Hard Limeade, first attempt

I wasn't sure if this should really go in this section of the forum, but I didn't see anywhere else that seemed better.

I just pitched my first attempt at a hard limeade, and thought it would be a good idea to publicly document the attempt. That way others can help/learn from the attempt.

Batch size is about 3.5 gallons. My fermentor is a 4 gallon water bottle I got for cheap at my local sams club.


EDIT: Corrected batch finances.
EDIT2: Added OG, FG and ABV info. Filled in missing info for bentonite. Updated and added picture.

OG: 1.105
FG: 1.022
ABV: 11.1%

Ingredients:
7 12oz cans of frozen limeade concentrate. Great value brand. $1.18 per can.
5 fresh limes. Kuniko brand. $2.98 for a bag of 13 limes, 3lb bag. About $0.23 per lime
4.88 lbs granulated sugar. $0.56 per lb
3 1/2 tsp pectin enzyme. $0.14 per tsp
5 tsp yeast nutrient. $0.11 per tsp, as near as I can figure.
2 tsp yeast energizer. $0.17 per tsp, as near as I can figure.
12 grams distillers yeast. $0.03 per gram

Procedure:
1. Zest and juice limes.
2. Add lime juice to primary.
3. Spread lime zest on a cookie sheet to dry.
4. Add thawed limeade concentrate to primary.
5. Add half the sugar to primary.
6. Add filtered water until you reach just short of your desired 3.5 gallon volume.
7. Shake the bottle until the sugar has dissolved.
8. Take a gravity reading.
9. Add sugar until you reach your desired OG, target was 1.1 actual 1.105.
10. Add pectin enzyme to mixture.
11. Reserved 1.5 quarts of mixture in 2 quart bottle.
12. Add half the yeast, yeast nutrient, and yeast energizer to primary.
13. Add remaining half of yeast, yeast nutrient, and yeast energizer to reserved mixture in 2 quart bottle.
14. Install caps and airlocks on primary and 2 quart bottle.

This was all done about 2 hours ago. This yeast likes to finish really dry. If it ends at 0.98 like I'm thinking it may, that would make it 16.7% abv. Batch finances as of right now make it $13.89 for everything used.

Will have to wait for these steps.

15. Wait until fermentation is in full swing in 2 quart bottle.
16. Add 2 quart bottle contents to primary.
17. Wait until fermentation is complete.
18. Move to secondary.
19. Add dried lime zest to secondary, from steps 1 and 3.
20. Add 3 1/2 tsp dried bentonite to brew sample, make slurry? May not be needed, will have to see if the brew clears.
21. Add bentonite slurry to secondary?

Questions, comments, drunken ramblings? ...Wait, it's the wrong section for that last one. So just the first two, ok?

EDIT2: Update
FG is 1.022, making the ABV 11.1%.
A total of 1.75 tsp of bentonite slurry made with the limeade at FG has been added to the various splits of the limeade. $0.06/tsp
4 tea bags have been added to 2 quarts drawn from the main batch. $0.0125/bag This sample has a much more complex flavor and practically no alcohol flavor. Adding enough tea bags for the whole batch would cost $0.35. I wasn't going to do that, but both my bottling buckets are in use as dispensers atm, so I am going to add tea to the rest of the cleared batch in secondary.

This brew has cleared remarkably. The flavor is excellent, though I much prefer the tea addition variant. The ending batch finances with the tea makes this a $14.35 batch. That makes it $4.10/gallon.

I think your FG estimate is missing a digit- you mean .990? Or .998? Either way, 15% seems about right. I don't think distiller's yeast will give great flavor, and I would have used EC-1118, but that's not a big deal.

I don't use bentonite in secondary, so I have no helpful advice on that.

Yooper said:

I think your FG estimate is missing a digit- you mean .990? Or .998? Either way, 15% seems about right. I don't think distiller's yeast will give great flavor, and I would have used EC-1118, but that's not a big deal.

I don't use bentonite in secondary, so I have no helpful advice on that.

Click to expand...

Actual it isn't missing a digit. I've had 2 batches with a similar OG and the same yeast finish at 0.98.

That is actually off the scale for my regular hydrometer. I do have a distillers hydrometer I bought by mistake. I was able to back compute the actual gravity from the alcohol percentage reading on that hydrometer. It showed %10 alcohol bang on from both batches. Since alcohol hydrometers assume a mixture of alcohol and water only, the reverse computed gravity reading is 0.9789. Or, 0.98 is close enough.

The last time I fermented something with a lot of acid the aroma was horrible. That's one reason why I'm documenting the batch so carefully. If that happens again, I want to be able to figure out why.

Hopefully, adding the lime zest to secondary will give it a nice aroma.

Leadgolem said:

1. Zest and juice limes.
3. Spread lime zest on a cookie sheet to dry.
19. Add dried lime zest to secondary, from steps 1 and 3.

Click to expand...

Why dry? Why not store the zest in a ziplock in the fridge until you are ready to add it in the secondary?

UpstateMike said:

Why dry? Why not store the zest in a ziplock in the fridge until you are ready to add it in the secondary?

Click to expand...

Because it didn't occur to me, and zest dries well. I'll put that on the list for the next batch changes. It should provide the brew with a fresher flavor.

I'm subscribed to this and will be watching anxiously. What have previous batches tasted like? Aging time necessary?

Wheatmeister said:

I'm subscribed to this and will be watching anxiously. What have previous batches tasted like? Aging time necessary?

Click to expand...

The last batch didn't have any fresh lime in it at all, it was based on a commercially produced cherry limeade. Fermentation stalled, and the aroma was terrible. The OG was WAY to aggressive though, 1.17. The flavor wasn't actually bad. But it smelled moldy.

After 3 weeks of conditioning, it's drinkable. Not great, but drinkable.

This recipe is a straight limeade. No cherry component. It's got fresh lime juice, and will have zest added to secondary. The OG isn't quite so crazy. I've also got yeast energizer, which I didn't have with the cherry limeade batch. I suspect the aroma problem was at least partially due to incomplete fermentation.

Good stuff. Keep the updates rolling in plz.

The airlock on the 2 quart bottle got down to 1 bubble about every second and a half. Then dropped to 1 every 4 seconds. I put that just past peak fermentation. Added that bottle to the main fermentor. Before doing so, the main fermentor was at 1 bubble every 2 seconds. After 2 hours the pace has picked up to 1 bubble about every 1.5 seconds.

I know, airlock activity isn't a real measurement for fermentation. It is a reasonable indicator of when you've hit full fermentation though. At just over 2 days I'd say the timing was about right to add the 2 quarts back.

I'm expecting this batch to try and stall on me. Hence the separate 2 quarts with the extra yeast and nutrients. Hopefully, that will give the primary enough of a kick in the but that it won't. If it does anyway, I'll add some more yeast energizer. I'm thinking the main thing that is missing from the mix is nitrogen.

The mixture has clouded and I've got krausen. So, fermentation appears to be well underway. It's a little bit slower then I had hoped, considering the nutrient additions, but it looks good so far.

The airlock on the primary has slowed to 1 bubble every 9 seconds. Gravity reading is 1.026. After 13 days I expected it to be somewhat lower. Added 1.75 tsp yeast energizer. I figured this brew would be nitrogen poor, and would likely need another boost. The sample I tasted had a definite alcohol flavor. Not a "hot" alcohol flavor, just definitively alcoholic. Still extremely limey though. No off aroma at all, not a huge amount of aroma of any kind. What aroma there is, is of limes.

I may separate some of the brew when I move to secondary and add some tea bags. That would probably back the alcohol flavor off a bit.

So far, so good.

Gravity is now 1.024. With the nitrogen this batch just got I would have expected it to drop by 0.0075/day. That is, if there was as much remaining sugar as the gravity reading said there might be. The way this is going I expect the batch is fairly close to FG right now, with the remaining gravity being non-fermentables of various kinds.

I just moved the batch to secondary and added the lime zest. After the lime zest was thoroughly mixed in I poured just shy of 2 quarts into a 2 quart juice bottle. Then added 4 Global Brands orange pekoe and pekoe cut black tea bags. I pulled off the tags on the strings, and shook them up in the bottle.

That tea is about as cheap as you can get, 80 tea bags for $1.00 or .0125 each.

I'm going to watch this thread. I might try to make some of this for next spring and summer.

Good luck!

I admit, I'm getting impatient.

I pulled another sample and took a gravity reading. Still 1.024, like I expected. The brew is not visibly clearing in secondary yet. I suspect it's going to need some help if it's going to clear.

Poured off about 2 quarts into a 2 quart bottle. Added 1/4 tsp bentonite made into a slurry to the bottle. The last time I used bentonite it left a slight metallic taste in the brew, though it was crystal clear. In that batch I used 1 tsp/gallon. So I'm going to try half that and see what happens.

The other bottle with the tea bags has an identical gravity reading. It has turned a strong orange color. The main brew is a light green color. The flavor is good. Practically no alcohol flavor. I don't know if I like the original or the tea addition better. I don't mind a little alcohol flavor in a brew, as long as it isn't overpowering.

The original batch's strong alcohol flavor has mellowed. I'm not sure if that's from the lime zest or not, but I suspect it's just the yeast doing post-ferment cleanup.

If the gravity remains stable I'll probably move some to the fridge to cold crash and start drinking this stuff. It's very yummy.

I would like to improve the aroma, and see if I can get the brew to clear. Other then that, this has been a very successful experiment so far.

UpstateMike said:

Why dry? Why not store the zest in a ziplock in the fridge until you are ready to add it in the secondary?

Click to expand...

I would have put the zest in the freezer until needed. I always keep frozen orange zest in my freezer for cooking and such.

Gravity is now 1.022 and has been stable for a few days. Looks like this is the FG. That makes it 11.1% abv. I expected this to end lower, I guess there were more non-fermentables in the juice concentrate then I expected.

The sample with the bentonite added to it has cleared. There is no discernable metalic flavor. The main batch has not cleared. The flavor of the sample with the tea bags added is definitely superior. The apparent alcohol in that sample is lower. The flavor also has a nice complexity to it. The main batch and cleared sample are both good, but fairly one dimensional. In subsequent batches I will be adding tea bags to secondary for the whole thing.

I will be adding bentonite at the reduced rate from above to both other bottles shortly. Before I do that, I will be decanting the bottles to get them off the sediment that has dropped out of solution already.

The aroma is still somewhat lacking, though it has strengthened somewhat since I last checked it. The color is a pale green. Clear in the sample with bentonite, murky in the main sample. The tea sample is very orange. I may add a small amount of blue food coloring to the tea sample, that may turn it greenish. I know, it doesn't change the flavor, but it seems wrong for something that tastes like limes not to be green.

Once the rest of the brew has cleared I will be bottling it as is. I had planned to backsweeten, but the flavor is nice enough I don't think that is necessary. The flavor and FG makes me think there is a reasonable amount of sugar left in the brew. That means a possibility of refermentation some time down the line. For safeties sake, I will be bottle pasteurizing.

First post has been updated, and now includes a picture.

I've made several wines using bentonite, and it requires a few tricks. Don't use it in the secondary. Use bentonite in the last racking before bottling. Chill the liquid as much as possible. Put your carboy in the fridge for at least a week to cold crash it, then rack it off the lees and add bentonite while it is still cold. Let it sit for about 2 weeks and you should be set.

ThorGodOfThunder said:

I've made several wines using bentonite, and it requires a few tricks. Don't use it in the secondary. Use bentonite in the last racking before bottling. Chill the liquid as much as possible. Put your carboy in the fridge for at least a week to cold crash it, then rack it off the lees and add bentonite while it is still cold. Let it sit for about 2 weeks and you should be set.

Click to expand...

That would probably work very well, but I don't have the space to cold crash. I'm going from secondary to bottling bucket. I do usually give my brew a week or more in the bottling bucket before I bottle. Usually that is enough.

I just over did it with the bentonite in that previous batch. No unpleasant aftertaste in this batch.

Just a minor update. I did add tea to the entire remainder of the batch. The alcohol flavor has mellowed nicely with a little time. The brew has continued to clear, and it is now crystal clear. The attached picture is of a shot glass, but it should give you an idea.

The aroma has changed a little. The alcohol aroma has been dialed back. The aroma comes across as definitively citrus, just not specifically lime.

I'd like to see if I can figure out how to get a more definitively "lime" aroma in the next batch. I will probably bite the bullet and just add food coloring the next time around, it bugs me to have something this nice look like BMC.