Lemonade

[Bumpoh]

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]

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]

^^ 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]

- 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]

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]

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]

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]

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