alcoholic lemonade

[Andynewbrew]

i started off a alcoholic lemonade 4 days ago. Its something my girlfriend fancied drinking so thought i would give it a go. Made up 20 litres of it consisting of

5 lemons simmered in a pan for 15 mins
2.5kg of normal sugar
A 250ml bottle of lemon juice
topped up to 20 litres with water
yeast

Tasted lovely when put in fermenter, just opened it up check how its getting on and no foam at all but been bubbling every now and again, took a sample out and it now doesnt taste so good lol.

Was just an experiment. Anyone else done a batch similar to this? How did it go?

Cheers

 

[tonyhibbett]

Lemonade is a sweet drink. Fermentation takes out the sugar and some of the citric acid, leaving you an unpalatable drink.

 

[tommidolcetto]

viewtopic.php?f=39&p=316351#p316351

Check out this thread.
It's pretty sharp unless you sweeten with non-fermenting sweetener.

 

[Sone]

I made 5 gallons of this as an experiment, used a cider yeast with sweetener to try and stop it being too dry. Haven't tried for a few weeks now but hasn't been the greatest drink so far! Will try another tonight and update :thumb:

 

[oldbloke]

A bottle of lemon juice? Did you read the lable? Some of them have preservatives the yeast doesn't like.

 

[Andynewbrew]

A bottle of lemon juice? Did you read the lable? Some of them have preservatives the yeast doesn't like.

yes it did have preservatives in but i boiled it first. ive never made this stuff before so its just an experiment really

 

[oldbloke]

I made quite a nice lemon wine once but it failed to carb, not sure why, so we served it with fizzy water as a spritzer. But it was all juice from real lemons.

 

[oldbloke]

Tell you what, your recipe is extremely lacking in any nutrient for the yeast. Try bunging some in.

 

[Andynewbrew]

Tell you what, your recipe is extremely lacking in any nutrient for the yeast. Try bunging some in.

Sh*t! i forgot all about the nutrient lol on it right now cheers for that.

 

[oldbloke]

Tell you what, your recipe is extremely lacking in any nutrient for the yeast. Try bunging some in.

Sh*t! i forgot all about the nutrient lol on it right now cheers for that.

Ah well you might have been using that compound stuff with it already in, but I thought it worth checking, and a bit extra never hurts anyway

Mine came out OK coz I stuck enough sugar in it that there was still some left when the yeast gave up and died.

 

[dzlater]

I haven't tried it myself but this seems to be a popular recipe.
http://skeeterpee.com/?page_id=17

 

[Andynewbrew]

how long did yours take to ferment cause mine is bubbling like mad even after 7 days in fv and also has like an eggy smell to it is this normal?

cheers

 

[danb]

I made 20l with a recipe on here over a year ago when I first started. It was rancid and months later still no better.

 

[oldbloke]

Was taking the latest TC down to storage today and noticed last 3 bottles of my lemon wine were very soft - had done it in old coke bottles as had hoped to carbonate (but that failed)
So we had one to see if it was still OK.
About 2:1 lemon wine to cream soda is good. But that's why you need to brew it strong.

...also realised have only one small bottle of coffee wine left.

 

[Andynewbrew]

This has been fermenting for 12 days now and gravity has got down to 998 had a taste and it's horrible doesn't taste right at all. I added a little sweetener to the glass I had poured it into and made it slightly more drinkable but I'm thinking tip or bottle it and see how it turns out? Any ideas folks?

Cheers

 

[tonyhibbett]

A problem with citric acid in wine is that it is prone to infection by bacteria. I have found citrus fruits problematic in wine making and now generally avoid them.

 

[oldbloke]

Lemons are always going to be awkward - lemonade is fizzy sugary water with just a hint of lemon, fermenting lemons+sugar+water to try to make a 'hard' lemonade is always going to be easy to get wrong. The main fault is likely to be that you end up with a 'bitter lemon' (popular mixer at one time), which you could correct with artificial sweetener but you probably need quite a lot. Another possibility is a harder to shift bitterness from any pith or seed the got into the brew.
I only tried it to see if I could do a half-strength limoncello, and failed on carbonation - and the flavour's a bit off. Mine's only really palatable with a sweet mixer - I favour cream soda. I'll not bother with lemons again.

 

[Robbo]

I would ferment a sugar solution to dry, let it clear then add a lemon flavouring maybe a Soda Stream Syrup and a sweetener. If you want it fizzy either add sugar to the storage bottles to carb up or ferment it strong and add sparkling water.