Hard Lemonade - Back Sweetening

I know I'm getting ahead of myself since I just started a 5 gallon batch of Yooperbrew's Hard Lemonade today. I will be kegging it so I don't have to worry about bottle bombs.

If it is too dry, can I just use some wine conditioner to sweeten it?

Or am I better off using Campden Tablets and Pottasium Sorbate when fermentation is complete, waiting a couple of days and then sweetening to taste?

Thanks Everybody.

I'd recommend using the PS and waiting a few days before back sweetening. Always worked for me.

Thanks Bill!

homebrewer_99 said:

I'd recommend using the PS and waiting a few days before back sweetening. Always worked for me.

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X2 You don't want to sweeten till it's done fermenting. Give it some time to finish before killing the yeast.
Cheers
Jay

Hey Stoneman-
This sure does take a while to ferment! I am on day 10 and it is still perking about every 5 secs or so. I took a reading the other day and it was @ 6.26% ABV.

Well it's still in primary, I keep stirring the heck out of it every time I think of it. But other than getting frothy when I stir it, there doesn't seem to be a lot going on. I know it's not beer and doesn't react like beer, but thought I would see visible signs of fermentation. I'll have to take a hydrometer reading (and taste test) next time I stir.

Thanks Everybody!

Don't get discouraged stoneman. I have a batch of hard lemonade going that took a whopping 5 days to start fermenting. It only started fermenting when i threw in some yeast nutrient and energizer, along with a starter I had made on day 4.

After that, it started right up, and this morning, it is bubbling about once every 2.5 - 3 seconds.

It's on day 6 now.

I think my batch has finished fermenting. The airlock was crazy for the first few days of secondary. (Happily bubbling away) I was a little concerned because whiffs from the airlock smelled like rocket fuel.
I took a gravity today (and a taste test ) and it looks to be down to about 1.00 from 1.08 . It tastes pretty good, a little potent, but not as tart as I was expecting. I'm debating stabilizing and back sweetening but I'm not sure if it needs it. I think I'll let my SWMBO make that call.
In all honesty, I'm not sure if I need to stabilize it. I'm planning on kegging it, won't the cold crash the yeast anyway? It will carbonate from the CO2, and if it needs to be sweeter, couldn't I just add it to the keg?

Or will I have potential for bottle bombs If I decide to use the Biermeister Beer gun to bottle?

Thanks Yoop for the recipe! Thanks everyone else for all of the help here.

I've got 5 gallons going in the primary right now too. When I added the yeast starter I swear I could hear the lemonade in the carboy laughing at me. Needless to say I did up a second starter and this one took off like a rocket! It started bubbling away les then 8 hours after pitching and hasn't stopped in 7 days. It has slowed a little in the last day or two.

I still haven't decided if I want to back sweeten it or not. I’m going to wait until I’m ready to bottle to decide.

I was thinking of adding lemoncello (yes picked up some of Danny Devito’s) to some it before I bottle d it but that again will have to wait for the taste test.

I can't wait to try this.

Need some advise, please:

I started a Hard Limeade on 5/24 and I'm ready to bottle this week. My question is regarding bottle carbing/conditioning... This is the recipe I used:

For 5 gallons:

10 cans MM frozen limeade
5 LBS cane sugar
5 tsp yeast nutrient
3 tsp yeast energizer
4 gallons water
Pkt of Champagne yeast
To Carb:
5 additional cans frozen limeade
3 ¾ cup additional sugar
Raspberry extract or flavoring: enough for 2.5 gallons

Let limeade thaw by putting hot water in pot and submerge cans. Either do in several pots or once thawed, put some in fridge until all thawed.
Bring 1 gallon water to boil; slowly add 15 cups sugar. Stir well to dissolve.
In clean primary, add thawed limeade. Rinse out cans with water from gallons and add to primary, adding remaining gallons. Add water/sugar mixture. Stir well to mix. Temperature should be around 70 degrees. Take hydrometer reading (1.070 to 1.100 – no lower than 1.060). OG was 1.080Add yeast nutrient and yeast energizer. Pitch yeast and cover with cloth.

Once “head” or foam drops, take SG.SG was 1.000 Rack to carboy if close to done. Put on bung and airlock.

My plan to backsweeten and carb:

Once SG reaches .990, rack to primary. Add 5 cans thawed limeade and 3 ¾ cups sugar. To half, add raspberry flavoring ( 2 bottles of McCormick Raspberry Extract: contains water propylene glycol, alcohol 20%, extractives of raspberry, citric acid, food coloring and natural flavors). Rack to beer bottles.

I've made a one gallon (info on another post). I overcarbed with additional carb tabs (was not thinking!!)... Will the limeade, which has some sugars in it and the additional sugar be too much and create bottle bombs again? I'd rather not omit sugar as I like end result flavor... Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Yes, if you add all that concentrate and the sugar, you'll be looking at bottle bombs.

The yeast will eat the sugar, and don't stop just because you want them to. If you want to sweeten and bottle carb, you add just the amount of sugar required for carbonation, and then use a non-fermentable sweetener to sweeten.

It's easy to make a sweet, flat wine/cider/mead. You stabilize and then sweeten. That ensures the yeast will not ferment any more. That means you can't bottle carb.

It's also easy to make a dry sparkling drink. You add just enough sugar to prime for bottle carbing.

But making a sweetened, carbonated drink is very tricky. Even if you put everything in the fridge when the correct amount of carbonation is reached, the yeast can still keep fermenting in the bottle and lead to bottle bombs. That's why it's best to use a non-fermentable sweetener (even though they don't taste as good as sugar or honey!).

YooperBrew said:

Yes, if you add all that concentrate and the sugar, you'll be looking at bottle bombs.

The yeast will eat the sugar, and don't stop just because you want them to. If you want to sweeten and bottle carb, you add just the amount of sugar required for carbonation, and then use a non-fermentable sweetener to sweeten.

It's easy to make a sweet, flat wine/cider/mead. You stabilize and then sweeten. That ensures the yeast will not ferment any more. That means you can't bottle carb.

It's also easy to make a dry sparkling drink. You add just enough sugar to prime for bottle carbing.

But making a sweetened, carbonated drink is very tricky. Even if you put everything in the fridge when the correct amount of carbonation is reached, the yeast can still keep fermenting in the bottle and lead to bottle bombs. That's why it's best to use a non-fermentable sweetener (even though they don't taste as good as sugar or honey!).

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Thanks for responding, Yooper.
So, am I better off sweetening with wine conditioner or lactose, adding non-fermentable lime flavoring (if needed) and then add 3/4 corn sugar for carbing as I do when making beer? Thanks again!
P.S. As I used your recipe for the most part, do you ever bottle carb or do you just make still lemonade or keg?

I racked the Lemonade into the keg, on top of 5 crushed campden tablets and 1 1/4 teaspoons of potassium sorbate. I sealed the keg with CO2, and placed it in the keezer.

The carboy leftovers I racked into a jug in the fridge. My wife thought it seemed to tart, so I added sugar to the jug ( about .5 cup ) until it tasted right. In a couple of days I will make 6 cups of invert sugar and add it to the keg and pressurize for sparking hard lemonade.

Thanks Everybody!

SueMac said:

Thanks for responding, Yooper.
So, am I better off sweetening with wine conditioner or lactose, adding non-fermentable lime flavoring (if needed) and then add 3/4 corn sugar for carbing as I do when making beer? Thanks again!
P.S. As I used your recipe for the most part, do you ever bottle carb or do you just make still lemonade or keg?

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If you use wine conditioner, you can't bottle carb. It has sorbate or benzoate in it, so that you can sweeten it.

If you want to sweeten and carb, you're on the right track. Splenda or lactose, lime flavoring (OR figure out the amount of sugar in the concentrate and use that for priming), and regular corn sugar.

I didn't make hard lemonade this year. Last year, we didn't bottle carb or sweeten! I like it still, and my husband likes it dry. So, we bottled it still and dry. It's great over ice- like lemonade with vodka.

But now..................hearing about kegging it makes me want to make some more and keg it. That might be just the ticket! I bought 2 3-gallon kegs today, and maybe hard lemonde would be great in one of them!

"(OR figure out the amount of sugar in the concentrate and use that for priming)"

Please forgive my ignorance, but other than by trial and taste, how do I do that? Thanks again!!

SueMac said:

"(OR figure out the amount of sugar in the concentrate and use that for priming)"

Please forgive my ignorance, but other than by trial and taste, how do I do that? Thanks again!!

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The amount of sugar should be listed on the can. It'll take some math, but you could calculate it out.

Thanks, Yooper!

SueMac said:

Thanks, Yooper!

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Hey I just started some limeade very similar to SueMac's recipe a week ago. The SG started at 1.080 and it is dropping steadily to about 1.060 today. I'm going to continue to let it drop until at least 1.00 and was wondering what you ended up doing Sue?

How far did you let your SG fall (and what ABV did that yield)
Did you end up with flat sweet, sweet carbed or dry carbed?

How did it all taste?

Ultimately I would like to have a sweet, carbonated hard limeade similar to Mike's but realize that means I can't carb with sugar which is too bad because I really hate Splenda and fake sugars (I can't stand Diet Soda).

Also I realize that if I end up with a high ABV of like 10-12% I could always mix it with Sprite or Soda water to get the carbonation as my audience won't want a 12% drink.

Finally a popular drink with my friends is a Coke/Limeade/Vodka mix in the summer (sounds awful but is quite delicious) so I'm thinking a 12% limeade crossed with 40-50% coke could be perfect. Usually we make them about 6-8% vodka.

Rambling done I'll let everyone know how it goes.