Decent Strawberry Lemonade

jkpq45 · 04-11-2009, 03:09 PM

OK, here goes the second try on the lemonade kick. Credit to Yooper for the base recipe!

9 cans frozen lemonade concentrate (no sorbate this time!)
2c table sugar
4c corn sugar
1-2lb frozen sliced strawberries (gave it a nice red color!)

Boil the whole mess for 15 minutes. Skim off pulp from lemonade, strawberry chunks (after giving them a good mashing to de-juice), cool, add water to make 5 gallons. OG turned out to be 1.058 - ~7.5%ABV if it attenuates.

My starter actually was 1L of water + enough sugar to bring OG to 1.040. I used Lalvin 71B-1122 at the direction of the LHBS goddess. Left it overnight, when I had a good colony going, added the contents of one one additional can of lemonade concentrate over the next 12 hours until the yeast were acclimated to the acid. Pitched once temp of the above mix was in the 65-70*F range.

For those that shat on my Country Time lemonade attempt thread, hopefully this offering will bring more praise. I plan on bottle conditioning once it ferments out. I'll keep you all posted.

-jkpq45

**rod** · 04-11-2009, 03:14 PM

sounds good - i make the hard lemonade all the time, with dme .
not sure what boiling the strawberries is going to do to the final clarity though.
it should still taste good only a little hazy.before i started kegging i used lactose to back sweeten before bottle carbing.

jkpq45 · 04-11-2009, 03:16 PM

I actually skimmed the strawberries, etc. before I hit a boil. I guess I didn't make that clear. It seemed that once the mix hit about 180*F all the color, flavor, etc. had come out that I wanted out, so I got them out of there.

The good news is that the mixture was so acidic the strawberries/juice didn't turn brown at all, just a bright red from the start.

Isn't science fun?

**Nurmey** · 04-11-2009, 03:17 PM

Boiling strawberries isn't a very great idea, tends to make strawberry jelly.

**rod** · 04-11-2009, 03:25 PM

glad you didn't boil the strawberries - everything should be golden then.
let us know how it turns out

Mr. Nice Guy · 04-11-2009, 06:43 PM

Some pectic enzyme might help out if you want this clear in a short timeframe. (I know the berries were not in the boil)

maybe...

I wouldn't second guess Yoopers recipe either, so I'm probably wrong! I have no idea how much pectin will be formed by boiing strawberry "juice".

Sounds good, let us know how it turns out.

jkpq45 · 04-15-2009, 06:29 PM

5 days in primary and still bubbling once every 4 seconds, at the first sign of fermentation slowing I'll take an SG reading and update.

The bubbler gas discharge smells great, nothing like the burnt rubber others speak of. Hopefully I got my yeast started properly!

Dionysos911 · 04-21-2009, 04:59 PM

Curious to hear how this turns out. What kind of yeast did you use? What is the recipe you based this on?

jkpq45 · 04-22-2009, 01:34 PM

12 days in primary, bubbling every 8 seconds. I used Lalvin 71B-1122 wine yeast. Damn this stuff takes forever--fermenting in the mid-60s plus. I've kicked the fermenter a couple times to degas. Any other way to get this thing done? I've thought about raising the temp. but I don't want off flavors.

Yooper's lemonade was the base.

Check the first post.

Tusch · 04-22-2009, 08:03 PM

it's been 12 days you are already anxious and asking how to make it go quicker?