I was watching Food Network (if I’m not watching Cops or something on Sci-Fi, I
‘m watching Food Network) and saw some show about Key Lime stuff with a funny little guy named Kermit, who makes Key Lime pies, and stands outside the shop like a mannequin as the tour buses go by, then leaps forward, as if he’s going to throw the pie at the passengers. He never does, but for a second there…
Well, here I am, watching them make these scrumptious, slightly-greenish, slightly-yellow pies, and I’m tasting that tart, mouth-puckering flavor as they’re describing the basic recipe. And the thought runs through my mind…Key Lime Soda.
Well, why the hell not? It’s so crazy, it just might work! So off I go to the grocery store, and find a bottle of Key Lime Juice (sorry, Kermit, it wasn’t yours ) and zip home.
I didn’t try for a large batch at once, in case it didn’t work out well. I only did a quart or so, enough for a couple of 500ml bottles. So here was the basic recipe:
All utensils, containers, etc. are all fully sanitized prior to use, and inbetween uses.
- 1 qt. hot tap water in large glass beaker with pour spout
- 1 1/4 c. cane sugar
- 10 tbsp. Key Lime Juice (approx. 2 1/2 limes)
- 1 tbsp. Lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp. Cream of Tartar
Depending on the tartness of the particular juices you get, and how tart or sweet you like your soda, you may wish to adjust these quantities.
Set aside to activate was the carbonating yeast:
- 1/4 tsp. Red Star Premier Cuvée Champagne yeast, dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water with 1 tsp. sugar
Any good champagne yeast will serve here, but during the winter I prefer Premier Cuvée because it works better at lower temperatures, and my kitchen tends to be chilly at night. But a Red Star champagne, or Lalvin 1118, or anything like that will work fine. Bread yeast will work, but it will taste incredibly yeasty, like drinking unbaked bread.
I dissolved the sugar in the water first, then added the juices to taste. Cream of Tartar adds a pleasing, tart aftertaste and helps stabilize carbonation. Then the whole thing had to be cooled down to around 85 degrees before pitching (adding) the yeast. If you add the yeast too soon, it’ll get cooked to death!
After that, I shook it up real good, to mix everything well and to get some oxygen into the liquid, then used a sanitized funnel to decant into sanitized 500ml brown PET plastic bottles. There was a bit left, so I filled a third bottle about half way as a test bottle. Then on went the screw caps, nice and tight, and I stuck them on my electric brew pad to ferment for a couple of days.
After a day and a half, the test bottle was rock-hard, so I refrigerated it. A half bottle has more oxygen for the yeast and will usually ferment faster. When cold, I stuck it in my handy-dandy insulated lunchbag with a chill-pak and took it to Keystone Homebrew for a ritual uncapping. I shared it around the store, and we pronounced it good.
My thoughts on the recipe were that it could use a bit more sugar, perhaps a touch of an adjunct sugar like table syrup (corn syrup) or a tablespoon or so of light brown sugar to give it some complex sweetness and caramel notes that the yeast and the tartness wouldn’t overpower. I also thought maybe a touch of cinnamon and vanilla, just a tiny touch, to try to get a hint of graham-cracker into it for the crust of a key lime pie might be worth an experiment. Jason at Keystone also thought some bottle conditioning might help it mellow a bit over a few days or a week or so.
SUCCESS: Skeleton Key Lime Pie Soda