Skeeter Acid Overload. Thoughts?

[dessertmaker]

The wife made some delicious lemonade for a party. We didn't drink it all, so the gallon that had been kept in the refrigerator got thrown in a Carlo Rossi 1 Gallon "Carboy." When it hit 72 degrees I took a hydrometer reading of 1.060, pitched some Cotes des Blanc yeast (just what I had lying around).

48 hours later I smelled something funny, notice sediment on top, and took the reading shown above.

Off the top it tasted like slightly salty dish soap and smelled like acid.

Took a sample 2 inches down and it was better. But still had the acid aftertaste.

The wife told me she did use some powdered lemonade. (Not her usual which is why I just threw it in the 1 gallon carboy. I'd have never bothered if I'd known she had powdered mix in there.)

I know 1.060 is low for skeeter pee but I intended on cold crashing it once it got down to 1.020, stabilizing it and backsweetening to 1.060 for a sessionable 5% hard lemonade.

Any idea what this crud floating on top might be? Is the wine saveable or do I just dump it? I think it's from the mix.

Edit: how the crap did it go from 1.060 to 1.070?!?!

Edit 2: I haven't bought an acid kit yet so I can't take any of those readings.

 

[Julie]

That looks like lemon floating on top, it maybe the powder lemon floating or just lemon pulp, if it is not tasting too bad, let it ride and skeeter pee is a little on the acid side so if this is high that should be ok. Don't backsweeten this to 1.060, it will be way too syrupy unless you are planning on using it on ice cream.

 

[dessertmaker]

So it's supposed to smell (and taste) like battery acid?

You're right on 1.060 I forgot, I added sugar, its going to be backsweetened to 1.046 where it was before I added the sugar. Thanks for catching that I don't want syrup.

Never had this smell from skeeter pee before.

 

[Julie]

Lol, it's very young, give it some more time and backsweeten to 1.020, let it sit a couple days, taste it and see if you like that. 1.040 is still pretty sweet and I think it will over power the lemon.

 

[dessertmaker]

Haha, you're right it is young, I've just never had anything including skeeter pee smell like battery acid at any point. But I'll let it ride, maybe try and leave the top sediment behind when I rack it