Extra Hard Lemonade

[charles]

I ended up brewing my version of hard lemonade. Took 6 lemons and 2 limes zested all of them put 1.5 lbs of corn sugar and 6 oz honey in the stock pot. Used 1/2 gallon of water then added the zest 20 min b4 fo. Then I let the pot cool to approximately 80°f took the lemon/lime mashed them up removed most of the seeds and put it in my primary(an old mrbeer) and topped it off to 1 gallon. That is where I am at with it. Og is at 1.1 after I transfer it to a secondary(1 gallon glass jug) I will be adding a package of fresh raspberries to it.

 

[charles]

This is what it looks like

View attachment 1497306992516.jpg

 

[charles]

I just took a gravity reading it is at 7.5% at this point. It has a very good aroma to it. Going to rack it in a secondary and add the raspberries to it tomorrow. Cant wait for it to finish

 

[charles]

Just strained out the raspberries and transferred it to a secondary jug. Has a really nice aroma. Should be done in a few more weeks. I can tell this is a winning recipe.

 

[The1Greenguru]

Hey is this a regular recipe or you just throw it together I like the the fresh fruit Idea just not sure about loads of racking on fresh fruit batch first time I did Pineapple wine was my fresh fruit and lots of racking I ended up putting in half gallon bottles and stored them and just racked bottles out of it as needed it was loads of work and was worthy But I did Condition it into bottle as needed everyone around me likes Sweet wine. I will do another Pineapple wine one day
I got a Fruit wine started other day I should be 10....to 13%

 

[charles]

Hey is this a regular recipe or you just throw it together I like the the fresh fruit Idea just not sure about loads of racking on fresh fruit batch first time I did Pineapple wine was my fresh fruit and lots of racking I ended up putting in half gallon bottles and stored them and just racked bottles out of it as needed it was loads of work and was worthy But I did Condition it into bottle as needed everyone around me likes Sweet wine. I will do another Pineapple wine one day
I got a Fruit wine started other day I should be 10....to 13%

I have been experimenting with it the last few months. Dont have the recipe down to a science yet but the next batch will have less lemons in it and it will have more fruit flavor added. What size batch are you making and how much sugar do you use?

 

[4ferraras]

Sounds frickin awesome...How did the second one turn out? Did you add priming sugar to the bottles this time? If so, how much?

I cant wait to try this...

 

[The1Greenguru]

I have been experimenting with it the last few months. Dont have the recipe down to a science yet but the next batch will have less lemons in it and it will have more fruit flavor added. What size batch are you making and how much sugar do you use?

same as EHL RECIPE just used fruit juice concentrate instead of lemonade
10 #
10 CONTAINERS
primed the yeast with cup of the mix after adding sugar

 

[charles]

I think for the next batch im going to use 4 lemons and 1 lime. Going to cut out the zest. Then add a little extra fruit when I rack it to the secondary. The current batch is way over powering. Aa for priming it i just add enough sugar till it tastes good.

 

[Bad Brew]

I have a batch of this brewing. I did 4 cans lemonade, 2 limeade, 6# sugar and EC1118 for a 3 gallon batch.

On day 21 I started worrying about autolysis so I racked this to secondary after seeing that there were huge clumps of what I presume to be dead yeast and lemon pulp. I strained it through a tea strainer to remove the clumps. There was no lees to speak of, or rather the yeast didn’t flocculate. It also had a very “off” smell.

Is this normal? Did I rack prematurely? Did I stop fermentation? I did not take a hydrometer reading

 

[Bad Brew]

Well, it kicked back up. Bubbling every 4 seconds now.

 

[rodgerr]

That's interesting. I'll try making this one. Looks very impressive.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I made a batch of this from the OPs recipe in post #1. OG was 1.095 with Lalvin EC-1118 yeast.

After 16 days it's only dropped to 1.066 and was pretty clear with only a slight haze. I was hoping it would have gotten closer to 1.000 by now.

I gave it a couple of quick stirs and roused everything off the bottom to see if it comes back to life. I'll check the gravity again in a couple of days.

FWIW, mine had an off aroma too. After a lot of sniffing I determined the odor is mostly from the sugar.

Even at this low ABV it tastes pretty good. The sugar sweetness is still up front and would be cloying in another brew (like sweet tea), but not this one so much. My guess is the acid is counteracting it.


EDIT: I did not read through all of the posts, but I would be interested in the OP's FG reading. If anyone knows I'd be grateful. Thanks in advance.

EDIT 2: I roused the sediment off of the bottom (yesterday) and there is more activity in the airlock today.

 

[Brittany Lewis]

I am going to make this recipe and was wondering how to go about putting flavoring into it? I would like to do black cherry flavoring and was wondering if I could use kool-aid packets? Or if there is some other way to do it thanks

 

[homebrewer_99]

I'm only down to 1.028 with 52-54 days in the primary...8+% ABV.

I expected this to go dry, but it's still sweet.

 

[gump]

dang yall have had toooo much fun with this ,ive got to gave it a try

 

[Beer Nuts]

They say there are no stupid questions
until they meet me . . .

Would it be practical to start with enough sugar for an OG of 1.060 and add more over time?
Would that reduce stress on the yeast?

 

[homebrewer_99]

Today is day 77 in primary. (How the OP only did an 18 day primary and 1 month secondary is beyond logic).

I racked it to the secondary (carboy) today.

OG: 1.095 / FG: 1.004 9.555% ABW/11.944% ABV.

It was sweet up front, but dry and tart on the finish.

I'm definitely back sweetening. I'll be using a simple syrup after a 24-48 hour rest on Potassium Sorbate.

 

[Brittany Lewis]

Today is day 77 in primary. (How the OP only did an 18 day primary and 1 month secondary is beyond logic).

I racked it to the secondary (carboy) today.

OG: 1.095 / FG: 1.004 9.555% ABW/11.944% ABV.

It was sweet up front, but dry and tart on the finish.

I'm definitely back sweetening. I'll be using a simple syrup after a 24-48 hour rest on Potassium Sorbate.

What do u mean by a syrup that u use? And how do u go about making or getting it for backsweeting? Thanks

 

[Brittany Lewis]

How can I tell when the hard lemonade is ready to bottle?

 

[Toxxyc]

How can I tell when the hard lemonade is ready to bottle?

Take gravity readings. If it's in your target gravity (close to 0) and stable over several days at room temp, it's ready to bottle.

 

[homebrewer_99]

What do u mean by a syrup that u use? And how do u go about making or getting it for backsweeting? Thanks

Step 1: When you plan on back sweetening anything you need to rack it to a new container (carboy) to make sure there is no sediment in the container to keep it clear (uncloudy) in the bottle.

Step 2: Add Potassium Sorbate (1/2 tsp per gallon) to "deactivate" the yeast. The PS will make sure the yeast will not (re)start fermenting the added sugar and converting it to alcohol. Most instructions say to let it sit for 24 hours, but I leave it for 48 hours. What's the rush?

Step 3: To make a Simple Syrup, you mix 1 part water and 2 cups of sugar in a pot/pan. Adding sugar to water will make it cloudy. Heat it up (constantly stirring so the sugar doesn't burn) in a pan until the water becomes clear again. Usually right around the boil. Viola! You have Simple Syrup. Cool it to room temperature you can add it to whatever you're sweetening.

The final "trick" is determining how sweet you want the final product. Some people will go through drawing a glass and measuring how much SS they use to sweeten the contents of the glass and do the math to determine how much SS they need to add to the product.

EDIT: Welcome to the forum.

 

[je5mc]

hey brewmiser
i take the liquid im fermenting(limeaid)in your case and dilute 1 to 1 with H2o so i have approx 1/2 cup then pitch your yeast and keep no less than 70 f wait 6 hrs and add again to your starter 2TBL full strength wort,wait 6 more hrs and a dd 1/4 cup more full strength wort
in 6 hrs you can pitch yeast starter in must.
iv had super good luck this way doing probably 100 gallons of sketter pee.
any thing with a SG over 1.100 i did this way to avoid shocking the yeast.

 

[gump]

thank you