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<BR>In a message dated 5/31/01 9:55:42 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
<BR>brewinfo@xnet.com writes:
<BR>
<BR>
<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Citric acid won't kill yeast, but you won't like the sparkling lemonade
<BR>you make...
<BR>
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<BR></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">
<BR>Can't agree. Although I'm still refining the recipe, I make 5-10 gallons a
<BR>summer that are well received ... reminiscent of the old "California
<BR>Coolers". Most of the current commercial "hard lemonades" contain malt and
<BR>are usually force-carbonated. I prefer mine. Nothing more than:
<BR>
<BR>12 lemons
<BR>6 limes
<BR>10lb sugar
<BR>nutrient and ghost hulls
<BR>Two-stage ferment:
<BR> Primary: Cote de Blanc
<BR> Secondary: Champagne
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>Maintaining some residual sweetness *and* natural carbonation, while not an
<BR>"exact science", is largely a function of using your hydrometer and tuning
<BR>the desired abv, amount of fermentables, and choice of yeast. My final
<BR>product is around 12%abv and actually too jaw-jacking tart (for me) to drink
<BR>straight out of the bottle. But it's absolutely *perfect* once poured over
<BR>ice (around 8-10%abv). You shouldn't get bottle bombs if you monitor the
<BR>must's specific gravity. You'll be able to tell when the yeast stalls, how
<BR>much fermentables are left for carbonation, etc. I do believe that the
<BR>citric acid levels do tend to make the ferment a little sluggish but not
<BR>inordinately.
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