Extra Hard Lemonade

[SpacemanSpiff]

Finally got around to bottling mine this weekend. Looking at my last post I can't believe it's been over 2 months. Anyway, I started with 2 gallons of lemonade-limeade mix and pitched Montrachet. The Montrachet didn't make it, so I diluted with more lemonade-limeade mix giving me 4 gallons at about 1.088. Pitched another pack of Montrachet. It still didn't go so I finally pitched EC1118. It made it, but what a slow fermentation. I checked somewhere about a month in and was only in the 1050's. So I sat it aside and figured I'd just let it go for awhile. It's looked fairly clear for a few weeks now and at last check it was at 1.034.

The sample tasted pretty good. I think with some carbonation it will be even better although I could also see a splash of lemonade or 7-up helping also. We'll see how it goes. It came out to be 6.9% ABV, but doesn't taste like it, so this could be sneaky!

The main lesson here I think is Montrachet is definitely not the best choice unless you take a lot of effort to get it healthy first or you've got a ready-to-go cake of it. EC1118 was slow to work everything down although I didn't do it any favors by just pitching it in. I'm hoping for a light carbonation so I only went with a little less than a 1/2 cup of priming sugar. We'll see how it goes in a couple weeks!

 

[Jota21]

Primary: 18 days

Secondary: 1 month

Bottle Conditioned: 2 weeks

Did you check the gravity when racking to the secondary? Will the gravity go down in the carboy

The reason i ask is that after 19 days, i just racked to my carboy and the gravity was 1.096. How much lower can I expect it to drop? My OG was either 1.112 or 1.122 (i can't remember) so if my math is correct, my abv is somewhere between 2.1 and 3.4%. Now, i'm not looking for rocket fuel, but i was hoping for something around 7 or 8% based on how much sugar was in this stuff.

I used 1 packet of Montrechete (sp) with a tablespoon of nutrient/energizer. The airlock is still floating, but at least for the amount of time i'm willing to stand there and stare at it, no longer bubbling. Should i RDWHA-hard lemonade or should i do something to get this going again?

Thanks

 

[brazedowl]

That was back before I had a hydrometer. If you wanted to let it sit until it's mostly clear or you could take out a sample and use it to start another packet of yeast. Mine was still bubblin' pretty good when I put it in the carboy.

 

[Jota21]

Can you elaborate a little on how you would 'start' another packet? Should I take a few cups of what i have in the carboy, sprinkle the EC1118 onto that and let it start doing it's thing, then gently pour that sample back into the carboy?

Do you think EC1118 is the way to go?

 

[brazedowl]

a) I would take a couple cups like you said and pitch the yeast to rehydrate it and ease it back into the carboy if it shows signs of life. You may want to taste a little and judge for sweetness and see if sugar isn't an issue. If it's super sour it may be too concentrated you can always dilute it a little if you think the pH is having an effect on the yeast.

b) I'm lazy when it comes to yeast and always just use Montrechete. One less veriable to worry about. So I'm not sure how EC1118 would or would not work.

 

[brazedowl]

When I get home from work I'll try to remember to post the ingredients for my cranberry varient on this. I took good SG readings on it and it's still going strong in the carboy.

 

[scotched]

Can you elaborate a little on how you would 'start' another packet? Should I take a few cups of what i have in the carboy, sprinkle the EC1118 onto that and let it start doing it's thing, then gently pour that sample back into the carboy?

Do you think EC1118 is the way to go?

Start the yeast with some DME or sugar, THEN slowly add a little bit of must at a time.

 

[Brewmiser]

just checked mine again & it stalled once again, so I added some more water, repitched with a ec-1118/champagne yeast blend plus energizer/nutriant...

I'll get this going yet....

 

[brazedowl]

I'm not sure why yours is struggling so much. Does it come to a complete stop or just a VERY slow bubble?

 

[Brewmiser]

complete stop... it started to bubble very slowly @ 1st but died out within a day. having not made it before I wasn't sure what to expect & then got to busy to mess with it so I just checked it today & I was still sitting around 1.100 I think it was just too acidic that's why I added water this time & I have bubbles again. crossing fingers hoping for the best.

 

[brazedowl]

Hope so too. I'd hate to have given you bum directions.

 

[Brewmiser]

i'm sure the directions were fine. I do think that the ph levels in these cans of concetrate may not always be same. maybe I got a batch of extra acidic ones??? i'm sure I'll get it to work. it's still bubbling....

 

[Jota21]

Another question here: I made the same recipe posted in the first post on 4/30. My OG was 1.122. It was in the primary for 3 weeks, then I transferred it to a carboy. At that point, my FG was showing around 1.095. The bubbles had stopped, so I repitched with a dry pack of EC-118 (just sprinkled into the carboy and gave it a little stir - no starter). I checked on it an hour later and it was bubbling pretty rapidly, so i thought I had the problem solved.

It has slowed down, but has continued to bubble every 10-20 seconds since around May 21st, however, my FG is still 1.095 - the exact same.

I've calibrated my hydrometer, and it does read zero in tap water. How is it possible that all of those bubbles have been occuring, but the gravity not changing?

Also, it is not clear at all. I cannot see through it. This seems to be another problem.

I want this to be ready, delicious, and somewhere between 6-8% ABV for my family's vacation 1 month from today.

Any tips?

Thanks

 

[brazedowl]

Well as far as clearing goes I ended up with about the clarity of mikes-hard lemonade when mine was done with the original post. I've got a cran-lemonade going that has cleared up pretty nicely.

As far as the SG goes... You took a SG reading when you racked, did you take the sample from the primary or the secondary? I've found that some times if I pull a sample from the top of my primary it is less dense (and has a lower SG) then the overall SG. The same is true if you have a tap and draw off the bottom fluid first and take a sg sample towards the end. So your total SG at time of racking may have been higher then 1.095 and you just happened to snag a sample that wasn't representative of the whole. That would mean that if it bubbled down to 1.095 it did indeed go down. Keep watching it and try to gently stir it or get a deeper sample if you can next time you take a reading.

I hope that made sense.

 

[scotched]

Hey Jota - what temperature are you fermenting at?
Warmer temps definitely kick things up a bit for me.

I recently did a hard lemonade with 10 pounds of sugar, 10 cans, pitched some US-05 (using yooper's start method). It actually took off against all odds. After a month gravity was stalled at 1.030. I then pitched EC-1118 directly, and reluctantly raised fermenting temps to around 78F (brought it indoors). I'm currently at 1.020 with little sweetness.

I think stirring (degassing) has helped the yeast, but this is definitely a slow batch.

 

[brazedowl]

I recently did a hard lemonade with 10 pounds of sugar, 10 cans

By some twist of fate that's exactly what this recipe calls for

 

[scotched]

LOL!

The kicker is the US-05 then, which managed to survive most of the ordeal

 

[brazedowl]

Yea the montrechet punks out early on that one.

 

[Jota21]

it's at room temperature, but the weather has been wild lately - i dont have a FC, so the temps probably vary from 67-75 on any given day.

I'm just stumped as to why it's still bubbling, but not dropping the FG....

 

[brazedowl]

If it's bubbling the SG has go be dropping. You can't take CO2 out and have the density stay the same. Unless I've totally lost my grasp of physics and chemistry. lol

 

[BryanThompson]

I just got finished brewing a batch of this except I used five cans of regular lemonade and five of raspberry lemonade. I think it will turn out well.

 

[brazedowl]

I just bottled up the cran-lemonade. I calculated it at about ~5% but added about 3/4 a gallon of skeeterpee when I bottled which was at ~9%. Soooooooooooooo good.

 

[scotched]

Very nice. Did the cran-lemonade clear up?
My lemonade is just starting to get pretty damn good at 60 days.

I predict that you (brazedowl), this thread, and I will be friends for years

 

[brazedowl]

hahaha It hasn't cleared completly. it's got the same clarity as most mikes products.

 

[LloydRenee]

Hello all! I have been lurking on this thread because I am in the process of making my own using this recipe. I didnt use as much sugar though to start with. I kept mine at 5lbs (shoudl I add more? or too late now?). I initially used the montrachet yeast but it seems to not have taken. I switched 4 days into to Champagne Yeast and my air lock is going to town!! I will rack it to a secondary around the 4th of July. I have a couple of questions thouh in regards to this and my hard cider I am making at the same time.

They both are bubbling and fermenting like crazy. What happens if that doesnt stop? I've read where some folks have had to force stop the fermentation (I read sorbate, can I get taht at the LHBS and is taht cheap?). If thats the case when should it be stopped and what should I use. The initial OG on my Lemonade was 1.084 I will take a reading this saturday most likely.

Also what do you use to clear it up (both in the lemonade and the cider)? I was reading about campden tablets but dont know if thats right.

Thanks for the advice and help and sorry for teh reppetative questions. There is just so much conflicting info everywhere its hard to figure whats right.

 

[lextasy23]

Subscribing.

I was thinking of creating a recipe similar to this. This made it a lot simpler lol.

 

[BryanThompson]

Campden will just kill the yeast. You will want to use a fining such as Sparkolloid.

 

[brazedowl]

As far as clarifying... it does nothing to the flavor. You are just dealing with peoples expectations. And people expect lemonades to have a slight haze and not be completely transparent. That's why I don't put a TON of effort into clearing and focus more of flavor.

 

[scotched]

LloydRenee - when did you pitch the champagne yeast? Was it EC-1118 or Cuvee?

 

[LloydRenee]

LloydRenee - when did you pitch the champagne yeast? Was it EC-1118 or Cuvee?

It was Redstar Champagne Yeast. Comes in a small yellow packet. I bought it form my LHBS. As for when I pitched it about 4 days ago. The air lock is still bubbling so Im hoping for the best. When I originally picthed the Montrachet on Saturday I had no luck.

 

[bambam190]

I'm on my 4th variation of this, however I have dropped to a can off of the origonal recipe because it was a little syrupie and I only use 8# cane. I've also tried adding an extra yeast packet which jumped it from about 6-7% ABV to 11% ABV. SWMBO was TANKED.

We now refer to it as "Momma's little helper", it has its own bucket and is always in fermentation

 

[scotched]

What's the longest amount of time you guys have let your XHL's age?

I'm approaching 10 weeks and man, it's the difference between hooch and a quality product. I want it to go for 3 or 4 months, but I've already sample 2.5 gallons off my original 5. =)

 

[bambam190]

My second went 12 weeks, that was because we added the second yeast. The rest we have waited 6 weeks to keg. It does get better with age the current batch has been in keg and fridge for about a month and tastes MUCH better then when we first kegged it.

 

[brazedowl]

Yea my fridge is loaded with this stuff right now I want to make more but it won't be done until almost september. But then again it stays hot in NC through october.

 

[Gator1]

Fermentation Temperature certainly seems to make a difference with this stuff. I used EC-1118 and it really started out slow. Left the pail open and stirred frequently for the first couple days then racked to the secondary after about a week and a half. The temp was about 72 degrees and I would only get a bubble in the airlock about ever 40 to 50 seconds. Went on vacation for a week and move the thermostat in the house to 80. When I came back in 5 days it was going great, bubble every 10 seconds. It also smells damn good.

 

[Brewmiser]

just wanted to report back that mine has been bubbling away after 30days. seems funny, twice i stepped up my yeast & it died off But the last time i just sprinkled on top & it took off like a champ! Also tasted today & it is soooo good. will have to start a 2nd batch asap.

also agree nice warm temp seems to have help too. I have mine wrapped up in a closet(74-80ish)

 

[bambam190]

I've also switched to champaign yeast, it gives it a little better taste IMO

 

[Brewmiser]

Anyone take a gravity reading @ bottling? I'm down to 1.065 It's only bubble like once every 45-55 sec taste great would love to bottle it soon.

 

[Brewmiser]

I was thinking about moving it to the bottling bucket to left it finish so I can pour of a few bottles @ a time, until it's completely ready.

 

[LloydRenee]

Just bottled all min last night after 6 weeks of fermentation. I had to start it 3 times but now I feel its tart enough. It was too sweet early on. I will be monitoring the bottles closely though because I added some priminng sugar. I wanted a little more carb to it. A bottle a day will be opened until its perfect. I dont expect to take mor ethan maybe 3 days and then I will put them all in the fridge. It made 54 bottles for me but thats alos including about 12 16 oz Grolsch style bottles. I think next time though I am going to use Malt instead of Sugar to see what the difference is.