Dead yeast in lemonade?

[toezter]

This MAY not be the right forum to put in, however I can't find a dedicated "Lemonade" forum and just relating apples to...lemons.

Been reading on how to make "Hard lemonade" and figure give it a try. It's been almost 3 days and there is no fermentation going on, and it seems to be accumulating lees at the bottom already.

recipe:
1 Organic lemonade concentrate (no preservatives)
1 gallon of water
3 cups vegan cane sugar
1 package Red Star Cider yeast
OG: 1.060

activated the yeast and all was good there. Understandable that the acidity can be harsh to the yeast, and I did not inoculate it over time, it was all done together. Stirred the lemonade/sugar enough to aerate.

Is this still salvageable? How?

 

[Daze]

give it time, and read this post I made about a better way to start lemon based drinks https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/very-effective-way-start-skeeter-pee-310979/ Three days is not that long for a normal wine and really not long at all for a high acidity wine. What you are seeing at the bottom is probably not lees, at least not all of it, lemon has a lot of solids in it and I am sure that is much of what you are seeing.

 

[JonK331]

You may need to add some yeast nutrient. If you do a search on here for "skeeter pee" that will get you a whole bunch of information. Here's the actual skeeter pee website also: http://skeeterpee.com/

 

[toezter]

Ah yes, I did add yeast nutrient and energizer, forgot to add that in.

Reading up on Skeeter Pee now, and will give it a little longer too.

Thanks for the quick responses.

 

[ACbrewer]

1. take a hydrometer reading - what is your Gravity now - if it is 1 or less, just let it sit. if it is around 1.050 or more you have work to do.

2. you want some yeast nutrient +yeast energizer. ifyou don't have a LHBS, then you can make some lesser quality yeast nutrient through buying some standard yeast (do bread, it is probably least per $) hydrate it in a small amount of water, and boil it (killing the yeast) Yeast nutrient's main ingredient is 'yeast hulls' which come from dead yeast. HOWEVER if you have a LHBS, go there first and don't diy on this - diy is only if waiting would be a real long time.

3. After adding nutrient and if gravity is greater than 1.030(aka 1/2 sugar break) give it another aeration. You might need more live yeast - Red Star Cider or other.
Give it a few more days and check gravity.


Sorry missed that it has only been 3 days of waiting.. yeah needs more time. I thought you were seeing no activity for 3 days and had been fermenting for a while. - feel free to ignore this.

 

[divi2323]

I started a hard lemondade about 3 weeks prior to thanksgiving with the intention that I would have it bottled and ready for family. Not only was it still fermenting at thanksgiving it fermented well past Christmas and threw lees at me well into January.

It's ready to bottle now, but dry as a bone and I've got to figure out my finishing method. Probably backsweeten with stevia and bottle carb it.

Anyway I think the long ferment might be attributed to the high acid content. No way to prove it though. I didn't add nutrient or energizer to.mine but future batches ill likely use them as well as a good healthy starter.

 

[toezter]

An update to my findings.

Since I posted there, my S-Lock did NOTHING. Giving up hope, I was going to clean out the jug, till I found little bubbles forming to the top. Took a gravity reading of 1.010, little taste (not bad, but not great).

I found that my S-Lock had a TEAR! Well duh no wonder I didn't see any "activity."

Thanks guys, n00b problem handled