Full Hard Lemonade recipe

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Only thing can add is I use .5lbs dme and 12oz corn sugar in 4.5gal. It's perfect, 7%ish. I've used cinnamon in cider. 1/2 of a stick, 2in long in secondary, was detectable. Be forewarned. 😉

 

[qualitypunk]

How well does this recipe age? Will it still be good in 6-9 months?

 

[HBngNOK]

I bottled today also, 54 375ml bottles all together.
Made a 5+ gallon batch and divided it up into 4 1 gallon batches that I flavored and a 1-1/2 gallon that stayed just lemon (plus back sweeten)
the flavors were, Pina Colada, strawberry daiquiri, apple raspberry and passion fruit. I used 1 can of frozen concentrate for each of the flavored batches and found they were not quite sweet enough so added 1/2 cup of sugar to each.
The recipe I used for this was the skeeter pee recipe. using 3 quarts of real lemon, 8 pounds of dextrose and EC1118 yeast along with nutrient and energizer.Came out very tasty but dangerous, I can't taste the alcohol but sure can feel the effects.
Each of the batches I filled what bottles I could and I didn't want to just throw away what was left in each jug so I took it upon myself to sample.

Really appreciate what you've done! Neighbor and I make quite a bit of skeeter pee. As soon as the batch I have clears, will be imitating you!!

 

[HBngNOK]

How well does this recipe age? Will it still be good in 6-9 months?

No one knows. It drinks so easy no ones ever had a batch last that long !

 

[stevejbrecon]

Hi all,

Complete newbie to the forum, first post actually, but i have been coming here for advice and ideas for a long time.

I am going to be doing this recipe this week so it is all ready for drinking in the summer, sounds like it will be great at a BBQ.

The only question i have is over the Lemonade concentrate. I have lots of bottles of organic lemon juice. the type used for cooking. Would this work? and if so would i use the same amount? (about 4 litres, which seems a lot to me)

Or would it be best for me to forget about the organic lemon juice and just go and find some lemonade concentrate like Country Time?

Cheers in advance

 

[TexasWine]

Hi all,

Complete newbie to the forum, first post actually, but i have been coming here for advice and ideas for a long time.

I am going to be doing this recipe this week so it is all ready for drinking in the summer, sounds like it will be great at a BBQ.

The only question i have is over the Lemonade concentrate. I have lots of bottles of organic lemon juice. the type used for cooking. Would this work? and if so would i use the same amount? (about 4 litres, which seems a lot to me)

Or would it be best for me to forget about the organic lemon juice and just go and find some lemonade concentrate like Country Time?

Cheers in advance

Welcome to the forums! If you have lemon juice as opposed to the lemonade concentrate, I would suggest using the skeeter pee recipe found here.

http://skeeterpee.com/recipe

Personally, I think the hard lemonade recipe in this thread is easier to execute, but you might give the other recipe a whirl if you already have a lot of the ingredients on hand.

 

[stevejbrecon]

Cheers for getting back so quickly.

I've tried a friend's skeeter pee before and wasn't too fussed. I like the idea of the malt (and the idiot proof instructions) on this one.

I'm basically just wondering if I can substitute the lemonade concentrate for lemon juice or if that will give me a completely different flavour? I was expecting to need a little bit less with some extra sugar but I'm not too sure.

I'm happy to go and find some lemonade concentrate if needs be because the recipe here looks great. Its just a little harder to come by in the UK.

Cheers again

 

[stevejbrecon]

I was thinking that if I simply use extra sugar to get me to the same SG then it should be ok? Or perhaps I amsimplifying too much?

 

[CamG]

Wow ! just finished reading all 49 pages.

I am confused about one thing.
I will be kegging this and not sure about the Potasium Sorbate.
I just figured if I skip the sorbate and back sweeten I will just get some natural carbonation in the keg. Or will any risdual yeast eat all my back sweeting sugar ?

Just had an idea about this and wanted to get some feedback from everyone. I just made this and plan to keg in 2 to 3 weeks.
Could I keg without the potassium sorbate wait for several days for natural carbonation to occur then pasteurize in the keg? My kegs have the PRV's so there should be no danger of building too much pressure and I have an 18 gallon kettle to heat it up in. I would probably be able to submerge 2/3's of the keg.
I would then be able to serve at 7PSI.
Thoughts?

I have never heard of pasturizing a keg before.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Wow ! just finished reading all 49 pages.

I am confused about one thing.
I will be kegging this and not sure about the Potasium Sorbate.
I just figured if I skip the sorbate and back sweeten I will just get some natural carbonation in the keg. Or will any risdual yeast eat all my back sweeting sugar ?



I have never heard of pasturizing a keg before.

I keg mine. I use potassium sorbate, but over time, say 2 months, it seems to dry out a bit more anyway.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I was thinking that if I simply use extra sugar to get me to the same SG then it should be ok? Or perhaps I amsimplifying too much?

I use 11 cans total @ .98c each. Seems easy. Think you'd have to do side by side comparison with lemon juice and sugar. With 8cans, .5lb dme, 12oz corn sugar and water to 4.5gal, OG is 1.050. If that helps.

 

[MusicalBrewer]

Wow ! just finished reading all 49 pages.

I am confused about one thing.
I will be kegging this and not sure about the Potasium Sorbate.
I just figured if I skip the sorbate and back sweeten I will just get some natural carbonation in the keg. Or will any risdual yeast eat all my back sweeting sugar ?



I have never heard of pasturizing a keg before.

If you don't use something to kill the yeast (potassium sorbate or other) you will get fermentation happening again. I suppose if you keg and chill it quickly you wont get too much fermenting because of low temps. Personally I would kill the yeast prior to kegging. I use sodium metabisulfate. It's cheap and only takes like 1/4 tsp for 5 gallons. A little container will last forever.

 

[MusicalBrewer]

I was thinking that if I simply use extra sugar to get me to the same SG then it should be ok? Or perhaps I amsimplifying too much?

I think your theory is sound an it might work. Maybe try a small batch first to see if it works. It would be an experiment though.

I would recommend just picking up some preservative free lemonade concentrate...especially if it's your first go at the recipe.

 

[mblanks2]

Wow ! just finished reading all 49 pages.

I am confused about one thing.
I will be kegging this and not sure about the Potasium Sorbate.
I just figured if I skip the sorbate and back sweeten I will just get some natural carbonation in the keg. Or will any risdual yeast eat all my back sweeting sugar ?



I have never heard of pasturizing a keg before.

Ended up using the potassium sorbate.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

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

Rehydrate yeast:

Rehydrate yeast by combining 1 cup warm water with 1 tbsp of lemonade concentrate and just a couple yeast nutrient pellets with Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast, Allow to sit for at least a half hour. You should see vigorous action in the yeast when ready.

Brewing the wort:

In a 2.5+ gal brew pot, combine 1 lb Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract (DME) with 3 lbs corn sugar to appx 2 gal boiling water. This will give you appx 9% abv when finished. To increase alcohol, increase sugar and/or DME, use less sugar to lower ABV). Stir until completely disolved Remove from heat, and 7 tsp yeast nutrient.

Combine wort in large plastic fermentor bucket with 10 cans lemonade concentrate, and enough cold water to fill bucket to bring total volume to 6 gal. Make sure temp is between 65 - 75 degrees, and take initial hydrometer reading. Pitch in your yeast starter. Put lid and airlock on fermentor and allow to ferment at room temp.

Fermentation:

You should see steady fermentation within 2 -3 days, that will last 1-2 weeks. Allow to ferment completely out before attempting to bottle.

Bottling day:

Take hydrometer reading. You should be right around .998 – 1.002 specific gravity.

In a large sauce pan, add 8 cups cane sugar (or to taste), 2 cans Lemonade concentrate, and 3 cups water and, stirring continuously, bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and disolve 3.5 tsp potassium sorbate. Add lemon/sugar/sorbate solution to a 7 gal bottling bucket. Rack fermented lemonade from carboy into bottling bucket with the sorbate solution, stirring thoroughly.

You can bottle in beer or wine bottles, or you can keg. Even with the sorbate, you will probably get a little bit of carbonation as it sits, but it is usually not enough to pop a cork. I usually keg, and force carbonate.

It is ready to drink on bottling day.

Can you or someone tel me after I back sweeten the drink can I get it immediately or do I wait a few days?

 

[MusicalBrewer]

Can you or someone tel me after I back sweeten the drink can I get it immediately or do I wait a few days?

You can drink it right away! I usually start as I'm putting it into the keg

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

You can drink it right away! I usually start as I'm putting it into the keg

Perfect!!

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

You can drink it right away! I usually start as I'm putting it into the keg

Amen!

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Ok, got my batch all made up. I am excited to try this one. I lowered the amount of corn sugar b/c my online order got damaged and it didn't arrive. I did put some honey in there as a substitute though. Can't wait for the three week mark to try this.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Yeah, i'm doing my Raspberry version with Belle Saison yeast. Should know more in 2 weeks..

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Yeah, i'm doing my Raspberry version with Belle Saison yeast. Should know more in 2 weeks..

Update...its awesome..not just my words! Used 2 cups sugar and 3 cans back sweeten for 4gallons. The yeast adds a nice, but subtle character. Will start with more dme, 2lbs maybe, for more a beer character next.

 

[CamG]

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...

Hi Just wondering if you tried this and how it worked out ?
It sounds like a really cool idea.

Thanks,
Cam

 

[sfrisby]

Forgot about this, but do have a batch of hard lemonade already going...so...
The way I make shandy now is add cans of frozen concentrate after fermentation so this would be interesting side by side. I would suspect it would just be a thinner version of the all malt version.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

So lets talk variations. Brewed hard limeaide, which I've done before. This one, just put jalapeno/vanilla bean in secondary. To back sweeten, will add pineapple juice/tequila along with limeaide/sugar. Can't wait for outcome!

7/5/16 update.
This came out nice. Backsweeten with 2 cans limeaide, 1.5 cups sugar
1/2 gallon pineapple juice, 3oz Liquor 43 and 8oz tequila. Needs more pineapple so going to do pineapple ice cubes. Maybe a gallon next time.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

I did this recipe and really liked it, going to be trying it with pink lemonade or some type of fruit soon to change it up...although I still like it a lot over some iced tea.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I did this recipe and really liked it, going to be trying it with pink lemonade or some type of fruit soon to change it up...although I still like it a lot over some iced tea.

Raspberry with this recipe go hand in hand. Just xfer to secondary, add 2lbs frozen raspberries for 10 days, for color mainly. At keg/bottle, add 1-4oz Brewers Best Raspberry Extract. Ditto with mangoes..

 

[CamG]

Ok going to try this finally.
It says to ferment at room temperature. My room temperature fluctuates from 68 to78 from day to night.
I have a fermenting chamber that holds 65 steadily. Can I ferment this at that temp ?
Although EC-1118 has a very wide temp range I am just worried that because of the high acidity it may stall at that low of a temp.

I don't want to raise the temp in the fermenter as I have a few batches of beer in there at all times

Thanks,
Cam

 

[buzz1670]

It will be fine.I set mine on the counter in the brewroom and let it do it's thing.Temps vary from 60 to 85.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Ditto Buzz, it's an awesome yeast any time of the year. Does take 10-14 days to fully ferment. Just keep that in mind.

 

[wilson42203]

I'm trying a 1-gal batch today for my wife. I'm hoping to finally make something she will drink, but I got my OG too high at 1.080. She's a cheap drunk, so I had to lie about how strong it's going to be.

I can't wait for this one.