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Hard lemonade and hard raspberry lemonade

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Echostatic

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 5, 2011
468
1
0
Dallas, Tx
I modified this recipe in a few ways to make a hard raspberry lemonade.

http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16484

Changes were EC-1118 yeast and a starting SG of 1.06. Fermentation took 6 days to get started, likely because of the acidity. Next time I will slowly acclimate the yeast to that environment before mixing it all up. I added 2 tablespoons of fermax yeast nutrient up front. I stirred well every day until fermented dry. These are the SG numbers I gathered. I wasn't very consistent in checking, I admit.

Day 1 (start): SG 1.06

No activity at all until day 6

Day 8: SG 1.026
Day 10: SG 1.000

I split this into two 1 gallon containers. I made some raspberry concentrate by placing some raspberries in a pot and adding enough water to cover them. Stirring often, the water was brought to a boil on medium high heat and allowed to simmer for 10 minutes. I put the contents of the pot thru a fruit strainer bag to seperate the juice from the fruit. I added 2.75 cups of concentrate to one of the 1 gallon bottles (and had to siphon some lemonade back out when it overflowed... oops.) It is a lovely reddish color.

(Backsweetening test bottle shown)
IMG_1882.jpg


Stabilized with sorbate/sulfites. The general consensus is, this tastes best at an SG of 1.040. The additions dulited the alcohol to 7% ABV, my target ABV.

It has a sort of "funny" smell that I can't quite place, but it tastes quite good. The flavor is very strong and lemony, with a somewhat subtle raspberry presence. I may increase the amount of raspberry concentrate added next time, as the flavor is not quite as strong as one would expect from the color.

I do suspect from previous experience that it will improve a little with a bit of aging (say, one month), but it's pretty good now. I have not yet backsweetened the plain lemonade yet, but I have high hopes for it.
 
Echostatic,

Well done! Ya gotta love a hard lemonade for a true summertime drink :)
Keep us posted as the aging process takes place and look forward to your comments.
That is of course it last long enough to age?

Regards,

TB
 
I will hold a couple bottles back for at least a month :)

I've actually been thinking about how I could go commercial, and I think I could turn this into something worth selling with enough experimentation. But that's well in the future. I am curious about what kind of "shelf life" something like this would have, though. The preservatives help, but the low ABV doesn't.
 
I had rather the same taste with my hard lemonade, alright, but could do with a touch of aging to make it standout. Can't wait to see your tasting notes later!
 
Working at backsweetening the rest of the gallon to 1.040... This is killing my arms. I don't know how else to dissolve the sugar but shake the jug vigorously. Tried my drill mounted stirrer, but it wasn't doing squat. I think I can get it eventually, but next time I'm definitely dissolving the sugar in very hot water or must.
 
I'll get right on that once the permit and license requirements and myriad forms cease melting my mind >.> Honestly don't even know where to begin in that regard. Reckon I'll figure that out sooner or later.
 
Finally got around to checking on this one, SG hasn't changed so I figure it's stable. I racked it into another 1 gallon jug, off of the crud gathered at the bottom. I got a little bit transferred, so after it sits for a few days I'm going to bottle it. The smell has improved slightly, but it's still kind of strange. My raspberry mead carries the same strange smell. I wonder if that's just normal for raspberries.

I had to have a glass. I don't care if it's getting colder out, this stuff is good. Nice and smooth, sweet and a bit sour, wouldn't know it was alcoholic if I didn't brew it myself.

Racked the plain hard lemonade too. Added sorbate/sulfites and a cup of sugar. SG is at 1.025, less sugar makes it more acidic tasting and I like it. Had some trouble with the sulfites, as in, the powdered campden tablet won't really dissolve. I shook the heck out of that jug too. I'm going to watch it over the next few days, and if it hasn't dissolved, rack it off and dissolve half a tablet in hot water and add that. Hopefully fermentation will not restart.

Campden tablets have kind of always been a pain, even grinding them in a mortar/pestle, they still don't dissolve very easily. Am I doing something wrong here?
 
I use about a tablespoon of VERY hot water in my mortar and pestle and it dissolves just fine. I am considering sweetening my lemonade more in comparison with yours...lemonade is supposed to be really sweet to counteract the acid. I will probably use honey, not granulated sugar on mine though. Will decide on that in a month or two after tasting again and let you know. (It's really nice, btw, having someone else do a very similar recipe at the same time so I can watch your log and do a comparison!)
 
Indeed, I like doing similar recipies to have something to compare to.

I don't think this always has to be very sweet though. When I made it last time, it came out to 10% ABV and I only backsweetened to 1.005, but people just loved it. Very dry, very acidic, but very good. I think I will try to recreate that one on Friday.
 
I don't think you want to be using hot water with campden tabs, I'm sure I read somewhere that heat isn't good for it.
 
How do you get the stuff to dissolve then? It's been a huge pain for me, even with vigorous shaking, which one would not want to do to many finished fermented beverages.
 
I crush them between two spoons and sprinkle the chunky powder in, give it a stir, let it sit 5 min, mix thoroughly. Even dumping a whole tablet into a jug of apple cider it eventually all disappeared (half an hour maybe?) Dissolving it in a small amount of water's always going to be a lot more difficult than dissolving it in a gallon.
 
I've been having trouble dissolving mine in a gallon. I completely pulverized it in a mortar/pestle, and after lots and lots of shaking, I still had a good amount of powder at the bottom of the carboy 12 hours later. Maybe it will all dissolve with time. I just wish I hadn't added the sugar at the same time >.>
 
It has something to do with campden tablets, hot water, and fumes, but I forget what...I just, yknow, don't breath it. I crush it up really well, put in my tablespoon of hot water, it dissolves in a snap, and I toss it. My google-fu isn't strong enough to find out anything better either, sorry.
 
I got 7 500ml bottles from the raspberry lemonade. Plus a bit extra for enjoyment tonight! It still has a weird smell from the raspberry. I think I will try a strawberry lemonade at some point and see how it smells/tastes.
307298_2042927674786_1292175769_31697088_880403996_n.jpg
 

Looks good, Echostatic!!

Soyala_Amaya said:
It has something to do with campden tablets, hot water, and fumes, but I forget what...I just, yknow, don't breath it.
Click to expand...

I can't breathe near the stuff when it's cold ;D (I use potassium sulphite solution as sanitizer, my lungs DO NOT LIKE).
 
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