Limeade (margarita wine)

[Apple_Jacker]

My bottle of Sparkalloid says to dissolve 1 tablespoon into 1 cup of boiling water for 5 minutes, add to 6 gallons of wine, stir, and let sit for at least a week to rack or bottle

 

[Briatta]

My bottle of Sparkalloid says to dissolve 1 tablespoon into 1 cup of boiling water for 5 minutes, add to 6 gallons of wine, stir, and let sit for at least a week to rack or bottle

Argh! Why are there so many conflicting instructions for the exact same product?

 

[Apple_Jacker]

Not sure but I've been using it per those directions without incident. Is your powder a knock off brand?

Either way, just go with the instructions provided with what your purchased. It's probably the safest bet.

 

[Briatta]

I don't think it's a knock off, I just think it's been bought in bulk and repackaged. It's in a Brewcraft brand package that has the name and the instructions applied with a sticker to the bag.

 

[Briatta]

So after a bit more research I found some info with Sparkolloid's weight and scaled down the manufacturer's instructions (from 1000 gallons). I ended up using 2 teaspoons in 100 ml water (yay for mixing measurement systems. lol) and this is the result after only 9 days.

 

[Apple_Jacker]

Looks good! Did you do all lime juice, or a combination of lemon and lime?

 

[Briatta]

Looks good! Did you do all lime juice, or a combination of lemon and lime?

After reading the thread, I decided to use 2/3 key lime juice and 1/3 lemon juice.

 

[Texconsinite]

A mix seems good. I'm excited to hear how this turns out

 

[Apple_Jacker]

Yeah using all key lime juice made it horribly sour. A glass would give me bad heartburn. It has definitely mellowed out but I've been aging it since I started this thread ;-) I've probably said this a few times already, but I will bottle it one day. Or, just drink it right out of the carboy until I can fit it in some jugs and refrigerate it. I would like that carboy freed up. Me and a few other people drank some of it a few months ago and 2 out of 4 liked it, myself included. The other 2 thought it was still too sour. It is certainly more sour than a regular skeeter pee but much more drinkable than it was before. I considered tasting some more this past weekend but ultimately was won over by the Bell's beer and Founder's in my fridge. Maybe tonight I'll pour out a few glasses worth and see how she's doing.

Edit: I just noticed I've been aging this for 2 years! I better taste this after work!

 

[Apple_Jacker]

UPDATE: What a difference 2 years makes! This stuff is delicious! The brown sugar aroma really comes through with a subtle lime/citrus tint to it. The color looks like I poured a tall glass of whiskey. It looks great. And the taste is excellent. It's very smooth, with some tartness at the end but it is not overpowering at all. This probably has a smoother finish to it than the skeeter pees I've made this year. I shouldn't have listened to the haters amd just bottled this stuff already, but maybe the long bulk aging helped mellow out the flavors. I honestly had my doubts with this one, but I'm bottling this stuff for sure!

 

[Briatta]

So I racked off and back sweetened today. Took a lot more sweetening than expected, but still nice. The flavor is a bit bitey. The lemon/lime flavor is more of a peel flavor than sweetened juice, but that might be since it's so young. Of course this is my first attempt at this and I've only been brewing since August so I'm just making an educated guess. Either way I'm pleased. Might have to make a plain old Skeeter Pee now just to compare.

 

[Apple_Jacker]

Looks good! Yeah lime juice is definitely more tart than the lemon juice.

 

[Briatta]

I've started mixing it 50/50 with Coronas. I dubbed it a Mexican Shandy.

 

[Texconsinite]

That sounds delicious

 

[Apple_Jacker]

Sounds good. I finally bottled mine a week ago... better late than never!

...and I'm the one that started this damn thread haha ;-)

 

[sanity1676]

just started some!