Hard Lemonade Brewing

[milestron]

Hi guys, I've got some hard lemonade bubbling away at the moment. I've had a read through the posts so far and it seems like the main issue people have had is it being too bitter (i know there's a really long post somewhere) - it smells pretty good through the airlock so far, and i was careful not to use too much of the white pith, but i was just wondering that if i taste it before bottling and bitterness is an issue, would it just be ok to stir in a bit of extra dissolved lactose right before i bottle?

The recipe i used is off the other post which i can't find right this second, but it already has 500g lactose in the batch. I wouldn't imagine there'd be any issue with this right?

 

[Bongchitis]

I'm not sure the lactose will really do much against the lemon. I have been dissapointed with lactose a few times now and probably wont use it again. I have been mucking around with splenda and stevia to sweeten/backsweeten brews with good results.

 

[JestersDarts]

I'm looking to do a hard lemonade soon - and have been google scouring these forums.

The general concencus is that if the flavour doesn't balance out, allow it to mellow, or adjust with lactose inthe brew, or perhaps some lemon cordial into the keg/ glass

to taste.

As yet I am yet to find a tried, popular recipe for this. Plenty of "ive-just-put-this-on" recipe posts,

but not many "ive-just-tried-the-lemonade-i've-put-on-3-months-ago-and-it's-a-ripper / absolute-waste-of-time" posts.

I will continue my search..

 

[Taxman]

Here's a - "I just tried my hard lemonade and it was horrendous" post!

I put on a brew of -

Juice and rind of 20 or so lemons
500g Lactose
2 kg Malt sugars(I can't remember what I used)
Champagne yeast

The end result was incredibly goony, thanks to the champagne yeast, but that went away after a couple of months. Now the main problem is the clash between the sourness of the lemon and the slimy sweetness of lactose. And the malt flavour doesn't fit well, either. I was attempting to give it some malty body.

So yeah, it's just drinkable, but I wouldn't do it again. I think lemons are too acidic to brew normally, it will always end up tasting a bit wrong. And I won't use lactose again, that stuff is gross. Save it for stouts, I reckon.

 

[brettprevans]

I'm looking to do a hard lemonade soon - and have been google scouring these forums.

The general concencus is that if the flavour doesn't balance out, allow it to mellow, or adjust with lactose inthe brew, or perhaps some lemon cordial into the keg/ glass

to taste.

As yet I am yet to find a tried, popular recipe for this. Plenty of "ive-just-put-this-on" recipe posts,

but not many "ive-just-tried-the-lemonade-i've-put-on-3-months-ago-and-it's-a-ripper / absolute-waste-of-time" posts.

I will continue my search..

there are at least 2 tried and tested recipes for alc lemonade. GMKaide and Doc. actually theres another one i can think of but cant think who posted it. plenty of info on recipe formulation.

Here's a - "I just tried my hard lemonade and it was horrendous" post!

I put on a brew of -

Juice and rind of 20 or so lemons
500g Lactose
2 kg Malt sugars(I can't remember what I used)
Champagne yeast

The end result was incredibly goony, thanks to the champagne yeast, but that went away after a couple of months. Now the main problem is the clash between the sourness of the lemon and the slimy sweetness of lactose. And the malt flavour doesn't fit well, either. I was attempting to give it some malty body.

So yeah, it's just drinkable, but I wouldn't do it again. I think lemons are too acidic to brew normally, it will always end up tasting a bit wrong. And I won't use lactose again, that stuff is gross. Save it for stouts, I reckon.

you used the whole rind? the pitch (white stuff) is bitter as and not good to brew with. you want the zest not the pith. plenty of info on this too.
also if you use standard lemons it will be quite acidic and flavour wont be great. if you use 50/50 lemonade lemons and generic variety lkemons, you'll get a better result. previous experiance from other brewers seems to show that malt doesnt go well and sugar and or honey is the go.
champaigne yeast will also dry the bejesus out of it as it will go close to FG1000 or lower. the backsweetening issue comes up a bit just like in the cider threads.


EDIT: did a quick search. typed in lemonade. 5 result is Docs threead. 8 pages of good info.
and im not sayig that you will do this, but if you are thinking of it, please dont. please dont complain that you dont want to read through 8 pages (or more of info). its called research.

 

[milestron]

I just bottled a batch of lemonade and tasted a bit straight out the fermentor, obviously it's way too early to give a proper critique but I have reasonably high hopes for it. My recipe was (based on ones from the forum)

about 25 lemons + rind (was very conservative with not getting any pith)
a bit over 2kg brown sugar
500g lactose
5g yeast nutrient
champagne yeast (was trying to get cider yeast but the local didn't have any apart from buying a whole kit)
cinnamon stick
knob of ginger about an inch cubed, grated

boiled all the bits up, strained through some muslin, brought it up to 20 litres. Brewed REAL slow although it's been particularly cold recently - i think was coming up to 4 weeks when i bottled. Starting gravity was 1040 and finished @ 1008 so basically is beer-strength. I was worried the yeast had stalled towards the end due to the cold because have heard it should come down lower - oh well bottled anyway had stayed the same gravity for a few days.


ok so yeh first impressions only at this point
- surprisingly reminded me of ginger beer quite a bit, i think the ginger must go a long way, but that's fine with me because i like ginger beer anyway
- sweetness/bitterness was fine by me, again reminded me ginger beer (real stuff not the soft drink)
- very cloudy? that surprised me, i figured it would come out a bit clearer because it's not as though it has malt or anything? again this was straight out the fermentor so i guess that should settle down
- did taste a bit goony actually which i hope will mellow out a bit with time
- being flat it was a boring

will give a proper tasting report once I open the bottles. I bulk primed with 200g dextrose which i figure will be quite high carbonation, i used plastic bottles just in case! i'll give it a month to condition but will probably try to hold off drinking it until the summer months anyway

 

[JestersDarts]

I just bottled a batch of lemonade and tasted a bit straight out the fermentor, obviously it's way too early to give a proper critique but I have reasonably high hopes for it. My recipe was (based on ones from the forum)

Yes, this sounds like a solid recipe - I hope it workls out!

JD

 

[JestersDarts]

there are at least 2 tried and tested recipes for alc lemonade. GMKaide and Doc. actually theres another one i can think of but cant think who posted it. plenty of info on recipe formulation.

EDIT: did a quick search. typed in lemonade. 5 result is Docs threead. 8 pages of good info.
and im not sayig that you will do this, but if you are thinking of it, please dont. please dont complain that you dont want to read through 8 pages (or more of info). its called research.

? not sure if this is a reply to my post, but don't fret, I've read every thread that contains the word in my quest. I believe I am suitiably informed, thanks AHB

 

[smilinggilroy]

? not sure if this is a reply to my post, but don't fret, I've read every thread that contains the word in my quest. I believe I am suitiably informed, thanks AHB

Hi JD and all,
Check out Forums:- Recipes & Ingredients; Topic - Lemonade, page 8.
Hope any of the information I have posted there may be of some help.
Cheers.

 

[JestersDarts]

Hi JD and all,
Check out Forums:- Recipes & Ingredients; Topic - Lemonade, page 8.
Hope any of the information I have posted there may be of some help.
Cheers.

Yes, I like the recipe you have posted, I look forward to hearing about the result!

I have a tree of lemons out the front near the road that are just starting to come good.. no idea of variety, standard road lemons I guess.. made some nice candied lemon peel from them last season.. must remember to find those jars I stashed away of that.

 

[milestron]

Hey just giving some feedback on my lemonade experiment in case anyone's interested. Gooniness has definitely settled down after a few weeks. The taste is a bit hard to describe, there's definitely no commerial equivalent. I primed with 200g dextrose for a 23 ltr batch with the intention that the style should be pretty fizzy, but I think it probably would be better with a little less. I tested it on a few mates and got mixed but surprisingly positive feedback. One of the boys said it reminded him of a West Coast Cooler but not as sweet. Definitely has a 'homemade booze' feel to it, but it's quite refreshing.

In my case I had a tree full of lemons to use anyway, so there wasn't anything to lose, I doubt I would do it again if I had to go out and buy a stack of lemons. There's a bit of labour in the preparation also, but was well worth the experiment. The only thing I 'lost' was that in the time it took to brew the lemonade I probably could've done 2 beer brews. Sweetness was fine for my taste but I suspect some people may like it a bit sweeter.