digdan
Well-Known Member
I'm a homebrewer, and I brew beer. I had a friend that asked me to make a hard lemonade for him and I said sure. He gave me some small recipe calling for lemonade concentrate, the cheap stuff at the supre market, which I detested, but he asked me to try it anyways.
As I made the calculations to place the alcohol level similar to Mikes Hard Lemonade I made a gross mistake. I did not calculate the high levels of high fructose corn syrup that was already in the concentrate. I did not recognize this flaw until I found the OG was 1.10ish. I used champagne yeast(I had for mead), since it was the only thing I had on hand that could handle such high gravities.
I waited for it to ferment for three months, adding campden tables every month. I racked it off the yeast on the second month.
I then bottled it with my beer equipment. It was kinda green, making it a sparkling lemon wine.
It came out 14% abv, sparkling, and simply wonderful, a lemon champagne if you will.
At times I find myself craving the lemon chapagne more than my home-made beers, which got me to thinking. Is there a good way to make a low-alcohol wine. I mean a very low alcohol wine, like 6%? I would assume you just use less fermentables and a ale yeast, or a low alcohol wine yeast but then I'm not sure how tolerant the yeast would be to the acid levels.
I guess my goal is to make wines that drink like beers. And nothing fluffy like wine coolers. Something like a Vinho Virde (low alcohol porteguese wine), or a dry Malvasia
Anywho, I'll stop rambling, just let me know if there is any good techniques to make good fullbodied low-alcohol not-too-sweet wines.
As I made the calculations to place the alcohol level similar to Mikes Hard Lemonade I made a gross mistake. I did not calculate the high levels of high fructose corn syrup that was already in the concentrate. I did not recognize this flaw until I found the OG was 1.10ish. I used champagne yeast(I had for mead), since it was the only thing I had on hand that could handle such high gravities.
I waited for it to ferment for three months, adding campden tables every month. I racked it off the yeast on the second month.
I then bottled it with my beer equipment. It was kinda green, making it a sparkling lemon wine.
It came out 14% abv, sparkling, and simply wonderful, a lemon champagne if you will.
At times I find myself craving the lemon chapagne more than my home-made beers, which got me to thinking. Is there a good way to make a low-alcohol wine. I mean a very low alcohol wine, like 6%? I would assume you just use less fermentables and a ale yeast, or a low alcohol wine yeast but then I'm not sure how tolerant the yeast would be to the acid levels.
I guess my goal is to make wines that drink like beers. And nothing fluffy like wine coolers. Something like a Vinho Virde (low alcohol porteguese wine), or a dry Malvasia
Anywho, I'll stop rambling, just let me know if there is any good techniques to make good fullbodied low-alcohol not-too-sweet wines.
