Full Hard Lemonade recipe

[Newsman]

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.

I realize this was probably posted awhile back, but one thing I read in the cider forum is that you should bottle some in a plastic soda bottle and when it gets to about the same feel as an unopened bottle of soda, you can probably pasteurize the rest in the beer bottles and/or check one of the beer bottles for carbonation. Keep in mind that unless you chill it, the carbonation may not *appear* to be there, but likely is.

 

[Newsman]

I put this together today. Good Lord I could drink it as is. Hard Cherry Limeade will be coming down the pipe in about a month. OG 1.093

I never done anything with this high of a gravity. Should I pick up some 1/2" tubing tomorrow to make a blow off tube. I put 5.5 or so in a 6.5 glass carboy.

It wouldn't hurt to pick up some tubing. I use 7/16 OD tubing as that fits my drilled stopper perfectly. That being said, I would *think* that with a gallon worth of head space you ought to be good, but you can never tell.

 

[bigken462]

I had actually went and bought some at Lowes that evening while I was in town. I took a look at it Saturday night before going to bed and decided against messing with it, and by the next morning the Krausen had done fallen. I could tell from all the fruit particles on the glass that it had gotten high. When I went back to look at the pictures, I was surprised to see how fast it foamed up, then fell back. Literally over just a few hours. I was half tempted to fill it up more on brew day, kinda glad I didn't now. lol

I guess this stuff happens all the time. But since I had always used he buckets, never been able to see the show. Pretty cool to sit and look at the stuff churn like mad inside.

It was interesting to see the carboy temps rise with activity, then fall back to normal levels again. I was somewhat concerned about the temps, but after reading the text about that yeast strain seen that it was still within the parameters.

I can't wait to make another batch. Raspberry lemonade I think will be the next one.

 

[h22lude]

How much yeast do you use? The packets I have found come in 5 grams. Use 1 or 2?

 

[smileyak87]

How much yeast do you use? The packets I have found come in 5 grams. Use 1 or 2?

I used 2 and made a starter but it still seemed to take a few days for any activity to show up

 

[TexasWine]

How much yeast do you use? The packets I have found come in 5 grams. Use 1 or 2?

I use one as a starter. Usually have activity within 12 hours.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Home Brew mobile app

 

[bigken462]

I rehydrated two packets of Lalvin EC-1118 with a dash of nutrient and a tablespoon of concentrate. I had a good activity within 3 hours. Three solid days of vigorous boil in the carboy.

 

[h22lude]

When you guys say starter, you mean rehydrate? I don't think I have ever heard making a starter with dry yeast.

 

[TexasWine]

When you guys say starter, you mean rehydrate? I don't think I have ever heard making a starter with dry yeast.

I do exactly what BigKen has spelled out above. Not sure what it should be technically called. I've just always thought of it as a starter because it's bubbling and reproducing when I pitch it.

 

[bigken462]

I need to say that this was my very first batch making hard limeade, and only 3rd batch of beer, so I can't say I have a bunch of experience with the hard lemonades/limeade brews. However, I followed the recipe for the yeast as was directed in the 2nd post in this thread. The yeast packs also state it's best to rehydrate.

I can't really speak with a bunch of experience, but I can say this batch of cherry limeade took off very rapidly. It went from 1.091 to 1.012 as of yesterday. I fear though that I may have goofed it up by adding nutrient in it after I transferred it to the secondary today. My hopes was to get it to finish out completely, but I'm not seeing any further activity in the carboy. It's as still as glass. I had a gut feeling I was goofing up. If it doesn't do anything, maybe the stuff will settle out in a few weeks and not effect the taste. I hope it will not be a regrettable decision. Looking back, I should have accepted that the yeasties did all they were going to do and leave them be. lol

I will say though, after transferring, the stuff looks amazing. I tossed the old cherries and yeast cake out in the yard and couldn't help but laugh at the thought of the dogs walking around drunk after eating the cherries. lol

 

[h22lude]

I rehydrated two packets of Lalvin EC-1118 with a dash of nutrient and a tablespoon of concentrate. I had a good activity within 3 hours. Three solid days of vigorous boil in the carboy.

Thanks. I'm going to need one more packet. I figured everyone meant rehydrate.

 

[smileyak87]

Just bottled mine this evening. Its delicious and I can only imagine it will get better

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[MusicalBrewer]

Just bottled mine this evening. Its delicious and I can only imagine it will get better

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

Did you do a straight lemonade recipe or did you end up adding some strawberries in the secondary?

 

[Countryboy73]

Enjoying the night with some hard lemonade an watching the kids pop fireworks.

 

[bigken462]

Bottled mine up tonight. 60 - 12 ounce bottles and 3 - 20 ounce plastic bottles to carb test with. Saved a quart for the fridge for a thirst quencher tomorrow.

FG was about 10.34% before I back sweetened. Taste great. Still kinda wished I would have used lemonade instead of limeade though.

Not sure what to brew next. Grrrrr.

Have a good weekend guys,

 

[skitter]

Soo.... theoretically you could add the potassium sorbate, and as it doesn't kill the yeast and just keeps the yeast from Multiplying, you could add it a day before bottling, bottle, and still get a light carbonation before the yeast all died out yes?

Thanks!

 

[bigken462]

I got many different opinions of to use it or not. This is my first batch so I don't have experience to judge one way or the other. Since I plan to pasteurize these (above) in a few days, I elected to not use the potassium sorbate. We'll see how it works out. I have them covered up just in case they decide to spike a attitude. lol


Ken

 

[bbrjj]

This is a really easy and good recipe for hard lemonade. It is a lot stronger than Mike's.

Ingredients (makes 6-7 gallons):

- 12 cans preservative-free Lemonade concentrate (I use Nature's best
brand from Aldi's cause it is cheap, Minute Maid is another option)
- 1 lb Extra light or Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract
- 2.5 lbs corn sugar
- Yeast nutrient
- Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne Yeast (THIS YEAST IS VERY IMPORTANT, OTHER CHAMPAGNE YEASTS HAVE A HARD TIME WITH THE ACIDITY OF THE LEMONADE, BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE YEAST PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS BELOW AS WELL)
- Potassium Sorbate
- Appx 8 cups regular cane sugar

How much yeast is needed for the original recipe, it's not specified.

 

[bigken462]

From watching several YouTube videos and reading through the forums, I decided to use 2 packs of Lalvin EC-1118 wine yeast. I bottled last Friday, but it still has not reached a carb level that that I want to pasteurize. The soda bottles are rock hard, but when I pop a bottle it's dead flat. Not sure what to make of that.

Back to your question though, the 2 packs of yeast put on a good show with mine and I went from OG of 1.091 to FG of 1.010. I didn't need a blow off tube, but make dang sure that airlock does not get clogged.

 

[MusicalBrewer]

I only use one pack of yeast. Turned out fine for me. But my OG was much lower than bigken.
If your OG is really high l'd probably opt for 2 packs. Around 1.065 or less you should be fine with one pack.

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[bbrjj]

I'm really new to this. Back in the day... Many years ago, Some high school friends and I made a couple of batches of grape wine from Welchs grape juice, just getting back into this again. What actually makes the carbonation? I was wondering when it was done fermenting , if I could strain the liquid into a bottling carboy let sit for a day or two on an airlock and make sure fermenting
Is complete. Then add "fizz" tablets to the bottling. It seems like the pasturasation step could be eliminated. Would this work or would it affect the taste too much?
Thanks for your insight.

 

[bbrjj]

I only use one pack of yeast. Turned out fine form me. But my OG was much lower than bigken.
If your OG is really high l'd probably opt for 2 packs. Around 1.065 or less you should be fine with one pack.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Home Brew mobile app

How big was your yeast packet? 5g?

 

[MusicalBrewer]

How big was your yeast packet? 5g?

Yes it was a 5g packet. Now that I'm home I checked my brew log. My OG was 1.063 and FG was 1.001.

 

[MusicalBrewer]

I'm really new to this. Back in the day... Many years ago, Some high school friends and I made a couple of batches of grape wine from Welchs grape juice, just getting back into this again. What actually makes the carbonation? I was wondering when it was done fermenting , if I could strain the liquid into a bottling carboy let sit for a day or two on an airlock and make sure fermenting
Is complete. Then add "fizz" tablets to the bottling. It seems like the pasturasation step could be eliminated. Would this work or would it affect the taste too much?
Thanks for your insight.

Carbonation is typically done one of two ways. 1. Your fermented liquid of choice is put in a keg and C02 is forced into it. 2. A calculated amount of sugar is added back into the fermented liquid, then it is bottled. The yeast start eating the sugar and a small fermentation begins again. Now CO2 is being released by the yeast, which cannot escape through an airlock. So the C02 builds up and is forced back into your joy juice, making it fizzy.....

I'm guessing the "fizz" tablets you refer to are the sugar tablets used for bottle conditioning beer. This is adding a small, calculated amount of sugar that the yeast will eat and leave a desired amount of C02 in a 12 oz bottle.

When you back sweeten the hard lemonade (add the concentrate and sugar after the fermentation is complete) you will be waking up the yeast again and will cause another large fermentation to begin. The amount of sugar you are adding is far more than is necessary to carbonate the lemonade. To prevent another fermentation and retain the sweetness you need to kill the yeast. This is done by either 1. adding potassium sorbate or 2. by waiting until your bottles have reached a level of carbonation you are happy with and then pasteurizing.

If you don't kill the yeast after back sweetening and you bottle the hard lemonade you will have bottle bombs going off.

 

[bbrjj]

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain it to me. I'm not really stupid - just a newbie . We're going to give this a shot and see what happens... (fingers crossed)

 

[MusicalBrewer]

I hope my post didn't come across condescending. I definitely didn't think you were stupid! I just like things explained very clear and detailed to me, so I tend to explain things that way. If it came across wrong I'm sorry...

As far as the hard lemonade---if you get the yeast going good you should be fine. It's a great recipe. Hope it turns out good for you!

 

[bbrjj]

No sir it did't. I'm very appreciative of the info. The "stupid" comment was my attempt at humor. Maybe it didn't come across that way very well. Again, thank you for the very nice explanation.

 

[bigken462]

I finished pasteurizing mine tonight. I'm limited on off days and the plastic bottles were rock hard. I was getting a lil uncomfortable and decided to go ahead and do them tonight.

The process went smooth. I did have one blow up on me. Thank goodness I had the lid on. The water pushed the lid off and I had a tidal wave splash on the stove, counter and floor. I'll have sticky floors for a month trying to get this out of the ceramic tiles. Lol

My only regret so far was using limeade instead of lemonade. But other than that, I'm happy with the results. I think my next batch will be raspberry lemonade if I can start collecting more bottles.

Thanks to everyone on this list who guided me along the way. Awesome resource!

 

[MusicalBrewer]

The process went smooth. I did have one blow up on me. Thank goodness I had the lid on. The water pushed the lid off and I had a tidal wave splash on the stove, counter and floor. I'll have sticky floors for a month trying to get this out of the ceramic tiles. Lol

!

I've had a couple of bottles explode on me while pasteurizing. It's amazing the power that those things have. One exploded as I was putting the lid back on--the entire neck of the bottle shot out of the pot and hit me in the side of the arm That was a wake up call! Thank God I got hit with the cap and not the sharp edge. It hit me so hard it left a bruise. If i had been hit with the sharp edge I'm sure I would have needed stitches.

 

[pokeacow]

When making one of these grape juice/lemonade/juice extract thingies should i expect a gnarly krausen much like a beer? Or can i make a 5 gallon batch of it in a 5 gallon carboy (just like i did with apfelwein) and not have it blow up out the top