Hard Lemonade

[Chris Craig]

I've made this a couple of times now. It's from http://skeeterpee.com

Ingredients:
24 cups sugar
3/4 tsp grape tannin
6 tsp. yeast nutrient
2 tsp. yeast energizer
1/2 tsp Potassium Metabisulphite
2 1/2 tsp Potassium Sorbate
4 1L bottles Real Lemon lemon concentrate (2/3 of a bottle will be left-over)
3 packets of EC-1118 yeast (or yeast slurry from a batch of wine)

Method:
1. Dissolve 16 cups sugar in 8 cups water and 1/3 cup lemon concentrate. 
2. Heat this mixture to just below boiling for 30 minutes.  This will break the sugar chains down and create invert sugar.
3. Add this syrup, 2 bottles of lemon, and enough water to make up 21L to a carboy.
4. Oxygenate well.
5. Add grape tannin, 3 tsp of yeast nutrient, and 1 tsp yeast energizer, and 3 packets of yeast.
6. Ferment for 3 days at 20ºC
7. Add 3 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 tsp yeast energizer, and the last bottle of lemon.  Mix well.
8. Ferment dry (< 1.000) and rack into another carboy.
9. Degas.
10. Add 1/2 tsp Potassium Metabisulphite, 2 1/2 tsp Potassium Sorbate
11. Let it sit for 2 weeks.
12. Rack to a clean carboy and add 6 cups sugar to sweeten and stir well to dissolve.
13. Force carb at 30PSI for 4 days (optional).

[Al-Loves-Wine]

I've made this a lot of times, my girlfriend loves it! I usually back sweeten with different concentrates, cranberry has been a good one so far.

[Waterlogged]

Thinking of making this on the weekend.  The grape taninn, yeast energizer and that type of yeast, I am not familiar with.  Would scoop and save or noble grape have all of this?

Reid

[Chris Craig]

I got it all at Scoop & Save.  Well, I got the lemon and sugar to Costco.

[Al-Loves-Wine]

I used a Nottingham slurry and it was pretty good as well.

Chris how long did it take for the fermentation to start using 3 pack of 1118? I have never tried pitching fresh yeast, I've only used slurry.

[Chris Craig]

It was going good the next day.  you really need more than 1 pack though.

[Waterlogged]

I have everything I need and want to make this on the weekend.  Step 9) Degas, can I use a drill type aerator to do this or would you suggest another method?

[Chris Craig]

I use  a drill and a bent piece of plastic coat hanger.  Works great.

[Chris Craig]

Mine's cold crashing right now.  I'll keg, carb, and bottle this in the next week or so.

[Waterlogged]

Cool, I am making mine this weekend.  Wish me luck.

[Waterlogged]

All finished and it looks good.  In step 3 it should be added to cool syrup before adding to carboy.  I had added the lemon juice and some cool water and when I added the syrup the carboy cracked. 

[Chris Craig]

No way!  I added the lemon, and about 3 gallons of cold water to the carboy, then poured the syrup through a funnel. 

Perhaps this is a recipe good for a bucket.

You didn't have to dump it, did you?

[Waterlogged]

Yeah 2 cracks from the opening down to around the shoulder of the body.  I did the same process as you and as I was adding the syrup through the funnel I heared a cracking sound.  First thought it may be the funnel but when I heard the second one I stopped and saw the cracks in the glass.  I had another carboy handy so I just used the auto siphon do transfere the liquid and went on from there.

[Chris Craig]

This turns out to be about 10% ABV. I'd like to make it more sessionable, so I'm thinking about mixing up about 20L of lemonade and using it to cut the alcohol down to about 5%.  It'd also give me twice as much

[brew]

Nice idea cutting it down - I'd be very interested to give it a try - any chance you might have some carbed for Sat? I always had a hard time making this drinkable by anyone without a few in them already... (mainly me)... I think everytime I've done it (twice) I've done something to screw it up but I have never been able to figure it out...