tucsontony
Member
I've made a couple batches of hard lemonade and I'm finding it difficult to bottle carbonate. OG=1.090. I let it ferment to dry (1.000) and then added 5 oz priming sugar to 5 gal batch at bottling time. I also backsweetened with Splenda (which I'm assuming is non-fermentable). I sampled at 2 weeks in the bottle and it's fairly flat. I'd like to achieve a strong carbonation though.
I'm wondering if maybe all the yeast are gone since I let it ferment to dry, thus preventing good carbonation.
I'm thinking about maybe bottling the next batch before SG=1.000 with the hope that the yeasties will still be around to consume the priming sugar in the bottle. My first question... is this a good or bad idea? My second question... if this is a reasonable approach, what would be the best gravity to bottle at? If I bottle too soon I'm guessing I might get bottle bombs. If I bottle too late, I'll end up with flat lemonade.
Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I'm wondering if maybe all the yeast are gone since I let it ferment to dry, thus preventing good carbonation.
I'm thinking about maybe bottling the next batch before SG=1.000 with the hope that the yeasties will still be around to consume the priming sugar in the bottle. My first question... is this a good or bad idea? My second question... if this is a reasonable approach, what would be the best gravity to bottle at? If I bottle too soon I'm guessing I might get bottle bombs. If I bottle too late, I'll end up with flat lemonade.
Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.