# Lemonade Tree hooch



## fattox (12/5/14)

Hey fellas,
A mate of mine has got a "problem" in that he's got a lemonade tree with a ton of ripe fruit. Seeing as the juiced yield of one fruit is around 50-80ml each, how would you go about using these to make a drinkable thing?

My thoughts: 

4-5l of juice 
2kg Brown sugar 
Water
Maybe some bush limes and lemons
Little bit of ginger or galangal 
Champagne yeast

Thoughts?


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## JDW81 (12/5/14)

Give it a go, but I don't reckon it would be that drinkable. Too much acid/bitterness plus the champagne yeast would dry it right out. It would be one mouth puckering drink, but if that is your thing then go for it.

I reckon make non-alcoholic lemonade/cordial then irish it up with some gin or vodka.

JD


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## TimT (12/5/14)

Something to add tannin. Age over oak, or just add tea.

Citrus peel is a thing of wonder all on its own and can be used to add flavour to wines and beers or just thrown into cakes, so be sure to get plenty of that delicious lemonade tree zest as well  I made candied peel at Easter and it went a treat in my hot cross buns.


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## TimT (12/5/14)

Yeah as JD says the acidity might be a worry. But how is limoncello made? Maybe you need to balance the acidity with an alkaline ingredient.


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## JDW81 (12/5/14)

Could also preserve them middle east style, they keep for years and get better with age. 

Seems that limoncello has alcohol added to a lemon based cordial (white spirit according to detective google) 

JD


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## danbeer (12/5/14)

TimT said:


> But how is limoncello made?


It's just a matter of extracting the oils from the skins of the lemons into alcohol (vodka) + Sweetening...


http://limoncelloquest.com/limoncello-articles/how-to-make-limoncello


Which reminds me - i have an arseload of semi-ripe lemons I need to do something with... *ponders*


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## fattox (12/5/14)

I'll go on record here assuming you guys know the difference between lemonade and lemon tree? Those who don't, a lemonade tree is a lemon x navel orange. But I see your point. I think ideally something that changes it to be more alkaline would be ideal


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## Airgead (12/5/14)

I have always found that the one type of juice that never ferments into anything drinkable is citrus. It always just tastes like off citrus.

If you want cirus flavour in something, add the zest. that tastes fantastic. the fermented juice... yech.

Make lemonade - juice (1/3), sugar (to taste) and water (2/3). You can even add gin or vodka. Or even rum.

Limocello is great for using the zest. Just soak zest in vodka for a week or so then add sugar syrup.

Juice them up and freeze in ice cube trays so you always have some on hand.

But don't ferment it. Its revolting.

Cheers
Dave


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## RelaxedBrewer (12/5/14)

I have made a lemonale using fresh lemons that is very nice.
I used about ~40 lemons and juiced them all. Then made a sugar syrup with ~2.5 kg of sugar and added the zest of all the lemons (i peeled them and did not add the white pith as it is bitter.
I then topped it up to 25L and added a lot of yeast nutrient and fermented with S04. 

I let the the gravity drop to 10-12 and then pasteurised the lemonale to keep some sweetness. I do not think it would be very nice completely dry.

I have done the asme thing with about 25% lime which was pretty good, but I prefer the lemon.


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## wynnum1 (12/5/14)

Freeze the juice to use later.


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## fattox (12/5/14)

My other thoughts were maybe using the juice as part of a more sour beer. Something like a Berliner Weisse or a Saison or something where that slight bitterness/fruity sourness is acceptable? My current idea is a Berliner Weisse - 

50% each wheat and pils
7 ibu worth of very late citra
yeast nutrient
zest and juice into the fermenter, maybe late addition i.e. after most of the fermentation to "back-sour/sweeten"
WLP630 Berliner Weisse Blend

Comes out in a 23 litre batch at around 3.1%. Nice summer wheat beer. Maybe some honey in there as well for a slight dryness, but probably no more than 3-400g in that batch.


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## Desert Brewer (12/5/14)

Do you remember Two Dogs Alcholic Lemonade ? - maybe it was just an Adelaide 90's thing, but very tasty and possibly to easy to drink  . My mate has a lemonade tree also and we are looking at a healty crop of lemons this season - i will most likely preserve some - but a Two Dogs style brew would be great.

Anyway....found the link below......it has a link in it to AHB recipe DB.+ some discussion on someone wanting to do the same .. 

_link removed_
Hope it helps,

Cheers,

DB


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## JDW81 (12/5/14)

fattox said:


> My other thoughts were maybe using the juice as part of a more sour beer. Something like a Berliner Weisse or a Saison or something where that slight bitterness/fruity sourness is acceptable? My current idea is a Berliner Weisse -
> 
> 50% each wheat and pils
> 7 ibu worth of very late citra
> ...


I'm still not so sure it will work. I think you'd end up getting some serious cross flavours with the different acids and sour flavours. There is a reason people don't make that many alcoholic drinks directly from citrus juice, and that is it isn't that successful. Citrus juice added to booze though does work. Corona a lemon (yes I drink it in the summer, I also drink VB if it is free and cold).


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## Airgead (13/5/14)

Desert Brewer said:


> Do you remember Two Dogs Alcholic Lemonade ? - maybe it was just an Adelaide 90's thing, but very tasty and possibly to easy to drink  . My mate has a lemonade tree also and we are looking at a healty crop of lemons this season - i will most likely preserve some - but a Two Dogs style brew would be great.
> 
> Anyway....found the link below......it has a link in it to AHB recipe DB.+ some discussion on someone wanting to do the same ..
> 
> ...


I remember 2 dogs. not bad.... but I'm not sure whether it was made by fermenting lemon juice or by flavoring a sugar fermentation with lemon afterwards.

I have always found that fermented citrus anything tastes like off citrus juice. Its just not something that works well. Great flavour if you add juice or zest to something else but fermenting the juice is pretty ordinary.


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## Ninegrain (16/5/14)

I had a go at alcoholic lemonade last year. Peeled and de-pithed the skins and boiled some water with a heap of brown sugar then added the juice and peel at flameout. Fermented it out and wow, hectic bitter and sour with a slightly off citrus taste. I estimate about 8% alcohol, which is good because once it's diluted with some 'normal' lemonade it comes out as a decent, full strength beverage. I havnt had one for ages though, almost a year and I am hoping some age will be doing it some good. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## fattox (8/6/14)

Yeah righto, after consideration, and watching brew dogs I think adding like a syrup at kegging might be the go. Maybe zest in the fermenter and then juicing it with a bit of sugar to back sweeten or something. I'll keep you all posted anyway but I think the Berliner Weisse with a syrup would be the go. Talked to head brewers of J-Dubs over in the US via Instagram who did a pineapple BW and he said they did syrup, gave me the syrup recipe they used and said just to take a small sample, and add it in a few ml at a time until it's right then work out the volume on the whole beer needed.


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## Dave70 (11/6/14)

fattox said:


> Hey fellas,
> A mate of mine has got a "problem" in that he's got a lemonade tree with a ton of ripe fruit. Seeing as the juiced yield of one fruit is around 50-80ml each, how would you go about using these to make a drinkable thing?
> 
> My thoughts:
> ...


Thoughts? 

Lemon sorbet. Its Delicious. 

Or open a lemonade stand.


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## menoetes (11/6/14)

Here's a whole thread on trying to make alcoholic lemonade from pretty much lemons and sugar, much has you are trying to do.

Some of the best minds on AHB have had a crack at it and given some good feedback with both success and failures. The simple two dogs hard lemonade clone posted by Enoch seems popular.

1kg rough lemons
2kg Meyer lemons
2kg Dextrose
1 sachet ale dry yeast

It uses the lemon zest, flesh and juice but the general consensus seems to be that you should get rid of as much white pith as you can as it lends harsh bitterness.

It's a long thread, spanning several years of trying but a good read if you are keen to try making some hard lemonade.

Either way, let us know how you go...


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## Mutaneer (11/6/14)

Ale yeast..?

Thinking of giving this a whirl
Cliffnotes I've taken from the thread

-Pith is BAD
-Zest has the flavour but don;t go overboard
-Use some fruit with flesh mashed, and some juiced
-Don't boil the juice for very long
-brown sugar for the unfermentable content

Recipe as above, I'll just use the DV10 or 71B yeast I have on hand.


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## scarekrow (11/6/14)

Google Skeeter Pee. It's a hard lemonade made from frozen concentrate. Kind of gives you an idea what to use and how to get the lemons to ferment.


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