Lemonade

[Chris]

I recently made a lemonade out of:

3kg lemons
2kg sucrose (actually raw sugar)
2kg lactose
Topped up to 26L
with Lalvin EC-1116.

I forgot to take OG though, and am trying to approximate it. Any help would be appreciated.

[gregb]

The lemons make are an enourmous wild card. How much sugar was in them, how much juice did they give etc.

If you have a lemon from that batch left, juice it and take an SG of the juice. You should then be able to guesstimate a figure.

Cheers,
Greg

[Chris]

That's a good idea. I didn't think of that.

[Keleidoscope]

You must tell me how it tastes! I found a pretty much identical recipie today and am looking forward to trying it!

The recipie I found said it makes lemonade of around 4.5%, if that is what you are trying to work out.

[Chris]

Was that with 2kg sucrose?

[gregb]

About ten years ago I tried to make a lemonade.

I Half filled the fermenter with the juice of a whole bunch of lemons, added a kilo of white sugar, topped up with water to the fill line. Pitched an ale yeast.

Was great for folks who liked bitter lemon, for the rest of us way too lemony. Was good for an experiment though, and provided some verey funny moments.

Suggest:
Not more than 1/3 lemon juice.
Lactose or some other non-fermentable sweetener.

Chris' recipie looks worth a shot.

Cheers,
Greg

[Chris]

I made the colony west kit previously, and added 6 large lemons, finely chopped, and heated up to ~65*C.

It was awful for the 1st month, but after 2 months, it was beautiful. The artificial flavour of the 'lemon essence' was fighting the flavour of the real lemons. In the end, it smoothed out and blended well.

The main trick is to slice up your lemons relatively finely (skin on). Add the whole lot to your fermenter, as they stay on the surface, and won't interfere with racking/bottling. Definately rack though, as it makes bottling MUCH easier, and you can clear it out significantly. Add the lactose in 500g lots, stir in, and add more to your taste.

You may also want to choose yeast wisely. I used a wine yeast, and expect alcohol and flavour to be affected accordingly.

[J D Kipper]

Let me know how it goes. My attempts at brewing Lemonade have always had a background impression of Pine o Clean disinfectant

[Oliver]

My attempts at brewing Lemonade have always had a background impression of Pine o Clean disinfectant

You need to find yourself a new sanitiser

Oliver

[Chris]

I heard of someone who made a lemonade/lemonwine. Apparently it was so bad, that he used it- quite effectively, to kill slugs and snails.

[Cheeno]

Chris, any word on the lemonade. I got a tree full of lemons that need to be harvested. Any tips on the recipe?

[gregb]

Cheeno, some years ago I started with a sack of lemons and a juicer. I peeled the lemons then put the good part through the juicer. I cut this with about a third water, added a kilo of white sugar and some yeast.

Technically it was successful, it tasted just like bitter lemon mixer. would go long with lactose and cut pure juice at least 50/50 with water.

Cheers,
Greg

[Chris]

The lemonade is great. It has a good lemony flavour, and it is quite dry- just the way I like it.

Gregb, put the skins in as well- they're the best bit!

[mr beer]

Thinking of doing this my self, as there are some lemosn around me at the moment, just wondering
how alckoholic do you think it tastes?
how long did you rack it?
how sweet?
is there any alterations u would sujjest?

Thanks, James

[Cheeno]

I put down my lemon brew yesterday using a recipe that was a mixture of Chris' and other bits of info I found:

24 lemons (which came to about 2.6kg)
2kg Sucrose
750gm Lactose
Lalvin EC-1118 (selected in the Champagne region...sounded good)
Topped up to 22L
O.G. 1.058

Give the lemons a quick rinse and then juice them. Into a pot add the juice and the skins of half the lemons. I cut them into quarters but I would say the finer the cut the more (skin) flavour. Now the tricky part. Add as much water as you think you'll need to dissolve 2.75kg of fermentables. I added 4L to roughly 750ml juice but with the skins my 7.6L pot became dangerously full with just half the sugar added. I ended up putting the rest of the dry in a bucket and pouring the boiled stuff over that. It all tasted good. All that hot stuff sent the temp. in the fermenter to 38C (topped up to 22L) so I went to the footy. The instructions on the yeast said to rehydrate at 40-43C but for some reason it didn't seem right to pitch that hot. Pitched a few hours later at 24C. Woke up this morning and its been a cold night in the shed. Fermenter is showing about 13C but the airlock is ticking over gently. Looking like a warmish one here today so hopefully we can get some good work done.
Can I just throw in my two cents and say that you should use the freshest lemons you can get. There is a world of difference between a freshly picked lemon and one that has been in a cool room for two weeks. If your juice is sour and bitter then that's probably what your brew will taste like.

[chris.]

The lemonade is great. It has a good lemony flavour, and it is quite dry- just the way I like it.

Gregb, put the skins in as well- they're the best bit!

Dry? With 2kg of lactose?! Just out of interest what was your FG Chris?

[Rubber.Piggy]

Gregb, put the skins in as well- they're the best bit!

Just the zest or the pith as well?? I'm just thinking of space in the kettle and ferementer.

[drtom]

Here's my 2c on the whole zest/pith/juice thing, on the basis of my experience as a cook rather than a brewer (expert cook, beginner brewer)

First of all, it's a good idea to leave the pips out - they're a rich source of pectin (which is why you add them to other fruit jams), so you'll end up with a clearer end result without them.

You want the juice.

The zest contains aromatic oils. Now, I'm not an expert but I think there's probably a tradeoff here: if you include the zest and get the oils, you may well reduce the capacity of your brew to form a nice head when poured. On the other hand, the oils smell and taste nice, and will contribute positively to the overall flavour.

The pith is the most interesting one. In almost all food recipes, you'll find injunctions to make sure you don't get any of the pith into the food because it is very bitter. About the only two counter examples I can think of are when you use mixed peel (which is blanched and boiled in sugar), and a well known flourless orange cake where you boil 4 oranges in water for 2 hours, drain them, then blend the lot - zest, pith, flesh, pips and all. In both cases, the pith is processed in boiling water to extract the bitterness before being used.

Now, being beer lovers, hopheads or not, we all have something of a taste for bitter flavours. (Chinotto is one of my favourite drinks - many people don't like it because it's too bitter. Incidentally, it's another citrus drink.) This suggests to me that you probably do want to include the pith to balance the sweetness of any unfermentable sugars in the mix. Whether you want to include all the pith, or just some of it, I guess experementation would be the key.

Actually that calls to mind a third place where the pith is included in food - marmalade. In that case it is boiled, but the liquid is included. It does reinforce the point about bitterness - many people don't like marmalade because it's too bitter.

I fear I have not added much to help anyone how to brew better lemonade, but it might offer insights to your results.

cheers,
Tom

[Chris]

chris.- I didn't add the lactose until I was about to bottle. I then added it in 250g lots, testing it by taste. 2kg is what it needed.

Dr Tom, the pips floated nicely, and were easy to remove. That, and I didn't let the brew get above 70*C, so pectin wasn't a problem.

The oils are great, it's akin to hop oil IMO.

As for head, I wasn't looking for head.

Rubber Piggy, I added the lot. 3kg of whole lemons finely cut.

Mr Beer, it doesn't taste alcoholic, but it did initially taste quite acidic. That resolved after a few weeks in the bottle.

I racked for around 3-4 weeks (I don't have my brewing records on me right now), and due to a cold snap here in Melbourne, it got some ccing too.

As for alterations, I love it the way it is. I drink it out of wine glasses, as it is basically wine

If I was going to vary it, I may make it with some honey next time.

I think I've answered everyone. Let me know if I missed you out.