Newbie - Hard lemonade idea

Hello!

I am working on a lemonade recipe and i would love to have several types, (strawberry lemonade, blueberry lemonade, etc) I want to have a summer BBQ (yes im planning WAY ahead) and have my 3 mr beer kegs full of different lemonades. so i dont need it carbed.

My question is this,

Could i just make a hard lemonade, and because I dont want to carb, kill the yeast by either cold crashing or chemicals, and then backsweeten with the flavor concentrate that i want to add? would that give enough flavor to both sweeten and make it a distinguishable flavor.

I plan on only using the mr beer supplies to serve as spigots for the different flavors so i'd like to brew all of the lemonade in my 5 gal carboy (or 2), But would this produce a sweet hard lemonade with different flavors?

I have never done this, but I would imagine that people would be able to tell the difference. Not sure how strong the flavor would be, but maybe somebody here has done this.

Summer is a long ways off so you have plenty of time to experiment. Once you have your base lemonade made, do some small scale measured samples to find the ratio you like.

Maybe this is dumb to think, but is lemonade too acidic for yeast to really grow in?

i always make hard lemonade for warm months, and here in texas, we have plenty. my recipe is:

11 cans frozen lemonade (no preservatives, like great value brand from walmart)
4 lbs regular sugar
montrachet wine yeast
add water to make 6 gallons

let it sit, no aging needed after 30 day fermentation, 14%, but tastes almost like regular lemonade. i make it every spring, summer, and fall here in texas. if you want to make it still instead of sparkling, add a campden tablet ( from a homebrew store ) when bottling or kegging. you can also add 1 more can when bottling or kegging to add flavor. cut down on the sugar to cut down on the alcohol content

Any idea on how to scale that down to a 1 gallon batch?

freeradical said:

Maybe this is dumb to think, but is lemonade too acidic for yeast to really grow in?

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From what i've read you make a starter and slowly introduce the lemonade to it. I've heard of it taking upwards of 4 hours to make a starter for it. But if its good it's worth the wait!

freeradical said:

Maybe this is dumb to think, but is lemonade too acidic for yeast to really grow in?

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Search "Skeeter Pee" on this forum. It's done all of the time. I just started a batch on Nottingham yeast cake from a beer brew. I made a 5 gal batch in a 6.5 gal bucket. The next morning it was foaming over the top. I guess it was fermenting quite well.

lumpher said:

i always make hard lemonade for warm months, and here in texas, we have plenty. my recipe is:

11 cans frozen lemonade (no preservatives, like great value brand from walmart)
4 lbs regular sugar
montrachet wine yeast
add water to make 6 gallons

let it sit, no aging needed after 30 day fermentation, 14%, but tastes almost like regular lemonade.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure how to do the math but 14% seem kind of high for 4 lbs sugar in 6 gal batch? If I remember my skeeter pee recipe correctly it calls for 6 lb sugar in 5 gal with projected alcohol around 10%. Or do those cans of frozen concentrate have a lot of sugar? My recipe calls for Realemon concentrate which is unsweetened.

bhambrewer said:

Any idea on how to scale that down to a 1 gallon batch?

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Divide by 6

roadymi said:

I'm not sure how to do the math but 14% seem kind of high for 4 lbs sugar in 6 gal batch? If I remember my skeeter pee recipe correctly it calls for 6 lb sugar in 5 gal with projected alcohol around 10%. Or do those cans of frozen concentrate have a lot of sugar? My recipe calls for Realemon concentrate which is unsweetened.

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If my memory serves me correctly, normal lemonade concentrate contains a fair amount of sugar itself. A quick online search, some concentrate lemonades are at 16g. (.6oz) of sugar per 250ml serving, so in a 5gal batch made from concentrate you are looking at 3.2lbs +/- of sugar in the concentrate alone. Not exact but gives you a rough idea on sugar content, as I am sure different brand have different sugar contents.

lumpher said:

i always make hard lemonade for warm months, and here in texas, we have plenty. my recipe is:

11 cans frozen lemonade (no preservatives, like great value brand from walmart)
4 lbs regular sugar
montrachet wine yeast
add water to make 6 gallons

let it sit, no aging needed after 30 day fermentation, 14%, but tastes almost like regular lemonade. i make it every spring, summer, and fall here in texas. if you want to make it still instead of sparkling, add a campden tablet ( from a homebrew store ) when bottling or kegging. you can also add 1 more can when bottling or kegging to add flavor. cut down on the sugar to cut down on the alcohol content

Click to expand...

Alright. I just got all the ingredients to make this. SWMBO wants me to cut down the alcohol so I might only add 3 pounds of sugar. She's terrified of it tasting like rocket fuel if it's over 9%. So here it goes, I'll post in about a month to let you know.

Why don't you just do a gravity check before adding the sugar? That way you can see where it'll likely be before it's to high for your wife.

Bush_84 said:

Why don't you just do a gravity check before adding the sugar? That way you can see where it'll likely be before it's to high for your wife.

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I was going to do that, but I like the idea of a high abv drink. So I "accidentally" put the whole 4 pounds in and told her "oops! I guess we will cut yours with regular lemonade" she seemed alright with that idea.

On a side note I did a gravity reading and after I adjusted for temp it came out to 1.100. So that's a possible abv of 14% but that's if it ferments fully right?

http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/

That has been handy for me, and that appears correct.

Thanks for the recipt. I'm going to give it a try. Would that be one packet of montrachet?

SchruteFarms said:

Thanks for the recipt. I'm going to give it a try. Would that be one packet of montrachet?

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One packet with one hell of a starter. mine had an OG of 1.100 pretty much killed my yeast. I haven't had a chance to retry the recipe but im going to this weekend. Im starting my starter tonight. As long as my sons head cold isnt making him a living terror to everyone.

Can someone tell me the steps to creating a starter? I'd like to get a couple gallons of this going for spring/summer.

lumpher said:

i always make hard lemonade for warm months, and here in texas, we have plenty. my recipe is:

11 cans frozen lemonade (no preservatives, like great value brand from walmart)
4 lbs regular sugar
montrachet wine yeast
add water to make 6 gallons

let it sit, no aging needed after 30 day fermentation, 14%, but tastes almost like regular lemonade. i make it every spring, summer, and fall here in texas. if you want to make it still instead of sparkling, add a campden tablet ( from a homebrew store ) when bottling or kegging. you can also add 1 more can when bottling or kegging to add flavor. cut down on the sugar to cut down on the alcohol content

Click to expand...

Hi All, started brewing this recipe 2 weeks ago, it did start fermenting, air lock was bubbling. I did a hydrometer reading last night and it has gone down only a minimal amount. Tastes very sweet still.
I guess my question is, should I just leave it for the 2 more weeks stated or should I re-pitch the yeast?
Thanks for your help!!!1

Johnyb73 said:

Hi All, started brewing this recipe 2 weeks ago, it did start fermenting, air lock was bubbling. I did a hydrometer reading last night and it has gone down only a minimal amount. Tastes very sweet still.
I guess my question is, should I just leave it for the 2 more weeks stated or should I re-pitch the yeast?
Thanks for your help!!!1

Click to expand...

Maybe gently stir it? I'd let it sit for another week. I just got mine going about 2 weeks ago and my airlock is still bubbling away. I haven't cracked her open for a test yet though. I ended up using lalvin1118 yeast slurry from an apple wine to get mine going though.

iadubber said:

Can someone tell me the steps to creating a starter? I'd like to get a couple gallons of this going for spring/summer.

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To make a stater for hard lemonade, which is HIGHLY recommended:

Make sure that everything your are using is sanitized either by boiling or with commercial sanitizer.

Go ahead and mix some of the lemonade with a little of the sugar you will be using for your recipe (this is called must).

Take one or two cups of this must and put in a large bowl or measuring cup.

Add a tiny amount yeast nutrient or yeast energizer.

Let this liquid come to room temperature, and add your yeast.

Once it starts to foam, add a bit more of the must.

Do this about 3-4 times by adding a little more must each time to adjust your yeast to the acidic environment of the lemonade.

Add some more yeast nutrient and when it looks nice and foamy, pitch the yeast starter into the carboy/bucket with the remaining must.

Good Luck.