Full Hard Lemonade recipe

[jaydog2314]

Served this up on Saturday with some other home brew at our summer party, very well received kicked about half the keg. It was great on a warm sunny day. I had back sweetened with 2 cans of lemonade concentrate and only 3 cups of sugar. Had it kegged for about 3-4 days at PSI and it tasted great! I will definitely make this again and try some different flavors to back sweeten.

 

[skitter]

I ended up using Montrachet instead of Lavlin just because that was what the lhbs had... hopefully turns out well, going to rack onto 2lb of strawberries this weekend

 

[insanim8er]

The guava strawberry turned out excellent. It's not tart at all like the raspberry lemonade, the lemonade was perfectly tart, so I went with 3 cups sugar instead. It's really good.

I forgot to take a gravity readings but I know this one is 9+%

I might want to up the lemonade portion a bit more next time maybe two less guava and two more lemonade, but I know the raspberry lemonade improved with some time in the keg. So I'll see how this developes.

It's definetly awesome.

I really want to serve this in a cup with some slapped or muddled basil in some ice... It'll be fan-flipping-tastic.

When I get home from vacation, I'm going to start the mango pineapple lemonade. I've gotten so many people hooked on this stuff, I'm going to have to get a huge supply built up. Thank goodness I have five 10 gallon corny kegs to ferment in--challenge, accepted!

 

[zamo27]

has any one tried this without the sorbate at the end?
could i prime it like it says in the recipe without the sorbate then bottle? is it too much co2
i like it carbonated but i dont want explosions every where
i do have lots of swig top bottles holding nothing at present

 

[TexasWine]

has any one tried this without the sorbate at the end?
could i prime it like it says in the recipe without the sorbate then bottle? is it too much co2
i like it carbonated but i dont want explosions every where
i do have lots of swig top bottles holding nothing at present

If you read the thread you'll see that lots of folks don't use sorbate at the end. However, you will need to pasteurize the lemonade a few days after bottling to keep the bottles from exploding.

 

[zamo27]

If I pasturize them in a steamer, at 90 degrees Celsius for let say 2 hours will they retain the fizz?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[donkeybigbird]

I read this thread over a year ago wanting to make a hard lemonade and have since made 4 batches: 3 lemon and 1 raspberry lemon.

This is a tough fermentation to get started, i originally used 3 yeast additions (champagne yeast cake from applewine, US05 then another US05. I thought that first batch was going to fail, but over time it did its thing. Just took patience.

I switched to using DADY (distillers active dry yeast) and have since made 3 batches with it. I compared side by side the flavor and have good result (in flavor profile) with the dady versus champagne.

I have yet to have a batch of the straight lemon flavored finish in under 4 weeks, the raspberry/lemon batch was done with primary in 2-3 weeks.

I use a lot of nutrient along with the high alcohol tolerant dady, i degass every day for the first 4-5 days and add more nutrient at about the end of the first week. Final abv on the lemon flavored has been between 15% and 17% and the raspberry/lemon i bottled at around 13%.

I have not backsweetened any of the batches, the pink version i bottled in Bud Ice 40 oz bottles with new PET soda bottle caps. It stayed pretty sweet and carbed up litely without any priming.

The plain lemon i have been bottling in Baltika 16oz bombers and enen though it attenuates out to under .990, it will still carb in the bottles without any priming sugars added. It is fairly dry but very drinkable.

at 16% ABV it is not a good idea to drink more than one. I like it in a big glass of ice, but it is great with a nice splash of citrus soda.

6 Gallon batch "Insanity Lemonade"

4 cans frozen limeade
8 cans frozen lemonade
7 lbs white cane sugar
1 Tbls DADY yeast
4 Tbls yeast nutrient

Thaw frozen juice cans to room temperature, open and add to 6.5 gallon brew bucket and add water to make 6 gallons. Add yeast nutrient and stir well with degasser attached to drill. Pitch dady yeast. Agitate/ degass every 1-2 days for first week. OG should be over 1.100, check it weekly to see progress. Add more yeast nutrient after first week.

Give this recipe time, it is worth it. The SG has a long way to go if you are going to try to get >15%, so dont get too frustrated if it seems to take off at first and then stalls out around 8-10%. A couple more weeks and it will do its thing.

 

[donkeybigbird]

I kegged mine, put it into the fridge for a day then put gelatin in to fin it. I let it sit for another couple days. Today I'll clean a new keg, add the sorbate/sweetener and rack the, hopefully, clear lemonade over it.

I'll let you know how well the gelatin did. I've had amazing results with it for beer. The beer came out absolutely crystal clear like it had been filtered. I'm not expecting those results, but I'm hoping.

Hi insanim8er

Would you please briefly describe your fining process using gelatin? Thanks.

 

[TexasWine]

If I pasturize them in a steamer, at 90 degrees Celsius for let say 2 hours will they retain the fizz?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Assuming youve capped properly, your bottles will explode before any carbonation leaks out.

I just use the pasteurization technique as described in a sticky of the cider forum. Works every time.

 

[madwilliamflint]

I read this thread over a year ago wanting to make a hard lemonade and have since made 4 batches: 3 lemon and 1 raspberry lemon.

This is a tough fermentation to get started, i originally used 3 yeast additions (champagne yeast cake from applewine, US05 then another US05. I thought that first batch was going to fail, but over time it did its thing. Just took patience.

I switched to using DADY (distillers active dry yeast) and have since made 3 batches with it. I compared side by side the flavor and have good result (in flavor profile) with the dady versus champagne.

I have yet to have a batch of the straight lemon flavored finish in under 4 weeks, the raspberry/lemon batch was done with primary in 2-3 weeks.

I use a lot of nutrient along with the high alcohol tolerant dady, i degass every day for the first 4-5 days and add more nutrient at about the end of the first week. Final abv on the lemon flavored has been between 15% and 17% and the raspberry/lemon i bottled at around 13%.

I have not backsweetened any of the batches, the pink version i bottled in Bud Ice 40 oz bottles with new PET soda bottle caps. It stayed pretty sweet and carbed up litely without any priming.

The plain lemon i have been bottling in Baltika 16oz bombers and enen though it attenuates out to under .990, it will still carb in the bottles without any priming sugars added. It is fairly dry but very drinkable.

at 16% ABV it is not a good idea to drink more than one. I like it in a big glass of ice, but it is great with a nice splash of citrus soda.

6 Gallon batch "Insanity Lemonade"

4 cans frozen limeade
8 cans frozen lemonade
7 lbs white cane sugar
1 Tbls DADY yeast
4 Tbls yeast nutrient

Thaw frozen juice cans to room temperature, open and add to 6.5 gallon brew bucket and add water to make 6 gallons. Add yeast nutrient and stir well with degasser attached to drill. Pitch dady yeast. Agitate/ degass every 1-2 days for first week. OG should be over 1.100, check it weekly to see progress. Add more yeast nutrient after first week.

Give this recipe time, it is worth it. The SG has a long way to go if you are going to try to get >15%, so dont get too frustrated if it seems to take off at first and then stalls out around 8-10%. A couple more weeks and it will do its thing.

This sounds awesome. Did you pasteurize (or, for that matter, rack?)

I'm on my second attempt at a hard lemonade. My first came out ...err... some people seem to like it, but I'm not one of them.

 

[fuzzypeach]

Noob to this brewing stuff but the rehydration and activation of yeast in cooking is called making a sponge

 

[donkeybigbird]

I have not pasteurized or racked to secondary. I have looked into pasteurizing methods but really i am aiming for a easy product for my "house brews" menu. This stuff gets super clear in the bottles after a few weeks.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I ended up using Montrachet instead of Lavlin just because that was what the lhbs had... hopefully turns out well, going to rack onto 2lb of strawberries this weekend

Id recommend having extract on hand at bottling/kegging to taste. Done both cherry and raspberry additions and came out with light flavor. Raspberry extract helped a lot.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

has any one tried this without the sorbate at the end?
could i prime it like it says in the recipe without the sorbate then bottle? is it too much co2
i like it carbonated but i dont want explosions every where
i do have lots of swig top bottles holding nothing at present

It will explode. Don't do it...really.

 

[kingogames]

PianoMan is right. If you follow this recipe without the sorbate, you will get explosions. But, the OP is right, even with the sorbate, you will get some carbonation. OP calls for 3.5 tsp of Potassium sorbate. I've done it with 2.5 and got nice carbonation throughout. I used plastic bottles though. You could use the original recipe and pastuerize per the pastuerization sticky. I've done that too.

 

[SummerBrewer]

I brewed this recipe pretty close to what it says. But my fermentation temperatures were close to 80 degrees the whole time and I kegged it after one week. Problem is that the batch smells and tastes rancid (really bad) so I had to toss it. Was my temperature too high during fermentation? I also had trouble getting my initial temperature down after the boil and before I pitched my yeast so the yeast sat around for two hours. Could that have also caused my issues?

 

[MusicalBrewer]

I brewed this recipe pretty close to what it says. But my fermentation temperatures were close to 80 degrees the whole time and I kegged it after one week. Problem is that the batch smells and tastes rancid (really bad) so I had to toss it. Was my temperature too high during fermentation? I also had trouble getting my initial temperature down after the boil and before I pitched my yeast so the yeast sat around for two hours. Could that have also caused my issues?

Wow...80 degrees is way too hot in my opinion to ferment this. I use Nottingham yeast and ferment around 62-64 degrees. According to Lalvin ideal temp for EC1118 is 59-77 degrees F (15-25 C).

Rancid to me indicates infection. My guess would be that the yeast sitting out for a couple hours got some junk in it, and with the high ferment temp that an infection took over.

 

[SummerBrewer]

Wow...80 degrees is way too hot in my opinion to ferment this. I use Nottingham yeast and ferment around 62-64 degrees. According to Lalvin ideal temp for EC1118 is 59-77 degrees F (15-25 C).

Rancid to me indicates infection. My guess would be that the yeast sitting out for a couple hours got some junk in it, and with the high ferment temp that an infection took over.

Thanks MusicalBrewer! I found a fridge so now I'll be able to keep my temperatures down.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I brewed this recipe pretty close to what it says. But my fermentation temperatures were close to 80 degrees the whole time and I kegged it after one week. Problem is that the batch smells and tastes rancid (really bad) so I had to toss it. Was my temperature too high during fermentation? I also had trouble getting my initial temperature down after the boil and before I pitched my yeast so the yeast sat around for two hours. Could that have also caused my issues?

Well I boil the DME and corn sugar, but use the canned lemon/limeaids to cool off. No ice needed. After adding RO, temp is around 80. 1118 is go ok d until 90 or so. How's the sanitation process?

 

[SummerBrewer]

Well I boil the DME and corn sugar, but use the canned lemon/limeaids to cool off. No ice needed. After adding RO, temp is around 80. 1118 is go ok d until 90 or so. How's the sanitation process?

I use B-Brite Cleanser to wash all my pots, utensils and buckets before my brew. I also use Star San as a sanitizer during the brew to sanitize utensils. I applied the same logic as when I brew beer sanitizing everything before I used it. Should I be using something else?

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I use B-Brite Cleanser to wash all my pots, utensils and buckets before my brew. I also use Star San as a sanitizer during the brew to sanitize utensils. I applied the same logic as when I brew beer sanitizing everything before I used it. Should I be using something else?

I just use water for cleaning boiling pots, but YES Star San the **** out of it everything. Pic of my fully full kegorator. Left is newly kegged Cherry Limaid.

View attachment 1429832909278.jpg

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Although I don't drink these much, I enjoy modifying recipes. So I've done Limaides, Cherry Limaides (this is what's kegged now and best so far of this mod), also raspberry Lemonaids. LHBS has mango extract...thinking about this. Anyway, would like to hear your mods for ideas..thanks!

 

[MusicalBrewer]

I've tried multiple variations of this - straight limeade, pomegranate, raspberry, cherry limeade, and others. The winner by far is the cherry limeade! Stay miles away from the raspberry--I've tried it 3 times and every one has been a flop.

There is a brand of concentrate called "Hawaii's Own". It has some awesome combinations available, but it's only available in the western half of the US. I'd love to try some of their concentrates for this recipe.

 

[gt_andy]

I've tried multiple variations of this - straight limeade, pomegranate, raspberry, cherry limeade, and others. The winner by far is the cherry limeade! Stay miles away from the raspberry--I've tried it 3 times and every one has been a flop.

There is a brand of concentrate called "Hawaii's Own". It has some awesome combinations available, but it's only available in the western half of the US. I'd love to try some of their concentrates for this recipe.

Can you post or message me the Cherry Limeade recipe?

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

The lemon raspberry was the best, but took a few tries. First try.. after fermentation, soaked in 2 bags of frozen raspberry then added 1oz extract. This came out very good.

But soaking in raspberry then adding two bottles of organic raspberry juice was the very best version.

 

[Silentdrinker]

I've tried multiple variations of this - straight limeade, pomegranate, raspberry, cherry limeade, and others. The winner by far is the cherry limeade! Stay miles away from the raspberry--I've tried it 3 times and every one has been a flop.

There is a brand of concentrate called "Hawaii's Own". It has some awesome combinations available, but it's only available in the western half of the US. I'd love to try some of their concentrates for this recipe.

Raspberry lemonade is one of my favorite variations. I do it by using a couple regular lemonades and and the rest rasp to ferment. I then back sweeten with a couple rasp. It always turns out awesome. I don't bother with real fruit or extract flavors. Too much hassle and expense.

I have done several hawiia's own variations. I did a strawberry guava lemonade. I have passion punch lemonade and passion orange lemonade clearing right now. The passion orange is pretty damn awesome tasting so far. I have several other variations of the hawaiian's own frozen cans waiting to get used.

Right now I have 50 gal hard lemonades, 10 gal hard cider (to be hopped) and 10 gal of milk stout all in fermenters... 20 gallons of cream ale and probably another 40 gal of lemonade and 10 more hopped cider is soon to follow.

Getting ready for my buddies wedding and getting stuff ready for my summer stash. Me and my portable kegerator tend to be popular during the summer.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Wife wants some kind of pineapple mango version...working out a recipe. Possibly lemonaid concentrate, after fermentation, pineapple juice and then mango extract.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Raspberry lemonade is one of my favorite variations. I do it by using a couple regular lemonades and and the rest rasp to ferment. I then back sweeten with a couple rasp. It always turns out awesome. I don't bother with real fruit or extract flavors. Too much hassle and expense.

I have done several hawiia's own variations. I did a strawberry guava lemonade. I have passion punch lemonade and passion orange lemonade clearing right now. The passion orange is pretty damn awesome tasting so far. I have several other variations of the hawaiian's own frozen cans waiting to get used.

Right now I have 50 gal hard lemonades, 10 gal hard cider (to be hopped) and 10 gal of milk stout all in fermenters... 20 gallons of cream ale and probably another 40 gal of lemonade and 10 more hopped cider is soon to follow.

Getting ready for my buddies wedding and getting stuff ready for my summer stash. Me and my portable kegerator tend to be popular during the summer.

So a small homebrew setup?? 🍻

 

[mgonbrewlab]

Mango lemonade sounds awesome. I am going to try to use the second runnings from a batch of blackberry/blueberry/mango blush I am making to a batch of hard lemonade.

If it is being consumed quickly, are PET bottles ok to use? I am out of bottles, growlers, and gallon jugs. I guess I made too much wine this summer

 

[podz]

Raspberry lemonade is one of my favorite variations.

I just use the slurry out of my raspberry wine and make skeeter pee with it. SWMBO loves that stuff, and so do I.