Good Hard lemonade

Enough lemonade concentrate(check label to make sure there is no potassium sorbate) and water to make 5 gallons. (10 cans)

2 pounds sugar, 1 pound ultra light dme

(more or less depending on target alcohol percentage)

1 pack champagne yeast

Ferment, add potassium sorbate when finished gravity is reached, enjoy.

This stuff is awesome, and the ladies love it.

The way you make your recipe....how long is your fermentation process? And as far as water to concentrate, is it as directed on the concentrate's label?

Ive had it finish anywhere from 5 days to 3 weeks. Fermentation normally starts out slow because of the high acidity.

Using a hydrometer, Adjust the amount of sugar and water to get your target original and finished gravity, to control your alcohol percentage. And add potassium sorbate to stop fermentation once done.

I try to keep the alcohol between 5-8% (depending how the wifes mood has been)

Tastes great, especially on hot days.

I mix it with the Hard tea I make to get a hard Arnold Palmer. Nothing is better on a hot day than a sweaty Hard Arnold Palmer

This can also be done in those 1 gallon glass wine jugs. Of course you'll need to adjust the recipe.

Any other questions just ask

If you use a yeast starter and some yeast nutrient you can get it start fermentation quicker.

I always start the yeast in a mixture of water,sugar and a small amount of the lemonade so that the acidity is less of a shock to the yeast. May not make a difference.

What do you think would happen if you used bottled lemon juice?

Bosh said:

What do you think would happen if you used bottled lemon juice?

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Check the label, if there is any sorbates or sulfites, its no good.

Just had a glass with lunch, it was good! 8% and I cant taste the alcohol at all.

USF...

Does it taste like a malt beverage, or more like lemonade? I was hoping for more of a malt beverage taste

??? do you use a tart or sweet lemonade??
what brand and type do you use also what yeast???
Thanks
JJ

NYeric said:

USF...

Does it taste like a malt beverage, or more like lemonade? I was hoping for more of a malt beverage taste

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It tastes like lemonade, somewhat sour but you can sweeten it to your own tastes. If you want it more malty add more malt extract, I may go all malt, no sugar in a 1 gallon glass carboy later this week. I have only made it a couple times and I am experimenting with it myself.

I dont like these kind of drinks but this stuff is good!

This was the last recipe i used:

10 cans of minute maid lemonade (no sorbate)

About 4 1/2 gallons water

About 1 1/2 - 2 pounds sugar, 1 pound ultra light dry malt extract, brought it to 1.060 OG.

1 pack champagne yeast. I used redstar, I am sure there are much better strains availiable. If you know of any let me know.

Made the yeast starter and pitched the yeast.

Let ferment for 3 weeks

FG 1.000

It was still somewhat sweet for me, But my fiance adds sugar.


Make it, come up with variations.

Tommorow I am making more. I will not use any sugar this time, just two extra lime concentrate cans and a pound ultra light dry malt. I may also substitute a couple of the lemon juice cans, with orange, grapefruit or some other kind of juice.

My fiance has some strawberry lemonade in a gallon glass jug about ready for bottling I will keep you guys up to date if you'd like on how it comes out.

I can not stress enough how much better this stuff is than any hard lemonade I have bought at the store.

Except for the first batch I made, I used 4 pounds of sugar and it ended up being about 13% alcohol. :cross:



Any questions, just ask. Any feedback, Give it I want to hear it.

This sounds interesting... I have a couple questions

Do you stop it at 1.000 or is that usually just what it ferments out to?
Do you carb it, or serve it still?
Can you share your hard tea recipe?

-S

jaybird said:

??? do you use a tart or sweet lemonade??
what brand and type do you use also what yeast???
Thanks
JJ

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I use minute maid concentrate that comes in the frozen cans. I am sure there is better tasting lemonade out there that can be used, if any one finds it let me know.

Unsweetened lemonade would be good too. My buddy made a gallon jug with 10 fresh squeezed lemons, water, sugar and yeast and it was better than mine.(I like it tart) he did have to use yeast nutrient and it took him awhile to get fermentation started. Most likly caused by the high acidity, and he pitch the dry yeast straight to the lemonade

You can use any kind of juice youd like as long as there is no preservatives or sorbates

Redstar champagne yeast, Ill probably pick up a different brand next time though.

lustreking said:

This sounds interesting... I have a couple questions

Do you stop it at 1.000 or is that usually just what it ferments out to?
Do you carb it, or serve it still?
Can you share your hard tea recipe?

-S

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I stop it at 1.000, it would probably keep going a bit but I rack it to a secondary (to clear it)once its around 1.000.

With the first batch, I added potassium sorbate, to attempt to inhibit further fermentation. It seemed to work however all 5 gallons were gone by the end of the week so i dont know for sure.

I have not carbed it yet but im sure it would be even better that way. If you were to carb it, I would reduce the amount of sugar added and allow it to completely ferment so you dont get any bottle bombs after priming.

I apologize but the tea is a closely guarded family recipe. Not really, I am actually doing a batch of hard tea this week end and I'll post a step by step picture tutorial if youd like. Im "working" right now so i dont have access to my recipe book, but ill get it up asap.

What exactly is potassium sorbate and would I get that at my LHBS..? Is it a necessary ingredient or can it be omitted..?

Potassium sorbate is not necessary if you let it completely ferment.

Ive used it in the past to stop fermentation because I had added way too much sugar and I had reached my f.g.

If you are planning on bottle carbing dont use it. Your yeast will have a hard time fermenting your priming sugar and you will have flats

I might try a batch. Are you using cane sugar or corn sugar?

EdWort said:

I might try a batch. Are you using cane sugar or corn sugar?

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Ive done both, corn sugar tasted a little better. Cane sugar gave it a very slight, strange, aftertaste. Im using cane again though this weekend.

Its worth trying at least 3 it will grow on you

Im currently digging your apple cider

Just curious what the point of adding the dme is for? Is it to add body and maltiness?

I need that hard tea recipe. I love tea.
I might do a 1g batch of this to try it, then if it's good, throw the leftover yeast into the primary and put 5g on top of it.

I did the fresh lemons route with some fresh limes. I added corn sugar, malto-dextrin, yeast nutrient and lactose for sweetening. I didn't have any trouble starting primary fermentation, but I noticed that my ending primary ferm sample was low on lemon taste. I ended up adding concentrate to the secondary for a taste boost, so now I'm going to have to wait longer for the fermentation to stop. But so far so good!

This sounds really good.
I have two questons .
Do you have to use champagne yeast or will brewers yeast be ok.
And should this be done in a open vessle like some wines or closed with an air lock. thanks john.

I've done the primary open, with a dish towel covering it, to allow oxygen to get to it- then done the secondary with an airlock. I've only used wine yeast for this, so I can't tell you about ale yeast in it.

Ok
thank you.

I used Dry Ale yeast. I haven't seen a problem with fermentation. But then again, I haven't actually tasted the finished product yet!

Well i found the champ yeast at my LBS.
Started a batch saturday 3 or 4 weeks i will let you know how it turned out ...

Alright guys, question about your experiences making this. I just made my first batch of Hard Lemonade Saturday. I used Minute Maid and added 2.5 pounds of corn sugar (no malt.) I prepared a starter like many on the boards recommended: Champagne Yeast, Water, Sugar & Yeast Nutrient. Once it was bubbling happily, I added a couple ounces of lemonade every 10 minutes or so for about an hour. When that mixture was very active, I pitched it and that was that. Within a couple hours I had a 1/2 inch layer of bubbles and pulp and the airlock was bubbling once every 30-45 seconds. Now it is 72 hours later and it remains just like that. I've got a thin layer of bubbles and pulp at the top, I'm getting a bubble from my airlock every 40 seconds, and nothing else. Is there anything I can do at this point? Should I give it more time? Add more yeast nutrient and/or yeast?

CAlexander said:

Alright guys, question about your experiences making this. I just made my first batch of Hard Lemonade Saturday. I used Minute Maid and added 2.5 pounds of corn sugar (no malt.) I prepared a starter like many on the boards recommended: Champagne Yeast, Water, Sugar & Yeast Nutrient. Once it was bubbling happily, I added a couple ounces of lemonade every 10 minutes or so for about an hour. When that mixture was very active, I pitched it and that was that. Within a couple hours I had a 1/2 inch layer of bubbles and pulp and the airlock was bubbling once every 30-45 seconds. Now it is 72 hours later and it remains just like that. I've got a thin layer of bubbles and pulp at the top, I'm getting a bubble from my airlock every 40 seconds, and nothing else. Is there anything I can do at this point? Should I give it more time? Add more yeast nutrient and/or yeast?

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It sounds like it's fermenting. Wine doesn't usually get explosive, just bubbles along until it's done. When your s.g. doesn't drop any more, it's done! At this point, I'd leave it alone.

Yooper Chick said:

It sounds like it's fermenting. Wine doesn't usually get explosive, just bubbles along until it's done. When your s.g. doesn't drop any more, it's done! At this point, I'd leave it alone.

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Ditto. Let it sit doing its job. At day 5 or 6, take a SG reading. Take another one a day later. Just remember to sanitize and be careful. My primary went 9 days for the hard lemonade. It was ready at 8, but I couldn't rack over to secondary on that day. Currently in my secondary I have a small layer of bubbles/pulp mass at the top with a steady rate of bubbling (not vigorous, but its going). Hope that helps...

Thanks for the advice. I took a reading last night (as I was brewing and had everything sanitized anyway I figured what the hell,) which was 3 days, and had a reading of 1.070. The OG was 1.076, so it's fermenting, albeit a little slowly. I'll take another one tomorrow (day 5) just to make sure it's at least steadily fermenting.

Things seem to be taking a turn for the worse. After the reading of 1.070 last Tuesday, I took another reading on Friday. Unfortunately it hadn't budged from 1.070. It was a lot fizzier, however. I let it go and took another one today (3 days later) and it had only moved the smallest amount, down to maybe 1.068-1.069. Still fizzy, though.

Thoughts? It's now been 10 days and I've only gone from 1.076-1.069. Somethings gotta give. Any help appreciated

Do you have it in a bucket, or a carboy? If it's in a bucket, give it a great big stir a couple of times a day, stirring so it gets lots and lots of aeration. Cover it with a towel to keep bugs out of it but to allow oxygen to get in it. Keep it at 70-72 degrees if you can. Add some yeast nutrient.

Check the s.g. daily, and if it stops completely, start another yeast starter.

Edit- go ahead and start another yeast starter now. Rehydrate the yeast as the package directions state, adding a pinch of yeast nutrient. After a little while, add a small amount of your must to the starter, diluted in some water. An hour later, do that again. After you have a quart or so of starter and it's going, then add a small amount of must to it. Keep doing that over a day or two until you have a gallon or so going then dump that in the rest of the batch.

Thanks for the advice. My LHBS is closed today so I'll give it some good shakes (it's in a carboy) and leave it open, covered with a towel. I'll also add a little bit more yeast nutrient.

Tomorrow I'll pick up another package of yeast and do the rest. Thanks again.

After shaking the carboy, adding nutrient and leaving it covered with a towel, 24 hours later it is now frothing merrily! Thanks a ton!

Glad to hear it!

Hi,

I am looking for a place to get my hands on Lemonade Concentrate in the UK (or Ireland). Anyone any ideas where to get this? Or what I can substitute it with?

James.

kouphax said:

Hi,

I am looking for a place to get my hands on Lemonade Concentrate in the UK (or Ireland). Anyone any ideas where to get this? Or what I can substitute it with?

James.

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You can use fresh lemons and corn sugar. I used 16 lemons and 6 .lbs of corn sugar as the base, although this did end up low on the lemon taste scale, I had to add concentrate to the secondary. Anyway, the recipe I adapted from called for 4-5 .lbs of corn sugar and 12-24 lemons. I'd up the lemon count to 24 if I did it this way again.

As an update, I grabbed a sample last night from my lemonade, its been three weeks in secondary. The SG is still a little high, higher than I want it. I'm going wait a couple of days and see where its at. I let wifey try the sample and she...well...it wasn't constructive criticism. Kept saying it was gross, needed to be sweetened and tasted like a bad lemon. I have never eaten a bad lemon before, I'm not sure of the taste! I thought it tasted fine. Anyway, the non-beer drinkers that I made this for will probably want it sweeter...hate when she's right. Anyway, I am going to bottle it so I need the yeast to be active. I have read the threads on Splenda, any thoughts? Its a five gallon batch and I don't want it to be pure sugary tasting!! I think if it was sweeter wifey would enjoy...

Brilliant thanks. I'll bear that in mind.

Is this a regular on tap for anyone? I would be interested in trying this and the hard tea (recipe?)

I have a few questions because this is only my second time brewing anything.

First, can u use carbonation drops for priming the bottles?

Also, is one packet of redstar champagne yeast enough?

Lastly, do you think that 2 lbs of sugar and one lb of dme will be too much if I am going to ferment it completely out?

My target % would be between 6% and 8%

Also I live in an isolated area, so is it possible to make a yeast starter without yeast nutrients? I live over an hour from my lhbs and i really would not want to make that trip again.

Yes you can use carbonation drops, but many people claim that one is not enough and use two for this type of recipe (ciders and what not) So you may need to experiment to find your recipe.

! packet should be enough yeast for 5-6 gallons

To know how much sugar to add, you really need to use a hydrometer. This way you can adjust the OG to something that will lead to 6-8% alcohol.

USFBull said:

Tastes great, especially on hot days.

I mix it with the Hard tea I make to get a hard Arnold Palmer. Nothing is better on a hot day than a sweaty Hard Arnold Palmer

Any other questions just ask

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The mixture of hard lemonade and hard tea is known as a Tom Arnold, and I don't think a hard sweaty Tom Arnold is good on a hot day.