Full Hard Lemonade recipe

[bknifefight]

Yeah, there is some body added by using DME that just sugar and lemonade would not have. You can not use it if you dont have it, just add another pound of sugar.

 

[3CATTS]

Just finished a half batch. This stuff turned out great!

 

[chuckalope]

Just put this recipe together on Saturday. It is bubbling away! I am a noob, but very excited for this one. I am planning on skipping the potassium sorbate and force carbing in beer bottles followed by stovetop pastuerization. Any tips? Thanks

 

[brazedowl]

ok three things...

1) This is strongish and goes down so damn easy. Wow.

2) My WIFE likes it and she makes "the face" about anything that has alcohol in it.

3) Put a couple spoonfulls of those frozen sliced strawberries swimming in their own sugary juice in the glass. (thawed of course)

 

[craigbrew]

So I tried to make this and not sure how it's going to turn out. I didn't have any DME so I used the final running's from a wit I was making. I didn't measure the sugar (probably only a pound) that I used and I used 5 16oz containers of lemonade concentrate. I forgot to stir after I added my concentrate.

my S.G. was 1.037 so it's going to be light on the alcohol.

I will post again when I'm drinking it.

 

[craigbrew]

So I remembered that I didn't stir the mixture up before I took a reading so I might be good there. I was down stairs checking on the beer that I had brewed and noticed bubbles in the airlock on my hard lemonade fermentor. Tonight I'm going to take 2 cups of sugar and some water and boil it and add it to the fermentor.

 

[chuckalope]

Update, it turned out great! I carbed it up in the bottles and stovetop pasteurized. Perfect bubble, great taste too. This stuff is strong, very dangerous, I had 4 last night and I was feeling really good, lol. Thank you for a great recipe!

 

[Paschendale]

I plan on making this per the skeeter pee recipe tomorrow. This will be my first big batch of anything and I'm looking forward to this. I don't have a slurry, so will just have to rehydrate the EC-1118 ahead of time. Exactly how much yeast do I need to use? The directions seem a bit sketchy for quantity? And you folks say I'm looking at roughly 3 weeks here, from start to finish?

 

[brazedowl]

Just started a second batch of it. When it comes time to backsweeten I may split it and do 3gal of just lemonade, and 3gal with cran concentrate instead.

 

[paulster2626]

Without the 2.5lbs of corn sugar, approximately what ABV are we looking at?

I'm considering just using 1lb.

 

[kingogames]

Per OP, 9%.

 

[Majik]

Next recipe for me.

 

[paulster2626]

Without the 2.5lbs of corn sugar, approximately what ABV are we looking at?

I'm considering just using 1lb.

Per OP, 9%.

With, without, what's the difference? I would prefer around 6-7%, but that's okay. I'll just add ice!

Making this tonight. Full recipe, what the hell...

 

[TexasWine]

I added 4 lime and 6 lemon to this, tastes great! I will carb up 3/4 then leave some still for comparison.

Hey John. Did you skip the sorbate to make it carb up?

I'm new to this, with only 4 batches of wine under my belt. This will be my first attempt at carbonating anything. BTW, I read the Cider sticky on Pasteurization. Sounds simple enough.

 

[paulster2626]

Okay done! We will see what happens with my no-name lemonade... Of course the store has a sale on minute maid and is sold out.

Before pitching the yeast, this stuff already tastes amazing.

Used my new fancy O2 aeration device as well. So cool!

 

[craigbrew]

made a batch and the wife and MIL said that it tastes great. They have asked me to make more. While at the store today my wife made sure I got Lemonade so I can start another batch. I might use 2 cans of raspberry juice for the sweating/flavor next time.

 

[paulster2626]

Okay done! We will see what happens with my no-name lemonade... Of course the store has a sale on minute maid and is sold out.

Before pitching the yeast, this stuff already tastes amazing.

Used my new fancy O2 aeration device as well. So cool!

It's bubbling already!

 

[TexasWine]

Gonna be a busy day. Two batches of wine to bottle, two more to get started, and I'm gonna get this hard lemonade going today too.

For those of you who are interested in carbonating this recipe, I went to the LHB yesterday and quizzed the more seasoned hands about it. Their simplest conclusion (for someone who has nothing other than wine making equipment) was to follow the instructions as is and at the end to carbonate with one of those soda water machines. Although I think I'm not gonna take their advice and instead l go the stove top pasteurization route.

-Benson

 

[sfrisby]

Just a random idea. I think I'm going to try to brew a blonde and separately brew a hard lemonade. Combine at kegging time for a shandy. If you are so inclined, discuss...

 

[TexasWine]

Got this started yesterday and already getting some action. Starting gravity of 1.061 and hope to finish out with an ABV of 8-9.

Couple of clarifications on the instructions. One, if I'm reading it right, the ingredient list calls for 2.5 lbs corn sugar whereas the instructions say 3 lbs. I went with 2.5 lbs.

Two, I've never used concentrate to make anything, even what it was intended for. I wasn't sure whether to keep the concentrate frozen or thaw it out. I went the later route. Found out that was a mistake when the temp of the wort and concentrate combined was 115F. Topped off fermentor with ice and still had to put it in a ice water bath in the sink to get the temp down to 78F. This very well may have been a noob mistake, but like I said, never used the stuff before.

-Benson

 

[brazedowl]

Split my batch into two 3 gallon batches when it was time to backsweeten and bottle.

Batch #1: 4 cups sugar, 2 frozen sweet tea concentrates, sorbate
It takes the edge off the lemon a bit but you can still tell it's there. Goes down easy. Might just get enough teabags to do 5 gallons of sweet tea, and throw that in the primary and see how that turns out.

Batch #2: 4 cups sugar, 2 frozen strawberry breeze concentrates, sorbate
Also goes down smooth and takes the edge off the lemonade. Kinda a pinky-orange color. Very nice.

 

[DrHops]

Just a random idea. I think I'm going to try to brew a blonde and separately brew a hard lemonade. Combine at kegging time for a shandy. If you are so inclined, discuss...

I brewed a lemon wheat beer a few months ago along with a batch of skeeter pee. I combined 1 gallon of each into a 3 gallon corny a few weeks ago for my pool drink. I've been taking it to the pool a few times a week ever since. It's great and not as high as a ABV as full strength skeeter pee.

 

[sfrisby]

I brewed a lemon wheat beer a few months ago along with a batch of skeeter pee. I combined 1 gallon of each into a 3 gallon corny a few weeks ago for my pool drink. I've been taking it to the pool a few times a week ever since. It's great and not as high as a ABV as full strength skeeter pee.

Nice! Sound like a great combination.

 

[chrisjw]

I have just started this recipe. I added 1 tsp of baking soda just to bring the pH up a bit from 3.02 to 3.12. I figure that I can always add citric acid to increase the acidity after fermentation, if necessary. My OG was only 1.062. I am considering adding another lb of corn sugar.

I also have a Skeeter Pee and a Twisted Mist Hard Lemonade fermenting. The Skeeter Pee started at a much lower pH so I added 4 tsp of baking soda to that one. I plan to bring the 3 Lemonades to a BBQ in the future and have everyone do a taste test. I will also force carbonate some of each batch and include still and carbed versions in the taste test.

So far, this one smells the best of the three at start-up. It is also foaming quite a bit (like 3/4"), much more than the others.

 

[christopherrburns]

The boss lady loves her some shandy. Made two horrible attempts last summer but managed to hit it this year. Did a very basic wheat beer and blended it with 25% skeeter peer just before it went into the keg to carb. Very yummy. Some yeast flavor from the primier cuvee yeast i used in the skeeter peer. I may try to use some us-04 brewers yeast next time and acclimate it to the lemon acid in a starter.

Here is the grain bill for the wheat. it's a 5 gal batch and i typically get about 70-75% efficiency
4 and a half lbs of while wheat malt
3 and a half lbs of pale ale malt
1 lb of flaked wheat
half a lb of munich
.5 oz tattnang for 60 min
1.5 sorachi ace 30 min
dry hop with .5 sorachi ace for 14 days
us-05 with a starter

 

[chrisjw]

I have just started this recipe. I added 1 tsp of baking soda just to bring the pH up a bit from 3.02 to 3.12.

The reason for adding baking soda is to help the yeast. Most yeast struggle below pH 3.1. Stressed yeast can lead to H2S which could end up smelling like rotten egg or burnt rubber.

 

[TexasWine]

I have just started this recipe. I added 1 tsp of baking soda just to bring the pH up a bit from 3.02 to 3.12. I figure that I can always add citric acid to increase the acidity after fermentation, if necessary. My OG was only 1.062. I am considering adding another lb of corn sugar.

I also have a Skeeter Pee and a Twisted Mist Hard Lemonade fermenting. The Skeeter Pee started at a much lower pH so I added 4 tsp of baking soda to that one. I plan to bring the 3 Lemonades to a BBQ in the future and have everyone do a taste test. I will also force carbonate some of each batch and include still and carbed versions in the taste test.

So far, this one smells the best of the three at start-up. It is also foaming quite a bit (like 3/4"), much more than the others.

Thanks for the baking soda tip. I'm not getting the thick foam you mention. Mostly just some pulp pieces floating around on top.

And I got essentially the same OG as you did. Still going for an ABV of 8-9 though.

 

[credd86]

I bottled a batch of this last night. It took close to a week and a second yeast starter before there were any signs of fermentation.

I used 1.2 lbs LME and a bit less sugar than called for to get the ABV around 7% (1.052 SG). Used ~4 cups sugar at bottling along with concentrate to bring it up 1.012.

This stuff is delicious, better than the Skeeter Pee I've made, thanks for the recipe.

 

[chrisjw]

Thanks for the baking soda tip. I'm not getting the thick foam you mention. Mostly just some pulp pieces floating around on top.

And I got essentially the same OG as you did. Still going for an ABV of 8-9 though.

I also have the pulp and its still foaming up but not as much as yesterday.

Adding the baking soda really helps the yeast out and results in a much quicker ferment especially if the pH is below 3.0. My skeeter pee was at 2.5 before I added the baking soda.

I am on day 3 and the SG is at 1.02 and the bubbling is still going strong. Based on the strength of the fermentation, I think that this might go down below .998 which should give ABV > 8. I decided not to add any more fermentables. It won't be as strong as my Skeeter Pee or Twisted Mist but that's ok. It still smells great.

 

[TexasWine]

On day 10. Gravity down to 1.000 and still getting some air lock action.

Wondering if anyone could give me a little more direction on the bottle carbonation procedure mentioned in this thread. After reading the sticky in the cider forum it seems simple enough. Here's my elaborate plan.

1. On bottling day make the sugar, concentrate, water mixture per the instructions, but omit the sorbate.
2. Bottle in beer bottles.
3. Open a bottle every day until I find the carbonation level is right for me.
4. Stove top pasteurize per the sticky in the cider forum.

Sound about right? Somebody please chime in if I'm way off on anything!

And one more question. Will the bottle carbonation process reduce the sweetness? I'm trying to figure out if I need to add a little extra sugar to offset what gets converted to alcohol and CO2 during the bottle conditioning. Maybe it's an insignificant amount, but thought I'd ask.