Sweetening Lemonade

[ben_harvey]

I brewed a lemonade a while back, which basically consisted of lemon juice, zest, sugar and water. I let it ferment out (used US-05 from memory) however it is very dry.
If I added one campden tablet to the keg (19L) and some sugar water, would this be an effective way to sweeten it? I assume the campden kills all the yeast but I haven't used them before.

How much sugar would sweeten 19 L? A ballpark figure is probably suitable as I'll add a bit and taste then add a bit more...

Cheers,

Ben

 

[manticle]

Look at lactose, stevia or adding something sweet to each glass as you drink/serve it. Campden slows/inhibits yeast growth but is not a surefire way to kill it and some people (such as me) are sensitive to sulphites.

There is also bottle pasteurisation but I mention that as a possibility only - I've never tried it and therefore can't recommend for or against.

 

[DUANNE]

seeing as its in a keg you could just back sweeten with some sugar and as long as you dont pull the keg out of the fridge it shouldnt ferment out again. even if it does it will be a veery slow process so just drink quick.

 

[manticle]

Ah keg. Forgive me for not reading properly.

Even more reason to avoid sulphites.

 

[ben_harvey]

Cheers guys.

I'll give lactose a shot in a glass but I haven't heard good things about it. Also I have a mate who's lactose intolerant and...wait a minute, I sense a practical joke...

Otherwise sweetening it in the glass might be the go, but I'd rather just pour a drink and drink it if you know what I mean.

 

[KudaPucat]

Cheers guys.

I'll give lactose a shot in a glass but I haven't heard good things about it. Also I have a mate who's lactose intolerant and...wait a minute, I sense a practical joke...

Otherwise sweetening it in the glass might be the go, but I'd rather just pour a drink and drink it if you know what I mean.

Set up a post mix with a syrup solution? ;-)

 

[Tanga]

You could always add cordial. By my calculations 2 of those concentrated cottees cordial bottles to a keg should be about right. =)

 

[Airgead]

You could always add cordial. By my calculations 2 of those concentrated cottees cordial bottles to a keg should be about right. =)

Not sure how that would go. Commercial cordial is a heap of sugar, a little fruit flavour and a bunch of preservatives to stop it fermenting. If you add that to a larger volume you may dilute the preservatives to the point where it could start fermenting again. Especially as there will still be plenty of yeast in there.

Besides... who wants to spend the time and effort brewing soemthing nice just to add cottes to it... at least use a decent cordial like a bickfords.

Chers
Dave

 

[sp0rk]

Has anyone tried using Stevia for sweetening ciders/lemonades?
looking on ebay for stevia extracts, you can either get pure crushed leaves or the refined sweetener
just wondering which one i should try

 

[KudaPucat]

Has anyone tried using Stevia for sweetening ciders/lemonades?
looking on ebay for stevia extracts, you can either get pure crushed leaves or the refined sweetener
just wondering which one i should try

All I know of Stevia is:
1. It doesn't grow so well in Melbourne, thinking it'll do better in Coffs.
2. The leaves are REALLY sweet, but still fibrous and not so practical - but in alcohol should be easy enough.
3. The extract tablets are sweeter than 1 tsp of granulated sugar. I know someone who cuts them in half before adding it to her tea.
4. I've heard that it can impart an 'edge' to a brew. Whatever that means. Perhaps a medicinal flavour... not sure, this was in reference to it being used in mead though.

I'd grab the leaves, cos I hate refined shit, but I'd also get ahold of a plant if I could.

 

[felten]

All I know of Stevia is:
1. It doesn't grow so well in Melbourne, thinking it'll do better in Coffs.

I don't know about that, I have a stevia in a pot that goes gangbusters in the summer.

 

[KudaPucat]

I don't know about that, I have a stevia in a pot that goes gangbusters in the summer.

Excellent news....
My FIL is great with plants, but has been unable to make his stevia grow, so I haven't purchased one...
Pray tell, are there any gardening secrets you'd care to share?
How much sunlight? how much water? Does it respond well to having its hair cut? fertiliser etc...

 

[felten]

No secrets here. I tend to water it whenever I walk past it, or notice it looking thirsty, which is quite often in summer when it has a lot of growth. It get's full sun for the majority of the day and probably doesn't get fertilised very often at all.

I cut it right back last autumn (down to ~10cm) as it was getting too tall for the pot (and I wanted to try and extract some of it), and it has come back nicely with a lot of new growth.

Oh and it wasn't grown from seed, it was bought as an established plant already. From what I've read it's very sensitive to cold and overwatering when young.

[edit]I just googled this article which is a lot more informative than myself, and mirrors my experiences pretty well.