Raspberry Hard Lemonade

[BongoYodeler]

Ran out today to get all the ingredients for another batch of this, but wouldn’t you know it, my LHBS was out of 1118. They told me they’re selling it as fast as it’s coming in. Suggested Lalvin D-47 as a possible substitute, so I got that. Home now, and the more I think about it I decided to hold off and just order the 1118 online. Checked Ritebrew- sold out. Maybe word has gotten out about this RHL.
Morebeer has it so I’ll add it to an upcoming order.

 

[loganklaas]

Ran out today to get all the ingredients for another batch of this, but wouldn’t you know it, my LHBS was out of 1118. They told me they’re selling it as fast as it’s coming in. Suggested Lalvin D-47 as a possible substitute, so I got that. Home now, and the more I think about it I decided to hold off and just order the 1118 online. Checked Ritebrew- sold out. Maybe word has gotten out about this RHL.
Morebeer has it so I’ll add it to an upcoming order.

That’s good to know MoreBeer has it. I got a 5 pack from Amazon. If you were closer, I’d give one to you!

 

[BongoYodeler]

That’s good to know MoreBeer has it. I got a 5 pack from Amazon. If you were closer, I’d give one to you!

Thanks for the offer, but you know…miles.

I usually get my yeast locally if I can. But occasionally I’ll order dry yeast from Ritebrew. Order 10 packs and they take 40 cents off per pack. So I’ll order a couple packs of 5 different yeasts to make the 10. Good way to try different yeasts.

 

[loganklaas]

Our local LHBS didn’t have any. I try to support local when possible as well. Hope the upcoming batch turns out well!

 

[MaxStout]

Has anyone ever substituted another pound of sugar in place of the DME?

 

[BongoYodeler]

Has anyone ever substituted another pound of sugar in place of the DME?

I haven’t, but I’ve wondered about that too. I’ve also wondered what the equivalent amount of regular sugar would be instead of corn sugar.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I haven’t, but I’ve wondered about that too. I’ve also wondered what the equivalent amount of regular sugar would be instead of corn sugar.

I guess I could just google it


Generally about 10% less table sugar it seems.

 

[MaxStout]

I haven’t, but I’ve wondered about that too. I’ve also wondered what the equivalent amount of regular sugar would be instead of corn sugar.

I'd like to make a GF version. I don't need to go GF, but I have a few friends and family who do and it'd be nice to have something to serve them.

I remember seeing a conversion factor in a bottle-conditioning formula somewhere, that table sugar has more points per gallon than dextrose (46 and 42 respectively, IIRC). So, about 10%.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Another batch started today. My previous batch took a couple days to show signs of fermentation, and that was after adding a second pk 24 hours after the initial pitch. In that instance I direct pitched the yeast. Today I rehydrated the yeast in 50ml of warm water, per the instructions, prior to pitching. Five hours later the airlock is bubbling.

 

[camonick]

Here we go.
This will be my fifth batch.

 

[camonick]

@ThirstyPawsHB has a jalapeño/mango variant that is very good too, but I don’t have the details to make that version.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Mangos were a popular variant. Just mimic raspberry version but with frozen mangoes and Extract. Mangos are a lighter in flavor also.

I've done a hard Limeade, jalapeno, pineapple juice which came out decent. I added vanilla to it for some added uniqueness.

The bucket I did the jalapeno in I next used for a pale ale. It came out with some jalapeno essence. Super good.

 

[camonick]

 

[BongoYodeler]

My current batch has been in the fermenter for 10 days and is just about done fermenting. It's now down to 1.001 with 97.5% attenuation according to my Rapt Pill. It's dropped a half a point in the past 16 hours, so I'll let it go another day or two before I rack it to secondary and add the raspberries. Won't be long now....

 

[MaxStout]

This is probably the place to point out that not all lemonade concentrates are created equal.

When I made my batch I used Great Value lemonade concentrate from Walmart. It is "33% reduced sugar," with Stevia added. Of course, Stevia adds no fermentables, though it adds sweetness. Checking the Great Value label, it shows 19g total sugars for 2 fl. oz. concentrate. Not exactly the best reviews for flavor, either. Hindsight. My RHL tastes good, but I'm thinking I can do better next batch.

Old Orchard is similar to Great Value, with the same 19g sugar per 2 oz of concentrate. Stevia is added to bump up sweetness in this one, as well. Maybe it has better flavor, though I've never tried it and probably won't.

Minute Maid costs more than the above 2 brands, but has more sugar and no Stevia. It shows 27g total sugars per 1.5 fl. oz. serving of concentrate (which includes HFCS, though I doubt the yeast care). Scaled up to a 2 oz serving, this comes out to 36g total sugars, much greater than the 19g in each of the above offerings.

Those are just a few brands I find near me. No doubt there are other store brands to look at, YMMV. It pays to read those labels before buying, something I didn't do.

 

[jcfontario]

With the sorbate and k-meta addition, did you get any carbonation or just sweetness?

View attachment 860560

I just bottled mine today, after 5 days in secondary. Followed the instructions: 1 pint water heated to 175, 2 cups table sugar, 3 cans lemonade concentrate, sorbate (also added K-meta) to prevent refermentation. I added 2 oz. of raspberry extract. I racked through a ss strainer, but some pulp made it through. That should settle out in the bottles.

I didn't get the rich, red color you guys did, but more pink. Maybe it was the Walmart frozen raspberries. I did smash them up some before adding to secondary. Sample tasted good. I racked about 6.25 gallons, and filled 61 12oz long necks and 4 7oz clear bottles. I put them all in the fridge.

I'm going to crack one open this afternoon.

View attachment 860561

View attachment 860562

 

[camonick]

This is probably the place to point out that not all lemonade concentrates are created equal.

When I made my batch I used Great Value lemonade concentrate from Walmart. It is "33% reduced sugar," with Stevia added. Of course, Stevia adds no fermentables, though it adds sweetness. Checking the Great Value label, it shows 19g total sugars for 2 fl. oz. concentrate. Not exactly the best reviews for flavor, either. Hindsight. My RHL tastes good, but I'm thinking I can do better next batch.

View attachment 862117
View attachment 862120



Old Orchard is similar to Great Value, with the same 19g sugar per 2 oz of concentrate. Stevia is added to bump up sweetness in this one, as well. Maybe it has better flavor, though I've never tried it and probably won't.

View attachment 862118



Minute Maid costs more than the above 2 brands, but has more sugar and no Stevia. It shows 27g total sugars per 1.5 fl. oz. serving of concentrate (which includes HFCS, though I doubt the yeast care). Scaled up to a 2 oz serving, this comes out to 36g total sugars, much greater than the 19g in each of the above offerings.

View attachment 862119



Those are just a few brands I find near me. No doubt there are other store brands to look at, YMMV. It pays to read those labels before buying, something I didn't do.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I’ve always used the great value brand from Wally World. I’ve never checked the OG. Just assumed it would be as advertised

 

[MaxStout]

With the sorbate and k-meta addition, did you get any carbonation or just sweetness?

Sweetness, no carb. Not even a whisper when I pop one open. Immediately after bottling I put all of them in the fridge, just to be safe.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Interesting to know about the great-value lemonade -- might be the simplest way to get a semi-sweet hard lemonade and still bottle carb (skipping the sorbate and k-meta, obviously)...

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

I'd like to make a GF version. I don't need to go GF, but I have a few friends and family who do and it'd be nice to have something to serve them.

I remember seeing a conversion factor in a bottle-conditioning formula somewhere, that table sugar has more points per gallon than dextrose (46 and 42 respectively, IIRC). So, about 10%.

Would this recipe (replacing sugar for dme by gravity points) need yeast nutrient?

 

[MaxStout]

Would this recipe (replacing sugar for dme by gravity points) need yeast nutrient?

Probably not a bad idea. The DME provides some mash byproducts the yeast could use, and taking that out of the recipe, there's not much in the lemonade to provide those micronutrients.

 

[MaxStout]

Interesting to know about the great-value lemonade -- might be the simplest way to get a semi-sweet hard lemonade and still bottle carb (skipping the sorbate and k-meta, obviously)...

I suppose the Stevia that remains after fermentation would offer some sweetness.

 

[MaxStout]

Has anyone tried macerating the berries in some vodka and steeping a week or so before adding to secondary? I'm wondering if that might bring out more raspberry flavor.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I've had a few things getting in my way as far as proceeding on my RHL. It's been in the fermenter for 15 days now and the SG has been sitting at 1.000 for at least a couple days now. Earlier I stuck it in the fridge for a cold crash, and I should be able to rack it to secondary over the raspberries tomorrow.

On a related not it looks like my LHBS is no longer going to carry the 1118 yeast used in this recipe. I'll verify next time I'm there, but it's no longer showing up on their webpage. Instead they've started stocking Cellar Science Bubbly which sounds like it might work.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Ok, latest batch transferred to secondary atop 50oz of raspberries and the potassium sorbate. I put it in the garage fridge for a few days to condition.

I wanted to share a couple of process tweaks that made things easier for me. Even though you probably don't have my exact setup maybe you can incorporate the overall ideas if they make sense in your environment.

First I ditched the rolling pin idea. The bags of raspberries I got this time had too much air, or maybe it was liquid, in them to safely use the rolling pin without risking bursting the bag open and making a mess.
So after cleaning/sanitizing (c/s) my secondary fermenter (a Homer bucket), I just dumped the raspberries in without even smashing them. Instead I went at them in the bucket with a c/s hand held immersion blender. Within seconds I had 50oz of liquid raspberry pulp.

Second, when transferring, I set my 6 gallon fermenter on top of my keezer and put my c/s wilser bag for my 4 gallon kettle, (I use it for biab brewing small batches), inside and gently pushed it down with my auto siphon, I cinched the draw string around the top of my bucket fermenter, clipped the 3/8 inch id hose to the Homer secondary bucket, pumped the auto siphon a couple times and sat back. No hop sack around it, no mesh strainer. So easy. I'll do the same thing in a few days when I transfer off the raspberry pulp and into a keg.

Anyway, maybe this will help somebody.

 

[MaxStout]

When I made my batch I used a 6 gal glass carboy for primary, then racked into a fermentation bucket for secondary. The tricky part for me was packaging. I bottle, so I had to rack from the secondary bucket to a bottling bucket. It was messy, but I managed to get all but a couple oz. racked. A little spill in the kitchen. Trying to manage an autosiphon with a voile bag wrapped around it while simultaneously keeping the drain hose pointed into a colander atop the bottling bucket was tricky, as I was home alone then and only have 2 hands. And the colander didn't really catch much of the solids.

I know what I'm going to do next time.

I had made this nifty bucket thingy for lautering BIAB. I call it the BIAB Rocket. It sits atop the kettle and holds the grain bag. Why not apply it to lemonade racking?

I plan to use this for racking into the BB. Set it on top, line with a 5 gal Wilser bag and siphon into it. After most of the liquid has been siphoned, I can just pour the rest in, fruit and all. Let it drain a while, then bottle.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Latest batch, kegged two days ago and is just starting to show some signs of clearing. This batch I back sweetened with only two cups of sugar instead of three. This more tart, less sweet version is a bit more to my liking. I waited a day and the added one ounce of Brewers Best raspberry extract last night to kick up the flavor a little. May still need a bit more. I’ve also been burst carbing it at 25psi for about 48 hours now, and it’s carbing up nicely, though a bit of pulp did make it through to the keg so it’s pouring a little slowly. Perhaps being so aggressive on the immersion blender wasn’t such a good idea.

 

[camonick]

Just racked on top of the raspberries. It’s gonna be pretty folks.

 

[camonick]

All the raspberries have given up their color now… looks kinda gross.

 

[MaxStout]

I just started my second batch of lemonade. I'll be making this one with 3 lbs. of frozen wild blueberries and some blueberry flavor extract.

I was off on my temps, though. Last night I sanitized the 3 gallons of topoff water by bringing it to a near boil in a 5 gal kettle and covering it. I set the kettle in my unheated garage, and this morning the water was still about 70F. Oof. I set the kettle in a rubber tub with ice water and started the rest of the process.

I brought 2 gallons of water to about 180 in another kettle, took off the heat and dissolved the sugar. I wanted to make a GF version this time (I have relatives who are gluten-intolerant) so opted not to use malt extract. I used 1 lb corn sugar, and subbed 1 lb. Turbinado for the malt extract.

I mixed in the 10 cans of lemonade concentrate, slightly thawed so it would come out of the cans easier. The mixture was 116F, so I set that kettle in the sink with ice water. I didn't want to mix the liquids and find it too warm to pitch. I got the lemonade mixture down into the 90s and the topoff water below 50. I racked the lemonade into a 6 gallon glass carboy and added the chilled topoff. I added 1/2 tsp wine nutrient in a little sterilized water. The overall temp was about 66F and I pitched a packet of 1118.

OG was 1.052. Fermenter's in my crawlspace (no room in my ferm chamber with another brew fermenting there).