I revisited the Skeleton Key Lime Soda formula I had before…it bugged me. It tasted okay, but it just wasn’t…right. It was too limey, and didn’t elicit the mental image of pie, just of limeade that knew somebody…
So, back to the drawing board. What makes a good Key Lime Pie what it is? Part of it is definitely the wonderfully tart filling, made with the juice of the Key Lime, which can’t be compared with any other flavor. But the rest is the mellow, smooth, cinnamon-brown sugar-vanilla flavor of the graham-cracker crust. Without that crust flavor, it’s just lime soda, it isn’t pie.
Off to the Bubonic Brewhaus…okay, the kitchen. I whip up a simple syrup base, then add cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, a dollop of table syrup, and real vanilla extract. I let the syrup simmer for a good twenty minutes, to extract a lot of good cinnamon flavor from the sticks. Then I remove them, and add to a half-gallon of cool water in my mixing keg. (Cleaned and sanitized, of course!) I seal it and shake to dissolve the syrup in the water, then taste. Mmmmm, it definitely elicits the warm, buttery graham-cracker flavor! In goes the rest of the water, warm this time, up to the four liter mark. Another taste, still good flavor, a good cinnamon/brown sugar cream soda base in itself.
Now for the Key Lime filling! We’re back to the same juice I used before, 5 oz. of it this time, tasting between each ounce for acid balance, tartness, and flavor. At the 5 oz. point, it matched well, but lacked a bottom note, so I added 1/4 tsp of Cream of Tartar, which rounded out the bottom of the acidic note. After agitation, I pitched 1/2 tsp of bloomed Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast, let it sit for two hours so the yeast could get a good, solid grip, then decanted into two sterilized 2L PET bottles.
After 48 hours of room-temperature natural fermentation, the bottles were rock-hard, so they went into the fridge. I let them condition for another 3 days before tasting, and was pleasantly surprised!
The first flavor was that of the Key Lime “filling”, tart and refreshing. But once that had been swallowed, the taste of the graham-cracker “crust” lingered on for a long while afterward, rounding out the whole pie taste metaphor.
Winner! Now to see if it’ll repeat with a force-carbonated diet version!
Skeleton Key Lime Pie Soda
- 2C Cane Sugar
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tblsp table syrup (or dark corn syrup)
- 2 2-inch cinnamon sticks
- 1 cup water for simple syrup
- 5 oz. Key Lime juice
- 1/4 tsp. Cream of Tartar
- 1/2 tsp. Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast (or desired equivalent), bloomed in 4oz warm water with 1/2 tsp sugar for 1/2 hour
- 4 liters water to fill brewing container
Combine sugar, brown sugar, table syrup, cinnamon, and 1C water in saucepan over low heat and stir constantly until sugar is all dissolved. Simmer for 20-30 minutes to extract flavor and aroma from cinnamon. Remove cinnamon sticks.
Add half the 4 liters of water to the brewing container, add hot syrup. Close container and agitate to dissolve syrup. Add remaining water, agitate again. Taste cream soda base to make sure it meets approval. Add key lime juice and cream of tartar, mix thoroughly.
Pitch bloomed yeast, let sit for 1 to 2 hours to allow yeast to get over pitching shock, then decant into sanitized 2-liter plastic bottles. Allow to ferment at room temperature until bottles are rock-hard, then chill thoroughly before opening.
If using CO2 system to force-carbonate, omit yeast and fermentation steps, and follow carbonation system instructions.