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Angus MacDonald

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Wasn't quite sure where to stick this since it's not really a cider, beer, wine, or mead. I'm planning to make some hard pink lemonade based on a recipe I found online in a different forum from 8 years ago. Wondering if anyone had any experience/tips on making hard lemonades. I mean, it's just raspberries and lemons with sugar and yeast but complications can arise anywhere so tips please. Not just the tip, I want all of the tips :D


Recipe I plan to use with my modifications:
510ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
450g raspberries, pulp and juice
1.5kg sugar
Zest of 5 lemons
Water to make up to 5L
Youngs multi purpose yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae)
 
I wasn't planning it since the original recipe didn't mention it and I've just scaled it up a little and added raspberries to the mix. I have artificial sweeteners if needed though, just in case.


Oh I was also going to pre roast the lemons to get more juice from them, draw out the natural sugars a little, and reduce the tartness a wee bit. It'll add to the flavour of the final product.
 
Yeah I would say anything you could do to reduce the tartness would be beneficial. Lemonade (hard and soft) usually tempers the sourness with some sweetness. If you're bottling it might be interesting to put a little extra sugar than you need for carbonation and pasteurize the bottles after 2-3 days. Using a plastic bottle to gauge carbonation levels can help avoid bottle bombs.
 
Umm ok. It's been about a week or so since I pitched the yeast. Not seeing any activity with the airlock so I carefully snuck a peak by removing the airlock and peeking in. I could see the yeast is there, foam and all. Could also hear hissing which I assume is CO2 releasing. Odd how there was no activity with the airlock. Possibly too much headspace as I didn't fill the bucket to its limit. Chucked in another teaspoon of yeast, just in case. Will find out results in a fortnight I guess.
 
Hmm I'll have to buy some litmus paper to properly tell what the pH is. Since it's lemon, I was worried about the pH but it's been diluted by a good 8L of water.
 
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