Raspberry Hard Lemonade

[BongoYodeler]

Hard Raspberry Lemonade 6 gallon batch @ ~6.5%

Needed:
4+ gallon kettle
5 gallon Homer bucket with lid
Racking cane (auto siphon)
Mesh strainer or hop sack
6+ gallon fermenter
Hydrometer

Ingredients:
13 cans generic lemonade, *containing no preservatives*
1 lb. light DME
1 lb. corn sugar (dextrose)
1 pk. 1118 Lalvin champagne yeast
Potassium Sorbate
4 12 oz bags frozen raspberries
1 to 4 oz raspberry extract flavoring (add a little and taste, then add more as needed)
3 cups table sugar
5 gallons water, plus 1 pint. Bottled water, or tap water if yours tastes good.


Primary fermentation:
- Heat 2 gallons water to 175°F then turn off heat.
- Add in DME and corn sugar and stir with sanitized spoon to
dissolve
- Cool mixture using 10 cans frozen lemonade concentrate, stir
until melted
- Use sanitized ss strainer and racking cane to rack mixture into
sanitized fermenter.
(I used a hop sack loosely attached to bottom of racking cane
instead of a strainer).
- Fill to 6 gallons with cold water (should need ~3 additional
gallons to get to 6 gallons)
- Pitch yeast and ferment at room temperature for 14 days or so.
Should finish close to
1.000


Secondary:
- Cold crash for 24 hrs.
- Clean/sanitize racking cane and secondary fermenter (Homer
bucket), rack over 3.5 to 4 grams potassium sorbate to stop
fermentation
- Add 4 bags frozen raspberries (thawed and moderately crushed).
Spray/sanitize bags and scissors
- Cover and let sit 3-5 days. (I kept mine 4 days in the fridge to
assure no bugs got in. Not sure it's necessary to keep it cold
though).


Kegging:
- Clean/sanitize ss strainer, racking cane and keg. (I used hop
sack attached to bottom of racking cane instead of a strainer).
- Heat a pint or so of water to 175°F and dissolve 3 cups sugar,
cool with last 3 cans of frozen lemonade concentrate.
- Add 1.75 to 2 grams potassium sorbate to keg to prevent
re-fermentation.
- Rack sugar/lemonade mixture to keg through cleaned/sanitized
strainer or hop sack to catch any pulp.
- Add 1-4 oz (to taste) Brewers Best raspberry concentrate to keg.
Shake keg to mix.

Enjoy immediately (will clear with time).




*Thanks to @ThirstyPawsHB for this sharing this recipe.
**This can also be bottled, I chose to keg it.
***This can also be done using only a primary fermenter. @loganklaas has done this.

 

[loganklaas]

This is so nice to have in the rotation! I kegged it just a few days ago and already got the ingredients to make another batch.

Here are some pictures from along the way on my first time making it.

On Day #1:

Just after adding in the raspberries and first addition of potassium sorbate:

The morning after adding in the raspberries:

About 4 days in the kegerator:

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

 

[BongoYodeler]

(Pic from early August, 2024).

 

[MaxStout]

I decided today's the day to make my first batch of RHL. Got out all my gear and ingredients, then realized I don't have my yeast yet. It's scheduled to arrive this afternoon in an order from Brew Hardware.

So for now, I just measured out the water: 2 gallons in the tall kettle for mixing the sugar, DME and lemonade; and 3 gallons top off water in the smaller kettle. I heated the top off water to near boiling, to sanitize. The kettle has a tight-fitting lid, so I'll just let it cool down until this afternoon.

I plan to rehydrate the yeast, with some GoFerm. Last time I made a hard lemonade, I had a stuck fermentation, so not leaving anything to chance this time.

Only have 3/4 lb. of light DME, so I bumped up the dextrose by 1/4 lb.

I'll post more after I get things rolling.

 

[MaxStout]

My order arrived with the yeast and I made up 6 gallons of lemonade. I heated 2 gallons of water to about 180, dissolved the dextrose and DME. Temp was about 156F. I had taken the 10 cans of concentrate out of the freezer and ran some lukewarm water over them to make it easier to remove the contents. I added it to the mixture and stirred until melted and dissolved. Temp was about 90. I racked it into a sanitized 6 gallon carboy, pouring it through a mesh colander atop a big funnel. I lined the colander with a BIAB bag for extra filtering.

Then I poured the 3 gallons of cool top off water in. Earlier I had set the kettle in a sink full of cold water, then placed it in the fridge for a few hours, but it was only down to about 61F. Note to self: next time, heat the top off water the night before and set in the fridge overnight.

I rehydrated the EC-1118 yeast in 100 ml sterilized water with 6 grams of GoFerm. I pitched the yeast and buttoned up the carboy. I did not take a gravity reading. I'll assume it will end up close to the 6.5% the other people had. The temp was about 74F, within the yeast's range, though I would've preferred it be a bit cooler. Colder top off water next time.

I set the carboy in our crawlspace which stays below 70 this time of year. The foam you see in the pic below is not from fermentation, probably from the bit of Starsan foam left in the carboy when I racked.

Now to wait a couple weeks and add the frozen raspberries. I bought a couple 24oz bags of the store brand at Walmart. I also have the raspberry extract and some sorbate from my Brew Hardware order.

 

[MaxStout]

24 hours after pitching, fermentation going, but very slow. One bubble about every 12 seconds. Hopefully it will pick up.

If it doesn't I have a second packet to pitch.

 

[BongoYodeler]

24 hours after pitching, fermentation going, but very slow. One bubble about every 12 seconds. Hopefully it will pick up.

If it doesn't I have a second packet to pitch.

View attachment 859112

If I remember mine started very slowly too. Like, nothing for close to 48 hours. I eventually ran out and bought a second pk of yeast, and by the time I got home fermentation had started to pick up. I added the 2nd pk anyway, and within a few hours it was going crazy. Not sure if it was the 2nd pk or just a really long lag time. Be patient, I bet it'll take off soon.

 

[MaxStout]

I do have a question for when I rack to secondary. The recipe says to rack onto potassium sorbate to stop fermentation, then to add the thawed raspberries. Do I wait a while between stabilizing with sorbate and adding the fruit? Or do I do them in quick succession?

BTW, fermentation has picked up a lot.

 

[loganklaas]

I do have a question for when I rack to secondary. The recipe says to rack onto potassium sorbate to stop fermentation, then to add the thawed raspberries. Do I wait a while between stabilizing with sorbate and adding the fruit? Or do I do them in quick succession?

BTW, fermentation has picked up a lot.

Glad to hear fermentation has picked up!

At least for mine, at the two week mark, I added in the potassium sorbate and raspberries in quick succession then closed up the fermenter again. I then did the final step and kegged about 4 days later.

This is about 10 days after kegging:

 

[BongoYodeler]

I do have a question for when I rack to secondary. The recipe says to rack onto potassium sorbate to stop fermentation, then to add the thawed raspberries. Do I wait a while between stabilizing with sorbate and adding the fruit? Or do I do them in quick succession?

BTW, fermentation has picked up a lot.

After cold crashing the yeast are pretty much dormant, so in my case I added the Potassium Sorbate and the raspberries when I racked to secondary. I then put the Homer bucket (secondary) into the fridge.

Glad to hear your fermentation is off and running.

*edit: Yeah. what @loganklaas said.

 

[MaxStout]

Yep, it's bubbling away. In a couple weeks I'll take a gravity reading and cold crash.

 

[MaxStout]

I have a question about stabilizing when it's time to rack to secondary. Is the 4g or so of sorbate sufficient to stop fermentation, or do I need to add metabisufite as well? I ask because I plan to bottle, not keg, and I don't want glass grenades. I noticed the recipe calls for an additional 2g of sorbate before packaging.

 

[loganklaas]

I have a question about stabilizing when it's time to rack to secondary. Is the 4g or so of sorbate sufficient to stop fermentation, or do I need to add metabisufite as well? I ask because I plan to bottle, not keg, and I don't want glass grenades. I noticed the recipe calls for an additional 2g of sorbate before packaging.

I believe @ThirstyPawsHB has bottled it before. Maybe he can provide more insight to your question. Sorry I can’t be of assistance. I wouldn’t want glass grenades either!