Input requested on energy drink

Recently on my favorite Radio show, TBTL on 97.3 fm here in Seattle, they were lamenting the lameness of SPARX energy-malt beverage.

They say that as ridiculous as sparks is- they want to make their own version. Naturally I volunteered my little homebrew setup to creating the official TBTL energy-booze.

Here's the thought process input would be really appreciated-

Take hard lemonade recipe,
Jack up standard gravity with some dextrose,
Make big starter with dme,
Add yeast nutrient,
Ferment
Add caffiene powder and flavor (I'm thinking goji-juice)
Bottle

Any thoughts? Hard lemonade recipes that have fermented nicely? experiences adding stuff post ferment (which seems like it would be a no-no)?

Also, I am fully aware of how silly this project is:fro:

should be fun!

hope this helps.

Sparks is a caffeinated alcohol beverage, one of the first such beverages. Its active ingredients caffeine, taurine, ginseng and guarana are common to energy drinks

Something I've always pondered making is an extract batch of beer, and using water Joe as topup water instead of regular water. You're not supposed to be able to taste the caffiene in it.

water joe! I haven't thought of that stuff in ages!

This sounds like a neat idea; I have a 6 gallon batch of lemonade going right now, and am seriously contemplating adding some crushed caffeine tablets to some of it in order to replicate what you are doing.

The best advice I can say about making hard lemonade is to actually use the lemon must to make the starter, as it will help the yeast get used to all the acidity. Make it a big starter; maybe a half gallon over a few days. Even with this, it will be a long, hard ferment. I had an original gravity of about 1.080, and it took a week to even show the smallest signs of fermentation. However, it is in it's third week now and bubbling like mad.

Post your recipe when you've got it figured out, and keep us updated on the progress!

you could try adding soda with caffeine in it, e.g., Mountain Brew on the BYO website: BYO - Mountain Brew

If you want to get something energy drink tasting, you'll need more than just caffeine.

You could try just adding sugar-free energy drinks to the fermenter, but be careful adding anything with sugar as it will ferment out.