FireRescueFL
Well-Known Member
I just wanted to share my early opinions on this recipe to maybe convince a newb to try it out. I got bknifefight's recipe from another thread he posted it in and I'm copying it here:
This is a really easy and good recipe for hard lemonade. It is a lot stronger than Mike's.
Ingredients (makes 6-7 gallons):
- 12 cans preservative-free Lemonade concentrate (I use Nature's best
brand from Aldi's cause it is cheap, Minute Maid is another option)
- 1 lb Extra light or Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract
- 2.5 lbs corn sugar
- Yeast nutrient
- Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne Yeast (THIS YEAST IS VERY IMPORTANT, OTHER CHAMPAGNE YEASTS HAVE A HARD TIME WITH THE ACIDITY OF THE LEMONADE, BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE YEAST PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS BELOW AS WELL)
- Potassium Sorbate
- Appx 8 cups regular cane sugar
Rehydrate yeast:
Rehydrate yeast by combining 1 cup warm water with 1 tbsp of lemonade concentrate and just a couple yeast nutrient pellets with Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast, Allow to sit for at least a half hour. You should see vigorous action in the yeast when ready.
Brewing the wort:
In a 2.5+ gal brew pot, combine 1 lb Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract (DME) with 3 lbs corn sugar to appx 2 gal boiling water. This will give you appx 9% abv when finished. To increase alcohol, increase sugar and/or DME, use less sugar to lower ABV). Stir until completely disolved Remove from heat, and 7 tsp yeast nutrient.
Combine wort in large plastic fermentor bucket with 10 cans lemonade concentrate, and enough cold water to fill bucket to bring total volume to 6 gal. Make sure temp is between 65 - 75 degrees, and take initial hydrometer reading. Pitch in your yeast starter. Put lid and airlock on fermentor and allow to ferment at room temp.
Fermentation:
You should see steady fermentation within 2 -3 days, that will last 1-2 weeks. Allow to ferment completely out before attempting to bottle.
Bottling day:
Take hydrometer reading. You should be right around .998 1.002 specific gravity.
In a large sauce pan, add 8 cups cane sugar (or to taste), 2 cans Lemonade concentrate, and 3 cups water and, stirring continuously, bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and disolve 3.5 tsp potassium sorbate. Add lemon/sugar/sorbate solution to a 7 gal bottling bucket. Rack fermented lemonade from carboy into bottling bucket with the sorbate solution, stirring thoroughly.
You can bottle in beer or wine bottles, or you can keg. Even with the sorbate, you will probably get a little bit of carbonation as it sits, but it is usually not enough to pop a cork. I usually keg, and force carbonate.
It is ready to drink on bottling day.
First impressions and some tips for first timers:
-You need to thaw (or at least soften) ONE can of concentrate early on to use to hydrate the yeast. It's hard to get a tbsp out when it's frozen.
-The remaining concentrates need to stay frozen to help cool the wort down. Mine were half thawed and even with the room temp water (74*), the 6gal batch only cooled to 95*. Refrigerate the water if possible to help in cooling. I ended up putting mine in a swamp cooler overnight to get it to 70* prior to pitching my yeast.
-I chose to deviate from the recipe slightly and do a double pitch on the yeast. I used 2 cups of water, 2tbsp of lemonade concentrate, 2 packs of EC-1118, and half a teaspoon of yeast nutrient (since I don't have the pellets he recommends). After an hour, I still had no activity in my "starter." I only had a lot of yeast floating at the top. I gave it a swirl with a sanitized spoon and it came to life. It's SERIOUSLY vigorous after 90min. Give it a shake every now and then to help it along.
-Since I didn't hit pitching temps with the cool water, my hydrometer OG was taken at 95* and it was only showing 1.050. I used 1lb of Munton's Light DME, and 2.5lb corn sugar, 10 cans of concentrate, and 5.75 gallons of water to make a 6 gallon batch. I put the hydrometer in the fridge overnight and the next day at ~40*, it still only showed 1.060, so I don't think this is going to hit 9%.
-Opinion time: I already don't care for the color. Maybe it would be better with extra light DME, but the lightish brown tint that the DME adds is a turnoff for me so I might try the recipe with no DME and extra corn sugar next time. I'm sure he added it to add some body to the brew or had a good reason for it so take my opinion with a grain of salt on this.
-The taste is pretty awesome even before fermenting. My SWMBO wanted me to just leave it and not ferment it. It tastes like a malty lemonade (go figure!).
-I pitched my yeast the next morning once the temp was appropriate and in less than 8 hours @ 70*, I had airlock activity at about one bubble every 10 seconds. I'm quite happy with that rate considering the number of people who have said that it has taken days or even weeks before their lemonades take off. I don't let anything ferment out at room temp here because it gets really hot here in Central FL, so the plan is to continue with the swamp cooler at around 65* for a couple of weeks and then let it warm to ambient temperature for another two.
So, that's it. I'll check back in in about a month once it's finished out and I've got it carbed up. I did want to take a second to thank bknifefight for the info on this yeast and getting it going. I've wanted to do a lemonade for over a year now but have put it off because I didn't want the hassle of fighting the yeast to get to work. This method really is pretty idiot proof and I'm excited that I now have another option to ferment something "non-beer" without having to always make cider.
Cheers guy!
---Chris
This is a really easy and good recipe for hard lemonade. It is a lot stronger than Mike's.
Ingredients (makes 6-7 gallons):
- 12 cans preservative-free Lemonade concentrate (I use Nature's best
brand from Aldi's cause it is cheap, Minute Maid is another option)
- 1 lb Extra light or Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract
- 2.5 lbs corn sugar
- Yeast nutrient
- Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne Yeast (THIS YEAST IS VERY IMPORTANT, OTHER CHAMPAGNE YEASTS HAVE A HARD TIME WITH THE ACIDITY OF THE LEMONADE, BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE YEAST PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS BELOW AS WELL)
- Potassium Sorbate
- Appx 8 cups regular cane sugar
Rehydrate yeast:
Rehydrate yeast by combining 1 cup warm water with 1 tbsp of lemonade concentrate and just a couple yeast nutrient pellets with Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast, Allow to sit for at least a half hour. You should see vigorous action in the yeast when ready.
Brewing the wort:
In a 2.5+ gal brew pot, combine 1 lb Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract (DME) with 3 lbs corn sugar to appx 2 gal boiling water. This will give you appx 9% abv when finished. To increase alcohol, increase sugar and/or DME, use less sugar to lower ABV). Stir until completely disolved Remove from heat, and 7 tsp yeast nutrient.
Combine wort in large plastic fermentor bucket with 10 cans lemonade concentrate, and enough cold water to fill bucket to bring total volume to 6 gal. Make sure temp is between 65 - 75 degrees, and take initial hydrometer reading. Pitch in your yeast starter. Put lid and airlock on fermentor and allow to ferment at room temp.
Fermentation:
You should see steady fermentation within 2 -3 days, that will last 1-2 weeks. Allow to ferment completely out before attempting to bottle.
Bottling day:
Take hydrometer reading. You should be right around .998 1.002 specific gravity.
In a large sauce pan, add 8 cups cane sugar (or to taste), 2 cans Lemonade concentrate, and 3 cups water and, stirring continuously, bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and disolve 3.5 tsp potassium sorbate. Add lemon/sugar/sorbate solution to a 7 gal bottling bucket. Rack fermented lemonade from carboy into bottling bucket with the sorbate solution, stirring thoroughly.
You can bottle in beer or wine bottles, or you can keg. Even with the sorbate, you will probably get a little bit of carbonation as it sits, but it is usually not enough to pop a cork. I usually keg, and force carbonate.
It is ready to drink on bottling day.
First impressions and some tips for first timers:
-You need to thaw (or at least soften) ONE can of concentrate early on to use to hydrate the yeast. It's hard to get a tbsp out when it's frozen.
-The remaining concentrates need to stay frozen to help cool the wort down. Mine were half thawed and even with the room temp water (74*), the 6gal batch only cooled to 95*. Refrigerate the water if possible to help in cooling. I ended up putting mine in a swamp cooler overnight to get it to 70* prior to pitching my yeast.
-I chose to deviate from the recipe slightly and do a double pitch on the yeast. I used 2 cups of water, 2tbsp of lemonade concentrate, 2 packs of EC-1118, and half a teaspoon of yeast nutrient (since I don't have the pellets he recommends). After an hour, I still had no activity in my "starter." I only had a lot of yeast floating at the top. I gave it a swirl with a sanitized spoon and it came to life. It's SERIOUSLY vigorous after 90min. Give it a shake every now and then to help it along.
-Since I didn't hit pitching temps with the cool water, my hydrometer OG was taken at 95* and it was only showing 1.050. I used 1lb of Munton's Light DME, and 2.5lb corn sugar, 10 cans of concentrate, and 5.75 gallons of water to make a 6 gallon batch. I put the hydrometer in the fridge overnight and the next day at ~40*, it still only showed 1.060, so I don't think this is going to hit 9%.
-Opinion time: I already don't care for the color. Maybe it would be better with extra light DME, but the lightish brown tint that the DME adds is a turnoff for me so I might try the recipe with no DME and extra corn sugar next time. I'm sure he added it to add some body to the brew or had a good reason for it so take my opinion with a grain of salt on this.
-The taste is pretty awesome even before fermenting. My SWMBO wanted me to just leave it and not ferment it. It tastes like a malty lemonade (go figure!).
-I pitched my yeast the next morning once the temp was appropriate and in less than 8 hours @ 70*, I had airlock activity at about one bubble every 10 seconds. I'm quite happy with that rate considering the number of people who have said that it has taken days or even weeks before their lemonades take off. I don't let anything ferment out at room temp here because it gets really hot here in Central FL, so the plan is to continue with the swamp cooler at around 65* for a couple of weeks and then let it warm to ambient temperature for another two.
So, that's it. I'll check back in in about a month once it's finished out and I've got it carbed up. I did want to take a second to thank bknifefight for the info on this yeast and getting it going. I've wanted to do a lemonade for over a year now but have put it off because I didn't want the hassle of fighting the yeast to get to work. This method really is pretty idiot proof and I'm excited that I now have another option to ferment something "non-beer" without having to always make cider.
Cheers guy!
---Chris
