I'm new. Like still squalling new, but I want to make something I will drink myself that doesn't take 18 months to enjoy. My husband will only drink something like Mikes hard lemonade so the two of us could readily enjoy that together. Issue being I have yet to find a complete recipe that is more or less idiot proof. I also was wondering about if you add fruit, say strawberries and kiwi to a recipe is that going to change the balance? Will it help the yeast to take off since the must would be a little less acidic? If you one of you lovely brewing geniuses wouldn't mind pointing this newb in the right direction, I sure would be appreciative!
Full Hard Lemonade recipe
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bknifefight
Well-Known Member
This is a really easy and good recipe for hard lemonade. It is a lot stronger than Mike's.
Ingredients (makes 6-7 gallons):
- 12 cans preservative-free Lemonade concentrate (I use Nature's best
brand from Aldi's cause it is cheap, Minute Maid is another option)
- 1 lb Extra light or Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract
- 2.5 lbs corn sugar
- Yeast nutrient
- Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne Yeast (THIS YEAST IS VERY IMPORTANT, OTHER CHAMPAGNE YEASTS HAVE A HARD TIME WITH THE ACIDITY OF THE LEMONADE, BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE YEAST PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS BELOW AS WELL)
- Potassium Sorbate
- Appx 8 cups regular cane sugar
Rehydrate yeast:
Rehydrate yeast by combining 1 cup warm water with 1 tbsp of lemonade concentrate and just a couple yeast nutrient pellets with Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast, Allow to sit for at least a half hour. You should see vigorous action in the yeast when ready.
Brewing the wort:
In a 2.5+ gal brew pot, combine 1 lb Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract (DME) with 3 lbs corn sugar to appx 2 gal boiling water. This will give you appx 9% abv when finished. To increase alcohol, increase sugar and/or DME, use less sugar to lower ABV). Stir until completely disolved Remove from heat, and 7 tsp yeast nutrient.
Combine wort in large plastic fermentor bucket with 10 cans lemonade concentrate, and enough cold water to fill bucket to bring total volume to 6 gal. Make sure temp is between 65 - 75 degrees, and take initial hydrometer reading. Pitch in your yeast starter. Put lid and airlock on fermentor and allow to ferment at room temp.
Fermentation:
You should see steady fermentation within 2 -3 days, that will last 1-2 weeks. Allow to ferment completely out before attempting to bottle.
Bottling day:
Take hydrometer reading. You should be right around .998 – 1.002 specific gravity.
In a large sauce pan, add 8 cups cane sugar (or to taste), 2 cans Lemonade concentrate, and 3 cups water and, stirring continuously, bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and disolve 3.5 tsp potassium sorbate. Add lemon/sugar/sorbate solution to a 7 gal bottling bucket. Rack fermented lemonade from carboy into bottling bucket with the sorbate solution, stirring thoroughly.
You can bottle in beer or wine bottles, or you can keg. Even with the sorbate, you will probably get a little bit of carbonation as it sits, but it is usually not enough to pop a cork. I usually keg, and force carbonate.
It is ready to drink on bottling day.
Ingredients (makes 6-7 gallons):
- 12 cans preservative-free Lemonade concentrate (I use Nature's best
brand from Aldi's cause it is cheap, Minute Maid is another option)
- 1 lb Extra light or Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract
- 2.5 lbs corn sugar
- Yeast nutrient
- Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne Yeast (THIS YEAST IS VERY IMPORTANT, OTHER CHAMPAGNE YEASTS HAVE A HARD TIME WITH THE ACIDITY OF THE LEMONADE, BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE YEAST PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS BELOW AS WELL)
- Potassium Sorbate
- Appx 8 cups regular cane sugar
Rehydrate yeast:
Rehydrate yeast by combining 1 cup warm water with 1 tbsp of lemonade concentrate and just a couple yeast nutrient pellets with Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast, Allow to sit for at least a half hour. You should see vigorous action in the yeast when ready.
Brewing the wort:
In a 2.5+ gal brew pot, combine 1 lb Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract (DME) with 3 lbs corn sugar to appx 2 gal boiling water. This will give you appx 9% abv when finished. To increase alcohol, increase sugar and/or DME, use less sugar to lower ABV). Stir until completely disolved Remove from heat, and 7 tsp yeast nutrient.
Combine wort in large plastic fermentor bucket with 10 cans lemonade concentrate, and enough cold water to fill bucket to bring total volume to 6 gal. Make sure temp is between 65 - 75 degrees, and take initial hydrometer reading. Pitch in your yeast starter. Put lid and airlock on fermentor and allow to ferment at room temp.
Fermentation:
You should see steady fermentation within 2 -3 days, that will last 1-2 weeks. Allow to ferment completely out before attempting to bottle.
Bottling day:
Take hydrometer reading. You should be right around .998 – 1.002 specific gravity.
In a large sauce pan, add 8 cups cane sugar (or to taste), 2 cans Lemonade concentrate, and 3 cups water and, stirring continuously, bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and disolve 3.5 tsp potassium sorbate. Add lemon/sugar/sorbate solution to a 7 gal bottling bucket. Rack fermented lemonade from carboy into bottling bucket with the sorbate solution, stirring thoroughly.
You can bottle in beer or wine bottles, or you can keg. Even with the sorbate, you will probably get a little bit of carbonation as it sits, but it is usually not enough to pop a cork. I usually keg, and force carbonate.
It is ready to drink on bottling day.
bknifefight
Well-Known Member
I'm sure it will work out for you. This is an award winning recipe! 
bk0
Well-Known Member
IXIboneheadIXI
Well-Known Member
also wouldnt making lemonade, with or without other fruit, than adding rum or vodka to it and then carbonating it in a keg pretty much produce the same thing as mikes hard lemonade? thats all that crap taste like to me, lemonade with a cheap horrible liquor like smirnoff
bk0
Well-Known Member
Mike's hard lemonade is a very bland, tasteless beer (probably mostly adjuncts with a tiny amount of pale malt and no hops) with artificial lemon flavoring, artificial colors and sweetener added after fermentation is complete. It's not much different from a wine cooler.
budman8773
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the hardest part about this recipe is trying not to drink it all before it's completely done fermenting lol.
bknifefight
Well-Known Member
Not quite that much, I usually do a few small dashes out of the container of nutrient.
Also, to answer oscarjets' question, yes you could! You could use any of the concentrates and make something similiar to wine coolers if you wanted to. The acidity of the lemonade is quite a bit so if you used maybe a fruit punch, it wouldnt be as much. Either way, having healthy yeast is important in any fermentation so I would still "prep" the yeast as in the recipe.
I tried something that worked great with my recent batch of hard lemonade. So I thought I'd pass it on.
Originally, I wanted to flavor part of the batch with hibiscus. I tasted Revolution Brewery's Rosa a few weeks ago, and loved the hibiscus flavor. So why not try it with my latest batch of hard lemonade, especially since I was out of town and left it in the primary too long (got a bit yeasty tasting).
I bought a pound of hibiscus flowers and heated about half of them with three cups of water. I let it come to a boil for about one minute, and then turned off the heat and let it cool to room temp. I put it in the fridge for a few hours. Then I racked my primary into a gallon jug (filled it to about 90%), and then added a half cup or so of the hibiscus concentrate. There was still alot of yeast suspended in the liquid. I figured I'd rack the mixture after I mixed it and let it sit for a while.
And then an amazing thing happened. In about 30 minutes, the yeast completely clumped (flocullated) and settled to the bottom. I was floored. I quickly racked off the cleared lemonade on top into a clean container, and then used the remaining concentrate to clarify the rest of the skeeter pee I had made in another container. It worked there too.
I didn't taste a strong hibiscus flavor, but adding the concentrate was an excellent way to clarify the lemonade and made it a pretty red/pink color.
Just thought I'd pass this along. Next time, I'm going to do one of two things (in addition to racking out of my primary sooner). First, I may use less concentrate to just get the cool color. Second, I'm going to try a commercial concentrate to see if I can't get an actual hibiscus flavor. I might even put the flowers directly into the secondary for a few days to see if that works.
I'd welcome anyone with any ideas to let me know if they have had any similar experiences.
Originally, I wanted to flavor part of the batch with hibiscus. I tasted Revolution Brewery's Rosa a few weeks ago, and loved the hibiscus flavor. So why not try it with my latest batch of hard lemonade, especially since I was out of town and left it in the primary too long (got a bit yeasty tasting).
I bought a pound of hibiscus flowers and heated about half of them with three cups of water. I let it come to a boil for about one minute, and then turned off the heat and let it cool to room temp. I put it in the fridge for a few hours. Then I racked my primary into a gallon jug (filled it to about 90%), and then added a half cup or so of the hibiscus concentrate. There was still alot of yeast suspended in the liquid. I figured I'd rack the mixture after I mixed it and let it sit for a while.
And then an amazing thing happened. In about 30 minutes, the yeast completely clumped (flocullated) and settled to the bottom. I was floored. I quickly racked off the cleared lemonade on top into a clean container, and then used the remaining concentrate to clarify the rest of the skeeter pee I had made in another container. It worked there too.
I didn't taste a strong hibiscus flavor, but adding the concentrate was an excellent way to clarify the lemonade and made it a pretty red/pink color.
Just thought I'd pass this along. Next time, I'm going to do one of two things (in addition to racking out of my primary sooner). First, I may use less concentrate to just get the cool color. Second, I'm going to try a commercial concentrate to see if I can't get an actual hibiscus flavor. I might even put the flowers directly into the secondary for a few days to see if that works.
I'd welcome anyone with any ideas to let me know if they have had any similar experiences.
MoBrewing
Member
I read through these instructions and got a little lost, when did the lemonade go into carboy? It ferments in plastic fermenting bucket correct? So total time making to drinking this is only 1-2 weeks? Sorry if these are dumb questions I'm new to brewing, just made my first batch of wine last week.
bknifefight
Well-Known Member
The directions are very clear. You add most of it initially and a little more when back sweetening
saramc
Well-Known Member
jmg727....you can defintely pick up more hibiscus in this by also adding flowers covered in just enough steaming water to soften them, smallest amount possible, to the secondary.
I also like to pack a glass jar with the nicest looking whole hibiscus flowers, preferably closed buds, and cover with simple syrup and keep in refrig. Place one flower in bottom of wine glass before filling with wine.
I also like to pack a glass jar with the nicest looking whole hibiscus flowers, preferably closed buds, and cover with simple syrup and keep in refrig. Place one flower in bottom of wine glass before filling with wine.
MoBrewing
Member
I think you misunderstood my question, you say to rack fermented lemonade from carboy, when did it go in the carboy? From what I read the lemonade fermented in a bucket, when did it go on carboy?
jlh42581
Active Member
Its probably a word mixup, doesnt matter if you ferment in a bucket or a carboy, just pick something relative to the size of the batch and roll. I ferment my 1 gallon batches in glass carboys and my 5 gallons in a bucket then transfer to better bottle secondaries.
MoBrewing
Member
When do you transfer to secondary? Also after you add the lemon/sugar/sorbate solution with the lemonade is it ready to bottle right away, or does it have to sit awhile?
jlh42581
Active Member
I went to secondary with mine about 3 days after active fermentation stopped. I sorbated it, backsweetened then let it sit for another 2-3 days to make sure it wasnt going to carb up again and then bottled. It was no more than 3 weeks start to finish. However, I felt like mine needed to age. I drank one bottle that sat for a three weeks and mixed it with another can of concentrate. It was really sour but good, I actually acid burned my tongue. Anyhow, I havent touched it since. I have a small sample sitting in my fridge in a stainless water bottle. Tasted that the other day and I am not sure if its the stainless, time or what but its getting better for sure.
Everyone says drink skeeter pee young, but this isnt exactly skeeter pee and to me, time does it a favor.
Everyone says drink skeeter pee young, but this isnt exactly skeeter pee and to me, time does it a favor.
jlh42581
Active Member
I will say, next time I might let it sit longer on the yeast and see if they clean it up a little more.
saramc
Well-Known Member
MoBrewing said:
saramc
Well-Known Member
imthatguy said:
If you use lemon juice or concentrate you will need to augment with sugar, preferably an invert simple syrup, simply because the lemonade concentrate already has sugar in it. Otherwise you will have a low ACV.
MoBrewing
Member
Thanks for all the help, definitely going to try this recipe.
bknifefight
Well-Known Member
Lemonade is cloudy to begin with. Follow the recipe as is and don't use secondary. Add the mixture on bottling day, as it is listed in the instructions under "bottling day." Everything will be fine.
Once you do this recipe, step out of the box. My husband WAS a hard core beer drinker, and I, a hardcore whiskey drinker. We quit for a while, then started making wine because I couldn't possibly make any more jelly, to consume in this lifetime. Keep good notes and try different combinations. He won't drink anything other than homemade wine, neither will I. It is a good hobby with excellent rewards. You might find that your husband will try anything, and will even drink the most horrid mistakes!
CBelli
Beer Lover
8 cups of sugar? will this not make the bottles explode !!!
When I bottle beer 3/4 of a cup is enough.
I would worry that you will get secondary fermentation?
how about using non fermentable sugar?
bknifefight
Well-Known Member
The 8 cups of sugar are not to prime the bottles, it's to back sweeten the lemonade. Read the ENTIRE bottling day instructions.
After sorbating and sweetening you are always suppose to wait a week or two to make sure fermentation doesn't kick back up.
Nike_Eayrs
Well-Known Member
So having stopped fermentation, will the bottles carb up? I've only ever brewed beer, so this is kind of new to me. The lady would totally dig this! Cheers.
No, you will probably have a slightly bubbly mouth feel from the co2 still in solution but it won't be carbonated like beer unless you force carb it.
I'm two weeks into this recipe. Fermentation took about a week, then I sweetened and it's been sitting and clearing for another week. Tastes a bit yeasty. Is it just too soon, or did I mess it up somehow?
Only deviation from the recipe was I replaced the 2.5 lb corn sugar with 2 lb cane sugar.
Thoughts?
bknifefight
Well-Known Member
I have never had it with a yeasty character, but then again I give everything AT LEAST 3 weeks in the primary. Give it time, it is still very young at two weeks.
nappyvalley
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I just started a batch of hard leomonade I used more sugar and distillers yeast. The fernentation started immediately after putting in the yeast.
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