Light Lemonade Mead

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claphamsa said:

ive gotten the impression that one thing to clear these out is multiple racking, also if you use yeast proper yeast nutrient and what not it will clear much faster....Im thinking of doing something similar this saturday.... ill do 10 lbs honey and some lemonade... Im morally opposed to corn sugar

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How did it work out with pure honey?

mgc said:

How did it work out with pure honey?

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um.... its in secondary somewhere i wont even think of bottling for another year.

Oh My Flying Spaghetti Monster... This stuff is GOOD!!! I love the lemon flavor on top but it seems to finish like a drier white wine... This stuff is way too easy to drink... I didn't need to back sweeten this at all. Note to self: put warning labels on bottles, LOL!!!

The only differences I had was that it took about 1.5 months for mine to come down to 1.000.

BenS said:

So I took a sample of my batch today and I got 1.008. It tasted tart and very strong, as in alcohol content. I think my OG reading was off just a bit. As this is my first mead, I had a hard time tasting or smelling the honey. It still looks like lemonade in the carboy and hasn't cleared at all. Is it normal for meads not to form a very strong krausen? I never got to much of anything on top but it is bubbling away. It's been a slower fermentation than I thought but I suppose you only learn when things go unexpectedly.

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How did this turn out? I think I made a similar mistake (by eyeballing prettymuch all the ingredients and ending with a OG of 1.070 or so) and I'm trying to figure out if I can fix this while it's still in primary somehow... Any suggestions? Can I just add more honey since it's only been fermenting for a day?

is this a 5 gallon or 4 gallon recipe? it was never cleared up???

--tnks

aamn said:

How did this turn out? I think I made a similar mistake (by eyeballing prettymuch all the ingredients and ending with a OG of 1.070 or so) and I'm trying to figure out if I can fix this while it's still in primary somehow... Any suggestions? Can I just add more honey since it's only been fermenting for a day?

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Sorry for the late response, but I just noticed your post now. You could add extra fermentables at any point, the later in the fermentation process the more risks. Some really good wines are made this way (i.e. champagne style whites), as well as the bubbles in homebrew beer. All you have to do is figure out how much to add, then add it. I would use the got mead calculator to figure out how much honey would bring the gravity up to the level you want, then slightly warm the honey in a bit of water to make it liquid, then add it in.

Good luck.

Going to try making this tomorrow - really looking forward to it!

Has anyone ever tried doing half lemonade and half limeade, then carbing it up? Sort of like a spiked Sprite? Could be kind of fun!

Thanks for the recipe!

I made this recipe (exactly as originally posted) back in late March. Though still in a carboy, I pulled some out to allow family to sample while hosting for Mothers Day last weekend.

Everyone was quite surprised how easy to drink, and refreshing, this mead is. The general feedback was that initially it had some chardonnay-like flavors (apple and pear) but finished much drier and the citrusy flavors came shining through at the end. A comment was made that this mead was "like a boozy white wine with a lemon twist".

Personally, I was really surprised at how light this drink was (I was fearful that it was going to be way too tart). This is my first mead making experience and I will be purchasing an additional carboy for the sole purpose of mead making in conjunction with beer brewing and wine making.

Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Well, it's been a week and I took a sample of this, very similar to what the recipe creator got, about 1.042, looks a lot like lemonade and still has a decent honey taste and sweetness to it. Let my wife try a little and she liked it a lot. Can't wait for the yeast to finish up and give it that dryness that others have talked about. This could definitely be my go-to party drink this summer, might need to make another batch right away!

Just started a batch of this.

Wait, why would you bring the temp back up to 170 after you add the lemonade cans, if you are just going to bring it down again? Do you even really need to heat it at all other than to just dissolve the sugar?

Xenel said:

Wait, why would you bring the temp back up to 170 after you add the lemonade cans, if you are just going to bring it down again? Do you even really need to heat it at all other than to just dissolve the sugar?

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Dissolve and pasteurize, I assume. Worked for me, I could only get mine down to 1.006, but it tastes great.

For those of you having issues clearing it, I used gelatin and after 3 days it cleared very nicely. It's in the kegerator now.

sounds great

Just put my batch in bottles. Pretty tastey stuff. Bottled half still and half carbed, to see what I like best but I do have to say it is dang good

is this 5 gal batch? Seems low on honey for 1.087 SG but there is 2 lbs of sugar as well in recipe which I never used in mead. Would like to do 3 gal batch

Paraordnance, I'm fairly sure the original recipe was for a five gallon batch...at least I hope so since I halved everything to make a 2.5 gallon batch tonite:

3.5# Wildflower honey
1.5# Clover honey
2 12 oz cans of frozen lemonade concentrate
2.5 tsp yeast nutrient (rate according to the label - 1 tsp/gal)

OG was 1.085 so I think I'm good on the math. Initial impression is fairly strong on the honey nose and flavor, but the lemonade is definitely lurking in the background. I thought of adding a third can of concentrate, but in the end just went with the recipe above. If needed, I'll add more lemonade on the next batch.

Just got the FG I was looking for- 1.000. It is tasty. A bit drier than I thought it would be, but very well balanced overall. Definitely does not taste like 11% ABV. Anybody carb'd this? Wondering if it would give it more body...

Did anyone backsweeten their batch? I'm thinking of doing so.....just a little.

Just got a 3 gallon batch of this going, had an OG of 1.054 because I scaled it down thinking the recipe was a 5 gallon batch, when it's really 4. It's been almost 24 hours and I have krausen, but don't see any airlock activity. I did rehydrate the yeast according to Lavin's directions (but contrary to the recipe), but I can't imagine that would make things worse. I used Fermax as the yeast nutrient, but I'm guessing that should be fine. I'll take a gravity reading tomorrow to confirm that something is going on.

This stuff is fantastic. Getting ready to start a batch half lemonade and half pink lemonade, we'll see how it turns out.

dnull1337 said:

Just got a 3 gallon batch of this going, had an OG of 1.054 because I scaled it down thinking the recipe was a 5 gallon batch, when it's really 4. It's been almost 24 hours and I have krausen, but don't see any airlock activity. I did rehydrate the yeast according to Lavin's directions (but contrary to the recipe), but I can't imagine that would make things worse. I used Fermax as the yeast nutrient, but I'm guessing that should be fine. I'll take a gravity reading tomorrow to confirm that something is going on.

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Do not worry about no air lock activity, you have krausen, that means it is fermenting.

I started a 12L batch on this on the 12th but using pink lemonade. The OG was 1.080 and today its at 1.041 and pretty tastey. Im new to this homemade fermentation so i couldn't say if it was "yeasty" still or not. I can't wait for this stuff to finish!

I'm 4 weeks in on my 3 gallon batch, just took a sample and it's at 1.028, and still has very noticeable honey flavor. Should I pitch some more yeast, or just give it more time? The temperature has been in the low to high 60s in the fermentation room, so I guess it won't be fermenting as quick as the OP.

Did anyone else think halls cough drops when they tasted the must? Does the lemon come through more after fermentation?

bryank said:

Did anyone else think halls cough drops when they tasted the must? Does the lemon come through more after fermentation?

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How long has it been fermenting? MIne tast great.

I'm sure it will attenuate out to be nice and dry. Its just hard to imagine honey lemon in a refreshing way for me. Air lock activity stopped last weekend most likely. Haven't been home all week but it should be clear by the time I get home this weekend so I can drink/bottle I would imagine.

Hey guys this is my first mead, with the recipe has any one aerated the mead the first 3-4 days, or do you just let 'er sit.

i just let it sit and it came out fine.

BrewerBear said:

i just let it sit and it came out fine.

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Thank you much, now i just need to get a few more carboys and have a few batches going at once.

once you try it you will really think that

Have been following this recipe for a few weeks s this sounded perfect for the summer. Purchased 10 pounds of Kirkland honey a few days ago and decided today was the day to give it a try.

10 Pounds Kirkland brand honey
4 12oz. cans minute maid premium lemonade
5 gallons spring water
5 tsp yeast nutrient

Followed the recipe except for substituting the corn sugar for 5 lbs. honey

Put all the ingredients in my 6.5 gallon carboy.

OG 1.060
Initial temp in carboy 83 degrees

Started fermenting within 10 minutes, never seen any recipe start fermenting this quick, is this normal?


Anyways the sample tasted great, a little sweet but I am sure my yeasty friends will take care of someone that

I threw a batch of this together Feb 1 this year. My first mead. It has been sitting in the primary until tonight. I transferred it to keg, and have to say, I am pleased.
I dropped 5 oz of corn sugar, because I was one packet of priming sugar short, and substituted one can of lemonade with limeade. OG was still pretty solid at 1.072. Tonight, it weighed in at .992.
I was impressed with how well it cleared. I can definitely pick up alcohol in it, but I wouldn't guess 10+%, and it tastes like a hard sprite.

I haven't posted in quite some time, but I'm happy that you guys have been having great successes with this recipe...except for that one guy (sorry).

Here's another idea I came up with since posting the recipe:

Make limeade ice cubes and add it to the glass. I like the contrast of a green ice cube floating in my pale lemonade.

Of course, you can always add a yellow one to it too.

Decided against half and half. made 6 gallons lemonade and 6 gallons pink lemonade. 1 week in so far.

I made a 1 gallon batch of this recipe and cannot believe how fast it went. My family and friends are begging for me to make more.....it was VERY good...

Just put mine in the secondary after two weeks of active fermentation.

F.G. 1.000

Nice light lemonade flavor and a bit of a kick

I am going to secondary it for a week or so and then bottle.

Welp, I put it in the bottle today. It turned out nice. I wish that I would have added another can of lemonade though (I mix my lemonade strong) anyhow here's what I did:

3/3/12
3.75# Michigan wildflower honey
1# corn sugar
3 cans lemonade
3 gal water
Yeast nutrient
A pinch of energizer
Pectin enzyme
71B-1122
1.064 og

4/28/12
.992 fg

It's very dry and has a lemon in the background taste.

I started a 1 gallon batch of this today. I used 1 lb clover honey, 1 cup sugar, 1 can frozen lemonade thawed out, and Lalvin D47. Excited to see how it turns out.