Hard Seltzer with a homebrew feel?

[golfindia]

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.

 

[Danimal86]

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.

where do you get 180proof ethanol?

 

[golfindia]

where do you get 180proof ethanol?

Locally sourced :^)

Everclear will also work.

 

[Danimal86]

Locally sourced :^)

Everclear will also work.

thats a no go for california. ill have to remember that when i go across stateline

it peaked my interest....now i'm reading about "culinary solvents"

 

[golfindia]

thats a no go for california. ill have to remember that when i go across stateline

it peaked my interest....now i'm reading about "culinary solvents"

God lord. They don't let you have guns OR Everclear in CA?

I used to work at Casa Gallardo as a barback when I was a kid. My job was to mix the bulk margaritas for the bar squirt hose in corny kegs. That piqued my interest in keg based beverages :^)

 

[Danimal86]

God lord. They don't let you have guns OR Everclear in CA?

I used to work at Casa Gallardo as a barback when I was a kid. My job was to mix the bulk margaritas for the bar squirt hose in corny kegs. That piqued my interest in keg based beverages :^)

Yep, as i've come to learn there's a loophole for just about everything though....some easier than others.

I've really enjoyed having keg'd beverages. Since i haven't been able to drink beer for a while, i've currently got diet coke, and nitro cold brew on tap. The cold brew is freaking amazing and i've been fighting with getting the carbonation just right for the diet coke.
I've thought about making a jack & coke keg or a gin & tonic on tap. Anything you have to do differently?

 

[Cptblamo]

We have everclear here in Vegas. Not sure where in CA u are. We also have "assault" rifles, if ur into that sort of thing.

 

[golfindia]

Yep, as i've come to learn there's a loophole for just about everything though....some easier than others.

I've really enjoyed having keg'd beverages. Since i haven't been able to drink beer for a while, i've currently got diet coke, and nitro cold brew on tap. The cold brew is freaking amazing and i've been fighting with getting the carbonation just right for the diet coke.
I've thought about making a jack & coke keg or a gin & tonic on tap. Anything you have to do differently?

I've got better carbonation hooking CO2 up to liquid in port, although not much.... other than that I don't really do much differently. My wife wants me to make a keg of vodka tonic, so I'll be trying that soon. Kegged nitro cold brew sounds fantastic. How well does it keep?

 

[Danimal86]

I've got better carbonation hooking CO2 up to liquid in port, although not much.... other than that I don't really do much differently. My wife wants me to make a keg of vodka tonic, so I'll be trying that soon. Kegged nitro cold brew sounds fantastic. How well does it keep?

I ended up buying some cheap carbonating keg lids off amazon. They seem to carbonate really well.

The nitro cold brew is amazing. I make 5gal of concentrate using a Brewista Pro 2 and dillute 50:50. I end up killing a keg of it in about 3-4 weeks. i end up purging the air out of the second keg and keeping it in the outside fridge, it seems to keep really well. I've found that it takes about 50psi to get a nice creamy cascading head.

 

[Danimal86]

We have everclear here in Vegas. Not sure where in CA u are. We also have "assault" rifles, if ur into that sort of thing.

You can get 190 proof in nevada or only 151?

 

[Cptblamo]

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.

 

[Danimal86]

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.

 

[golfindia]

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.....

 

[Danimal86]

That's a whole lot of headspace. I'd rack it off the mystery goop into something smaller.....

Thats not a bad idea. its a test batch, only 1.5g

 

[Danimal86]

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.

 

[Danimal86]

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

 

[Tekmobubblz]

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.

 

[bracconiere]

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!)

 

[golfindia]

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.

 

[Tekmobubblz]

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.

 

[Danimal86]

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.

 

[S-Met]

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.

 

[Danimal86]

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?

 

[S-Met]

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

 

[Konstantianus]

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.

 

[S-Met]

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.

 

[Danimal86]

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.

 

[Danimal86]

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?

 

[S-Met]

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.

 

[golfindia]

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.