Lemonade

[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]

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]

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]

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]

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]]

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]

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