Call me crazy....lemon lime fermentation?

[andyp]

Alrighty then, it's all done.

OG: 1.094
FG: 1.000

ABV: 12.5%

pH: ~4.2

It does not taste very good. Nose has that "cheap wine" smell, maybe a bit sour or acidic. Very light, obviously turned of quite dry. On the back of the tongue you get a sense of that artificial lemon-lime flavour, but it's essentially all gone. Rather like a cheaply done white wine. I suspect you could mix it into something else and not notice it that much. Certainly, it's not something you'd want to sit and sip on it's own. I suppose I could try to carbonate it, though I don't know how well that would work...or what the point would be.

The yeast flocculated out very well, tightly packed on the bottom of the bottle. I am pretty amazed at how it chugged through without any help from me. Basically I pitched the yeast and let it go for a few months.

So the verdict: this recipe makes a slightly offensive, cheap wine-style drink. I think the original choice of pop flavour has a lot to do with the final product. To be honest, the original soft drink wasn't so hot in my books...garbage in, garbage out. Perhaps if you enjoy the flavour of a pop to begin with you might be able to tolerate the outcome better. Diluted in a more flavourful drink, this might provide a silent boost of alcohol.

The future, well, I'm currently trying that molasses/brown sugar thing mentioned above. If it goes anywhere I'll report back on that. So far it looks a lot like this fermentation.

 

[BlindLemonLars]

So the verdict: this recipe makes a slightly offensive, cheap wine-style drink.

I appreciate you following through and reporting your results. Which by the way, are exactly what I expected...prison hooch!!

About the "Pop vs Soda" issue, in the states it's largely geographical. I've lived my whole life in California, and I've met exactly two people who call it "pop." One is a kid in my office who just moved from Detroit, the other is my dear departed grandmother, who was from England. Here, "pop" is not used at all, and people who are aware of the term tend to think of it as being very old-fashioned. Oddly enough, the opposite appears to be true in Illinois.

Here's more than you'd ever want to know about it!

Pop vs Soda

 

[beta pleated sheet]

Reminds me of a recipe in the October issue of BYO (just the soda part but I will share the recipe anyway):


2# Pilsner Malt
1#Wheat Malt
10oz Flaked wheat
6oz flaked oats
40 12oz cans of Mountian Dew
5 zested oranges
4 AAU styrian goldings for 45min
Belgian Wit Yeast


Odd concoction I'll say but I am the curious type so I am sure I will be trying soon

I made this beer! It was OK. Very dry, very citrus-y, pretty tart too. Probably not something I'd brew again, but it definite wasn't disgusting.

 

[Chriso]

Everyone else around me says pop, I say soda.

Regardless, all Mt. Dew should have caffeine. I still haven't forgiven Canada for that.

 

[JeanLucD]

I've brewed a very similar thing, except I used an orange flavoured 'pop' and my gosh it's pretty foul. I was gonna make some hard lemonade, but the owner of my LHBS had an old kit for making orange soda pop and gave it to me for free since it was way past it's expiry date. I just added sugar and yeast and let it go. I'd definetly have to agree with the garbage in garbage out thing, cause I'm sure that the original pop woulda tasted gross too. It's just so artificial tasting and has absolutely no body to it...

As for the whole soda/pop thing, down here we don't really call them soda or pop, its just soft drinks. And I didn't even know Mt. Dew was meant to have caffeine in it, does it make much difference with it??

 

[Jesse17]

That's about what I expected also. Thanks for posting the results!

I called it soda, pop, and soda pop in Northern California. Here in Montana everyone, and I just call it pop.

 

[shafferpilot]

Mountain Dew doesn't taste terrific. Without the Caffiene what's the point. I use it to replace my old coffee habit from high school.

 

[EvilTOJ]

Thanks for following through on the lemonline hooch, andyp. I'll bet if you wanted to dispose of it, you could put it in gallon milk jugs and leave it for hobos behind the grocery store. I'm sure they'd appreciate a fine wine such as that

OH and it's called soda. Pop may be OK for those nancy-boys, but anyone that calls it 'coke' is a communist.