# Lemonade



## Doc

Thinking about having a go at an alcoholic lemonade.
Does anyone have a recipe or some hints and tips on doing one of these?

Cheers,
Doc


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## Ic3man

Yeah i would like to know too.. someone helpp!!!!!


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## dane

My first batch of Alcoholic Ginger Beer is sitting in the fermentor - almost done. I think an Alcoholic Lemonade would be another nice change and would be interesting.

Hope some of the guys have a good recipe for this.

A quick look on Google provides a number of results, some based on our own Two Dogs recipes.


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## Doc

Found this Link mentioned on HBD today.
Has a couple of interesting recipes for Alcoholic Lemonade. I wonder if cans of lemon concentrate are available in Australia.
Anyone?

Cheers,
Doc


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## Doc

Well my lemons are getting close to being ready.
I've found numerous links to recipes, but the recipes don't have any tasting notes, or the tasting notes say the lemonade is shit.
The best link I've been able to find is here.
So unless anyone else has a tried and proven recipe, it looks like I'll be the guinea pig.

Cheers,
Doc


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## PMyers

Just be wary where the recipe says to add the energizer 5 minutes prior to the end of the boil. Yeast Energizer is an amino acid (Vitamin B), and I'm pretty certain the heat would destroy it, rendering it totally useless. I'd add it when you add the yeast.

Cheers,
Pete

:chug:


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## Doc

That is the bit of the recipe I was actually planning on deviating from. I'm planning on using the Sweet Mead/Cider yeast from White Labs WLP720.

Cheers,
Doc


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## Doc

Well I'm two steps closer to the alcoholic lemonade being a reality.
I made a starter for the WLP720 yeast last night.
Today I've juiced the lemons and the oranges.
I have the corn syrup ready as well.
One night next week I'll do the boil up of it all and the experiment will begin.
For those of you that haven't been following this thread, here is the recipe I'll be basing my experiment on.

Beers,
Doc


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## GMK

Doc

You do know that the corn sugar they are refering to is actually Dextrose in australia.


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## GMK

Lemonade Recipee

Doc, your Lemonade Recipee is alot different from mine.

Here is mine:

Ingredients - 
2.5kg - 4.5kg of Cane sugar - depends upon alcohol strength wanted.
18 - 24 lemons - depending on size - sliced up or better still through a food processor....including peel.
2 oz fresh grated Ginger
1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient and gypsum
1 ale yeast or better with Mead/Pinot Noir Yeast - especially for the higher alcohol version.
Water to make 5 gallons.
Optional:
spices - cinamon, nutmeg and cloves to taste.
100 gms of Belgian Candi Sugar

Boil all ingredients except yeast in a sacepan with 5 litres of water for 20 mins.
Let stand for 10 mins and then strain into fermenter. Top up to 20 litres with cold water - pitch yeast when cool enough.
Rack after 2 weeks and lager for a further 2 weeks in the secondary.

Keg lemonade and force carbonate at 300 kpa - rocking keg for 5 mins and then leaving it on the presure for 48 hours.
Cut to normal pouring presure, and serve. 
Add a slice of lime for an extra tang.

Doc, 
what do you think....


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## Doc

The ginger addition sounds good.
How does yours turn out? Sweet ? How alcoholic?
Does adding the peel make it a little tart?

Cheers,
Doc


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## GMK

Doc,

In all honesty, i have not made this yet...
My mate accross the road has the lemon tree...I am still waiting to get some lemons from him...

This is the recipee that i am going to use...

But i will add the belgian Candi Sugar and spices...

Sorry that I can't help you more...

The peel should add a crisp slightly tartiness to it.
I will be making this up and pitching onto my sweet mead trub...

Hopefully, in the next month.


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## ian

I am currently making a lemonade, it is almost up to the bottling stage, but I just thought that maybe a comment on the skin/rhind of the lemon wouldnt go astray:

The white part of the lemon (inside of the yellow skin) is what makes the lemons sour. If you juice the lemons, or scrape out all the insides of them, then grate the outside yellow part of the rhind off, you can avoid putting in too much of the white part of the lemons. This will make it sweeter and also probably more lemony as the grated rhind gives more surface area for the rhind than when it is not grated up. When i was grating it I was almost overcome by the lemony smell that grating caused. So the extra work is probably very beneficial in terms of taste.

My lemonade is TOTALLY experimental and I am doing it using very little information. I didnt even use yeast energiser because I thought that if the yeast went too crazy and converted all of my sugars into alcohol then it wouldn't be sweet. So i am relying on the acid in the orange and lemon juice to kill the yeast after a few days of fermenting. With a specific gravity of 1055 (should probably have made it a bit higher!) I am hoping to get it down to about 1025 leaving some sugar still left behind for sweetness.


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## Doc

Well my lemonade is down and fermenting.
Funny smelling lemons ferment (rather than beer).

It is fermenting away very quickly.

After a side comment from my wife after seeing the webcam, she said their is no sound.
So this morning I hooked up sound to the webcam and configured it for streaming too  I can now see and hear my brews fermenting from work. I know you guys will find that funny.


*The recipe:*

Dextrose 2.5kg
Maltodextrin 500g
Lactose 100g

Fresh squeezed lemon juice 2.8 litres
Fresh squeezed orange juice 1.3 litres

17 litres of purified water

*Method:*
Water added to the boiler and brought to the boil.
Sugars added.
20 minute boil

Juices added for last 5 mins.

Cooled with immersion chiller and transferred to fermenter.

*Yeast:*
White Labs Sweet Mead Cider WLP720.
One litre starter used.
SG 1056


Beers,
Doc


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## Doc

Bottled it today.
Came it at 7.4%
Lemon bitter aftertaste so primed the bottles with CSR Brown Sugar (couldn't find muscovado sugar at the supermakert this morning).

Let you guy know what it tastes like in a month or so.

Beers,
Doc


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## Wasabi

Doc,

How did this turn out in the end?


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## Doc

I first tasted it after about a month in the bottle.
Tasted like lemonade but quite bitter on the aftertaste. Great if you are a margharita drinker, otherwise a bit much. And as such my immediate thought was "It would be great with some tequila".

I actually thought about it at the weekend again, so will dig out another bottle and put it in the fridge. 
Will let you know how it is tasting after the next try of it.

Beers,
Doc


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## Doc

Tried another bottle tonight.
Still very very bitter.
So I added some tequila.

Didn't make it any better, but I've got a buzz on  

Hopefully it'll improve over the coming months.

Doc


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## nicko

hows it tasting now doc  ?


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## Doc

I'll have to throw another in the fridge to give it a try.
If it is still bitter then I'll mix Midori or Contreau with it.

I think it may be extra bitter because I used lemons that were too young. The mate I got the lemons from is going to try the recipe using lemons that are older and not as sour.
If he gets around to it I'll let you know his results also.

Beers,
Doc


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## Doc

Tried another bottle tonight.
The bitterness has definitely mellowed.
Still a bit bitter to drink straight though so I added some Midori and it went down a treat  

Beers,
Doc


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## GMK

Doc,

As a thought for counteracting the Bitterness - would you add some Lactose next time.


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## GMK

OK...Just made my lemonade tonday.

Tasted great into the fermenter...

Might Call it GMKaide.
Used 30 lemons.
Zested 18, cut the ends off all of them and slice the big ones into 3 and the small ones in half - Longways.
Then cut as much of the white stuff off as possible. This is what is supposed to make it bitter. Put the lemon flesh and the zest into a large saucepan. Grate 50gms of Ginger into the pot.
Use a bamix to shread the pulp up in the saucepan.
Add the following:
- 10 ltrs of boiling water
- 2 kg of castor sugar (for 5 % or 4KG for 10%)
- 150gms of Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons of Ground Cinamon
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground Cloves
- 25gms of Chinnok Pellets.
- 7 pieces of 1 inch x 2.5 inch 5mm toasted american oak pieces.
Boil for 20 mins...strain into fermeter and pitch Wyeast 3276 cider yeast. Add 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient.
Will ferment in primary for 3 weeks - then rack and add sliced lemons if not lemony enough.

Will keep u posted on how it turns out....


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## Kai

I made a lemonade with 12% lemon juice and the yeast pooped out in the bottle, I've got a second one with 8% lemon juice on the go right now. It's fermenting very slowly and i'm staring down the barrel of a five week ferment.

A lot of the zest flavour disappears if you add it to the primary. In my opinion you need to dry zest for any flavour transferral to be worthwhile.

Let us know how it turns out.


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## Chatty

GMK, Doc, Kai and any other experimenters - any news on how the various recipes are going? The missus is keen for me to make her some and the lemonade kits that are available are trollop. I wouldn't go near them - I've made 5 batches of various brands and they all had one thing in common - lemon essence. That stuff is rubbish. :angry: 

So, tomorrow will be attempt number 6 and my recipe will be something along the lines of

3 kg Coopers brewing sugar
2 lemons, juiced
Safale yeast

Probably add a few old dry yeast sachets during the boil and make up to around 25 L. :chug: 

Chatty


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## Kai

My first one that I thought pooped out actually did carbonate, it just took a couple months. It would have tasted fine except for the fact I sweetened it with stevia and the aftertaste is too strong.

My second one is currently stuck at 1012, I tried to help it along with some wine yeast nutrient, but it doesn't seem to have been too successful.


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## Doc

I posted the results of mine in another lemonade thread somewhere.
I think mine would have come out alright if I had used lemons that had rippened enough. They weren't green, but they were ready either.
Luckily I bottled it and they are sitting under the house for another couple of years to mellow. Currently it is way to tart.

Beers,
Doc


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## GMK

Chatty said:


> GMK, Doc, Kai and any other experimenters - any news on how the various recipes are going? The missus is keen for me to make her some and the lemonade kits that are available are trollop. I wouldn't go near them - I've made 5 batches of various brands and they all had one thing in common - lemon essence. That stuff is rubbish. :angry:
> 
> So, tomorrow will be attempt number 6 and my recipe will be something along the lines of
> 
> 3 kg Coopers brewing sugar
> 2 lemons, juiced
> Safale yeast
> 
> Probably add a few old dry yeast sachets during the boil and make up to around 25 L. :chug:
> 
> Chatty


 No hope with the juice of 2 lemons to get anywhere near enough lemon flavour.

I used 30 odd lemons and zested 20 of them.
Mine is still in the primary - will need to rack soon to secondary and another 6 sliced lemons to really get the lemon flavour without it being too tart.

My lemonade is along the lines of old Fashioned Lemonade - a bit cloudy and slightly dark coloured.

it is tasting rather nice - though needs a bit more lemon...

Hope this helps.


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## Chatty

Hee hee, sorry Ken. Make that 2 kg of lemons!  

What do you mean by zested? removed the outer yellow skin?

Chatty


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## GMK

In my recipe i zested the lemons - ie a really fine grater and got the yellow part of the skin - then cut the lemons into halves/thirds and removed most of the white pith - this is waht makes it bitter.

Then juiced the lemon pulp thru the food processor and you can follow the rest in the recipe above...


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## Kai

Hey Doc, from what I've read & heard the early bitterness of your lemonade might have been due to the oranges, it's my understanding that orange juice usually doesn't taste particularly nice when fermented but I haven't tried for myself.


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## kohmatsu

I've been flicking through a book on living the self sustainable life and there was a recipe for lemonade in it. It goes like:

approx 26 lemons juiced
zest from 5 lemons
100g cream of tartar
250g dextrose
500g lactose
nutrient
yeast

why the cream of tartar? I don't know
:chug:


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## Kai

Acts as an acidity regulator maybe?


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## Guest Lurker

Could be but seems odd. Cream of tartar is potassium hydrogen tartrate which looks a bit complicated but seems to me it acts as an acid? The lemonades I have made with fresh lemons come up at pH 2 to 3. I had a lot of trouble getting yeast to start until I added some baking soda to get the pH up to about 4, which seemed to make the yeast finally kick off. So I would expect to add a base rather than an acid to a fresh lemon recipe. Then again that lemonade tasted like crap so what do I know.


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## Kai

It could also be acting as a buffer if it's a weaker acid than citric, couldn't it?


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## MCWB

I can't think of much reason to use cream of tartar at all. I suspect you use 100 g of cream of tartar when Venus is in Orion's sector, an extra 50 g when in the year of the Goat, otherwise omit... 

pKa1 and pKa2 of tartaric acid are 2.96 and 4.3. For citric acid pKa1 3.15, pKa2 4.77, pKa3 5.19. Wikipedia says lemons are up to 8% citric acid by dry weight... so maybe double that by wet weight? In that case, for 2 kg of lemons we have 320 g of citric acid, so 100 g of hydrogen tartrate is going to do bugger-all in terms of pH adjustment...


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## Kai

How do you conclude to double it by wet weight? Wouldn't the overall percentage of citric acid be far smaller by wet weight than dry?


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## Kai

wiki also says that lemon juice is 5% citric.. probably also bugger all for the cream of tartar to do anything  oh well it was just a ponderance


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## MCWB

Ugh, yeah you're right, mea retardo. That'll teach me to post after a big night!  Still, I can't see that the cream of tartar is going to do much in terms of pH, as you say. Maybe the bitartrate ions contribute to the flavour somehow, in the same way sulfate and bicarbonate ions do?


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## Backlane Brewery

We were drinking this last night- it is excellent, a million miles away from 2 Dogs or those breezer type things. Crisp, lemony, dry but not bitter. A bit cloudy with yeast sediment and pulp residue. 
I would avoid lactose unless you really want something sweeter, and don't see why you would need to add tartaric, ascorbic or citric acid. It's all in the lemons...the pectinase will get it out.

Nosebleed hard lemonade.

2.5-3 kg lemons, washed in steriliser & roughly chopped.
5 g pectinase
2kg white sugar, glucose or dextrose
10g champagne or wine yeast- I used Lanvin.

Put chopped lemons- peel, stalks & all- in a large saucepan, adding pectinase and enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, mash a few times with a potato masher or similar, cover, and leave, preferably overnight.

The next day, start the yeast in 500ml of warm water, with 100g of the sugar dissolved in it. Stir well, cover and leave for at least 30 minutes.

The heat and pectinase should have reduced the lemons to a kind of thick pulp. Bring back to the boil, then take off the heat and mash with potato masher until fairly smooth. Do not worry if there are a few large chunks in the mix.

Allow pulp to cool enough to handle, and then squeeze through a piece of boiled muslin. This will be easier if you lay the muslin in a colander placed on top of a bucket and gently pour the pulp in. When the bulk of the liquid drains, then gather the corners of the muslin in and squeeze.

You should now have at least a litre and a half of cloudy lemon must, and a big blob of dryish pulp. Add 50 grams of the pulp to the bucket and stir.

Place the must in a sterilised fermenter with remaining sugar, and top up to 15 litres with warm water. Stir well to dissolve sugar before pitching yeast starter (and a pinch of yeast nutrient if you are feeling nervous). Seal and add airlock.

This takes at least 2 weeks to ferment out. If hydrometer readings over two or three consecutive days indicate fermentation has stopped but FG is still above 1000, add more yeast. 

Prime and bottle as usual- 1 tsp sugar or carb drop per stubby. It comes out fairly strong, and initially has a bit of a yeasty taste, but smooths out after a couple of weeks. Best served very cold.


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## sluggerdog

Does anyone make a Hard Lemonade concentrate like the cider and ginger beer ones you can get..

Quick and Simple..

CHEERS


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## lou

Well i hate to admit it but i've been making lemonade since I was 5 yrs old, non-alcholic of cource but its the same thing minus yeast and extra sugar. Here is how it goes 

juice lemons and shred the peel - do not put any white pith in if all possible (you will always get tiny bits but never use chunks). 

The lemon juice actaully adds very little to the final flavour - what you want is the flavour out of the zest - tricky thing is the bitterness comes out of the zest so it is a balancing act - getting flavour out of the zest with out overdoing it and it becoming bitter. 

Without any non-fermentables in it all the sugar will get eaten by the yeast - so you actually want to drink it before all the sugar is eaten to leave some residual sweetness, unless you want it totally dry <_< 

The zest and sugar should be put in a saucepan brought to the boil but not left to boil very long - the juiuce should be added right at the last minute- once lemon juice is cooked it looses all its flavour and basically adds nothing to the final product - the nice thing about the lemon juice is the 'fresh' charactor its adds to the beverage - so as little cooking the juice as possible. Let the zest and sugar sit for a while - usually till it cools down is enough - maybe overnight - but not too long - the zest will keep on adding bitterness to the wort until removed. once cooled/ready dump into fermenter after straining through muslin- pitch wine/champaigne yeast. Drink quickly and cold. the yeast will get through the sugar very quickly . once mostly fermented you want to put it in the fridge to slow/stop fermentation to leave resideual sweetness. 

My favourite addition is ginger , chop up the ginger and add with the zest at the begining - you can tell when the whole thing is ready becasue if you chew on a bit of the ginger all the flavour will have been extracted into the wort and it is totally tasteless. 

Mmm refeshing ginger lemonade - a perfect summetime refresher

lou


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## DrewCarey82

Am going to put down a very simple batch of alcoholic lemonade.

Probably,
18 lemons.
3kg sugar.
Yeast Nutrient.
And some Brewers yeast from big W.

Big questions are.....

What temp should I aim for and how long does it take to ferment, and can from a supermarket or big w/kmart ect can I get Yeast nutrient and what does it do?


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## Uncle Fester

DrewCarey82 said:


> Am going to put down a very simple batch of alcoholic lemonade.
> 
> Probably,
> 18 lemons.
> 3kg sugar.
> Yeast Nutrient.
> And some Brewers yeast from big W.
> 
> Big questions are.....
> 
> What temp should I aim for and how long does it take to ferment, and can from a supermarket or big w/kmart ect can I get Yeast nutrient and what does it do?
> [post="102083"][/post]​




I'm no expert, but I believe that you may wish to either use a specialist yeast (one that leaves sweetness in the lemonade), or add some lactose (non fermentable sugar). I would think this may come ut very dry and sour.

GMK has on occasions recomended some tiddly yeasts that are better for sweet drinks (ginger beer, cider etc...)

Over to you Ken... :chug: 


M

[Edit: usual Typos]


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## DrewCarey82

I brought something called turbo yeast off the net its a wine/champaign yeast thats apparently better then the normal ones as it gets rid of harsh flavours would this do the trick?


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## pint of lager

Do a search on lemonade on the board. There has been discussion about this before and may give you some more ideas for your brew. 

I did a batch similar to yours a few years back and didn't use any back sweetening. Yes, it was dry, but very nice and refreshing. It took ages to ferment out, plus continued slowly fermenting in the bottle to become overcarbonated after about six months, so either bottle in pet or watch your glass bottles and be ready to release head pressure.

Unfortunately, there is no specialist yeast that will leave part of the sucrose component unfermented. Any yeast will slowly work through all the sucrose, unless it dies from excess alcohol.


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## DrewCarey82

I did, couldnt find an answer to yeast nutrient is it a necessity?

Also when I throw the lemons in the blender should I boil it after woulds and should I strain the juice or throw it in bits and all.


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## barfridge

DrewCarey82 said:


> I brought something called turbo yeast off the net its a wine/champaign yeast thats apparently better then the normal ones as it gets rid of harsh flavours would this do the trick?
> [post="102088"][/post]​


Turbo yeast is used to make the base for spirits. It will strip almost all the sugars out from the lemonade, leaving a very very dry horrid brew. I definitely do not recommend you use this yeast for normal brewing.


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## DrewCarey82

Good thing I asked.

Can anyone answer my yeast nutrient question?


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## Guest Lurker

You can buy yeast nutrient from a homebrew store. It would be a good idea to add nutrient to a lemonade as there arent the natural nutrients present in malt. The tightarse option would be boil a couple of sachets of old brewing/bread yeast and scape a tiny bit off a zinc vitamin tablet, to give the nutrients. But the commercial version has the right amounts of each mineral and tells you how much to add.


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## pint of lager

Rather than chucking the whole lemon in the blender, take only the outer zest off, then squeeze them. The white bit is called the pith and is bitter, you want to avoid this bit going in your lemonade.

To sanitise the zest and juice there are two options, you can use camden tablets or you can pastuerise it, which is heat treating it.

Make the juice and peel up to 5 litres , crush and dissolve one camden tablet in 1/2 cup water, stir into the juice/zest, wait 24 hours then continue with your recipe. Or to pastuerise, add some water to make to 5 litres, heat to 80 deg C, hold at this temp for about 10 minutes, let it cool and continue with your recipe. 

Use GL's suggestion for nutrients. Don't use turbo yeast.


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## recharge

OK another note on turbo yeast it is basically a high dose of wine yeast Lavlin EC-1118 i believe with all the nutrients and buffer comounds required to ferment out an all sugar wash for spirit making. So if you do use it you shouldnt need any other nutrient if you are doing about 20 -25 l batch.
Personally i prefer to make my own and use ENOVIT as a nutrient.


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## tangent

interesting thread
something i need to add:

saying "add lemons" is like saying "add malt", which lemons and which malt?
You'll find lisbon lemons (my favourite) are really acidic and make your mouth pucker. These are great for chicken and fish but you wouldn't want to make a whole brew out of them.
Lemonade lemons are probably what you're after for the mellow backbone and low acidity (and more sugar), then balance this with gutsy lisbons or even meyer which have a lower acidity but not as low as lemonade.
Zesting is a top idea, definitely add that. (use a zester maybe instead of a grater?)
avoid the white pith, which will add undesirable bitterness and i'd definitely recommend a champagne yeast


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## Morrie0069

Hi All,

I've just joined the forum and came across this topic while searching for a lemonade recipe. I recall a friend of mine used to make alcoholic lemonade and he used to place a jelly bean in the bottle, then add the brew for bottling. The sugar from the jelly bean would carbonate and flavour the lemonade depending on which jelly bean he used. I guess that was in place of putting sugar in the bottle.

Cheers.


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## DrewCarey82

Guys with my lemonade it isnt bubbling( I suspect that airlock isnt in properly or seal slightly dodgy) but there is plenty of foggy scum on the upper lid and the usual ring around the top of the liquid so I am safe to say that its fermenting.

I went 16 large lemons from the local fruit and veg store.

Peeled off yellow bit retained, peeled off most of white and threw away and threw in the lemon itself with 3kg of Dextrose and 22 litres of water and just a brewiser yeast from big W. OG was 1.055, be interested to see what alcohol strength I get.


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## pamer

I made the recipe on the liquorcraft website sans ginger. It tasted nice but I didn't remove the pith (I didn't know I was supposed to - it wasn't mentioned in the recipe) thus it had a bitter aftertaste. However bitter aftertaste aside it was quite nice. I ended up using about 22 smallish lemons.


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## kungy

I don't know if you guys know about limoncello, the Italian Lemon Liquer, but if you have an excess of lemons and want to make an awesome liquer that tastes fresh and like real lemons (FYI that retails for sometimes $45 for 500mls in bottle shops) give it a go. 

Its really easy and cost effective, the only outlay is for the cheapest vodka you can find. Give us a shout if you want the recipe posted, i need to do some searching for it. Well worth the effort.

Will


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## recharge

kungy said:


> I don't know if you guys know about limoncello, the Italian Lemon Liquer, but if you have an excess of lemons and want to make an awesome liquer that tastes fresh and like real lemons (FYI that retails for sometimes $45 for 500mls in bottle shops) give it a go.
> 
> Its really easy and cost effective, the only outlay is for the cheapest vodka you can find. Give us a shout if you want the recipe posted, i need to do some searching for it. Well worth the effort.
> 
> Will
> [post="102874"][/post]​


Kungy
id be interested in seeing that recipe

Cheers
:beer: 

Richard


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## Vlad the Pale Aler

have a look here Richard

limoncello


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## big d

this qld distillery here makes limoncello.
http://www.tamborinemountaindistillery.com/
just seen on tv tonight theyve won a heap of o/s awards for there various flavoured vodke brews.

cheers
big d


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## Kai

I love limcello. Great drink and easy to make.


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## Simon W

My mum brought back a small blue pyramid shaped bottle of limoncello from the Island of Capri, apparently the best. It was very very good, and I've not tasted anything like it since. One that I bought a year or so ago, apparently made by an old italian guy here in Perth, was close, very good, but not to the standard of the Capri one.
Theres a licenced restaurant in Fremantle called Limoncello, I went in one day and asked if they could sell me a bottle, I was greeted with blank stares. I then asked the manager and she said "what is it exactly?" sheesh!! They've got shelves full of alcohol and not a bottle of limoncello!
Might have to try making it, mum's going thru withdrawls!
Thanks for the links.

EDIT: speling


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## DrewCarey82

Does anyone have any idea what lemonades alcohol strength will turn out like?

It had 16 large lemons in it - everything except white bit.
and 3kg's of dextrose. Starting gravity of 1.055.

Cheers.


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## DrewCarey82

Come on guys u's are experts should be a pisser for u's to work out


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## Bobby

what is the final gravity??
use this
http://www.grumpys.com.au/brew_analyser.php3


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## DrewCarey82

Not sure I actually found a caculator on the liquorcraft website and it should end up presuming its around the 1.005-1.010, @ around 6-7% which will certainly be what I was after.


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## kungy

Here is the recipe i used, bearing in mine that there are stacks of family recipes etc floating around on the net. The following recipes sweetness can be altered by altering the level of sugar syrup added at the end of the process. Bear in mine that you can make it to suit your tastes or you could do both a sweet and dry version. Also make a good size batch as you and your friends are sure to like it (and so you don't drink the whole batch in only a week)

The following recipe is based upon the recipes found at http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/notes/food/dh_limoncello.htm and http://www.whc.net/rjones/index.html to match Australian Ingredients etc 

- One Bottle (750 ml) good but not necessarily premium vodka (40% alcohol) (I found the cheapest generic vodka perfectly acceptable)
- 12 large thick skinned bright yellow lemons (without scars or flaws in the skin if possible.) Cleaned well, trying not to damage the rind during cleaning.
- 375 ml (about 1 1/2 cups) filtered tap water (not mineral water) 
- 2 cups pure cane white sugar 

Remove only the yellow part of the lemon rinds, add alcohol and let it steep for 4 weeks. I did this process in a large airtight glass container that commerical quantities of pickles come in.

Filter the rind away from the lemon infused vodka. I used a coffee filter.

Boil sugar and water to make syrup. Let cool to room temperature. And add bit by bit, tasting as you go, to the vodka until you reach the desired level of sweetness. Bottle in a clean bottle, a gin or the vodka bottle itself is perfect. 

Leave for at least 4 weeks to flavours to mellow, and put in freezer. I found at the end of the bottle, that the flavours appeared to be a lot smoother.

Give it a go, its well worth it.

Will


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## Guest Lurker

DrewCarey82 said:


> Not sure I actually found a caculator on the liquorcraft website and it should end up presuming its around the 1.005-1.010, @ around 6-7% which will certainly be what I was after.
> [post="103191"][/post]​



With just dextrose, unless the yeast gets shagged out from alcohol it should get lower than that, closer to 1.000.


----------



## Burchman82

> Nosebleed hard lemonade.
> 
> 2.5-3 kg lemons, washed in steriliser & roughly chopped.
> 5 g pectinase
> 2kg white sugar, glucose or dextrose
> 10g champagne or wine yeast- I used Lanvin.
> 
> Put chopped lemons- peel, stalks & all- in a large saucepan, adding pectinase and enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, mash a few times with a potato masher or similar, cover, and leave, preferably overnight.
> 
> The next day, start the yeast in 500ml of warm water, with 100g of the sugar dissolved in it. Stir well, cover and leave for at least 30 minutes.
> 
> The heat and pectinase should have reduced the lemons to a kind of thick pulp. Bring back to the boil, then take off the heat and mash with potato masher until fairly smooth. Do not worry if there are a few large chunks in the mix.
> 
> Allow pulp to cool enough to handle, and then squeeze through a piece of boiled muslin. This will be easier if you lay the muslin in a colander placed on top of a bucket and gently pour the pulp in. When the bulk of the liquid drains, then gather the corners of the muslin in and squeeze.
> 
> You should now have at least a litre and a half of cloudy lemon must, and a big blob of dryish pulp. Add 50 grams of the pulp to the bucket and stir.
> 
> Place the must in a sterilised fermenter with remaining sugar, and top up to 15 litres with warm water. Stir well to dissolve sugar before pitching yeast starter (and a pinch of yeast nutrient if you are feeling nervous). Seal and add airlock.
> 
> This takes at least 2 weeks to ferment out. If hydrometer readings over two or three consecutive days indicate fermentation has stopped but FG is still above 1000, add more yeast.
> 
> Prime and bottle as usual- 1 tsp sugar or carb drop per stubby. It comes out fairly strong, and initially has a bit of a yeasty taste, but smooths out after a couple of weeks. Best served very cold.




I Did this recipe yesterday, put it into a 25L fermenter, used Lanvin 1118 yeast (i think thats what it was :unsure: ) and now, it is still not bubbling! i added nutrient (pinch or 2) what should i do!?!?!??! dont want all that effort going to waste!


----------



## DrewCarey82

My lemonade still brewing away 8 days later, gravity on sat was only @ 1.030-35, I hope its done this week.

Cant believe its taken so bloody long.... Better taste good....


----------



## DrewCarey82

Guys bottled my lemonade last night.

It had a rather ordinary taste still lemonady but not too good, temp was around 25-28 degrees though so does it just need to carbonate for a couple of weeks and be served chilled for it to come good?

Cheers.


----------



## mike_hillyer

Decided to revive this old thread. I have heaps of oranges and some lemons at the property we moved into 2 years ago. I have read the lemon recipes and will use the info for a brew. 

Questions: 

1. How are the lemon brews coming along.

2. Has anyone brewed oranges or any other unusual choices. I will ferment some oranges because I have so many.

3. I have 2 champagne yeasts to do a few brews but was going to use some kit ale yeasts to brew a couple has anyone used ale yeasts on fruit. How were the results?


----------



## chimera

Made a batch of lemonade about a month back, my first foray into this field, and will likely be my last for some time.

Its been a damned cold july in Melbourne this year, not condusive to wanting to go outside, or I guess for lemons to ripen and sweeten. Despite this our lemon tree is going beserk with big yellow lemons (hmm, beer brewing, high beer consumption, lemon tree...  ).

Anyway, ingredients list:
25 lemons from the posessed tree, peeled & juiced
2kg dex
500g lactose
S-04 safale yeast

boil time 30 mins.
since my kettle is small (7L stock pot) i had to split and boil the ingredients in two batches.

fermentation took about a week at a controlled 18.5 degrees, dont have my brew log here so i cant tell you anything more.

When it came time to bottle the flavour was so tart as to be undrinkable. Since it was a lazy sunday experiment from the outset i wasn't that upset, i decided to bottle a dozen longnecks and put them into storage for experimentation on guests, the rest i dumped. I cant say what it tastes like now, to be honest i forgot i even had it until i read this thread.

One observation from the GF about this insanely savage tartness was that in winter lemons grown in low temp & low sunlight are much more bitter than in summer months.


----------



## DrewCarey82

1. How are the lemon brews coming along.

*Was about 12% alcohol, nice enough flavour though way to dry and way to sweet. Actually sent me loopy! Got 2 longnecks left that I am too scared to touch.*

2. Has anyone brewed oranges or any other unusual choices. I will ferment some oranges because I have so many.

*No, though would be interested to here anyone elses ventures into this.*

3. I have 2 champagne yeasts to do a few brews but was going to use some kit ale yeasts to brew a couple has anyone used ale yeasts on fruit. How were the results?

*I've used this with my lemonade and it wasnt the best highly believe that the champagne yeast would be the go..*

CHIMERA, dont use the white bit of the lemon thats what gives the tartness, just juice and the yellow bit.


----------



## chimera

My omission, didnt mention anything about method, but i peeled off the zest, left the pith behind, same way as making lemon cordial.

If i gave you one of the lemons i used to make the lemonade you'd take one lick and your mouth would pucker up like a cats bum, they were posessed by the god of tartness.

I considered distilling the results, if its not drinkable at 5%, it couldnt be any worse at 30%, but mates still is currently out of service.


----------



## DrewCarey82

Mine turned out shit as well have to admit I'll be giving it a miss in future, have the Ginger Beer and depending on how my Cider goes that to for something a tad lighter.

Though some peoples have turned out great apparently so....????

Might just be us.


----------



## mike_hillyer

The old man made a lemon and orange wine with some of my juice. I sampled it just before bottling and I would judge it reasonable.

I have done an all orange juice with raw sugar with an all purpose champagne yeast. I was talked into the yeast by the brewshop bloke and I am experimenting with a orange juice and raw sugar with a left over muntons yeast. Both brews are going in plastic coke bottles and are just a way of using some of the orange and lemon trees on the 5 acres we bought 2 years ago. Hey I'm a city slicker! :blink:


----------



## Barramundi

have two bottles of Drews lemonade chilling in the fridge downstairs at present , will give them a bash shortly and let ya know what its like , from drews explanations its a bit nasty but im brave ....


----------



## InCider

Kaaa-Bump!  

It's my turn on the merry go round and I have a desire to make some lemonade tart-fuel. :beerbang: 

After just reading the whole thread, I'm pretty sure I'll grab some lemons, wine yeast, nutrient and lactose or whatever comes to mind (redskin lollies as flavoured primers?)

Has anyone done a lemonade since, or found a reliable recipe? If so I'd be glad to hear what you've found. Does anyone use a kit they've found or just lemons?

Cheers,

In(lemon)Cider.


----------



## stillscottish

Lemonade!!!

*HTFU*
  

Campbell


----------



## InCider

stillscottish said:


> Lemonade!!!
> 
> *HTFU*
> 
> 
> Campbell



ROFLMFAO!

It's for Zizzle!


----------



## brettprevans

Doc said:


> Bottled it today.
> Came it at 7.4%
> Lemon bitter aftertaste so primed the bottles with CSR Brown Sugar (couldn't find muscovado sugar at the supermakert this morning).
> 
> Let you guy know what it tastes like in a month or so.
> 
> Beers,
> Doc



What temp did you ferment at? or recomend to ferment at. Might make a batch for the missus. and then i'll hit her up for the ok to buy more brew equip/supplies


----------



## Doc

CM,

I used an ale yeast so fermented at 18degC.

Beers,
Doc


----------



## DrewCarey82

I may some of my lemonade tonight brewed well over a year ago.... Its around 14% unfortunately I doubt the flavours improved with age lol.

Missus has forbidden me to drink it but she's at work tonight. 

Come think of it the reason she forbid me to drink it was because I punched and shattered a schooner glass for no reason!!! So maybe not!!!!


----------



## Phrak

DrewCarey82 said:


> I may some of my lemonade tonight brewed well over a year ago


 Sure you haven't started drinking it already? :blink:


----------



## InCider

DrewCarey82 said:


> I may some of my lemonade tonight brewed well over a year ago.... Its around 14% unfortunately I doubt the flavours improved with age lol.
> 
> Missus has forbidden me to drink it but she's at work tonight.
> 
> Come think of it the reason she forbid me to drink it was because I punched and shattered a schooner glass for no reason!!! So maybe not!!!!



That's reason enough for me! Sounds like a party drink! :beerbang:


----------



## shawnheiderich

I did my lemonade today after reading the rest of the thread.

Method

2 packets of coopers yeast in a 1.25L starter, with 1/2 cup sugar and two pakets of boiled yeast (it went off)

Chopped up about 20-26 lemons and boiled for 45 min (no pith)
Zest of about 12-15 lemons boiled 5 min
Added 2kg brown sugar to lemon boil and 2kg brown sugar to fermenter.....
made up to 25L..

i have about 1 doz left and I may zest and boil and add to seconary when racking..

Tasted like sweet lemonade out of the frementer I am unsure of the OG as kids dropped Hydrometer this week.

I am hoping for about 6%-8% with a sweet taste :chug: 

I hope that it will ok for spring / summer if not I will give to brother in law to incorperate into his still....etc


----------



## InCider

shawn_H said:


> I did my lemonade today after reading the rest of the thread.
> 
> Method
> 
> 2 packets of coopers yeast in a 1.25L starter, with 1/2 cup sugar and two pakets of boiled yeast (it went off)
> 
> Chopped up about 20-26 lemons and boiled for 45 min (no pith)
> Zest of about 12-15 lemons boiled 5 min
> Added 2kg brown sugar to lemon boil and 2kg brown sugar to fermenter.....
> made up to 25L..
> 
> i have about 1 doz left and I may zest and boil and add to seconary when racking..
> 
> Tasted like sweet lemonade out of the frementer I am unsure of the OG as kids dropped Hydrometer this week.
> 
> I am hoping for about 6%-8% with a sweet taste :chug:
> 
> I hope that it will ok for spring / summer if not I will give to brother in law to incorperate into his still....etc



Great stuff Shawn. It sounds like a great brew - I reackon the brown sugar is the masterstroke.

Cheers,

Sean.


----------



## xknifepointx

sluggerdog said:


> Does anyone make a Hard Lemonade concentrate like the cider and ginger beer ones you can get..
> 
> Quick and Simple..
> 
> CHEERS




sure does, I was looking at doing this one next week.







Colony West Lemonade
Original home style recipe. Use with 1kg of dextrose to make a full strength refreshing lemonade.
$13.50


http://brewhaus.com.au/html/OtherDrinks.html


----------



## shawnheiderich

Just a quick update on the lemonade that I made.. about 5 posts up.

I guess it has been in the bottle for about six weeks now. Taste well its not sweet but it has a slight tarte aftertast.. I find it quite nice poured over some ice on a warm afternoon. It should be even better over summer.

My thoughts brown sugar is better?
Pith is the enemy!
lots of flavour in the zest.


----------



## brendanos

I think I might follow your lead, Shawn. Your recipe looks spot on, and my lemon tree is looking mighty ripe. I might add some cinnamon to spice it up a little. Did you get much yeast flavour from the coopers?


----------



## shawnheiderich

Yes i am sure that I could tate the yeast flavour.....but I have an uneducated palete and could be mistaken. It tastes a lot like a wine with a lemon flavour with a slightly tarte aftertaste(with a yeaty note?) . I have been drinking it in a scotch glass with a few cubes of ice. What i have noticed though is some are more cabonated than others (PET 1.25) I think that the yeast may have given up the ghost before fully carbing some bottles. The ones I have tried have been light on the carb.. but not detracting from the taste. I have enjoyed the process of making it and we are enjoying the drinking of it which is I guess the whole point of getting into home brew.

Shawn


----------



## Fingerlickin_B

That looks the goods Shawn...thinking I too will steal your recipe!  

Might go for a more neutral yeast strain myself, but aside from that, will follow your directions to the letter :super: 

PZ.


----------



## brendanos

This is how mine turned out:

30 lemons (~5kg, whole)
4kg brown sugar
500ml honey
1 cinnamon stick
yeast nutrient
ale yeast
champagne yeast


Boiled the flesh of the lemons in about 20 litres of water for 45 minutes. Brown sugar added once boiling. Yeast nutrient added at 20 minutes (remaining). Cinnamon added at 10 minutes. Zest of 20 lemons added at 5-10mins. Honey added at 5 minutes.

Made up to 28L of 1.070 with preboiled water. I'd have gone thinner, but I was running out of space in the fermenter.

Originally was going to use wyeast 1007 (german ale) for the bulk of fermentation, but had trouble getting it started so added a generic ale sachet, which worked very slowly. Champagne yeast added after 5 days. Both were started in a light (1.030) dextrose/lemonade/wort starter.

I have also prepared a vodka extraction of the zest of 10 lemons, which will be strained and added to the brew before bottling.

Taste so far is promising, though the brown sugar has added a heap of colour, so it will definately be an odd looking lemonade. It should finish up pretty dry, so I plan to drink it sweetened over ice in when the weather warms up.


----------



## brendanos

Regardless of whether this is safe/sensible/a good idea, I am currently pasteurising all of my lemonade. It had reached sufficient carbonation, so instead of putting all 28L into the fridge, I thought I'd try my hand at killing off the yeast.

I bottled most of it in 2-2.4L plastic bottles, so I put them all in a big esky, and recirculated very hot water between my HLT and the esky until I'd reached a consistent temp around 65C. I left this for half an hour and am now chilling the whole lot in the same manner but with chilled water.

Does anyone want to comment on whether this was a bad idea/will turn my lemonade into vegemite/etc?


----------



## domonsura

I don;t want to comment, but I sure am interested in what happens.....


----------



## frasertag

I just made up the kit pictured earlyer in this post
Its the West kit, has the "lemon essence" everyone keeps downing...

I added to the 23L brew 6 fresh squeezed lemons, and used a microplane to zest the lemons. 
been a few weeks i tried one lastnight, I stored it in the freezer for alot longer then a beer to get it icy cold, not sure why it took so bloody long. but when it did finally get icy cold i sat down on the couch and cracked it open, perfectly fizzy, smelt like icy poles had no smell of yeast or alcho at all.
Poured out a glass and my wife was first to try she was impressed with the flavour, I then tried and it was like a schweeps lemonade very refreshing and no taste of alcohol at all.. This will be stored untill summer when i am working hard outside and need something to slam down fast!!

Impressed for a $10 kit...


----------



## damo1

Doc said:


> The ginger addition sounds good.
> How does yours turn out? Sweet ? How alcoholic?
> Does adding the peel make it a little tart?
> 
> Cheers,
> Doc


the peel isnt what makes the tartness it is the white bit inside the peel 
i would suggest just using the peel and strain before bottling/kegging it has more flavour then juice... just a shitload more work and alot of wastage


----------



## peas_and_corn

OK, this is something that I want to get into...

Now, lactose is good to add due to its not being fermented, but how much is the ideal amount? Have people experimented with how much they put in? 500g in a 22L batch seems to be the most common one, is this enough/too much?

Anyways here's a recipe I'm thinking of-

25-30 lemons (my other half's lemon tree gives relatively small lemons, so may need 30), juiced
zest of 5 lemons
2.5kg brown sugar
500g lactose
champagne yeast

Boil mixture for 5 minutes, make up to 22L

Sound good? is 5 lemons worth of zest not enough/too much?

Hmm... much to consider...


----------



## domonsura

damo1 said:


> the peel isnt what makes the tartness it is the white bit inside the peel
> i would suggest just using the peel and strain before bottling/kegging it has more flavour then juice... just a shitload more work and alot of wastage



I don't agree Damo (sorry mate :unsure: ) the peel _is _where you get the extra tartness to back up the lemon juice, the white (pith) is where the nasty bitterness comes from. That's why recipes (cookery and otherwise) generally advise care to make sure that you grind only zest and not pith, because it tastes bloody awful. (Many years in the kitchen.. I am the master of the lemon meringue pie  )

edit: stupid head. making double negatives....


----------



## Muggus

Interesting that this topic came up again after cracking a bottle of my 'Kumquat brew' on the weekend. 
I used around 700g of freshly picked kumquats, 1kg of raw sugar and 1kg of dextrose. Squeezed the juice from the fruit, and boiled it up with the skins and sugar, strained it all into a fermenter and filled it to 12L. Just used a left over kit yeast I had in the fridge, and the resulting drink is quite similiar to a very potent (9%+) sour/bitter cloudy lemonade.
Luckily a few months in the bottle has cleared it up a bit and taken the edge off the alcohol and sourness, and its quite drinkable. Bit like a sharp sparkling wine of sorts.


----------



## tangent

why are you adding lactose P&C?


----------



## peas_and_corn

tangent said:


> why are you adding lactose P&C?



To make it sweet- a couple of the recipes on this thread have it, generally 500g.


----------



## drsmurto

metabisulphite (sodium or potassium) should do the job. Campden tabs are just this. From memory tab per 30L. Never tried it tho but its what used to kill the wild yeasts in freshly squeezed/crushed apple juice.


----------



## tangent

potassium sorbate

P&C how sweet is a glass of milk?


----------



## enoch

peas_and_corn said:


> 25-30 lemons (my other half's lemon tree gives relatively small lemons, so may need 30), juiced
> zest of 5 lemons
> 2.5kg brown sugar
> 500g lactose
> champagne yeast
> Boil mixture for 5 minutes, make up to 22L


I do one for SWMO with
2-2.5kg lemons (and or limes) - half sliced, half juiced
Zest of some of the juiced ones
2-2.5kg of dextrose
1 tsp of yeast nutrient
Add enough water to safely boil.
Boil 10-20 min's

Strain into fermenter and make up to 19 litres.

Generic ale yeast.

Either let it ferment out or taste it and when it is about the right sweetness keg/chill it.

First batch AKA 1.5 dogs with all the lemons sliced was a bit too tangy (marmalade anyone?)
Second batch aka 1.9 dogs with half juiced and their pith disgarded much better.


----------



## domonsura

1.5/1.9 dogs? que?


----------



## tangent

hehehe
finally, an out of towner 

Mate, a while back a bloke called Duncan made alcoholic lemonade and sold it in kegs around Adelaide. It was a pretty big hit. We bought a keg of the stuff once and drank it until we almost drowned. The batch must have had about 2% alcohol. But generally it was pretty good stuff. Tatsed like lemons, not dishwashing liquid. He later sold it to the bigwigs who changed the recipe and fu<ked up the whole thing.
Anyway, it was called "Two Dogs" after the old joke about the Indian names.


----------



## enoch

domonsura said:


> 1.5/1.9 dogs? que?


When I get it right it will be two dogs...


----------



## chappo1970

Bumpy Poop!!!

GREAT TOPIC BTW! 

Doc how's the brew after 5 odd years? Are you game?

Ok I blame CM2 for my interest in this (cheers CM) but I am afraid it needs to be done. I have 2 trees, one lemon and one lime chok-a-block full of fruit with all the rain we have had, so I'm thinking a lemon/lime-ade.

Let's call it "Lemlimaide" kinda sounds chinese?

Worked up P&C's recipe. BTW how is it going P&C? Thanks for the inspiration.

Anywho here's a recipe I'm thinking of doing in the next week or two:

15-20 lemons juiced (these are bush lemons big on flavour, big on pith and as rough as my head)
15-20 limes juiced (smallish limes excellent taste I will have to sneak these past the resident gin drinker)
zest of 15 limes (Thought this would be an interesting twist, No?)
2.5kg brown sugar
500g Ironbark honey
500g lactose
champagne yeast

Boil 20lts say for 30mins

Add brown sugar 30 mins
Add lactose 15 mins
Add zest 5 mins
Add honey 5 mins

Any thoughts would be appreciated!


----------



## brettprevans

I cant find my reciepe anymore  it was based on GMK's GMKaide (*cough* gateraide rip off *cough*)  His recipe is back on page 2 of this thread

Chappo - make sure you get the zest from the leomns as well. The pith though will make it bitter. dont get that in there.


----------



## chappo1970

citymorgue2 said:


> I cant find my reciepe anymore  it was based on GMK's GMKaide (*cough* gateraide rip off *cough*)  His recipe is back on page 2 of this thread
> 
> Chappo - make sure you get the zest from the leomns as well. The pith though will make it bitter. dont get that in there.



Roger that CM2 - I really don't want it to tart.

The flavour I am shooting for (mind you completely blind folded BTW) is the tart of lemons mellowed by the subtlity of limes (less harsh) and a pleasing sweetness with a dry finish.

Actually just had a thought what about this:

15-20 lemons juiced (these are bush lemons big on flavour, big on pith and as rough as my head)
15-20 limes juiced (smallish limes excellent taste I will have to sneak these past the resident gin drinker)
zest of 5 lemons? maybe more
zest of 15 limes (Thought this would be an interesting twist, No?)
2.5kg brown sugar
500g Ironbark honey
500g lactose
2 sticks cinnamon
champagne yeast

Boil 20lts say for 30mins

Add brown sugar 30 mins
Add lactose 15 mins
Add cinnamon
Add zest 5 mins
Add honey 5 mins

I add cinnamon to my ginger beer and it makes a huge difference to it, makes it more mellow and earthy?


----------



## InCider

I love that champagne yeast - it's makes it as dry as the Todd River and very crisp.

Chappo, I'll be down to test this with some cigars. Because nothing goes better than Lemlimade & Cohibas! :lol: 

InCider.


----------



## chappo1970

InCider said:


> I love that champagne yeast - it's makes it as dry as the Todd River and very crisp.
> 
> Chappo, I'll be down to test this with some cigars. Because nothing goes better than Lemlimade & Cohibas! :lol:
> 
> InCider.



Anytime "N#gga", what's mine is yours you know that! But keep your hands off my sheep, damn thing had to be sedated after your last visit... don't care to know what you did? :lol:


----------



## brettprevans

Chappo said:


> 15-20 lemons juiced (these are bush lemons big on flavour, big on pith and as rough as my head)
> 15-20 limes juiced (smallish limes excellent taste I will have to sneak these past the resident gin drinker)
> zest of 5 lemons? maybe more
> zest of 15 limes (Thought this would be an interesting twist, No?)
> 2.5kg brown sugar
> 500g Ironbark honey
> 500g lactose
> 2 sticks cinnamon
> champagne yeast



I'd personally go for more lemons than limes.
zest from all the lemons.
definitely the cinamon. yum.

champaigen yeast will dry it out a lot. you can get cider yeasts that wont finish as dry. up to you for what you aiming for, the lactose will help keep/provide someof the sweetness. 

also the pith wont make it tart, it will make it bitter. really yuk. spoils it. also if it finishes too dry or not sweet enough you can always mix a little something in there to sweeten it up.


----------



## chappo1970

Cheers CM2 I agree the champagne yeast will make it too dry which is not what I am after.

Ok so it's starting to look like this then:

20-30 lemons juiced (these are bush lemons big on flavour, big on pith and as rough as my head)
10-15 limes juiced (smallish limes excellent taste I will have to sneak these past the resident gin drinker)
zest of 15 lemons? maybe more
zest of 10 limes (Thought this would be an interesting twist, No?)
2.5kg brown sugar
500g Ironbark honey
500g lactose
2 sticks cinnamon
cider yeast

Boil 20lts say for 30mins

Add brown sugar 30 mins
Add lactose 15 mins
Add cinnamon
Add zest 5 mins
Add honey 5 mins

Any ideas on neutrients? And if I should use them?


----------



## brettprevans

wouldnt hurt. But I havent ever used them. I'd day at the beginning and at a couple days. depending on alc % maybe towards the end. sorry cant be much help here.

but hurry and make it so I can learn from your mistakes


----------



## chappo1970

citymorgue2 said:


> but hurry and make it so I can learn from your mistakes


 :lol: 

Yep this new yeastie neutrients stuff has me a little baffled but a bit of surfing should solve that!  

BTW I'm going to have a crack at this on the weekend. Tree's are full of fruit and I figure it's simple enough recipe plus a good way to shake down my new kettle etc. I am furiously trying to get my Brewery together so I can get my first AG under my belt in the next few weekends.

If it turns out I will definitely let you know.


----------



## Doc

Seeing this thread alive again reminds me I should get under the house and dig out a bottle from the 2003 experiment 

Doc


----------



## pmolou

havent read it all but looks interesting... This is what smirnoff are doing now isnt it to avoid the tax laws or whatever... might give this a try would be interesting to see if i can make my own binge drink haha


----------



## chappo1970

Doc said:


> Seeing this thread alive again reminds me I should get under the house and dig out a bottle from the 2003 experiment
> 
> Doc



And post a sample to me Doc? I'm game!  

Actually this is going to be my next diversion brew. I did a ginger beer from scratch this weekend and it turned out pretty good IMO. So maybe in the next week or two I will give this a run! 

Hey Doc I would be interested to know how it is now so 6 years down the track...


----------



## chappo1970

WooHoo!

Well finally been able to get the lemon and lime crop off the trees. So fingers cross I will be doing a version of this on Monday. Been plotting and planning this one so I am hoping the waits gunna be worth it.
Final Recipe looks like this:

30 lemons juiced
15 limes juiced 
zest of 10 lemons
zest of 5 limes
2kg brown sugar
1kg Ironbark honey
500g lactose
2 sticks cinnamon
Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead

Boil 21lts say for 30mins

Add brown sugar 30 mins
Add lactose 15 mins
Add cinnamon
Add zest 5 mins
Add honey 5 mins


Cheers Chappo


----------



## Supra-Jim

Recipe looks quite nice there Chappo. Keep us posted on the result.

:icon_cheers: SJ


----------



## peas_and_corn

tangent said:


> hehehe
> finally, an out of towner
> 
> Mate, a while back a bloke called Duncan made alcoholic lemonade and sold it in kegs around Adelaide. It was a pretty big hit. We bought a keg of the stuff once and drank it until we almost drowned. The batch must have had about 2% alcohol. But generally it was pretty good stuff. Tatsed like lemons, not dishwashing liquid. He later sold it to the bigwigs who changed the recipe and fu<ked up the whole thing.
> Anyway, it was called "Two Dogs" after the old joke about the Indian names.



Well there you go! I remember that drink, my sister was just nuts about it. I didn't see what the fuss was all about.




Chappo said:


> Worked up P&C's recipe. BTW how is it going P&C? Thanks for the inspiration.



I've been meaning to get around to that- could you let me know how it goes? I haven't made it yet, whenever my source of lemons is good my fermenters are all full.


----------



## chappo1970

peas_and_corn said:


> Well there you go! I remember that drink, my sister was just nuts about it. I didn't see what the fuss was all about.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've been meaning to get around to that- could you let me know how it goes? I haven't made it yet, whenever my source of lemons is good my fermenters are all full.




Sure will P&C.

Just spent 3hrs juicing all these bloody lemons... Phew now for the limes <_< 
Sooooo much fun making stuff from scratch huh? Kitchen is a mess.... hmm maybe blame the kids?


----------



## manticle

DrSmurto said:


> metabisulphite (sodium or potassium) should do the job. Campden tabs are just this. From memory tab per 30L. Never tried it tho but its what used to kill the wild yeasts in freshly squeezed/crushed apple juice.



Sulphites have no place near apples in my opinion. I'm far from expert I'll grant but the couple of times I've tried has been like Mr Giant Apple Farmer held me down and made me play dutch ovens inside a bottle of fizzy drink.

I use sodium met to sanitise but I will never again allow it unrinsed near a brew.


----------



## Verbyla

Hey chappo.

If your going to be using 2kg of brown sugar and 1kg of honey its going to be a pretty strong drink once its fermented don't you think?

OR 

Do you reckon the strong lemon taste will compensate for this?

Just wonder what your reason behind choosing those qualities of fermentables was.


----------



## mika

manticle said:


> ......I use sodium met to sanitise......



I wouldn't even use it to do that <_<


----------



## mfeighan

i personally wouldnt boil the lemon juice as the flavor changes with a boil. sad thing is if your anal about infection from unboiled stuff you are a little screwed. 
Haven't tried it with lemonade but the family recipe of ginger beer (thanks grandma) uses fresh unboiled lemons with boiled lemon zest.

Unboiled lemon juice, my 2c


----------



## chappo1970

Verbyla said:


> Hey chappo.
> 
> If your going to be using 2kg of brown sugar and 1kg of honey its going to be a pretty strong drink once its fermented don't you think?
> 
> OR
> 
> Do you reckon the strong lemon taste will compensate for this?
> 
> Just wonder what your reason behind choosing those qualities of fermentables was.



Ok brown sugar and honey will give it a more mellow flavour (or so I have found in my ginger beers)and yes the ABV will be highish. I don't know if you've boiled fresh lemon or used it in cooking but once boiled it goes intensly bitter so the sweet mead yeast should balance sweetness with bitterness from the lemon juice, well that's the plan unchartered water ATM. Think of it like a bittering hop addition.

The zest addition is where the lemon/lime flavouring will come from not the juice. I don't if anyone has blanched lemon zest and tried the result? But that's what I am aiming for in the result (crossed fingers)


----------



## manticle

mika said:


> I wouldn't even use it to do that <_<



Works fine for my small set-up.

If I had had numerous pipes and valves and bits and bobs I'd probably look elsewhere but for bottles, stock pots and 3 plastuic fermenters it does the trick.


----------



## Verbyla

Finally got my lemonade down last night after wanting to do it since April. 

Took a hell of a lot longer than what the beers and ciders do but hopefully its gonna be worth it!

Here's the recipe and the predicted brewing schedule.
30 Lemons juiced
10 Limes juiced 
Zest of 20 Lemons
Zest of 10 Limes
1kg Dark Brown Sugar
1kg Ironbark Honey
500g LME
300g Lactose
2 Sticks of Cinnamon
3 Cloves
1 Tea Spoon of Nutmeg
1 Tea Spoon of Yeast Nutrient
Nottingham Yeast Starter 

Boil Cinnamon for 40 minutes
Add Brown at 30 minutes left
Add LME at 30 minutes left
Add Lactose at 30 minutes left
Add Zest at 25 at minutes left
Add Clove at 25 minutes left
Add Honey at lower than 70C

Add the entire boil to the fermenter and then top up to the 21L mark. 

Add the yeast nutrient to juice and add to the fermenter

Fermented at 20C for 2 weeks
Room Temperature for 1 week
Rack to Secondary and Cold Crash for 2 weeks

Zest and Cloves in hops bag will be removed after 2 weeks

Bulk Prime with Ironbark Honey

SG Roughly 1.054 
FG at 1.0??


----------



## yyeessno

This afternoon I was making a small batch of mead, and my mate came round to help, and brought box of lemons from his tree for me. While I was in a brewing mood I whipped up the following:

(more a lemon wine than a beer)

Made a yeast culture with 5g VIN13 White Wine yeast, about a tbs of white sugar and some blood temperature water.

Zested 7 lemons and juiced them plus a few more.

I added the zest to a fermenter and put 3l of boiling water over the top. I let this sit for a minute and then added the juice, 500g powdered corn syrup, 500g dextrose and 500g white table sugar.

I dissolved all of this, topped up to 5l and chilled it down until it was nearly cool. Pitched my yeast culture which was, by now, bubbling strong.

I will wait and see what happens. I presume that the yeast will conk out before it gets dry but this is not the end of the world. Next time, I may try some champagne yeast that can deal with the high alcohol. This one is quite neutral.

Once ferment has been going strong for a few days I will strain this into a demijohn, by then the foaming (if any) will have subsided and it will bubble away ok in there. It is quite cold at the moment so I may do some insulating.


----------



## JonnyAnchovy

:icon_offtopic: a six year old thread? - what an effort AHB!


----------



## enoch

JonnyAnchovy said:


> :icon_offtopic: a six year old thread? - what an effort AHB!


Well it goes further than that. I found the original post I used for my two dogs clone on HBD in 1997.



> Date: Mon, 07 Jul 1997 13:00:46 +1100
> From: Brad McMahon <brad at sa.apana.org.au>
> Subject: Alcoholic lemonade recipes
> 
> OK, by popular request here are two recipes that
> emulate Two Dogs lemonade. Enjoy.
> 
> Three Dogs Alcoholic Lemonade
> 
> thanks to Nirvana Farm, Longwood Rd, Heathfield, South Australia.
> And to the Hills Homebrew Centre, 2/312 Mt Barker Road, Aldgate SA.
> 
> 
> Ingredients
> 1kg rough lemons
> 2kg Meyer lemons
> 2kg Dextrose
> 1 sachet ale dry yeast
> 
> Method.
> 
> 1. Grate the zest(rind) off of a few of the lemons. Do not grate the
> white pith.
> 2. Chop up all the lemons into chunks.
> 3. Cover the lemons and zest with dextrose and a few litres of water.
> 4. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
> 5. Dilute out to 20 litres in your fermenter, and pitch yeast at below
> 30C
> 6. Ferment out at 20-25C for 7-10 days or until fermentation is
> complete.
> 7. Bottle and prime as for beer. Wait 14 days for carbonation and enjoy.
> 
> Note:
> Meyer lemons are sweeter lemons. Use them if available but 3kg
> of whatever lemons you can find will work just as nicely.
> Don't worry, relax and enjoy a Three Dogs!



The other was a K&K job which I didn't go near.


----------



## zephon

Chappo said:


> WooHoo!
> 
> Well finally been able to get the lemon and lime crop off the trees. So fingers cross I will be doing a version of this on Monday. Been plotting and planning this one so I am hoping the waits gunna be worth it.
> Final Recipe looks like this:
> 
> ...
> 
> Cheers Chappo



How did this one turn out Chappo? I have a tree full of lemons that are just waiting to be fermented by Christmas and this recipe looks pretty tasty on paper.


----------



## tez

Yeah chappo!
How did it turn out???

I just read 5 years worth of posts in hope to eventually get the holy grail of lemonade recipes... and... nothing!
A shitload of dodgy or "should be good" recipes.... wheres the perfect recipe???? WHERE???? 

lol i also have a tree full of lemons and i would love this for chrissy... Cmon fellas someone must of perfected this


----------



## Bumpoh

indeed very interested in how some of these turned out!

been working things out in my head a little bit over the last couple of weeks (looking at my very full lemon tree) and started taking what looks like the best part of everyones recipes...
started assembling ingredients yesterday, hoping to get it done either this weekend or sometime next week.

Rough thinking at the moment is something along the lines of

A bucketload of Meyer lemons... probably around 25 but maybe a few more as they are a little bit smaller than eureka lemons or something. (and will definitely avoid the pith, seems to be some consensus that its baaaaad)
4 kilos of raw sugar. plans are for this to be a summer festival drink, so want that extra kick ;-)
yeast and yeast nutrient (probably the vintners harvest SN9
500g lactose
ginger not sure how much yet.

any extras that i have lying around at home in the way of golden syrup/honey nutmeg cloves and anything that looks interesting (maybe some frozen raspberries?)

questions still to be answered before it goes down.
how much does boiling the juice change the flavour? how time sensitive is that heat change? and will simmering avoid it? probably have to determine it by trying it in different fashions. hmmm.
and how much difference would changing to a sweet mead yeast make to the eventuall sweetness?


----------



## Bumpoh

Bumpoh said:


> indeed very interested in how some of these turned out!
> 
> 
> Rough thinking at the moment is something along the lines of
> 
> A bucketload of Meyer lemons... probably around 25 but maybe a few more as they are a little bit smaller than eureka lemons or something. (and will definitely avoid the pith, seems to be some consensus that its baaaaad)
> 4 kilos of raw sugar. plans are for this to be a summer festival drink, so want that extra kick ;-)
> yeast and yeast nutrient (probably the vintners harvest SN9
> 500g lactose
> ginger not sure how much yet.
> 
> any extras that i have lying around at home in the way of golden syrup/honey nutmeg cloves and anything that looks interesting (maybe some frozen raspberries?)



got this down earlier today as part of a bigish brewday for me 

almost exactly as planned

did a 30 min boil for the sugar and 3 litres of water.
added lactose, about 50g of grated ginger and lemon zest ofr about 15 lemons at 15 mins
combined with lemon juice from 25-30 lemons + yeast nutrient in fermentor and filled to 22 litres
temperature ended up at about 33 degrees and i was having trouble cooling it down to pitch the yeast so i chucked in about 1.5 kilo of frozen raspberries, cooled it down enough to pitch vintners harvest sn9 yeast.
standard gravity was around 1073 (if that sounds right? only just got a hydrometer test jar so is my second time attempting to take readings)

is getting darker and darker from the raspberries, and is bubbling away merrily.

currently having some debate about wether to seconday ferment to get off the raspberries and ginger and everything. 
and also didnt really taste lemony enough from the sample i tried, so thinking about priming with lemon cordial, and maybe adding some if i end up doing a secondary ferment. 

excited about this one


----------



## Dazza88

OG of 1073? That is going to be a pretty high alcohol content when it has finished fermenting. Could be up to 9% depending on final gravity reading. Most/all of the sugars (including sweetness from fruit) will be fermented except the lactose. 

I made a raspberry lemonade. It is OK but better when i put a dash of raspberry cordial in with the glass of lemonade i am pouring. That might be cheating somewhat. If you put the lemon cordial in the fermenter, the sugars in it will probably be fermented also. Priming i suppose you would need to drink it before it fully fermented out.


----------



## Bumpoh

DazDog said:


> OG of 1073? That is going to be a pretty high alcohol content when it has finished fermenting. Could be up to 9% depending on final gravity reading. Most/all of the sugars (including sweetness from fruit) will be fermented except the lactose.
> 
> I made a raspberry lemonade. It is OK but better when i put a dash of raspberry cordial in with the glass of lemonade i am pouring. That might be cheating somewhat. If you put the lemon cordial in the fermenter, the sugars in it will probably be fermented also. Priming i suppose you would need to drink it before it fully fermented out.



yeah i think 1073 was right, still not 100%. the rough maths i did before the brew had it coming to about 10-11% alcohol or something depending on how much sugar comes out of the fruit.
just transferred this to another fermentor to get all the muck out of it, and am about to bottle it. had about 3-4 weeks in the primary (didnt really end up racking to a secondary, except for about half an hour today) 
had a little taste, the raspberries came through much more than i would have expected, thinking i should have probably removed them after a week, but i kept getting distracted by other things :-s
its quite acidic, but not really bitter or anything, so think the lactose sweetened it enough for that at least.

think will probably be delicious cold with soda water and a squeeze of lime... shall see.
will try and update with final gravity readings in a bit, and tasting notes in a couple of weeks (if i can wait that long ;-))

will do another gravity reading when i bottle in a sec, and try to put ta


----------



## goatus

DazDog said:


> OG of 1073? That is going to be a pretty high alcohol content when it has finished fermenting. Could be up to 9% depending on final gravity reading. Most/all of the sugars (including sweetness from fruit) will be fermented except the lactose.
> 
> I made a raspberry lemonade. It is OK but better when i put a dash of raspberry cordial in with the glass of lemonade i am pouring. That might be cheating somewhat. If you put the lemon cordial in the fermenter, the sugars in it will probably be fermented also. Priming i suppose you would need to drink it before it fully fermented out.



If you were kegging this is there something you could put in the brew that would kill off all the left over yeast after primary, so they wouldnt ferment your cordial sugars? Then you could just add cordial to your keg and force carbonate? Or would that destroy the brew?


----------



## Bumpoh

so final gravity was dead on 1.000
so if ive got my sums right, then its about 9.6 % alcohol (assuming a starting point of 1073, which i think is right)


anyone got any advice to give about pectin? i.e what it does and would it help next time i did something with raspberries or other fruit like that?
just i saw this kilo pack of CSR jam setting sugar at the supermarket today and was wondering if i could use a kilo of that next time to do something fancy with a fruit alcohol


----------



## Hefty

I'm going to revive this thread yet again as I have a tree full of bush lemons nearly groaning under the weight of fruit on it.
I know I'll get a great flavour out of the zest as even more than most other other species, bush lemon zest is thick and strong (like Matt Preston  )
The flesh of the fruit is considerably sweeter than others but then I assume this will ferment out dry.
So my question is how much lactose or are their other appropriate (read: reasonably natural tasting) sweeteners I could use?
The consensus seems to be 500g in a 20L batch but most people who have posted recipes say "I'll report back on taste when it's done" and then don't report back.
I'm looking for something between your normal soft drink lemonade and an "old traditional" lemonade because I want it fairly sweet and "neutral" (IE not too many funky flavours/aromas) for the missus but I realise I won't get crystal clear sugar water from a homebrewed lemonade.

This is the recipe I'm looking at (it's the one from the liqourcraft website but I'm still not sure about whether this is enough lactose to resemble a normal soft drink lemonade) :
2kg dextrose *
500g lactose *
12-24 lemons, sliced or chopped fine including peel
up to 50g crushed or grated fresh ginger (optional)
5g yeast nutrient *
1 sachet SAFale yeast *
Water to make up 22 litres of wort *

Any advice or overdue reports from past lemonade brewers?

HABAHAGD! :icon_cheers: 
Jono.


----------



## Aus_Rider_22

I found that same recipe a couple weeks ago when I thought about hard lemonade. I wouldnt mind trying it after the current brews are drunk and a spare keg pops up.

Probably aim for 5% and flavour with something for a UDL/Cruiser style drink.


----------



## smilinggilroy

Hi, just about to bottle my first "lemonade". I added limes as well but next time I will cut this amount down by at least half as the lime taste was a little strong. There is no strong bitterness, just a nice overtone. If you wish to play around with this feel free. This will be finishing dry. I used the SN9 yeast to ferment at low temperatures to stop the citrus juice flavor from changing. Can't answer your question about lactose/sweetness, as I prefer it dry. Whatever you do,DON'T use the pith of the citrus as the flavor from it is quite harsh and not a pleasant bitterness at all. So far the samples have been good, can't wait to bottle condition to taste the end product. PM if you need anything further.

Cheers

HARD "LEMON-LIME ADE"

The Recipe:
Brewers Sugar 1kg 
Dextrose 1.3kg
White Sugar 700g
Raw Sugar 500g 
TOTAL SUGARS 3.5KG

Fresh squeezed lemon juice 3lt
Zest from all lemons used..(approx 50+ largish lemons)
Fresh squeezed lime juice 1.25lt
Zest from all limes used..(approx 22+ Tahitian limes)
Cinnamon sticks x 2
Filtered water to make up to 22 litres

METHOD:

Peel the zest from fruit (I used a good veggie peeler) and place into a large bowl lined with cheese cloth with enough overhang to tie up into a bag later. (Best done in batches). When finished add the cinnamon sticks and tie up bag. Ensure the contents of bag are loose enough for a bit of movement, for infusion purposes.

Extract juice using a citrus juicer. DON'T use an all purpose vegetable juicer (the result tastes crap).
Discard carcasses and ALL seeds. (Retain pulp, its good).
To a suitable boiler, bring to boil approx. 6 litres of water. When hot enough sir in sugars until dissolved.
As liquid comes to boil, place in bag and return liquid to a rolling boil.
Boil for 10 min.
Cool pot in water bath to desired temperature.
Remove bag and let it drain over the pot for a bit and then place it in a sanitized bowl (this will go into the fermenter later after volumes are reached).
Pour liquid into fermenter and add some filtered water, then add juices, then top up to 22 litres.
Sparge and stir etc.
Place in zest bag and residual juices from the bowl.

YEAST:
SN9
P.S. Also used a dried yeast nutrient as per instructions
S.G 1056 @19deg.C
TRY TO FERMENT AT 14-18 DEGREES


----------



## blekk

^^ Hows it looking??


----------



## smilinggilroy

blair said:


> ^^ Hows it looking??



Hi All,
Bottled on Sunday(18/7). So far it's looking good, had a FG of 1004 @ 18deg.
Bulked primed 20.6lt. with 140g dex for light carbonation.
Will definitely back off on the lime zest next time as it is a bit "perfumy" to the nose.
The lime does cut the harshness of the lemon and gives a sweetening effect.
Hope this helps,
Keep you posted as I start to taste/consume the brew.


----------



## Housecat

Bumpity bump bump

Looks like this thread doesn't want to die!!!

Now on to my question, Smilinggilroy, how did it turn out? have you tried it yet?


hc


----------



## jonocarroll

I've been tempted to get a lemonade going for some time now, but hadn't heard of enough success in a single recipe (and I'd tried some not-so-great efforts). Last week I decided to bite the bullet, grab the bull by the horns, and wuss out... I have now made an awesome _soft_ lemonade.

- 1 large bag of big lemons (from a neighbour... a bulk potato bag I think)
- 3-4 limes
- 2 cups dextrose
- 1kg white sugar
- water to taste

Zested 6 large lemons with a parmesan grater (only getting the bright yellow bits) and a couple of the limes, rolled the fruits on the bench to loosen them up then juiced the lot and poured through a colander. Poured boiling water over the zest and pulp through the colander then added 1L of boiling water, the sugaz, and brought to the boil on the stove. Cooled, then added to a keg via a sieve with a sufficient amount of water (roughly 14-16L), force-carbed and chilled.

I had been hoping it would be something like the American-style traditional lemonade I found all over the USA, and I'm happy to say it is dead on target. Big lemon tang, not too sweet. Summer, here I come.

Why a soft lemonade you ask? Apart from already having plenty of good beers on tap, I now have a drink that the tee-totaling SWMBO will gladly drink. One glass and I got approval for purchasing another 4 kegs. WIN! I reckon I'm going to keep making this so long as I can find the lemons.


----------



## AndrewQLD

QuantumBrewer said:


> - 1 large bag of big lemons (from a neighbour... a bulk potato bag I think)
> - 3-4 limes
> - 2 cups dextrose
> - 1kg white sugar
> - water to taste



Any idea how many kilos of lemons that was QB?


----------



## jonocarroll

AndrewQLD said:


> Any idea how many kilos of lemons that was QB?


None whatsoever. Sorry. I was rushed to get it going as it was, so I decided I would use however many I had. I'm fairly sure it was a plastic potato bag (supermarket 5-or-however-big kilo bags) full of large lemons. Somewhere in the vicinity of 20 lemons perhaps. The exact proportions will of course depend on many factors, such as the size/age/sweetness/sourness of your lemons, ability to juice them, phase of the moon, etc.


----------



## smilinggilroy

Housecat said:


> Bumpity bump bump
> 
> Looks like this thread doesn't want to die!!!
> 
> Now on to my question, Smilinggilroy, how did it turn out? have you tried it yet?
> 
> 
> hc



Hi Housecat,
Sorry I didn't reply to this sooner.....only just found it.
Haven't made any comments on this brew so far as the initial tries have been somewhat disappointing.
So far the brew has a bitter twang to it which is not to my liking at all. 
Has turned out dry, which is not a problem. 
I am hoping that time may mellow this out and will make further and final judgments then.
Cheers


----------



## smilinggilroy

Just read over recipe after the last post...........
AN IDEA...
Maybe use more lemons
Longer boil, (20 min. plus)
DO NOT add zest to fermenter
Different yeast
Hmmm thinking, thinking..


----------



## Housecat

No probs sg,

I decided to go on my own and try the "Three Dogs" that is on page 7. looks good so far and is bubbling away like mad. Preliminary tasting has good results so far however, it has a subtle gatorade type after taste. 


I am a bit unsure of how alcoholic it will be though. i measured a SG of 1.036 but there was some pulp in there too

I used the Safale-05 US too


edit for yeast


----------



## furby83

sorry for dredging up an old thread.

on average how much lemon juice do you get from 1 lemon OR how much juice is used.


EDIT:
is preservative 223 bad?


----------



## felten

a quick google says 223 is sodium metabisulphite, its probably not too good if you want to ferment something with it


----------



## furby83

felten said:


> a quick google says 223 is sodium metabisulphite, its probably not too good if you want to ferment something with it




the word I'm looking for is BUGGER.

i bought some Coles lemon juice hoping to use that because lemons are expensive at the moment. ($6/kg).


is there anyway the remove/neutralize it?

what is the average juice that you get from a lemon? OR how much juice does 20 - 30 lemons produce?


----------



## Housecat

furby83 said:


> the word I'm looking for is BUGGER.
> 
> i bought some Coles lemon juice hoping to use that because lemons are expensive at the moment. ($6/kg).
> 
> 
> is there anyway the remove/neutralize it?
> 
> what is the average juice that you get from a lemon? OR how much juice does 20 - 30 lemons produce?



I got about 2 litres of juice and pulp from about 15 cricket ball (or bigger) sized lemons. 

******************************************

Back to me and my hard lemonade, (Two Dogs Emulation with US-05 yeast. look back to page 7 about 2/3's down page7)

I have just started to drink it and it tastes quite good, its a little bit more bitter than you'd expect but after two or three mouthfuls it tastes even better. Only thing I'd change is to use 1kg of raw sugar and 1 kg of Dex to help make it a bit sweeter.

I usually rate my beers on if my wife drinks it. She did and went back for seconds!! I call this recipe a success!


----------



## enuun

I jus bottled 2 x 2l bottles
used 1 x frozen minute maid limade + 1 whole lemon rind juice and all + 1 1/2 cup of sugar + 8 carb drops (4 each bottle) and wine yeast
I have done countless batches of simple apple cider and lambrusco styled wine using roughly the above formula and the yeast I have cleaned everything up nicely at 20 degrees for 5 days.
CC in fridge for another 3 to smooth things out.
Will report back with taste in a week or so

enuun


----------



## String

> Back to me and my hard lemonade, (Two Dogs Emulation with US-05 yeast. look back to page 7 about 2/3's down page7)
> 
> I have just started to drink it and it tastes quite good, its a little bit more bitter than you'd expect but after two or three mouthfuls it tastes even better. Only thing I'd change is to use 1kg of raw sugar and 1 kg of Dex to help make it a bit sweeter.
> 
> I usually rate my beers on if my wife drinks it. She did and went back for seconds!! I call this recipe a success!



I am red hot keen to give this a go, I loved Two Dogs back when it was on tap around Adelaide in the Mid 90's!

Dumb question, did you strain the mix after boiling it up, or did you put the pulp and all into the fermenter?


----------



## Housecat

Hi String,

I can't really remember what I did with the pulp. I boiled it in a hop sock and gave it a bit of a squeeze and think I might have just thrown it all in to the FV.
I am looking forward to remaking this again but the main change I'd make is an addition of more lemon juice just before I kegged it.

Hope this helps

HC


----------



## String

Ok, so I spent a couple of hours putting this down last night and this morning.
I needed about 24 lemons to make it up to 3kg.
Grated the zest off most of them, chopped them into slices so I could get the seeds out without losing juice.
I noticed that during the boil the lemon began to come apart, so next time I will chop them into smaller pieces to help that along.
By the time the boil finished it was 11:30 so I left it in the pot with the lid on, glad wrapped up and no chilled it until this morning.
1kg of Dextrose and 1 kg of normal sugar, and all the pulp into the fermenter, made up to 21 litres. Thinking back to the Two Dogs days in the 90's, it did have pulp in the glass when you drank it.
A sample just before I pitched the yeast tastes ok, but I remember the original drink being cloudy, like Coopers Pale ale, and mine is still a little yellow and thin. I'm hoping it bulks out in the fermenter.
Was it worth checking an OG for lemonade? If only to try and guage a strength of the lemon juice for consistancy with future brews.


----------



## String

Just Kegged this today.
A taste of it warm from the fermenter gave a good smooth lemon tang, but with a strong hit of alcohol. I'm hoping that fades away once chilled down and carbonated.
FG was 1.006, no idea what it started at, but the table in my hydrometer says that 2 kg of sugar in 21 litres gives around 5%, assuming there was no sugar in the lemon juice and pulp.
The colour has changed perfectly, it's now a nice cloudy grey, just as I remember the original.


----------



## String

String said:


> Just Kegged this today.
> A taste of it warm from the fermenter gave a good smooth lemon tang, but with a strong hit of alcohol. I'm hoping that fades away once chilled down and carbonated.



Well I'm 5 pints into this and loving it!
The alcohol hit has faded right away, it's carbonated at 150Kpa at 2 degrees, and has a great fizz.
The lemon taste is strong on the first sip, but fades away after you swallow.
It's definately at least 5%, cause I've got a real spin going!

The only improvement I could think of would be to find out how to make the lemon taste last a bit longer, would raising the temperature do that?

Cheers to Housecat for the advice, and to Enoch for the original receipe!


----------



## bonj

Well done string... I have been following this thread for a couple of years and what you have done here is given us some sorely needed feedback, which has been lacking. Your version sounds pretty good to me. I may have to try a small batch.


----------



## kenwood

Just tried this recepie:

70g ginger
21 lemons
255g lactose
2kg dextrose
6g yeast nutrient salts 
Original sg 1040
1pk SAFale yeast 04 (blue packet)
Method:
Heat 5 litres of water then add dextrose, lactose, lemons & ginger & simmer for 20 minutes.

Sterilize your fermenter according to directions on the sterilizing compound.

Add about 12 litres of cold water into your fermenter. Pour the hot mixture through a straining bag (available at homebrew suppliers) into the fermenter.

Top up with cold water to the 22 litre mark add the yeast nutrient & stir well.

Make sure the temperature is 30C or less & add the yeast, fit a fermentation lock in the lid of the fermenter & half fill it with water.

I got the recipe from http://liquorcraft.com.au/wa.asp?idWebPage...p;idDetails=105 but modified the ingredients slightly. 

Tasted before I added the yeast and had a nice lemon taste but not to much. Should taste nice when done


----------



## String

Does the addition of Lactose make it sweeter?
I remember reading somewhere that yeast doesn't eat Lactose?


----------



## HeavyNova

String said:


> Does the addition of Lactose make it sweeter?
> I remember reading somewhere that yeast doesn't eat Lactose?


You're correct. Lactose is milk sugar and the yeasties don't eat it, giving you a residual sweetness and body that's left in the final product.


----------



## kenwood

yes HeavyNova is right. The Lactose makes it sweeter. I only used 250g instead of 500g to make it a bit dryer.


----------



## kenwood

OK. Just checked the SG after two weeks of fermenting and it was 1.002.
Tasted it after checking the SG and wow was it bitter!! Had lost allot of the lemon taste it had at the start aswell.
Will the bitterness settle after a few weeks/months in the bottle?


----------



## Tanga

kenwood said:


> OK. Just checked the SG after two weeks of fermenting and it was 1.002.
> Tasted it after checking the SG and wow was it bitter!! Had lost allot of the lemon taste it had at the start aswell.
> Will the bitterness settle after a few weeks/months in the bottle?



Wish I'd seen your plan earlier. No. The bitterness is from the pith and it's there to stay. Hence why people only use the juice and zest. I tried the same recipe and I kept it ages. Still ended up as lawn food.


----------



## kenwood

Tanga said:


> Wish I'd seen your plan earlier. No. The bitterness is from the pith and it's there to stay. Hence why people only use the juice and zest. I tried the same recipe and I kept it ages. Still ended up as lawn food.



dam. I thought following a recipe from a brew site would work.


----------



## String

I didn't use any pith in mine, took ages to chop the lemons up.

Recent tasting from others who enjoyed the Dogs back in the day, reckon I'm missing a little bit of sweetness in mine.
I'm not sure whether just using straight sugar instead of the half dextrose/half sugar aditions would make it any sweeter, or if it would just make it fruitier.
My current batch is nearly gone, the next one will be either straight sugar or suger/dex with a little bit of lactose, becasue I like it the way it is.


----------



## kenwood

Did you try adding lime to turn it into lemon lime bitters??


----------



## String

Next batch is in.
This version used 2 kg of white sugar, instead of the 1kg of dextrose/1kg of white sugar.
I also weighed the amount of pulp and juice in the pot this time, to try and get some consistency with the strength of the lemon taste.
So I used 2.5kg of juice and pulp in this batch, and the lemon flavour doesn't seem as strong as the last batch.
There is a little bit of extra sweetness, but my wife still thinks it needs to be sweeter, or I need to somehow reduce the bitterness without reducing the lemon flavour.
I'm not sure how to do that, so I might adjust the amount of lemon pulp for the next batch, and keep the 2kg of white sugar as sweetner.


----------



## Ryan WABC

Could you possibly use a yeast with a lower attenuation, like a wheat yeast, to get a sweeter beer? Just a thought.


----------



## [email protected]

String said:


> Next batch is in.
> This version used 2 kg of white sugar, instead of the 1kg of dextrose/1kg of white sugar.
> I also weighed the amount of pulp and juice in the pot this time, to try and get some consistency with the strength of the lemon taste.
> So I used 2.5kg of juice and pulp in this batch, and the lemon flavour doesn't seem as strong as the last batch.
> There is a little bit of extra sweetness, but my wife still thinks it needs to be sweeter, or I need to somehow reduce the bitterness without reducing the lemon flavour.
> I'm not sure how to do that, so I might adjust the amount of lemon pulp for the next batch, and keep the 2kg of white sugar as sweetner.




String - your the man - wel done mate

Can you do us a favour and post your recipe again? I note you have changed it a bit over time and my internet connection is playing up so I cant search back too well.

Cheers


----------



## String

I'm using the recipe that Enoch posted back on page 7, http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=504069

Ingredients
1kg rough lemons
2kg Meyer lemons
2kg Dextrose
1 sachet ale dry yeast (I'm using US-05)

Method.

1. Grate the zest(rind) off of a few of the lemons. Do not grate the
white pith.
2. Chop up all the lemons into chunks.
3. Cover the lemons and zest with dextrose and a few litres of water.
4. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Dilute out to 20 litres in your fermenter, and pitch yeast at below
30C
6. Ferment out at 20-25C for 7-10 days or until fermentation is
complete.
7. Bottle and prime as for beer. Wait 14 days for carbonation and enjoy.

Note:
Meyer lemons are sweeter lemons. Use them if available but 3kg
of whatever lemons you can find will work just as nicely.
Don't worry, relax and enjoy a Three Dogs!

I used some lemons from the supermarket for the first one, unknown variety.
The last batch I made was all Meyer lemons, and the next batch I'm about to put down is all Meyer lemons.


----------



## brontebek

String said:


> I'm using the recipe that Enoch posted back on page 7, http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=504069
> 
> Ingredients
> 1kg rough lemons
> 2kg Meyer lemons
> 2kg Dextrose
> 1 sachet ale dry yeast (I'm using US-05)
> 
> Method.
> 
> 1. Grate the zest(rind) off of a few of the lemons. Do not grate the
> white pith.
> 2. Chop up all the lemons into chunks.
> 3. Cover the lemons and zest with dextrose and a few litres of water.
> 4. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
> 5. Dilute out to 20 litres in your fermenter, and pitch yeast at below
> 30C
> 6. Ferment out at 20-25C for 7-10 days or until fermentation is
> complete.
> 7. Bottle and prime as for beer. Wait 14 days for carbonation and enjoy.
> 
> Note:
> Meyer lemons are sweeter lemons. Use them if available but 3kg
> of whatever lemons you can find will work just as nicely.
> Don't worry, relax and enjoy a Three Dogs!
> 
> I used some lemons from the supermarket for the first one, unknown variety.
> The last batch I made was all Meyer lemons, and the next batch I'm about to put down is all Meyer lemons.



Right I'm having a crack at this one too - used stock standard lemons for it though. How long is this thing going to ferment for?
Bek


----------



## enoch

brontebek said:


> Right I'm having a crack at this one too - used stock standard lemons for it though. How long is this thing going to ferment for?
> Bek


A few weeks but faster if you use some yeast nutrient. 
I have only ever kegged it so "finished" is when it has slowed down and i crash chilled.
Nowadays I do it with limes as that's what we get heaps of.


----------



## brontebek

enoch said:


> A few weeks but faster if you use some yeast nutrient.
> I have only ever kegged it so "finished" is when it has slowed down and i crash chilled.
> Nowadays I do it with limes as that's what we get heaps of.



awesome, used yeast nutrient, been going 6 days so far. Will be bottling so will wait until bubbling stops.
Bek


----------



## hamster

I've just put down a lemonaide.

31 Lemon zests
3L Lemon Juice
2 Cinnamon Stick
50g Ginger
2Kg Dextrose
500g Lactose
US-05 Yeast

20 minute boil, zests + dextrose straight in, cinnamon and ginger at 10 minutes. Lemon juice straight in the fermenter and the wort strained and poured into it. I've put the cinnamon sticks into the fermenter

It's sitting in the fridge at 18 degrees, so hopefully it will taste pretty good at the other end. I've used lemons straight off my lemon tree, so i have no idea what they are.


----------



## sponge

String said:


> Method.
> 
> 1. Grate the zest(rind) off of a few of the lemons. Do not grate the
> white pith.
> 2. Chop up all the lemons into chunks.



Hey String,

A few people have mentioned that boiling the pith gives a nasty bitterness to the lemonade, but it seems as though you are boiling the pith as well (even if the rind has been removed, the pith is still on the outside of the lemon chunks) but it has turned out quite nicely from all reports

Just wondering if you are removing the pith at all, or just zesting the lemons and then cutting the zested lemons into chunks and boiling it all? It would definitely make it a whole lot less laborious just chunking the lemons, pith and all, as opposed to juicing 3kg of lemons

I think the mrs may enjoy something like this after she thoroughly enjoyed the old faithful ginger beer...


Cheers,

Sponge


----------



## wynnum1

With lemonade would adding fresh lemon after fermentation be better as the yeast would change taste during fermentation.


----------



## hamster

sponge said:


> Hey String,
> 
> A few people have mentioned that boiling the pith gives a nasty bitterness to the lemonade, but it seems as though you are boiling the pith as well (even if the rind has been removed, the pith is still on the outside of the lemon chunks) but it has turned out quite nicely from all reports
> 
> Just wondering if you are removing the pith at all, or just zesting the lemons and then cutting the zested lemons into chunks and boiling it all? It would definitely make it a whole lot less laborious just chunking the lemons, pith and all, as opposed to juicing 3kg of lemons
> 
> I think the mrs may enjoy something like this after she thoroughly enjoyed the old faithful ginger beer...
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Sponge



I ended up cutting off as much of the pith as i could, then put the whole lot in a pot and hit it with a bamix. the bamix didn't chop up any of the pith, from there i strained it to make sure it was only juice.


----------



## _HOME_BREW_WALLACE_

When i have made lemonade, i have just cut up say 3Kg's of lemons skin, pips and all and just boiled the lot. Ginger works well with the lemonade (so does chilli if you use a fair bit extra lactose to back sweeten more (700g)).

Still cant figure out why people go to the trouble of zesting their lemons and only adding a small amount............ :unsure:


----------



## kario

I was talking to a limoncello maker last night.
He said that what causes bitterness is the oils in the lemon skin/pith.
His method of removing the bitterness is to boil up water and throw in his lemons whole for a 10 min boil, which releases the oils. Then leave overnight to cool.
He said then you can use your whole lemon with no worries about bitterness.

makes sense


----------



## strongbeer

kario said:


> I was talking to a limoncello maker last night.
> He said that what causes bitterness is the oils in the lemon skin/pith.
> His method of removing the bitterness is to boil up water and throw in his lemons whole for a 10 min boil, which releases the oils. Then leave overnight to cool.
> He said then you can use your whole lemon with no worries about bitterness.
> 
> makes sense



+1 on that one brother!


----------



## String

sponge said:


> Hey String,
> 
> A few people have mentioned that boiling the pith gives a nasty bitterness to the lemonade, but it seems as though you are boiling the pith as well (even if the rind has been removed, the pith is still on the outside of the lemon chunks) but it has turned out quite nicely from all reports
> 
> Just wondering if you are removing the pith at all, or just zesting the lemons and then cutting the zested lemons into chunks and boiling it all? It would definitely make it a whole lot less laborious just chunking the lemons, pith and all, as opposed to juicing 3kg of lemons
> 
> I think the mrs may enjoy something like this after she thoroughly enjoyed the old faithful ginger beer...
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Sponge



Sorry, haven't been on here for a while.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Lemon.jpg
I'm cutting off all the outer skin and the white inner skin, and just using the pale yellow flesh inside.

My assembly line is:
Take the lemon and grate some zest off, cut the two "pointy ends" off, sit it upright on one of the flat surfaces you just cut off, and cut down around the edge of the flesh, so that you end up with a whole skinless lemon. The chop that into chunks, seeds and all, and into the pot. Once you get a rhythm going it only takes about 20 seconds per lemon.
I was cutting them into slices and seeding them, but it took ages and I got juice everywhere. The seeds stay on the bottom of the fermentor when you keg the lemonade, and I haven't noticed any strange flavours from having seeds in the mix.


----------



## chunckious

String said:


> I'm using the recipe that Enoch posted back on page 7, http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=504069
> 
> Ingredients
> 1kg rough lemons
> 2kg Meyer lemons
> 2kg Dextrose
> 1 sachet ale dry yeast (I'm using US-05)
> 
> Method.
> 
> 1. Grate the zest(rind) off of a few of the lemons. Do not grate the
> white pith.
> 2. Chop up all the lemons into chunks.
> 3. Cover the lemons and zest with dextrose and a few litres of water.
> 4. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
> 5. Dilute out to 20 litres in your fermenter, and pitch yeast at below
> 30C
> 6. Ferment out at 20-25C for 7-10 days or until fermentation is
> complete.
> 7. Bottle and prime as for beer. Wait 14 days for carbonation and enjoy.
> 
> Note:
> Meyer lemons are sweeter lemons. Use them if available but 3kg
> of whatever lemons you can find will work just as nicely.
> Don't worry, relax and enjoy a Three Dogs!
> 
> I used some lemons from the supermarket for the first one, unknown variety.
> The last batch I made was all Meyer lemons, and the next batch I'm about to put down is all Meyer lemons.



Just come acrosss this.....how alcoholic is this stuff?


----------



## String

Chunkious said:


> Just come acrosss this.....how alcoholic is this stuff?




About 5% or so


----------



## String

OK, newest batch is in. I added 250g of Lactose to this batch to see if I give it a little bit of sweetness without going overboard.

Unfortunately I could'nt get any Meyer lemons from the tree at my brother's house and had to get some Lisbson's from the shop. They were nowhere near as juicy as the Meyers I usually have(maybe they were old) and it shows in the final product.
This batch has a thin watery taste with mostly the sour taste of lemon. Because the juice is so weak, the taste of soda water from the carbonation process is stronger than the lemon flavour.
Very dissappointing.. though there is a little bit of sweetness from the lactose.
Either way it's not a success and it's going on the lawn.

Fresh lemons off the tree from now on.


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## Arghonaut

Planning on attempting a lemonade soon. Got myself a bee hive, should get the first harvest in the next month or so, 30-40kg of honey. I also have a good selection of citrus trees, lemons, limes, oranges, mandarins, lemonades (mandarin/lemon cross) and a ruby red grapefruit.

Anyone done one of these with honey before?

Thinking of doing 25 or so lemons, 5 or so limes, 100g ginger, couple of cinnamon sticks and 2 kg of honey for a 20 litre batch. Will let it ferment till it reaches the desired level of sweetness, then crash chill, keg and force carb, just gotta remember to keep it in the keezer till its empty.

Would also like to do one with only lemonade fruit and honey and see how it turns out. They are like really sweet lemons, should be perfect for it.


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## brettprevans

Raised the lemon tree today. Juiced just under 7L worth. Some for the kids for their lemonade and some for me. 

4.1L lemon juice
16L water
1kg brown sugar
1kg dextrose
100G lactose
2 cinnamon sticks
Dash nutmeg
1/2tsp ground cloves
1tsp yeast nutrient
Zest of a shite load of lemons. About half of all the lemons.

Into boil went 3L of juice and 2L water and then just randomly added zest throughout the 20min boil. All the spices went into boil at the start also.

Haven't decided whether I'm using champagne yeast or trusty us05


----------



## brettprevans

citymorgue2 said:


> Raised the lemon tree today. Juiced just under 7L worth. Some for the kids for their lemonade and some for me.
> 
> 4.1L lemon juice
> 16L water
> 1kg brown sugar
> 1kg dextrose
> 100G lactose
> 2 cinnamon sticks
> Dash nutmeg
> 1/2tsp ground cloves
> 1tsp yeast nutrient
> Zest of a shite load of lemons. About half of all the lemons.
> 
> Into boil went 3L of juice and 2L water and then just randomly added zest throughout the 20min boil. All the spices went into boil at the start also.
> 
> Haven't decided whether I'm using champagne yeast or trusty us05


chucked LALVIN DV10 champaigne yeast at it last night. 
although very curiously the OG was about 1040. It should have been a lot higher. i'll have to add more sugar and lemon juice. I may have got my water volume wrong as it went into a fermentor without volume markings. 

anyway a pic from the day. baby bath full of lemons and the juice press i gave up using half way through. I think the press is probably only good for use with non-fiberous fruit. I hand juiced the last 4L worth.


----------



## manticle

Press worked out OK for you?


----------



## Malted

manticle said:


> Press worked out OK for you?





citymorgue2 said:


> I think the press is probably only good for use with non-fiberous fruit. I hand juiced the last 4L worth.



Apparently not. h34r:


----------



## KingKong

A mate of mine made a k&k lemonade and gave me a bottle. The stuff was GREAT!!!! however low in alcohol 3%ish. I don't really want to make the kit up , would rather squash up a few lemons and make a real 'from scratch' effort. 

BUT from when this thread started in 1800's to the last post no one seems to have found a killer brew!

Some one must have the HOLY GRAIL....


----------



## Plaz

Okay after reading through this forum topic i have decided to join the search for the illusive holy grail lemonade brew. 

My attempt is based loosly on the Nosebleed Hard Lemonade recipe and goes like this (23 ltr batch):

2.5kg Lemons

1.5kg Oranges

5g Pectinaise

1kg white sugar

2kg brown sugar

1kg honey

2 Cinnamon Sticks

2 Star Annise

100 g Ginger

20g Wine Nutient

Super Market Yeast (Tandaco from Coles) coz it was left over from JAOM 

Sterilised fruit then rough cut into quarters boiled, cooled added pectinaise and let sit over nite.

Boiled in morning then mashed and let cool to handling temp. 

Poured into fermenter through a wine fruit mash bag sitting in a colander. 

Squeezed out mash bag into fermenter Transferred Cinamon and Star Annise and 100g of fine pulp no seeds and no skins to fermenter. 

Added water to 23 litres and 26 degrees C. Hydro was 1.055

Added wine nutrient (20g) and stirred vigorously for 5 mins aerating and making a big splashy mess

Made 500mls yeast starter with 100g fine sugar and let sit covered fo 60 mins

Pitched yeast sealed and put in cupboard. 

Visable fermentation started after 1 hour (blub blub). 

Plan on adding a champaign yeast when supermarket one dies and fermenting till below 1.000, then bottling with a Jelly bean in each stubby. 

Tasted yum and *Sour* <_< but not to worry coz it is after all Hard Lemon Ale. 

Will post updates.


----------



## Plaz

Plaz said:


> Okay after reading through this forum topic i have decided to join the search for the illusive holy grail lemonade brew.
> 
> My attempt is based loosly on the Nosebleed Hard Lemonade recipe and goes like this (23 ltr batch):
> 
> 2.5kg Lemons
> 
> 1.5kg Oranges
> 
> 5g Pectinaise
> 
> 1kg white sugar
> 
> 2kg brown sugar
> 
> 1kg honey
> 
> 2 Cinnamon Sticks
> 
> 2 Star Annise
> 
> 100 g Ginger
> 
> 20g Wine Nutient
> 
> Super Market Yeast (Tandaco from Coles) coz it was left over from JAOM
> 
> Sterilised fruit then rough cut into quarters boiled, cooled added pectinaise and let sit over nite.
> 
> Boiled in morning then mashed and let cool to handling temp.
> 
> Poured into fermenter through a wine fruit mash bag sitting in a colander.
> 
> Squeezed out mash bag into fermenter Transferred Cinamon and Star Annise and 100g of fine pulp no seeds and no skins to fermenter.
> 
> Added water to 23 litres and 26 degrees C. Hydro was 1.055
> 
> Added wine nutrient (20g) and stirred vigorously for 5 mins aerating and making a big splashy mess
> 
> Made 500mls yeast starter with 100g fine sugar and let sit covered fo 60 mins
> 
> Pitched yeast sealed and put in cupboard.
> 
> Visable fermentation started after 1 hour (blub blub).
> 
> Plan on adding a champaign yeast when supermarket one dies and fermenting till below 1.000, then bottling with a Jelly bean in each stubby.
> 
> Tasted yum and *Sour* <_< but not to worry coz it is after all Hard Lemon Ale.
> 
> Will post updates.



Here's my update.

Fermented to 0.098 and stopped bubling today (4 days)

Did not have to add any yeast or nutrient during the ferment. 

Darn how can i slow down the fermentation time? 

Stayed at 26 degrees whole time, maybe this needs to be cooler so ill try this again in winter. 

Tastes fine, like lemons but without and ounce of sweetness no yeasty flavour yay. 

Im thinking of changing my game plan and kegging this one tommorow with sugar to sweeten then cool in fridge gas and serve at Christmas. 

Am surprised at this supermarket yeast fermenting out so quickly and completely same as with my apple cider experiment. 

Any thoughts?


----------



## nathan_madness

Plaz said:


> Here's my update.
> 
> Fermented to 0.098 and stopped bubling today (4 days)
> 
> Did not have to add any yeast or nutrient during the ferment.
> 
> Darn how can i slow down the fermentation time?
> 
> Stayed at 26 degrees whole time, maybe this needs to be cooler so ill try this again in winter.
> 
> Tastes fine, like lemons but without and ounce of sweetness no yeasty flavour yay.
> 
> Im thinking of changing my game plan and kegging this one tommorow with sugar to sweeten then cool in fridge gas and serve at Christmas.
> 
> Am surprised at this supermarket yeast fermenting out so quickly and completely same as with my apple cider experiment.
> 
> Any thoughts?




Definitely ferment cooler to slow it down 18deg would be better and use CY17 or SN9 yeast.


----------



## breakbeer

Add a bottle of Bickfords lemon cordial

I made the recipe a couple of pages back, wasn't much chop when we first tried it so it stayed in a keg for about a month until I remembered it was there. Soooooo much better after a few weeks, keg didn't last long after that


----------



## brettprevans

citymorgue2 said:


> Raised the lemon tree today. Juiced just under 7L worth. Some for the kids for their lemonade and some for me.
> 
> 4.1L lemon juice
> 16L water
> 1kg brown sugar
> 1kg dextrose
> 100G lactose
> 2 cinnamon sticks
> Dash nutmeg
> 1/2tsp ground cloves
> 1tsp yeast nutrient
> Zest of a shite load of lemons. About half of all the lemons.
> 
> Into boil went 3L of juice and 2L water and then just randomly added zest throughout the 20min boil. All the spices went into boil at the start also.
> 
> Haven't decided whether I'm using champagne yeast or trusty us05


Forgot to report Back on mine.
Certainly needs a few week or months conditioning (no surprise). 
Very much like lemon juice slightly sweetened so I guess like old fashioned non alc lemonade. Then again I can eat lemons by themselves. Mysore is happy to drink it with some lemonade as it's not sweet enough for her. So more lactose I think. 
But for me it's a great summer thirst quencher...with a nice alc kick


----------



## Random_100

GMK said:


> Lemonade Recipee
> 
> Doc, your Lemonade Recipee is alot different from mine.
> 
> Here is mine:
> 
> Ingredients -
> 2.5kg - 4.5kg of Cane sugar - depends upon alcohol strength wanted.
> 18 - 24 lemons - depending on size - sliced up or better still through a food processor....including peel.
> 2 oz fresh grated Ginger
> 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient and gypsum
> 1 ale yeast or better with Mead/Pinot Noir Yeast - especially for the higher alcohol version.
> Water to make 5 gallons.
> Optional:
> spices - cinamon, nutmeg and cloves to taste.
> 100 gms of Belgian Candi Sugar
> 
> Boil all ingredients except yeast in a sacepan with 5 litres of water for 20 mins.
> Let stand for 10 mins and then strain into fermenter. Top up to 20 litres with cold water - pitch yeast when cool enough.
> Rack after 2 weeks and lager for a further 2 weeks in the secondary.
> 
> Keg lemonade and force carbonate at 300 kpa - rocking keg for 5 mins and then leaving it on the presure for 48 hours.
> Cut to normal pouring presure, and serve.
> Add a slice of lime for an extra tang.
> 
> Doc,
> what do you think....




Sounds like a nice drink.
I will be trying out something like this soon


----------



## brettprevans

a month since the last post and its almost all gone and time to make more  that little bit of conditioning does wonders. and you can certianly tone the alc down unless you want to knock back a few pints quenching your thirst and then stumble around


----------



## Diggs

Bump, anyone got a decent recipe to report back? 
Looking for something for ahem SWMBO


----------



## Fraser's BRB

Resurrecting this one. Got a full lemon tree and looking to make something tasty. I like the looks of GMK's and Backlane Brewery's recipes (page 2 of this thread, link below), anyone tried these or similar?

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/203-lemonade/page-2


----------



## SKBugs

Fraser's BRB said:


> Resurrecting this one. Got a full lemon tree and looking to make something tasty. I like the looks of GMK's and Backlane Brewery's recipes (page 2 of this thread, link below), anyone tried these or similar?
> 
> http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/203-lemonade/page-2



How'd you go with it mate? Any success?


----------



## borchz

im putting a coloney west lemonaide on tomorrow any one tried it?


----------

