Hard Seltzer recipe questions

[AzOr]

Hello,
In a week or so I’m going to attempt a hard seltzer. I ran across an article

https://beerandbrewing.com/hard-seltzer-at-home/

First, I hope this is the proper forum. I guess it’s kinda a wine. I’ve been making mead and cider for years but have never done something like this. Funny thing is- I’ve never actually drank one but have several friends who are hooked on them. I figure it would be something fun and different to try. While I’m fermenting the base, I’ll try several different brands to get a feel for them.
Process- I’ll go the cane sugar route and shoot for .050. I’ll then cold steep fruit in the keg. I’ll then bottle and pasteurize. I’m thinking of cold steeping cucumber and using a mint tincture or just use lime. I’m open to other fruits as well. Perhaps pineapple or mango. I’ll have time to decide while I’m waiting for the base.

Questions
-Can I assume the fg will be .009ish? I’m trying to figure out the abv. I want it around 6%.
-Any yeast recommendations? I use d47 almost exclusively for mead but am open to others. My keezer is currently being used to lager a pilz. My garage is about 55. I suppose I can wait til my keezer is free if I have to. I can bring the fermenter in the house but it’s about 70 in here.

 

[bernardsmith]

Sounds interesting but not my cuppa tea. Why would the FG be 1.009? Why wouldn't the yeast take out every last molecule of sugar and take the gravity down to say.096?

 

[RPh_Guy]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/sparkling-hard-water-recipe.632001/

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I had planned on brewing this hard seltzer last weekend, but putting up Christmas lights got in the way. SWMBO doesn’t know it but Sunday is the day, even if I have to stay up until 3AM. I expect that my FG will be between 1.004 and 1.002.

 

[AzOr]

Sounds interesting but not my cuppa tea. Why would the FG be 1.009? Why wouldn't the yeast take out every last molecule of sugar and take the gravity down to say.096?

I’m not sure it’ll be my cup of tea either, but it may be fun to reproduce. It’s a relatively cheap experiment.
I’ve been making lots of batches of session meads/hydromels. So that’s what I’d prefer but this is for others to try.
As soon as I make this, I’ll report back w recipe and tasting notes.

 

[AzOr]

Ok another question-

I’m using can super to get to 050, do I use sna?

I’m assuming plain sugar is just as nutrient deficient as honey.
Or should that low of gravity be ok to just let go with no added nutrients?

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I finally got off my lazy butt and brewed this. Accidentally put in my other bottle of Karo that I was going to use for bottle priming sugar. OG is 1.059 (temp corrected). I’m pretty sure that I’m going to cut this with some water to get it down to at least 5.5%. Fermentation was immediate and I saw bubbles on the surface even before I got this into my cooler. I pitch at the rehydration temp in my beer. With this I would have cooled it to 70 degrees before pitching since it started so fast. I took a picture of my ingredients. I forgot to put the lemons in though and I did use the juice from 2 1/2 lemons. I liked the way the must tasted. Mangoes are very present.

 

[AzOr]

I finally got off my lazy butt and brewed this. Accidentally put in my other bottle of Karo that I was going to use for bottle priming sugar. OG is 1.059 (temp corrected). I’m pretty sure that I’m going to cut this with some water to get it down to at least 5.5%. Fermentation was immediate and I saw bubbles on the surface even before I got this into my cooler. I pitch at the rehydration temp in my beer. With this I would have cooled it to 70 degrees before pitching since it started so fast. I took a picture of my ingredients. I forgot to put the lemons in though and I did use the juice from 2 1/2 lemons. I liked the way the must tasted. Mangoes are very present.View attachment 604361View attachment 604362

I noticed on another thread that corn syrup was being used as well. Is there a reason for using dextrose vs sucrose as the base?

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I know that yeast have to take an extra step to ferment sucrose even though I don’t think that there is much difference, The recipe uses so much sugar, if there is a difference, I think it could be noticeable. If there is a difference my money is on dextrose for being cleaner, but I don’t know for sure.

 

[alexandrialj22]

is anyone making organic hard seltzer??
trying to find a good recipe for a substrate that includes quinoa, millet, amaranth

 

[Dr_Jeff]

is anyone making organic hard seltzer??
trying to find a good recipe for a substrate that includes quinoa, millet, amaranth

Organic ----> sugar, water, yeast & yeast nutrients.! ---> done

 

[AzOr]

I want to update since I started this thread......

I decided not to brew a hard seltzer for a simple reason. They don’t taste good. I initially got curious because I had some friends that were drinking the stuff.
However, I have turned those friends on to my session meads. I’m really enjoying those meads and think they taste much much better than a hard seltzer.
I’ve made a mango spiced mead and a pineapple hopped mead. As well as a small batch of only honey session mead (wasn’t my favorite but still good). All were 6ish percent.
I’m thankful for all the good info on this thread and if someone absolutely insists that I make a seltzer, I have good info to do so.

For those that are reading this thread- if you haven’t made a session mead- please do.