidic.

And this is a major problem

because caffeine doesn't like to get extracted when things are acidic.

When I did it with the coffee, I didn't care about the actual coffee,

and I threw in a bunch of base to artificially raise the pH.

However, in this case, I wouldn't be able to add anything.

I was able to find a chart, though, and Red Bull

is apparently one of the less acidic sodas out there,

which gave me hope that this extraction might be possible.

But it was still quite acidic with a pH of 3.43,

and this meant that a lot of it might not be extractable.

However, knowing the pH,

it should have been possible to calculate how much I could take out.

To do this, I just needed a property of the caffeine called the pKa.

The pKa is a measurement of how acidic a molecule is,

and for most common chemicals, this number is pretty consistent.

But for some reason, it seems like nobody knows what's going on with caffeine.

I found some sources that said its pKa was as low as 0.6 or 0.8,

and some said 14.

Others said that it was 0.8 and 14,

and some said that it was just 8.3 or 10.4.

The problem here is that if it is actually less than one,

then 100% of it is extractable and everything should work perfectly.

But if it's actually 8.3 or above,

it's closer to 0% extractable, and it's a complete waste of time.

My personal feeling, just by looking at the caffeine molecule,

was that it was probably closer to the lower values,

so I figured it was still worth trying out.

Before I could get started, though,

I also had to look at the ingredients list on the can.

I had to check the solubility of each ingredient

and to see if any of them would dissolve in DCM.

From all the named ingredients,

I was happy to see that caffeine was apparently the only one.

However, I was a bit spooked out by the artificial flavors and colors

because it was very possible for those to get pulled out along with the caffeine.

The color didn't really matter, but the flavor was definitely an issue.

And unfortunately, there was no way for me to find out

exactly what these artificial flavors were.

So just like with the pKa,

I just had to try it out and see what happened.

To get this all started,

I got a couple of cans of Red Bull and I emptied them into a dish.

Then after that, I put it into a food desiccator

that's normally meant to dry things like fruits and vegetables.

What I was trying to do here was get rid of most of the water

to reduce the scale that I had to work on.

This would just make things easier in general,

and it would let me use less solvent for the extraction.

At the same time, it would also get rid of all the carbonation,

which would have made the extraction absolutely impossible.

I set the desiccator at the lowest temperature setting

because I was a bit worried

that it might mess up the flavor if it got too hot.

I had no idea if this was actually even an issue,

but I felt that it was safer this way,

and the only difference was that it would take a bit longer.

I also had no idea how long to run it for,

but I just randomly felt that 10 hours was probably good,

so I just let it run overnight, and this was what I had the next day.

It looked like most of the water was gone,

but what I really liked

was that it didn't look like it had become too syrupy.

What I had to do now was taste it

to make sure that leaving it overnight in open air

hadn't messed up the flavor.

Take a little scoop.

Okay.

Just tastes like concentrated red bull.

It's actually pretty good.

Okay, that's good.

I'm done.

Okay, so it seemed to be fine,

and I could now move on to the extraction part.

To do this, I first poured it all into a beaker to see how much I had.

It was apparently only 100 mils,

which meant that I had gotten rid of 400 mils of water.

I'm not sure how much water was left, but I can't imagine there was very much.

I then poured all of this into a separatory funnel,

and on top of it, I added 30 mils of DCM.

The DCM had a much higher density and it also couldn't mix into the syrup,

so almost all of it just quickly sank to the bottom.

The idea here was that the caffeine

and hopefully nothing else was much more soluble in the DCM.

This would cause the caffeine to prefer being in the DCM,

and it should slowly get pulled from the syrup.

But just letting it sit like this wouldn't work very well

because the two liquids are barely touching.

To have an efficient extraction,

I had to maximize the surface area between the two,

and this is usually done by just shaking it.

I sealed the funnel with a stopper, took it off the stand,

and I really tried to mix them together.

When I felt that I had done a decent job, I put it back on the stand

and I waited for it to separate again.

However, it was at this moment that I realized I had made a huge mistake.

Over the last year, I've done very few projects

that required me to do a liquid extraction like this using DCM.

Because of this,

I totally forgot about one of the biggest problems with DCM.

It really likes to form emulsions, and with some things,

if you shake it too hard, it can take days to separate.

To fix this, you can usually add salt or something to break the emulsion,

but in this case, I couldn't add anything.

I tried non-chemical methods, though, like using an ultrasonic bath

or just heating it up, but both of them completely failed.

As a final last-ditch effort, I tried just adding a bunch more DCM.

It ended up working and I did get some separation,

but the bottom DCM layer was still a pretty bad emulsion.

I unfortunately had to start over again.

But thankfully,

I wasn't actually too far in, so it wasn't that bad.

I just cracked open a couple more cans of Red Bull

and poured them into the same dishes before.

I then put it back into the desiccator and I let it run overnight.

The next day,

I again had 100 mils of concentrated stuff,

but for some reason,

it was a lot darker than the first run, and I'm not really sure why.

But either way, I poured it all back into the separatory funnel.

I then added the DCM just like before, but now I had to be very careful.

This time, I didn't shake it

and I just gently rocked it back and forth.

This unfortunately makes the extraction a lot less efficient,

but I really had no choice.

After doing this for about a minute,

I put it back on the stand and the two layers immediately formed.

One thing that surprised me was that the DCM

was still completely colorless.

I mentioned before that I thought that it might pull the dye out as well,

but it apparently didn't touch it at all.

This gave me hope that it also wasn't touching or removing any of the flavor,

but that was mostly just wishful thinking.

I waited 30 minutes for the layers to separate a bit more,

and then I drained out all the DCM.

This first extraction probably took out most of the caffeine,

but some of it was still definitely there.

I repeated the exact same extraction three more times,

but instead of using 30 mils of DCM, I only used 15.

After each extraction, I drained out the DCM,

and when it was done, I had about 75 mils.

In this DCM was all the caffeine that I had removed,

but I'll come back to this in a bit.

The syrup that was still in the funnel should now be hopefully caffeine-free.

However, it now has a lot of DCM in it.

This is because even though the DCM wasn't able to mix with it,

a small amount was still able to dissolve into it.

So drinking it like this would not only be dangerous,

it would also probably taste terrible.

But thankfully, DCM is highly volatile

and it's very easy to get rid of by just pulling a vacuum on it.

To do this, I poured it all into a round bottom flask

and I washed the beaker with a bit of water

to make sure that I had transferred everything.

After that, I dropped in a stir bar

and I attached a vacuum adapter that I had already hooked up to my vacuum pump.

I also closed the valve because it would make an absolute mess

if I just instantly pulled the full vacuum.

With strong stirring, I turned on the pump

and I slowly opened the valve and this caused the DCM to start boiling.

The goal now was to slowly open the valve

and to gradually bring it to a full vacuum.

This had to be done very carefully and it took about 40 minutes

to completely open it.

At this point, almost all the DCM was gone,

but I still had to keep pulling a vacuum on it

for at least several hours.

This was just to really make sure that there was absolutely no DCM left.

While I was waiting for that to finish,

I went back to the DCM solution that should have all the caffeine in it.

To know if I had actually made caffeine-free Red Bull

or to know if I'd even taken any of the caffeine out,

I had to isolate it.

To do this, I basically just had to evaporate off the DCM.

But before I could do that, I had to clean it up a bit.

This was very similar to what I just did for the extraction,

and I poured it all back into a separatory funnel.

Then on top of this, I added some saturated salt solution,

which would dissolve some of the syrup that I accidentally drained along with it,

and it would also help dry the DCM.

Just by looking at it, the DCM didn't look particularly wet,

but just like how some of the DCM dissolved into the syrup,

some of the water that was in the syrup was able to dissolve into the DCM.

Like before, I shook it very carefully and I waited for the layers to separate.

After about an hour, the separation still wasn't perfect,

but it was good enough, so I drained out the lower DCM layer.

All the salt solution that was still in the funnel was just waste,

and I was able to get rid of it.

Even after this, the DCM was probably still a bit wet

and to really dry it up, I added some drying agent.

I let it stir like this for a few minutes,

and then I filtered it through some cotton.

I also thoroughly washed both the beaker

and the drying agent with a bunch of extra DCM.

I did this just to really make sure that there was no caffeine left behind.

Now to get the caffeine out of this,

I just gently heated it to evaporate all the DCM.

When there was only a very small amount left,

I transferred it all to a vial.

I did my best not to spill anything,

but hot DCM has a tendency to throw itself out of pipes.

I was initially doing a pretty good job avoiding that,

but I, of course, messed it up with the very last bit.

It was only a drop, but it still made me a bit sad.

To make sure that nothing was left behind,

I also washed the beaker a few times with a small amount of fresh DCM.

Then after that, once everything was in the vial,

I continued evaporating it.

There was eventually almost nothing left,

and I started to get worried that maybe I had barely extracted anything.

However, at the very end, a small amount of solid stuff thankfully appeared.

This was hopefully just caffeine, and the amount seemed to be about right.

In the original Red Bull syrup, there was only supposed to be

160 milligrams of caffeine,

and just visually, that looked like what I had.

It did smell, though, just like Red Bull,

which meant that I definitely pulled out some of the other stuff as well.

I then mixed it up and I let it sit there for a bit

just to make sure that all the DCM was gone.

After that, I went and weighed it to see how much I actually had.

I was really hoping that it would just magically tell me

that it was exactly 160 milligrams,

but that, of course, wasn't what happened.

However, it also wasn't as horrible as it could have been.

I'd apparently taken out 46 milligrams,

but if I include the drop that I lost on the plate,

it was probably closer to 47.

As I mentioned before,

there was actually 160 milligrams in the Red Bull,

which meant that I had removed about 29% of it.

So my Red Bull wasn't exactly caffeine-free,

and it was looking more like it was caffeine-reduced.

I had to make sure, though, that this was actually caffeine,

and the first thing that I tested was its melting point.

To do this, I poked at the caffeine with a capillary tube

and I got a small amount of it stuck in the end.

I then tapped it against the table for a few minutes

to knock it all down to the bottom.

The sample was now ready and to test it,

I loaded it into my new and fancy melting point machine.

From this, I saw that it started melting

when it was still below 200 C, but then it really slowed down

and this was probably just caused by some impurities.

The majority of it was still solid,

and it only started melting again once it got to around 215.

It then took until it was above around 233 for it to completely liquefy.

A pure sample of caffeine melts between and 235,

which meant that this definitely wasn't pure.

But what I had was pretty close.

The fact that it was so close

was pretty good evidence that what I had here was caffeine,

but I still had to confirm things further.

To do this, I then did something called Thin Layer Chromatography,

or TLC for short.

To set this up,

I dissolved some of my dirty caffeine in acetone

and in another vial, I dissolved some pure caffeine.

This pure caffeine is actually something that I've had for years,

and it's from way back in the channel when I extracted it from caffeine pills.

I shook them around to make sure everything dissolved,

and I dropped in some really thin capillary tubes.

It's hard to see them here,

but the point was that a very small amount of each sample

was getting pulled into the tubes.

I then used them to load the samples onto a TLC plate.

When I did this, I had to be very careful and to only just barely touch the surface.

This caused a small amount of the liquid to transfer onto the plate,

and you can see the little dot that it made.

I then waited a few seconds for the solvent to evaporate,

and I added a second dot.

I did the exact same thing for the pure sample of caffeine,

and after this, the plate was good to go.

I then carefully loaded this into a beaker that had some solvent at the bottom.

With this setup, the solvent will slowly climb the plate

and pull the samples along with it.

At the same time, though,

the silica on the plate is pulling back on the molecules

and preventing them from moving.

They are still able to move, though, and the distance that they travel

depends on how much they like the solvent in comparison to the silica.

When the solvent got close to the top, I pulled out the plate and I let it dry.

I then shot it with my UV light, and I saw that my extracted sample

had traveled the exact same distance as the pure caffeine.

There were also no other spots, which told me

that what I had was mostly caffeine.

There was a bit of darkness around the top, though,

and this was probably from a small amount of impurity.

Between this result and the melting point, what I had here was definitely caffeine.

However, it wasn't completely pure,

and I felt that saying it was around 90% pure was probably a decent estimate.

I think the caffeine that I had here was also in the hydrated form,

which meant that each caffeine molecule was associated with a water.

This would increase its weight a bit,

and I felt that it was a good idea to adjust for that as well.

Between that and the purity,

I felt that I probably had more like 39 milligrams of caffeine.

This meant that I had taken out even less than I originally thought,

and the Red Bull was probably more like 24% reduced.

Now, knowing that the project wasn't a complete failure,

the last thing that I had to do was turn the syrup back into the soda.

At this point, the syrup should have been DCM-free,

so I turned off the vacuum pump and I poured it all into a beaker.

I then washed the flask with a whole bunch of distilled water

to make sure that there was no syrup left behind.

What I had to do next was dilute it even more

and bring it back up to the volume that I started with,

which was 500 mils.

However, after I had done this,

I realized that I had made another mistake.

Throughout this whole process,

I had lost at least a few mils of the syrup,

and this meant that it was now a bit too watery.

I instead should have only brought it up to around 480 mils.

I honestly panicked here

and I thought that I had ruined everything,

but then I realized I could just use the desiccator again.

That's what I did, and I poured it all into a dish

and I ran it until it looked like I had taken away 20 mils.

I then poured it back into the beaker,

and just by chance,

it was pretty much exactly where I wanted it to be.

I thought I was probably going to have to add some extra water

or put it back into the desiccator, but this was perfect.

Now to get it carbonated again,

I just had to use one of those home soda makers

and I went with the soda stream.

The last time that I used the soda stream was when I made the diamond water,

but thankfully, this time, I didn't have to modify it or anything.

I could use it how it was actually meant to be used,

and I just attached the bottle and clicked the button.

This caused a bunch of CO2 gas to rush in,

and my goal was to get it as fuzzy as possible.

When I felt that it was good, I removed the bottle,

but I had to be a bit careful.

It really liked to froth up,

and I had to de-pressurize it slowly or else it would have just overflowed.

What I had now was hopefully some beautiful caffeine-reduced Red Bull.

The big question, though, was whether or not

it still even tasted like Red Bull.

I had faith that it did,

but the fact that the caffeine had smelled was a bit worrying,

and it was very possible that I had pulled out some of the flavor.

However, there was only one way to find out,

and I was pretty excited to try it.

Okay, so it's finally time to try it

and see if all my work was actually worth it.

I think it tastes surprisingly normal.

I actually thought it was going to taste terrible,

but it tastes pretty normal.

It just tastes like regular Red Bull, just from this sample.

It tastes almost exactly the same, I think,

except maybe just a little bit different, but not necessarily in a bad way.

It's just maybe a bit off.

It's still very good, and it's more than drinkable.

But I think I'm going to have to compare it.

To some regular stuff to really see the difference.

Okay, so it's definitely different than a regular Red Bull.

The first thing that I noticed was

that this has a very distinct smell,

but the stuff that I made basically has none.

Or it's very, very, very slight.

It's almost not even there.

And that makes sense because the caffeine that I got smelled like Red Bull.

I guess I extracted all of the smell. What I think is interesting

is that the flavor is almost completely separate from the smell.

I've always known that odors and other scents

were added to drinks like this,

but I never really thought about it too much.

And I always thought it was just to maybe

add to the scent a bit or to complement it.

I didn't realize that in stuff like Red Bull,

it's almost completely faked and it has nothing to do with the flavor.

I think my whole conclusion from all this

is that I'd be totally fine drinking this instead of the regular stuff.

And with less caffeine, I can drink it a bit later.

So this project was technically a success.

I think the real dream, though,

is still to make it completely caffeine-free,

but I honestly have no idea how to do that.

If you guys have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

And if any of them seem viable, I'll try them out.

This whole project wasn't exactly world-changing,

but it still took me a long time to plan for it and to put it all together.

Whether it was worth it or not is definitely debatable.

But regardless of that,

it wouldn't have been possible without my supporters on Patreon

and the sponsor of this video, Raycon.

Raycon has supported this channel before,

and a few months ago, they sent me a pair of their everyday E25 earbuds.

I've been using them since then,

and they turned out to be perfect for when I do lab work,

and I now use them all the time.

I really like the little carrying case that they come with,

and it's been way better than carrying around wired earbuds.

I've always hated having a wire mess in my pocket,

but this case has completely eliminated that,

and it's also small enough that I barely noticed that it's there.

They also have good base,

a comfortable noise-isolating fit and six hours of play time.

On top of this,

they're surprisingly affordable, and despite sounding just as good,

they started just half the price of other premium wireless earbuds.

I personally really like them,

and I definitely recommend checking out Raycon.

If you decide to pick some up,

you should also use my special link in the description,

buyraycon.com/NileRed,

which will give you 15% off your order.

As usual, a big thanks goes out to all my supporters on Patreon.

Everyone who supports me can see all my new videos

at least 24 hours before I post them to YouTube.

You'll also get access to all the older videos that I had to take down.

And if you support me with five dollars or more,

you'll get your name at the end like you see here.