time to bottle lemonade?

Sorry this is a lemonade question, but I figure cider, lemonade what's the difference? They're both fruit right? Anyway, my lemonade is currently bubbling at a rate of once every 23-27 seconds; however, it still tastes a bit sweet-ish (probably because in addition to the lemonade concentrate, I added 4lbs of sugar. I know, it was way too much...). If I bottle now, I'm pretty sure it will carbonate, but will I be making bottle bombs? I'm using Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast, which is a pretty hardy yeast. Is there a point where yeast sort of peters out and stops fermenting, even if all the sugar isn't fermented yet? Anyone care to speculate and share their thoughts?

On that yeast, it will pretty much eat every bit of the sugar that you have in there. I don't know how much sugar you added, but I've made an 11% abv cider using it. so it can handle some pretty high alcohol levels. It won't be very sweet when you're done unless you add some nonfermentable sweetener. (splenda, etc.) Let me know how it turns out. I'm interested in hearing if you have any lemon taste left.

I think (but am not 100% sure) that yeast's alcohol tolerance is 18%. So, your lemonade will finish dry, probably with high alcohol content.

I liked my hard lemonade a bit sweetened, so I bottled some dry (which my husband likes), and sweetened some.

If you want your lemonade as is, I'd do this: stop fermentation by adding potassium sulfite and sorbate. I think it's 1 tsp. sulfite (or 1 campden tablet) per gallon, dissolved in a little warm water. The sorbate is 2/3 teaspoon per 5 gallons (so do a little math if you made less). Dissolve that, add to your lemonade and let sit a few days. Check s.g. if you have a hydrometer to ensure fermentation stopped, or watch the airlock. If fermentation stopped you can bottle. (Note, this will result in a sweeter lemonade, but no bubbles.)

If you want carbonated lemonade, you can't stop fermentation that way as that it won't carbonate. But if you bottle now without stabilizing, you will probably have some bottle bombs, depending on your s.g.

Lorena

thanks to lorenae's help i did not dump my lemonade batch when it would not start fermenting on aug 7.
now i can't wait for it to stop.
i am still getting 2 bubbles per minute and my gravity is down to 1.010 from 1.073, i also used lavlin ec1118
(8.1%abv)
if and when it finally stops fermenting i will sweeten to taste with lactose and prime with dextrose at bottling as i want a sparkling lemonade. the lemon flavour is definitely still there.
thanks again everyone who helped me out back in august

Hi Rod-

You're welcome- now, how does it taste? I started sneaking tastes out of my lemonade when it hit 1.020. I thought it was great. Good thing I still had 3 gallons left to bottle! I'd siphon off a pitcher or two when friends stopped over. Definitely my favorite summer drink!

I want to make my first cider fairly soon- I'll be asking all the questions then.

Lorena

i tried a sample when it was 1.020 and it tasted good
at 1.010 it is becoming sour so i think when fermentation is finally done i will have to use the lactose to reduce the pucker power.

Thanks for everyone's input so far. I'm trying to stablize the lemonade, but so far it's been unsuccessful. I've put 3 1/2 teaspoons of potassium sorbate in my 5 gal batch, but it's had a minimal effect. After 3 days, it's still bubbling every 45-50 seconds. How much is too much when adding sorbate? I'm hesitant to add campden tablets, since I've heard it can add a chemically taste. Should I add more sorbate or should I bite the bullet and add some campden tablets?

Definately don't use more sorbate- 2/3 tsp is enough for 5 gallons. However, sorbate works in conjuction with sulfite (campden), so it's not really effective without it. I personally think sorbate leaves more of a taste to iwines than campden. Campden has a sulfur odor, but that disapates. Don't add anything else to your lemonade yet, until you know where it's at.

What is the s.g. right now? And what did it start at? Does it still taste sweet enough to you?

We can help you halt this fermentation if that's what you want.

Lorena

Ah, this sorbate/sulfite tag team thing is something I haven't heard before. The guys at the LHBS never mentioned adding sulfites at the end, only the sorbate. Regarding the gravities, I didn't have my wine thief at that point so I didn't take measurements, but according to my taste test it's delicious. I like where it's at right now. I would like to halt the fermentation so I can bottle and store it. What's a good way to go from here? I already have 3.5 teaspoons of potassium sorbate in there. My campden tablets are 550mg each. How much would you recommend to halt fermentation?

Well, the usual amount is 1 campden tablet per gallon, dissolved in a little warm water. I usually put my water in the microwave, and then smush up the tablets and add them and stir until completely dissolved. Do NOT put this near your face as the sulfur smell will about knock you over. (Don't ask me how I know this- just trust me on this one!).

Some thoughts here, though-
champagne yeast has an alcohol tolerance of around 18%. It still might not want to quit since you added alot of sugar. But this is a good bet. Secondly, if you kill the fermentation now, it'll taste really good but will not carbonate. It will be pretty flat but tasty lemonade.

If you have no way of knowing the s.g., you really shouldn't bottle until fermentation is done because you'd probably have bottle bombs. If you could take the s.g. now, that would still help because we'd know how close you are to being finished.

Just my .02.

Lorena

Well, when fermenting fruit juices, what's the usual order of adding the sulphites and sorbates?

My s.g. is 1.030 (I hope I said that right, I'm new to taking measurements). It still tastes pretty sweet, but one can tell it has alcohol in it. My tongue says it's perfect. So how do I kill and stabilize this sucker to prepare for bottling? I know it won't be sparkling, but that's ok. This is my first batch of lemonade and I'll eventually learn.

Well, 1.030 is pretty sweet. That sounds good! The fermentation might be tough to halt, but it's worth doing. I'm assuming that it's nice and clear, but you've never said so. If it's not clear, it needs more time.

Since you've already added sorbate, no need to do that now. Dissolve one campden tablet per gallon in some water. It helps if you crush the tablets first, and heat the water up in the microwave. Remember, this is going to SMELL so keep it away from your face. Put that into the clean carboy, and rack the lemonade into it. Put the racking tube tip at the bottom of the carboy so that the lemonde coming in swirls around with the sulfite mix. (That'll mix it without oxidizing.). Put the airlock back on and signs of fermentation should stop soon, if all goes well. Might take a couple of days, though.

Usually, I add sulfite at the very beginning of making my fruit musts, and then every other racking and at bottling.

Since you've already added tons of sorbate, this might be all you need to do. Let me know how this goes!

Lorena

Hmm... it's not clear. It looks like what normal lemonade looks like, ie. cloudy. In all honesty, I'm making this batch from Aldi's lemonade concentrate, so I don't know how much that affects things. The entire batch is going to cost me ~$8-10, so I figured it was a good way to learn how to ferment fruit stuff. I'll let you know how things progress. Could you elaborate on how you sulfite at bottling? What's the time between when you sulfite and when you actually bottle?

I sulfite at every other racking, and then when I bottle, I put the dissolved sulfite into the new carboy and rack into it. I also add the sorbate then. I wait a few days to make sure fermentation has stopped, then bottle.

When I've done this, though, the wine and/or lemonade has already been perfectly clear. Are you still getting sediment at the bottom? I have a feeling that you tried to stabilize too soon and that's why the sorbate didn't halt the fermentation. If you have sediment on the bottom, you should go ahead and rack and add a little sulfite. You shouldn't bottle, though, until fermentation stops. By the way, my lemonde was so good that I siphoned off some to drink in 1/2 gallon pitchers, then racked the rest. I started with 6 gallons, racked to a 5 gallon carboy, and then to a 3 gallon carboy- so I only actually bottled about 2 gallons!

It was a month from the time I put it into secondary until I drank some, and about a month longer to have it ready to bottle.

I didn't use Aldi's lemonade, but I did use the .99 cent stuff. It was fine.

Now that you've added the sorbate, I'm not sure how it will clear. But you might want to rack it and give it a little more time. That's probably what I would do.

Lorena

When yours clears, is it really perfectly clear? As in, can you see straight through it like yellow water? Or is it hazy? Mine is always hazy (cider too when I make it), with no sediment floating in it. There was a light coating of sediment on the bottom of the old carboy when i re-racked. I racked it to tertiary last night with the sulfites and already the fermentation is slowing noticeably. Hopefully, this slowing will continue until stoppage. I'm glad to hear that other people get impatient too. I've already drank 1/2 gallon.

Actually, I've never made cider (yet) but my wines and lemonades and meads are perfectly clear. I mean, I could read a newspaper through them. I do wait a long time for them to clear, though.

Glad to hear that your fermentation is slowing down. And also that you're drinking it anyway! This has got to be the world's best hobby......

Lorena