Adding more lemon juice to SP

[RussR]

My first batch of SP is almost done, I'm at the last 2 weeks before bottling, after backsweetening. I tasted some, and it tasted fine, just a little light on the lemon.

I think I know why this is. I scaled up the recipe for a 6 gallon batch, then ended up with about 6.5 gallons adding sugar to get the beginning SG right. But I had only added the amount of lemon juice for 6 gallons. SO I think I'm just a little light on lemon.

So, at this point can I just add a little more lemon to make it more lemony, or will that have some negative effect?

Thanks.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

You can add more if you'd like. The lemon juice itself does have a little bit of natural sugar in it, so if you were still fermenting, it would ferment out with the last of the batch. Since you've stabilized with sorbate and sulfite, the added juice shouldn't ferment. It will add some cloudiness, but if you haven't added the sparkolloid yet, it might pull the solids out of suspension and give you a clear beverage even with the addition. Can't say for sure though, I've never done it this way.

 

[RussR]

Well, I've already added the Sparkelloid and it is clear. I might take some out for a tasting, add a proportionate amount of lemon juice to the sample, and see if it makes enough difference to bother. Will report back.

 

[VineSwinger]

I did the very same a few weeks ago to some cranberry SP. I added another bottle of lemon after fermentation, I used sugar and cranberry conc. to sweeten it. Came out sweet n sour, disappeared fast! It does get opaque, but still a beautiful sight, looks more like the commercial product most are used to see.

 

[RussR]

I took a sample and added the corresponding amount of lemon juice. I had another sample to compare it to. My wife "shuffled" the two glasses to try to eliminate confirmation bias. It made enough of a difference that I decided to add the additional lemon to the whole batch. Of course this clouded it back up. I thought about just bottling it like that, like VineSwinger suggested, but chose to add some more Sparkelloid and let it clear again anyway.