Full Hard Lemonade recipe

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Yeah, I used the lavlin1118. Will have to switch it up next time, also have a lot of sediment in bottom of each bottle, is this normal. It doesn't seem to be settling out very good, but I can avoid it with a slow pour.
 
I had a lot of sediment at first too. Now I cold crash for a few days before bottling. It really helps reduce the crud at the bottom of the bottle.
 
I kegged mine, put it into the fridge for a day then put gelatin in to fin it. I let it sit for another couple days. Today I'll clean a new keg, add the sorbate/sweetener and rack the, hopefully, clear lemonade over it.

I'll let you know how well the gelatin did. I've had amazing results with it for beer. The beer came out absolutely crystal clear like it had been filtered. I'm not expecting those results, but I'm hoping.
 
My panty losing lemonade has finally been racked over the sweetener/sorbate. I used gelatin and it didn't make it crystal clear, but it was pretty clear. I think half of the haE is from the added 2 cans for sweetening (there's also a lot of pulp from them too, but that should drop out in a few days)

I did a raspberry lemonade, so I used two cans of raspberry lemonade with only 4 cups sugar. I can't imagine how sweet any more would be. 4 seemed like plenty.

It's going to be a hit. And it's way better than any mikes lemonade I've had. But with twice the ABV and half the sugar, how can it not be?

I did use 1118, but I don't get any wine notes at all. It's tart and sweet but not excessively. It does have some heat, but I bet a few weeks in a keg, it'll mellow out.

I know I'll be bombarded with requests to keep this stuff around.
 
Started a 5 gal batch last night late. OG: 1.072. Already bubbling when I got up this morning. Will force carb when the time comes. Looking forward to this one.
 
I actually think the gelatin did work well. It's actually pretty clean today after having time to settle out the pulp from the back sweetening juice.

IMG_3626.jpg

It's pretty darn clear... its hard to tell since the cup is cloudy from condensation.
 
insanim8er said:
I did a raspberry lemonade, so I used two cans of raspberry lemonade with only 4 cups sugar. I can't imagine how sweet any more would be. 4 seemed like plenty.
Click to expand...

I was going to ask if the sugar was strictly as a primer or for flavor as well b/c 8 cups seems high but I wasn't sure. I'm going to rack my batch in the next day or two and keg it up for a summer party, can't wait!
 
jaydog2314 said:
I was going to ask if the sugar was strictly as a primer or for flavor as well b/c 8 cups seems high but I wasn't sure. I'm going to rack my batch in the next day or two and keg it up for a summer party, can't wait!
Click to expand...

It's for both priming and flavor. And yeah, 8 cups is a little much for my tastes as well. I used 4 and thought it was perfect.
 
It came out a little too sweet for me. Is there a way to make it less sweet? Maybe add some more lemonade?
 
TexasWine said:
Add less sugar.
Click to expand...

Haha thanks but adding less sugar after it is already in the lemonade is hard to do.

I'm talking about the stuff already made. I kegged it so I can easily add something to it. My problem was I added the 8 cups to me keg not remembering that was for the 6 gallons so it is sweeter than normal.
 
h22lude said:
Haha thanks but adding less sugar after it is already in the lemonade is hard to do.

I'm talking about the stuff already made. I kegged it so I can easily add something to it. My problem was I added the 8 cups to me keg not remembering that was for the 6 gallons so it is sweeter than normal.
Click to expand...

Ha! Sorry about that.

If you end up adding more lemonade let us know how it turns out.
 
h22lude said:
It came out a little too sweet for me. Is there a way to make it less sweet? Maybe add some more lemonade?
Click to expand...

lemonade will also add sugar, so I doubt that's going to help... dilute it with ice and use less sugar next time?


I finally made the strawberry Guava lemonade. I did 6 strawberry guava and 4 lemonade. I'll back sweeten with either two guava or a guava and a guava strawberry. Depends on how the flavor comes out before sweetening.

I also used a packet and a half of the 1118. The other half will go with another packet for the Pineapple Mango lemonade that I hope to do later tonight.

It started fermentation within hours. First time fermenting in my 10gal corny keg (I wish I had 3 more. I like fermenting in it better than my 14.5 gal conical)... I'm fermenting this one under pressure to see how clean it comes out. The blow off smells pretty damn good.
 
Oh yeah...

Lemonade has lots of sugar, but lemon juice maybe.

Sweetness inhibitors exist, like lactisole, but I don't know much about them.
 
Maybe I'll try some lemon juice. I'll try to figure out the ratio with just 1 cup of the lemonade so I don't put lemon juice in the batch and mess it up.
 
My first keg (raspberry lemonade) is about tapped... This stuff has gotten RAVE reviews from all who have tried it. I never did like Mike's, for obvious reasons, but sometimes I could do one (followed by tons of water lol) But now that i've been drinking this stuff, there's no way I could stomach a mikes. I love how it's sweet as you drink it, but as soon as you stop, it doesn't linger.

Here's a funny story:

My girlfriend played softball for 13 years of her life, so she plays on a couple summer beer leagues. Most of the team is men, and they pretty much all drink PBR--and a lot of it.

Last sunday they played a game, I went to watch since our 2 y/o loves going to the games. I filled two flip top bottles with the Raspberry lemonade, and I brought two Citrus Mistress IPAs (hop valley)

I ended up drinking an IPA and less than half of one of the lemonades. After the game was done, some of the guys were talking about my home brew (we all went camping the weekend before, so they were talking about the stuff I brought in my portable kegerator) I grabbed the semi full bottle of lemonade and handed it to one of the guys.

I told him to try it. I was getting ready for a face of disgust or something, assuming they didn't do "sweet" stuff... His face lit up like a kid on Christmas day. He was like, "Woah! .... That... is GOOOOOD." then he was telling other guys they had to try it.

Three beer guzzling dudes were literally fighting over the bottle. I told them there was another one in the bag, but my girlfriend had drank all of that one, so they told me that I had played the dirtiest trick ever on them. It was quite funny.

Anyway, I just sampled the Guava strawberry lemonade. It's definitely done. I'll be cold crashing it tonight, gelatizing and carbonating tomorrow. It tastes awesome. It's going to be a winner.
 
Served this up on Saturday with some other home brew at our summer party, very well received kicked about half the keg. It was great on a warm sunny day. I had back sweetened with 2 cans of lemonade concentrate and only 3 cups of sugar. Had it kegged for about 3-4 days at PSI and it tasted great! I will definitely make this again and try some different flavors to back sweeten.
 
I ended up using Montrachet instead of Lavlin just because that was what the lhbs had... hopefully turns out well, going to rack onto 2lb of strawberries this weekend
 
The guava strawberry turned out excellent. It's not tart at all like the raspberry lemonade, the lemonade was perfectly tart, so I went with 3 cups sugar instead. It's really good.

I forgot to take a gravity readings but I know this one is 9+%

I might want to up the lemonade portion a bit more next time maybe two less guava and two more lemonade, but I know the raspberry lemonade improved with some time in the keg. So I'll see how this developes.

It's definetly awesome.

I really want to serve this in a cup with some slapped or muddled basil in some ice... It'll be fan-flipping-tastic.

When I get home from vacation, I'm going to start the mango pineapple lemonade. I've gotten so many people hooked on this stuff, I'm going to have to get a huge supply built up. Thank goodness I have five 10 gallon corny kegs to ferment in--challenge, accepted!
 
has any one tried this without the sorbate at the end?
could i prime it like it says in the recipe without the sorbate then bottle? is it too much co2
i like it carbonated but i dont want explosions every where
i do have lots of swig top bottles holding nothing at present
 
zamo27 said:
has any one tried this without the sorbate at the end?
could i prime it like it says in the recipe without the sorbate then bottle? is it too much co2
i like it carbonated but i dont want explosions every where
i do have lots of swig top bottles holding nothing at present
Click to expand...

If you read the thread you'll see that lots of folks don't use sorbate at the end. However, you will need to pasteurize the lemonade a few days after bottling to keep the bottles from exploding.
 
If I pasturize them in a steamer, at 90 degrees Celsius for let say 2 hours will they retain the fizz?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I read this thread over a year ago wanting to make a hard lemonade and have since made 4 batches: 3 lemon and 1 raspberry lemon.

This is a tough fermentation to get started, i originally used 3 yeast additions (champagne yeast cake from applewine, US05 then another US05. I thought that first batch was going to fail, but over time it did its thing. Just took patience.

I switched to using DADY (distillers active dry yeast) and have since made 3 batches with it. I compared side by side the flavor and have good result (in flavor profile) with the dady versus champagne.

I have yet to have a batch of the straight lemon flavored finish in under 4 weeks, the raspberry/lemon batch was done with primary in 2-3 weeks.

I use a lot of nutrient along with the high alcohol tolerant dady, i degass every day for the first 4-5 days and add more nutrient at about the end of the first week. Final abv on the lemon flavored has been between 15% and 17% and the raspberry/lemon i bottled at around 13%.

I have not backsweetened any of the batches, the pink version i bottled in Bud Ice 40 oz bottles with new PET soda bottle caps. It stayed pretty sweet and carbed up litely without any priming.

The plain lemon i have been bottling in Baltika 16oz bombers and enen though it attenuates out to under .990, it will still carb in the bottles without any priming sugars added. It is fairly dry but very drinkable.

at 16% ABV it is not a good idea to drink more than one. I like it in a big glass of ice, but it is great with a nice splash of citrus soda.

6 Gallon batch "Insanity Lemonade"

4 cans frozen limeade
8 cans frozen lemonade
7 lbs white cane sugar
1 Tbls DADY yeast
4 Tbls yeast nutrient

Thaw frozen juice cans to room temperature, open and add to 6.5 gallon brew bucket and add water to make 6 gallons. Add yeast nutrient and stir well with degasser attached to drill. Pitch dady yeast. Agitate/ degass every 1-2 days for first week. OG should be over 1.100, check it weekly to see progress. Add more yeast nutrient after first week.

Give this recipe time, it is worth it. The SG has a long way to go if you are going to try to get >15%, so dont get too frustrated if it seems to take off at first and then stalls out around 8-10%. A couple more weeks and it will do its thing.
 
insanim8er said:
I kegged mine, put it into the fridge for a day then put gelatin in to fin it. I let it sit for another couple days. Today I'll clean a new keg, add the sorbate/sweetener and rack the, hopefully, clear lemonade over it.

I'll let you know how well the gelatin did. I've had amazing results with it for beer. The beer came out absolutely crystal clear like it had been filtered. I'm not expecting those results, but I'm hoping.
Click to expand...

Hi insanim8er

Would you please briefly describe your fining process using gelatin? Thanks.
 
zamo27 said:
If I pasturize them in a steamer, at 90 degrees Celsius for let say 2 hours will they retain the fizz?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

Assuming youve capped properly, your bottles will explode before any carbonation leaks out.

I just use the pasteurization technique as described in a sticky of the cider forum. Works every time.
 
donkeybigbird said:
I read this thread over a year ago wanting to make a hard lemonade and have since made 4 batches: 3 lemon and 1 raspberry lemon.

This is a tough fermentation to get started, i originally used 3 yeast additions (champagne yeast cake from applewine, US05 then another US05. I thought that first batch was going to fail, but over time it did its thing. Just took patience.

I switched to using DADY (distillers active dry yeast) and have since made 3 batches with it. I compared side by side the flavor and have good result (in flavor profile) with the dady versus champagne.

I have yet to have a batch of the straight lemon flavored finish in under 4 weeks, the raspberry/lemon batch was done with primary in 2-3 weeks.

I use a lot of nutrient along with the high alcohol tolerant dady, i degass every day for the first 4-5 days and add more nutrient at about the end of the first week. Final abv on the lemon flavored has been between 15% and 17% and the raspberry/lemon i bottled at around 13%.

I have not backsweetened any of the batches, the pink version i bottled in Bud Ice 40 oz bottles with new PET soda bottle caps. It stayed pretty sweet and carbed up litely without any priming.

The plain lemon i have been bottling in Baltika 16oz bombers and enen though it attenuates out to under .990, it will still carb in the bottles without any priming sugars added. It is fairly dry but very drinkable.

at 16% ABV it is not a good idea to drink more than one. I like it in a big glass of ice, but it is great with a nice splash of citrus soda.

6 Gallon batch "Insanity Lemonade"

4 cans frozen limeade
8 cans frozen lemonade
7 lbs white cane sugar
1 Tbls DADY yeast
4 Tbls yeast nutrient

Thaw frozen juice cans to room temperature, open and add to 6.5 gallon brew bucket and add water to make 6 gallons. Add yeast nutrient and stir well with degasser attached to drill. Pitch dady yeast. Agitate/ degass every 1-2 days for first week. OG should be over 1.100, check it weekly to see progress. Add more yeast nutrient after first week.

Give this recipe time, it is worth it. The SG has a long way to go if you are going to try to get >15%, so dont get too frustrated if it seems to take off at first and then stalls out around 8-10%. A couple more weeks and it will do its thing.
Click to expand...

This sounds awesome. Did you pasteurize (or, for that matter, rack?)

I'm on my second attempt at a hard lemonade. My first came out ...err... some people seem to like it, but I'm not one of them.
 
Noob to this brewing stuff but the rehydration and activation of yeast in cooking is called making a sponge
 
I have not pasteurized or racked to secondary. I have looked into pasteurizing methods but really i am aiming for a easy product for my "house brews" menu. This stuff gets super clear in the bottles after a few weeks.
 
skitter said:
I ended up using Montrachet instead of Lavlin just because that was what the lhbs had... hopefully turns out well, going to rack onto 2lb of strawberries this weekend
Click to expand...

Id recommend having extract on hand at bottling/kegging to taste. Done both cherry and raspberry additions and came out with light flavor. Raspberry extract helped a lot.
 
zamo27 said:
has any one tried this without the sorbate at the end?
could i prime it like it says in the recipe without the sorbate then bottle? is it too much co2
i like it carbonated but i dont want explosions every where
i do have lots of swig top bottles holding nothing at present
Click to expand...

It will explode. Don't do it...really.
 
PianoMan is right. If you follow this recipe without the sorbate, you will get explosions. But, the OP is right, even with the sorbate, you will get some carbonation. OP calls for 3.5 tsp of Potassium sorbate. I've done it with 2.5 and got nice carbonation throughout. I used plastic bottles though. You could use the original recipe and pastuerize per the pastuerization sticky. I've done that too.
 
I brewed this recipe pretty close to what it says. But my fermentation temperatures were close to 80 degrees the whole time and I kegged it after one week. Problem is that the batch smells and tastes rancid (really bad) so I had to toss it. Was my temperature too high during fermentation? I also had trouble getting my initial temperature down after the boil and before I pitched my yeast so the yeast sat around for two hours. Could that have also caused my issues?
 
SummerBrewer said:
I brewed this recipe pretty close to what it says. But my fermentation temperatures were close to 80 degrees the whole time and I kegged it after one week. Problem is that the batch smells and tastes rancid (really bad) so I had to toss it. Was my temperature too high during fermentation? I also had trouble getting my initial temperature down after the boil and before I pitched my yeast so the yeast sat around for two hours. Could that have also caused my issues?
Click to expand...

Wow...80 degrees is way too hot in my opinion to ferment this. I use Nottingham yeast and ferment around 62-64 degrees. According to Lalvin ideal temp for EC1118 is 59-77 degrees F (15-25 C).

Rancid to me indicates infection. My guess would be that the yeast sitting out for a couple hours got some junk in it, and with the high ferment temp that an infection took over.
 
MusicalBrewer said:
Wow...80 degrees is way too hot in my opinion to ferment this. I use Nottingham yeast and ferment around 62-64 degrees. According to Lalvin ideal temp for EC1118 is 59-77 degrees F (15-25 C).

Rancid to me indicates infection. My guess would be that the yeast sitting out for a couple hours got some junk in it, and with the high ferment temp that an infection took over.
Click to expand...

Thanks MusicalBrewer! I found a fridge so now I'll be able to keep my temperatures down.
 
SummerBrewer said:
I brewed this recipe pretty close to what it says. But my fermentation temperatures were close to 80 degrees the whole time and I kegged it after one week. Problem is that the batch smells and tastes rancid (really bad) so I had to toss it. Was my temperature too high during fermentation? I also had trouble getting my initial temperature down after the boil and before I pitched my yeast so the yeast sat around for two hours. Could that have also caused my issues?
Click to expand...

Well I boil the DME and corn sugar, but use the canned lemon/limeaids to cool off. No ice needed. After adding RO, temp is around 80. 1118 is go ok d until 90 or so. How's the sanitation process?
 
PianoMan said:
Well I boil the DME and corn sugar, but use the canned lemon/limeaids to cool off. No ice needed. After adding RO, temp is around 80. 1118 is go ok d until 90 or so. How's the sanitation process?
Click to expand...

I use B-Brite Cleanser to wash all my pots, utensils and buckets before my brew. I also use Star San as a sanitizer during the brew to sanitize utensils. I applied the same logic as when I brew beer sanitizing everything before I used it. Should I be using something else?
 

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