Hard Lemonade

[Dufresne11]

With an assist from Tom I just started a batch of hard lemonade. Well I started the starter at least.

Starter

1/4 can of Minute Maid Frozen Concentrate
tsp of DAP
tsp of Nutrient
sugar to 1.054 SG (about 7.5 pot. alc)
1 liter of water
Premier Cuvee yeast


Going to let the starter go until morning and then will add to a 3 gallon carboy with the remaining 3/4 can of concentrate plus 5 more cans and water to fill it up to the top. Will take another SG measurement and adjust. THis is a bit of a pirated recipe that Tom helped me find and the guy at my LWS and I made some adjustments to.

I left out the malt (ultra light) at the recommendation of the guy at my LWS. If it comes out well I might make another variation. Might have to back sweeten as well. I will keep updating as it evolves

 

[Tom]

Keep me/us posted..

 

[Dufresne11]

Update

I let the starter do its thing for 17 - 18 hours.

In a 6 gallon food grade pail I then added the remaining 3/4 can of lemonade + 5 more cans and added enough 88 degree water to make up a little more than 3 gallons

Added 1.5 tsp of yeast energizer to that mixture

pitched the yeast slowly and covered with cheesecloth and a rubber band

I am going to give it a few days to get going as I know the high acidity and low PH of lemonade are not the ideal conditions to get fermentation going

Right now the SG is 1.035 ( about 4.5% pot alc) right about the same as a Mikes Hard Lemonade

 

[Dufresne11]

Okay, I attached the brew belt I got from my wife (through George) to the lemonade yesterday and voila! By 5:00 pm ( about 7 hours later) I have vigorous activity.

So this morning I recheck the SG just to see how far it has come along and it is now 1.070. Now my first thought was that I MUST have misread the hydrometer when I made the first reading so I checked my notes. I checked the SG twice!

So clearly I was either drunk (NOT) when I was making this and read the SG the first time.... OR..... somehow a chunk of cane sugar ( should have used dextrose but I was out when I whipped up the starter did not dissolve in the bucket. Or this was a divine intervention. I am going with the middle scenario.... what do you think?

BTW this will put my lemonade at around 8.5 - 9 percent alcohol. A little higher than I was going for but I think I will stop fermentation around 1.000 or so and see what I get.

 

[Dufresne11]

Okay the lemonade is down to 1.000 and I just took off the brew belt. I am going to sulfite and backsweeten just a touch with some of the same frozen concentrate I used to make it. and then sorbate. It is just a bit tart but tastes really good. I bet once I chill and backsweeten I will be making more. This is the kind of thing I can see flying out of my basement every time someone stops by.

 

[Dufresne11]

Alright, fermentation is over. I sulfited and sorbated and now I am going to to rack it over from primary into a 3 gallon carboy in a few weeks or so. Then I will backsweeten.

Never having done this before I am wondering about using SuperKleer? I certainly don't need to make it sparkle as it is lemonade but I am wondering aobut getting all of the yeast et cetera to drop out quicker?

Thoughts?

 

[Tom]

If you want to bottle soon you "must" add it (superkleer)

 

[Dufresne11]

Alright here is a backsweetening question. It being my first time backsweetening I want to make sure I have this right.

After fermentation I sulfited and then sorbated. One right after the other. Not sure this is right but I didn't see anywhere on here where someone said to wait in between. The next day I backsweetened. I used a 12 fl oz can of the same frozen concentrate lemonade and 6 oz of water and brought them to a boil then let simmer stirring frequently.

I then added it to the hard lemonade to sweeten. It was sweeter but not by enough for my wife's tastebuds so I have to go to the store to pick up another can or two of lemonade concentrate to backsweeten.

Or should I just make a simple syrup with dextrose?

Also does anything sound wrong with what I did?

 

[Runningwolf]

The only thing I see wrong is adding the water tot he concentrate. The idea of simmering it is to get all of the water out of it. You could make up a simple syrup to help backsweeten it.

So what do you think? Ready to start some candy cane wine now? LOL

 

[Dufresne11]

Heck I am always ready to get a new wine going RunningWolf. So then let me ask you a question about simple syrup.

I was under the impression that to make a SS you have a 2 to 1 ratio of sugar to water. I just did the same with the concentrate but perhaps because it was already part water I shouldn't have? So then what would you do at this point. Add more concentrate or a SS with sugar ( cane or dextrose)??

Thanks in advance

 

[Tom]

If using concentrate add 1-2 cans directly. mix well. TASTE. If needs more add S/S to HER taste.

 

[Dufresne11]

I will do it today and report back. Then I will go over my notes and write down the recipe and post as well. Thanks for all of you help

 

[Dufresne11]

Perfected this one and posted in the recipe section. It came out GREAT

 

[BigDfromTN]

Sounds much like Lon's Skeeter Pee.

 

[grapeman]

I like it better with the light malt extract. I makes it smoother and needs less sweetening. Only thing is it goes down so smooth you can polish off a few 12 ounce bottles in 20 minutes and you are on your butt!

 

[Dufresne11]

Yeah I am going to experiment with LME in my next batch just to see the difference. I did not use any yeast slurry so it is not Pee but closer to a less sweet version of Mikes Hard

 

[Angie]

I backsweetened some strawberry using a concentrate - I heated the concentrate, without adding water, to get rid of the water that was originally in it. Just make sure to stir frequently and heat it for about 1/2 hour. Will intensify the flavour without diluting your wine too much