Extra Hard Lemonade

[Heckle]

Subscribed. Planning on making this when the weekend arrives.

 

[thirstyutahn]

Well a week later and its still steadily bubbling away. Its beginning to slow a little bit so I'm probably gonna take a hydro reading tonight and see where I'm at. Smells fantastic!

 

[bambam190]

With the early summer, SWMBO pointed out that its time to make her a batch so its ready to go for boating season, I usually let it age 2 months, it becomes alot smoother.

 

[brazedowl]

ouuu aged cranberry lemonade... good plan

 

[djcreen]

Just started a hard lemon-limeade yesterday.

for a 6 gallon batch i used.

4 quarts limeade
7 cans of lemonade concentrate
120 raisins
5 tsp baking soda (to cut the acid)
5 lbs of sugar

- dissolved the sugar and split the raisins in half. Threw all of the above on top of a champagne yeast from a batch of welch's grape juice wine that i had just racked. Fermentation fired up within 2 hours and is still chugging away.

 

[brazedowl]

the baking soda wont make it taste salty or otherwise off?

 

[nukinfuts29]

the baking soda wont make it taste salty or otherwise off?

It is such a small amount it should go unnoticed.

 

[sfrisby]

It is such a small amount it should go unnoticed.

Then that sounds like a great idea to give the yeast a more pleasant environment.

 

[blindho]

Started my first hard lemonade yesterday and not bubbling, any thoughts? I used 9 cans frozen minutemaid concentrate, 2 lbs sugar, 1 lb light dme, and champagne yeast 1118. I originally pitched yeast at 80 degrees like a fool and thought I killed it so pitched again the next day. Then I started wondering if it was too acidic from pulp so strained it off. It's bubbling very slowly and using a space heater to make sure temp it around 70. Wondering of I should add yeast nutrient or baking soda to round out acidicy

 

[Heckle]

Started a batch of this a few weeks ago. OG was right around 1.122 and is sitting around 1.090 for the past three days. Where should this end up at? I plan on kegging this, carbing the bottling from the keg.

 

[d-rock]

I made a batch of hard lemonade and the flavor just isn't there. It has a light lemon flavor but taste mostly just acidic. Looking for suggestions on adding some more flavor...can I just add more concentrate to it before I bottle?

 

[nukinfuts29]

concentrate and sorbate

 

[brazedowl]

I made a batch of hard lemonade and the flavor just isn't there. It has a light lemon flavor but taste mostly just acidic. Looking for suggestions on adding some more flavor...can I just add more concentrate to it before I bottle?

I had that problem when I made skeeter pee which is why I switched to this... I now use that batch of skeeter pee to add extra abv and acidity to my hard lemonade batches because mine normally finish too sweet if anything.

But the batch I've got going now has bubbled way longer than any previous batch so I don't know.

 

[Vinny57]

Started a one gal batch yesterday

1 can lemonade
1 can limeade
1 cup sugar
1 pk.EC-1118
1 pinch baking soda

And it is already fermenting heavily.... I love ridiculously strong yeast

 

[TommyB]

Started a one gal batch yesterday

1 can lemonade
1 can limeade
1 cup sugar
1 pk.EC-1118
1 pinch baking soda

And it is already fermenting heavily.... I love ridiculously strong yeast

What does the baking soda do?

 

[Vinny57]

It neutralizes the acid to help the yeast do their thing

 

[Vinny57]

We now have rocket fuel...... 16-18 % alcohol now its going to be used for cooking fish
THE END

 

[Gear101]

Nice on the list

 

[brazedowl]

Ok I'll have to check mine again tonight and see where it's at since everyone else seems to be getting rocket fuel.

 

[goin2brew]

I just followed this recipe about 3 hours ago.

I used 1tsp per gallon of yeast nutrient mixed with 2 cups of H2O to reconstitute EC-1118yeast and pitched with a vigorous stir to aerate well.

OG was 1.104 and I already have airlock activity. Hopefully this is the sign of success. :rockin:

Thanks for the recipe.

 

[DGibb]

Am I mistaken or was the Montrachet/Nottingham/US-05 used so that it leaves some residual sugars in the final product so we don't have to backsweeten? I assumed that the lower ABV-producing yeast strains were chosen so we didn't end up with rocket fuel.

Perhaps I am mistaken, however.

I'm curious to see how the lumpher's recipe from the first page turns out, so I think that is the one I am going to try. For those of you who don't want to backtrack, here it is:

4 cans frozen lemonade
4 cans frozen pink lemonade
3 cans frozen limeade
4# sugar
1 pack montrachet
water for 6 gallons

let primary 1 month, then keg, and let it chill/carb 2 weeks on 11# co2

Does this seem like it won't work as-is? I mean, there is no nutrient, but lumpher said that it is a hit...

 

[scottsaxman]

I can't speak to the yeast choice; all I had was Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast, so that is what I used.

Getting the fermentation going was challenging. I had to repitch, but the second time I rehydrated the yeast in a cup of water with a tablespoon of nutrient. After a couple of minutes, I added a cup of the lemonade mixture. After an hour or so, I added it to a gallon glass jug, topped with the lemonade mixture, and put a lock on it overnight. It was chugging away in the morning, so I dumped it back in the brew bucket. Now it is doing fine!

 

[irok660n]

Hey guys. This thread has gotten my interest as my wife loves the hard lemonade drinks. I'm still fairly new to brewing, only about 10 batches under my belt and only beer. Its seems the high acidity seems to causing folks some some problems with fermentation. So I thought, why not mix a batch of sugar water, say 4 gals with 10lbs of sugar? Add wine or champagne yeast and some nutrient and ferment it down till its good and dry. Then melt several cans of instant lemonade on the stove and just add it to the "white lightnin" to get the desired taste/sweetness. Carbonating may be an issue unless you keg. Any of you more experienced guys know a reason that this wouldnt work? If not I may just give it a try.

 

[brazedowl]

I just bottled my cran/lemonade version of this. Turned out GREAT. It was sweet so I fortified it with some rocket fuel skeeter pee and put it in beer bottles.

 

[brazedowl]

So I thought, why not mix a batch of sugar water, say 4 gals with 10lbs of sugar? Add wine or champagne yeast and some nutrient and ferment it down till its good and dry. Then melt several cans of instant lemonade on the stove and just add it to the "white lightnin" to get the desired taste/sweetness. Carbonating may be an issue unless you keg. Any of you more experienced guys know a reason that this wouldnt work? If not I may just give it a try.

I've never thought of just fermenting the sugar first and then adding the concentrate later. I've heard horror stories about fermenting straight sugar and getting all kinds of crazy off flavors and nasty.

anyone else want to chime in with a more helpful answer?

 

[scottsaxman]

The skeeter pee recipe talks about aerating heavily and periodically. Is this true of hard lemonade?

 

[brazedowl]

I never aerate, no.

 

[scottsaxman]

I just bottled my cran/lemonade version of this. Turned out GREAT. It was sweet so I fortified it with some rocket fuel skeeter pee and put it in beer bottles.

Do you have a gravity reading for that? I checked mine today (started 6/16/12 at 1.111, so this is day 17) and it is at 1.028 for 10.87% ABV. It is HARSH, with a strong alcohol smell and taste. I would not describe it as sweet at all, though it could go lower, as I still get pretty regular bubbles in the air lock.

I probably need to rack to secondary ASAP, then figure out what to do with it. Will secondary slow down the fermentation? I hope so.

FYI - I did use champagne yeast, so maybe this isn't the way to go.

 

[brazedowl]

I used Montrachet. I'll take a gravity reading when I open another bottle. I'm taking a bunch to a 4th of july thing today. You may want to rack, stabilize and backsweeten at this point.

 

[lumpher]

Am I mistaken or was the Montrachet/Nottingham/US-05 used so that it leaves some residual sugars in the final product so we don't have to backsweeten? I assumed that the lower ABV-producing yeast strains were chosen so we didn't end up with rocket fuel.

Perhaps I am mistaken, however.

I'm curious to see how the lumpher's recipe from the first page turns out, so I think that is the one I am going to try. For those of you who don't want to backtrack, here it is:



Does this seem like it won't work as-is? I mean, there is no nutrient, but lumpher said that it is a hit...

it usually takes a couple days to take off, but when it does, it goes steadily for a couple weeks.