digdan

Recipes 

I'm a homebrewer, and I brew beer. I had a friend that asked me to make a hard lemonade for him and I said sure. He gave me some small recipe calling for lemonade concentrate, the cheap stuff at the supre market, which I detested, but he asked me to try it anyways.

As I made the calculations to place the alcohol level similar to Mikes Hard Lemonade I made a gross mistake. I did not calculate the high levels of high fructose corn syrup that was already in the concentrate. I did not recognize this flaw until I found the OG was 1.10ish. I used champagne yeast(I had for mead), since it was the only thing I had on hand that could handle such high gravities.

I waited for it to ferment for three months, adding campden tables every month. I racked it off the yeast on the second month.

I then bottled it with my beer equipment. It was kinda green, making it a sparkling lemon wine.

It came out 14% abv, sparkling, and simply wonderful, a lemon champagne if you will.

At times I find myself craving the lemon chapagne more than my home-made beers, which got me to thinking. Is there a good way to make a low-alcohol wine. I mean a very low alcohol wine, like 6%? I would assume you just use less fermentables and a ale yeast, or a low alcohol wine yeast but then I'm not sure how tolerant the yeast would be to the acid levels.

I guess my goal is to make wines that drink like beers. And nothing fluffy like wine coolers. Something like a Vinho Virde (low alcohol porteguese wine), or a dry Malvasia

Anywho, I'll stop rambling, just let me know if there is any good techniques to make good fullbodied low-alcohol not-too-sweet wines.

Spyk'd

Recipes 

You're just going to brag about your "simply wonderful" hard lemonade and not share the recipe?




Seriously, do you have it handy?

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Secondary:
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Keg Conditioning:
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Bottled:
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On Deck:
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digdan

Recipes 

Sorry it is

Six cups table sugar
10 cans frozen concentrate.

Added to 4 gallons water.

Used champagne yeast.


and ofcourse the nutrient, campden routine aswell.

Created 7-22-06 was Drinkable in October the same year

Added campden every month, also racked off yeast bed on second month.

rod

Recipes 

i made a similar hard lemonade but used 1 pound dme instead of the table sugar
started aug 7 and bottled oct 1 got 8.5% alcohol.
had to add 2 1/2 cups lactose at bottling to fight the pucker power of the lemons
didn't you have to sweeten up before bottling??

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beer, wine, cheese in various stages of production