Extra Hard Lemonade

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1 litre starter with a dry yeast that costs a buck? Any reason why you didn't just go 2 packs? Not criticizing, just trying to learn something new.
 
sfrisby said:
1 litre starter with a dry yeast that costs a buck? Any reason why you didn't just go 2 packs? Not criticizing, just trying to learn something new.

Lemonade makes it very hard for yeast to reproduce leading to stalled fermentation. Unless you pitch on a yeast cake you need a starter.
 
I did a lot of research on making starters for dry yeast. The consensus seems to be that it's not a good idea. Activating, yes. Starter, no.
 
And... starting my series of summer brews...

4 lemonade concentrate, 3 pink lemonade concentrate, 3 cranberry concentrate, 10# of sugar.

Next month I think is going to be extra hard lemon-tea.
 
Hey everyone I did a batch of this a while back and I tried it the other day and the taste was not that good or what I expected. Anyone know of I should backsweeten with splenda and how much should I use for a 5 gallon batch. I think sweetening this will make it taste a tad better if not should i just toss the batch out or give it more time or backsweeten with something else. Any suggestions would be helpful!?!?!
 
I had something similar happen to my first batch of skeeter pee. The sugar was all eaten up and it was opressively dry and acidic with no balance.

I'd say you should be able to stabilize it and back sweeten to taste. Whats the gravity on it now?
 
My og was right around 1.115 and I'm down to 1.020 and its just like you said acidic what could I do to make it taste drinkable.. I'm most likely going to use bottles
 
Yea I normally do mine up in beer bottles. I mean all I can say is stabalize it and sweeten. I'd say maybe 1-2lbs, and work your way up. Pull off enough brew to cover the sugar by and inch or two in a pot/pan and dissolve with heat (but not boiling). The heat should drive off any oxygen you mix in while transferring. Carefully and slowly pour back into the main batch and taste. Repeat if still not sweet enough.
 
brazedowl said:
Yea I normally do mine up in beer bottles. I mean all I can say is stabalize it and sweeten. I'd say maybe 1-2lbs, and work your way up. Pull off enough brew to cover the sugar by and inch or two in a pot/pan and dissolve with heat (but not boiling). The heat should drive off any oxygen you mix in while transferring. Carefully and slowly pour back into the main batch and taste. Repeat if still not sweet enough.

About to do a batch of this. Now do you always have to backsweeten? I was a bit confused on whether not not you were actually backsweetening.
 
I have never backsweetned this. His yeast went a LOT further than mine do mine almost always peeters out with too much sweetness if anything.

Right now I'm just struggling to get mine going at all. My cran-lemonade is being very stubborn.
 
Hmmm ok. Now my plan was to pitch onto an apfelwien yeast cake but i have a question. Should I add a little bit of the solution at a time to get the yeast active and ready for the acidic environment or should I just go ahead and pitch the whole thing onto the cake?

Also which recipe would you suggest first lemon lime, lemon pink lemonaid, or a lemon cran?

Lastly any extra tips before I start this monster? I'm looking forward to trying this
 
a) I'd say pitch the whole thing on at once

b) I'm partial to cran-lemonade

c) Just kinda peruse the other posts and see what people have done :)
 
Ok great thanks :). I plan on reading this whole thread before I start so hopefully I can make it right the first time.

What was your recipe for the cran lemonaid? Sorry if you already posted it in here. I'm a big cranberry fan so maybe ill try that out first.
 
Well I went ahead and made it tonight. I ended up using 6 cans of lemonaid and 4 cans of raspberry lemonaid. I dissolved the 10# of sugar in a big pot then let it cool and poured the concentrate and the rest of the water in so I ended up with 6 gallons. I poured it all on my apfelwein yeast cake. We'll see if it takes off. Thanks for the recipe and the help Brazedowl.
 
No problem. Mine just started a steady bubbling today (3 days later). And even then it never gets to a rolling bubble just a slow constant steady bubbling for a long while.
 
Well a week later and its still steadily bubbling away. Its beginning to slow a little bit so I'm probably gonna take a hydro reading tonight and see where I'm at. Smells fantastic!
 
With the early summer, SWMBO pointed out that its time to make her a batch so its ready to go for boating season, I usually let it age 2 months, it becomes alot smoother.
 
Just started a hard lemon-limeade yesterday.

for a 6 gallon batch i used.

4 quarts limeade
7 cans of lemonade concentrate
120 raisins
5 tsp baking soda (to cut the acid)
5 lbs of sugar

- dissolved the sugar and split the raisins in half. Threw all of the above on top of a champagne yeast from a batch of welch's grape juice wine that i had just racked. Fermentation fired up within 2 hours and is still chugging away.
 
Started my first hard lemonade yesterday and not bubbling, any thoughts? I used 9 cans frozen minutemaid concentrate, 2 lbs sugar, 1 lb light dme, and champagne yeast 1118. I originally pitched yeast at 80 degrees like a fool and thought I killed it so pitched again the next day. Then I started wondering if it was too acidic from pulp so strained it off. It's bubbling very slowly and using a space heater to make sure temp it around 70. Wondering of I should add yeast nutrient or baking soda to round out acidicy
 
Started a batch of this a few weeks ago. OG was right around 1.122 and is sitting around 1.090 for the past three days. Where should this end up at? I plan on kegging this, carbing the bottling from the keg.
 
I made a batch of hard lemonade and the flavor just isn't there. It has a light lemon flavor but taste mostly just acidic. Looking for suggestions on adding some more flavor...can I just add more concentrate to it before I bottle?
 
I made a batch of hard lemonade and the flavor just isn't there. It has a light lemon flavor but taste mostly just acidic. Looking for suggestions on adding some more flavor...can I just add more concentrate to it before I bottle?

I had that problem when I made skeeter pee which is why I switched to this... I now use that batch of skeeter pee to add extra abv and acidity to my hard lemonade batches because mine normally finish too sweet if anything.

But the batch I've got going now has bubbled way longer than any previous batch so I don't know.
 
Started a one gal batch yesterday

1 can lemonade
1 can limeade
1 cup sugar
1 pk.EC-1118
1 pinch baking soda

And it is already fermenting heavily.... I love ridiculously strong yeast
 
Started a one gal batch yesterday

1 can lemonade
1 can limeade
1 cup sugar
1 pk.EC-1118
1 pinch baking soda

And it is already fermenting heavily.... I love ridiculously strong yeast

What does the baking soda do?
 
We now have rocket fuel...... 16-18 % alcohol now its going to be used for cooking fish
THE END
 
I just followed this recipe about 3 hours ago.

I used 1tsp per gallon of yeast nutrient mixed with 2 cups of H2O to reconstitute EC-1118yeast and pitched with a vigorous stir to aerate well.

OG was 1.104 and I already have airlock activity. Hopefully this is the sign of success. :rockin:

Thanks for the recipe.
 
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