Hard Seltzer with a homebrew feel?

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I have seen ever clear, but all I see on total wine is 151. I may have to take a closer look next time I go to the liquor store.
 
So i pulled the carboy to take a gravity after 8 days, its at 1.015 so it hasn't finished as much as i'd hope.
I did get some strangeness on the top. Its rather congealed and didn't break up easily with a little swirling. There weren't any off scents that i could tell. I'm not sure if it is pellicle?
I tossed in a little bit of nutrients and gave it a swirl.
IMG_20200808_163525.jpg
 
So i pulled the carboy to take a gravity after 8 days, its at 1.015 so it hasn't finished as much as i'd hope.
I did get some strangeness on the top. Its rather congealed and didn't break up easily with a little swirling. There weren't any off scents that i could tell. I'm not sure if it is pellicle?
I tossed in a little bit of nutrients and gave it a swirl.
View attachment 693334

That's a whole lot of headspace. I'd rack it off the mystery goop into something smaller.....
 
I just added some biofine and set the temp for a cold crash.

edit: after doing some research, it looks like the floaters are normal.
 
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My FG only hit 1.013. My og was right on 1.040 and looking at:
http://www.mrgoodbeer.com/carb-cal.shtmli'm at almost 16 carbs (per pint?) that's almost as much as my daily intake.

So I'm going to give it a taste, and figure out how much of the flavor stuck through fermentation, but for the most part im not going to be able to enjoy it.
Playing with the calculator, i'm going to have to hit something right at 0.999 or below to be able to get where i want/need it to be. Any ideas?

Here's my recipe sheet:
1.5Gal Distilled Water
1.5Lbs Corn Sugar
1.5Tbs Ph Balancer
1Tsp Burton Salt
3/4 Can Hawaii's Own Guava Nectar Frozen Concentrate

Starter was:
100ml Tap water at 90deg
1/4Tsp Yeast Nutrients
1pkt Lalvin Ec-1118
30min wait
 
how does this compare to making fermented sugar seltzer? Flavor/ cost/ etc..
I make zero carb "hard seltzer" by putting 4.5 gal of RO water, 6-8 cups of 180proof ethanol, and a small container of artificial brewing flavoring (strawberry kiwi, watermelon, etc) in a corny keg.

It's refreshing and halfway decent.
 
how does this compare to making fermented sugar seltzer? Flavor/ cost/ etc..

if you're not distilling the 90% ethanol booze your self, i'd imagine you'd get yeasty flavors....plus yeast need nutrients so you'd also have the taste of that.....

i have fermented 16% wheat germ suagr washes and mixed it with coke for fun, when i was traveling....bout the same price as a 30 pack of milwaukee's best, but more fun! (the alcohol was cheap, mixing it with coke was expensive!)
 
how does this compare to making fermented sugar seltzer? Flavor/ cost/ etc..

Yeah, it has zero yeast flavor and zero residual sweetness. It's like a weak mixed drink. The artificial fruit flavor is very subtle, more in the scent than the taste. I think it's sort of like Zima. Damn. I'm old.

I think if I mixed a little corn sugar in it it would be a little better.
 
Hmm I may have to give this a shot. Ohh, good old Zima lol. I really trying to dial in a "good " recipe. My wife has a Claw addiction that I need to address.
I'm new here, and i'm sure this is blasphemyin home brew world.. but how about a thread of hard seltzer recipes/success/failures and clones. Don't get me wrong BEER is always #1. But happy wife, happy life.
 
Just to update, i've added fining agent to clean it up. I'll probably rack it in my 1.75g keg tonight or tomorrow. I wont be able to drink any/much of it, since its coming in at 16carbs.

I'm still looking for suggestions on how to get my fg down below 1.000 for the next batch.
 
So i pulled the carboy to take a gravity after 8 days, its at 1.015 so it hasn't finished as much as i'd hope.
I did get some strangeness on the top. Its rather congealed and didn't break up easily with a little swirling. There weren't any off scents that i could tell. I'm not sure if it is pellicle?
I tossed in a little bit of nutrients and gave it a swirl.
View attachment 693334
Your weird surface chunks just look like yeast rafts. But 2nd the comment on too much headspace. Fine for primary but get it into a smaller vessel once it starts to slow.
 
Your weird surface chunks just look like yeast rafts. But 2nd the comment on too much headspace. Fine for primary but get it into a smaller vessel once it starts to slow.
Once i can get a recipe down i'll scale up to a normal 5g batch. The smallest carboy the brewshop had was a 3g one so thats what i went with. whats the downside of too much headspace, just risk of infection?
 
Once i can get a recipe down i'll scale up to a normal 5g batch. The smallest carboy the brewshop had was a 3g one so thats what i went with. whats the downside of too much headspace, just risk of infection?
Oxidation which leads to vinegar production
 
I'm still looking for suggestions on how to get my fg down below 1.000 for the next batch.

Looking at the ingredients on the Guava Nectar Concentrate it lists high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient. I'm not sure that HFCS is a fermentable sugar. I'd try something like amyloglucosidase and see if it will break down the sugars.
 
Just to update, i've added fining agent to clean it up. I'll probably rack it in my 1.75g keg tonight or tomorrow. I wont be able to drink any/much of it, since its coming in at 16carbs.

I'm still looking for suggestions on how to get my fg down below 1.000 for the next batch.
I'd check your ph if possible. It should hit zero, unless something is out of whack stopping the yeast. If ph is good, add another dose of nutrients.
If ph is too low, you may need to add something to make it less acid. I think ec1118 is good above a ph 3.0 but struggles as ph falls. Sugar washes have zero nutrients. I think some of the more serious seltzer makers use sna/tosna additions like they do with mead.
 
Looking at the ingredients on the Guava Nectar Concentrate it lists high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient. I'm not sure that HFCS is a fermentable sugar. I'd try something like amyloglucosidase and see if it will break down the sugars.
I got a bottle of gluco amylase after it was recomended here, i plan on brewing another test batch once i rack this one over. I'll be adding some gluco to it, hopefully the leftover sugar was from the concentrate that the yeast didn't like and the gluco will fix that.
 
I'd check your ph if possible. It should hit zero, unless something is out of whack stopping the yeast. If ph is good, add another dose of nutrients.
If ph is too low, you may need to add something to make it less acid. I think ec1118 is good above a ph 3.0 but struggles as ph falls. Sugar washes have zero nutrients. I think some of the more serious seltzer makers use sna/tosna additions like they do with mead.
I'll need to get some ph strips.
I added some ph stabilizer to the water, maybe i should add more?

Sna/tosna? have a link?
 
I'll need to get some ph strips.
I added some ph stabilizer to the water, maybe i should add more?

Sna/tosna? have a link?
No link, and I'm calling myself out on being too lazy to look. I know I've read about them on this site, check the mead forums.

Don't waste your time with strips. Buy a meter on Amazon. They are under $20. They aren't as accurate or precise as the high end lab stuff, but more accurate than the strips. Good enough for what we are trying to achieve.
 
No link, and I'm calling myself out on being too lazy to look. I know I've read about them on this site, check the mead forums.

Don't waste your time with strips. Buy a meter on Amazon. They are under $20. They aren't as accurate or precise as the high end lab stuff, but more accurate than the strips. Good enough for what we are trying to achieve.

Cheap handheld pH meters do the trick.. I put a couple tablespoons of calcium carbonate in my sugar washes. If it drops in the low 3s I add a tbsp more. I've also heard of people putting oyster shells in the bottom..... I use DADY in large portions, I think it holds up to low pH better. But you can't drink what it makes.
 
Just to mention - Brewer’s Publications just released “How to Make Hard Seltzer.” It’s a 196 page book by Chris Colby. $19.95 and it’s currently on sale for $13.95 if you are an AHA member. I just ordered mine and am really looking forward to reading it. Sounds like some of you already have good ideas on this.
 
Just to mention - Brewer’s Publications just released “How to Make Hard Seltzer.” It’s a 196 page book by Chris Colby. $19.95 and it’s currently on sale for $13.95 if you are an AHA member. I just ordered mine and am really looking forward to reading it. Sounds like some of you already have good ideas on this.
Awesome, ill have to check that out, I didn't know it was possible to have 196 pages dedicated to hard seltzer!
And thanks for the tip about PH testing
golfindia
Cheers
 
No link, and I'm calling myself out on being too lazy to look. I know I've read about them on this site, check the mead forums.

Don't waste your time with strips. Buy a meter on Amazon. They are under $20. They aren't as accurate or precise as the high end lab stuff, but more accurate than the strips. Good enough for what we are trying to achieve.
Thanks for the advice. I ordered a ph meter on amazon, had to navigate the reviews to find one that wasn't a cheap pos, vs a $100 one. I ended up with this one:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ST3VTQ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Cheap handheld pH meters do the trick.. I put a couple tablespoons of calcium carbonate in my sugar washes. If it drops in the low 3s I add a tbsp more. I've also heard of people putting oyster shells in the bottom..... I use DADY in large portions, I think it holds up to low pH better. But you can't drink what it makes.
Thanks, i ordered some calcium carbonate. How often do you test the ph during fermentation? Whats DADY?
wouldn't hurt to try pectinase enzyme also.....

https://www.homebrewing.org/Pectic-...ntoZNzxY4Gd2AEWj6SwJS4T5rEP0WJ_BoCdygQAvD_BwE
gluco will ferment beer dry, not sure about fruit juice?
I ordered some pectic enzyme also, i'll add this with the gluco to the next batch. Hopefully it'll take it down to under 1.000
Just to mention - Brewer’s Publications just released “How to Make Hard Seltzer.” It’s a 196 page book by Chris Colby. $19.95 and it’s currently on sale for $13.95 if you are an AHA member. I just ordered mine and am really looking forward to reading it. Sounds like some of you already have good ideas on this.
I may just pre-order that. Thanks for the heads up.
 
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