# Stuck Lemon



## jojo (Jul 26, 2005)

It has been hanging at 1.020 for two weeks now. No bubbles and it does not appear to be spitting out sediment anymore. I think she's clarifying. 


What to do?


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## MedPretzel (Jul 26, 2005)

Yeast starter.





Start a glass of any fruit juice (which aren't sulfited) and put about 3 tablespoons sugar in it. Put a little yeast nutrient (1/2 tsp) in there too, and add a packet of yeast. Let it sit overnight in a larger jar, covered with a towel or washcloth (dry).


When you start seeing fermentation, add *a little bit* of your lemon must. Replace the covering, and let it sit for a while. When that starts fermenting further, add some more lemon must. 





Continue to do this until you think you've got a good fermentation going, and when there's _a lot_ more lemon must in it than your original fruit juice.





You have to _ease_ your lemon must slowly into the yeast, is basically what I'm saying. Yeast are not that happy with a high acidity level, so don't plunge them into it, ease them into it - they're so dumb, they don't realize that it's just the same amount of acidity that they didn't like before.







Hope this helps. 





Keep us posted!


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## jojo (Jul 26, 2005)

Thanks Martina!


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## MedPretzel (Jul 26, 2005)

Anytime.


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## Hippie (Jul 26, 2005)

jojo, what was the starting SG of the must and what yeast did you use?


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## jojo (Jul 27, 2005)

Hippie said:


> jojo, what was the starting SG of the must and what yeast did you use?




SG 1.085 andPremier Cuvee.


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## Hippie (Jul 27, 2005)

Must be the acid then like Martina the hard lemonade expert says.


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## MedPretzel (Jul 27, 2005)




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## jojo (Jul 28, 2005)

Got the starter going. 


Just curious.....Let's sayI don't do this, and proceed to stabilize and clear at the current 1.020, will the wine clear normally and end upwith less alcohol and abit sweet?


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## Hippie (Jul 28, 2005)

You might go ahead and proceed with stabilization and add the appropriate amount of sulphite and sorbate, but if the wine is still slowly fermenting or decides to start from all the stirring, it will obtain a bad taste from the sorbate. 1.085 is kinda high for hard lemonade, or is it lemon wine? Hard lemonade is normally about 5%, or like beer. If the SG has been the very exact same for a few days, what the heck, stabilize, but do not bottle right away, leave in bulk for at least a month to be sure it is done. It probably needs to clear anyway. *Edited by: Hippie *


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## MedPretzel (Jul 29, 2005)

jojo said:


> Got the starter going.
> 
> 
> Just curious.....Let's sayI don't do this, and proceed to stabilize and clear at the current 1.020, will the wine clear normally and end upwith less alcohol and abit sweet?




You could stabilize and let the wine clear at that SG. From experience, _everything_ clears eventually.



Technically, you could filter it (if you have a filter), and it would clear that way, but time clears all wines!



By George, you got it! with the sweetness and less alcohol!!! That's exactly what it would do.


I have to disagree with Hippie on the 5% on hard lemonade. Mine were usually 13% and they turned out pretty good, I think. It was a very sour wine, which I loved, but that's a matter of personal taste.





Just my 2 cents. Let us know what you decide.





Martina


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## Hippie (Jul 29, 2005)

I was talking about the popular commercial brands of hard lemonade, usually 5%. Apparently, this is a lemon wine topic and I am confused.


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## jojo (Jul 29, 2005)

Yeah, it's lemon wine. At least that's what it started out as.






I followed Cheryls recipe on winepress. I forget what the acid test came to. I wish I had written it down. I'm gonna stabilize it. It's pretty clear already and I figure its tart to being with so maybe sweet is good thing with this one.


Thanks for the help! This was the first batch that didn't ferment wildly. It just stood there.


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## MedPretzel (Jul 29, 2005)

Hippie said:


> I was talking about the popular commercial brands of hard lemonade, usually 5%. Apparently, this is a lemon wine topic and I am confused.







Hard Lemonade, lemon wine -- what's the difference!


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## Hi In The Pines (Sep 27, 2005)

ok, I tried to make a hard lemonade, not wine. I was shooting for about a 5% alc. It stuck pretty good. I started another yeast with some white grape juice and sugar and water, it started bubbling and going good. Then I introduced the lemonade must, a litte at a time until I had 1 gallon going. The batch total was 2 gallons. Then I completely mixed the old 1 gal of must with the new started gallon that was fermenting and it seemed to take off really good, then the next day when I stirred it, it went south from there and has not fermented anymore. I am thinking of tossing it out and starting over. I dont know what to do. Any suggestions???


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## Waldo (Sep 27, 2005)

What are your SG readings? When you began? When you added the starter? What is itat now? I have learned that just because you cannot see evidenceof fermentation does not necessarily mean it is not happening *Edited by: Waldo *


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## Hippie (Sep 27, 2005)

You should add a little of the must at a time until you have a huge starter, maybe a quart. This will acquaint the new yeast with the high acidity of the must. If you just used white grape juice, sugar, and water, the starter was not acclimated to the lemon must when you 'pitched'. Also, you should ensure the must is around 74*F, and do not stir the yeast in, simply 'float it on top'. The temp can be allowed to lower a little at a time if possible. A 'yeast starter' always should include incorporation of the must a smidgen at a time until the starter is very large, at least when dealing with hard to start musts like hard lemonade. Another thang to try is to use Lalvin EC-1118 yeast or other champagne types. If it is fresh, it will seldom fail.


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## Hi In The Pines (Sep 27, 2005)

I started with the 71B, then when I started another starter(1118), I started off with the grape juice(1 cup), then added little by little the original lemonade must until I had 1 gallon. At that time, it was fermenting. When I added it to the other pure gallon of lemonade, it started to ferment. I stirred the followingday, just like the other wines that I do. I stir the heck out of themas they ferment.


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## Hippie (Sep 28, 2005)

The acidity of the lemonade was way too much for the yeast.


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## Hi In The Pines (Sep 28, 2005)

ok, I checked the S.G. again and the alc was at 14%, so, I watered it down to 6%, stirred very good again and added more nutrient and energizer and I shall see what happens in the next day or 2. I hope the extra water will bring down the acidity to a better fermenting level.


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## Hi In The Pines (Sep 28, 2005)

Well, im now getting a burp every 2 minutes at least!!


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## peterCooper (Sep 28, 2005)

Is it always a mistake to water the lemon wine down? Depends on what 
you're making it for


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## Hi In The Pines (Sep 28, 2005)

Well, its hard lemonade and my goal is to get it at 6% alc. Is this still wrong?? I was under the assumption that if the S.G. is too high, all you do is water it downand if the S.G. is too low, you add more sugar. Correct?


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## Hippie (Sep 28, 2005)

Well...ok. Your assumption might work in the case of hard lemonade, but don't count on that theory with any must.


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## masta (Sep 29, 2005)

Try using this calculator to determine the appropriate amount of sugar for the size of the batch you are making. It was designed for making mead but will work for wine also:


http://www.gotmead.com/making-mead/mead-calculator.shtml


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## peterCooper (Sep 29, 2005)

If you water down the must to adjust the alcohol level, aren't you also 
watering down everything else that makes it worth drinking?

So it would be OK to adjust the sugar level up, but not down.*Edited by: peterCooper *


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## masta (Sep 29, 2005)

Yes adding water will dilute everything (raise pH, lower TA, thin out the wine) not just the specific gravity resulting in a lower alcohol wine.


If you don't have a good recipe you need to do some work ahead of time to determine all the amounts of each ingredient needed for the particular wine. You also have to have the ability and equipment to test things like TA and pH because even the best plans can go wrong!


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## Hi In The Pines (Sep 29, 2005)

I wonder if Martina would be so kindas to share her recipe for her hard lemonade??? I know I would appreciate it!!


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## Stevo1 (Sep 30, 2005)

Miss Martina.........
Hard Lemonade has been difficult to ferment, due to the acidic nature of lemons. My suggestion is to make the whole batch a “starter” and then slowly add the lemon juice over a 48 hour period. This would allow the yeast to fully engage and get at proper population density without the stress of the acidic environment. Then when the little buggers are ready and at full strength, they will be slowly acclimated to the lemon juice. Hopefully this will provide a quicker and healthier ferment and should hopefully also allow the full flavor of the lemon to be more apparent as additions are made toward the end of vigorous fermentation. In other words your making sugar water must, then using Realemon as an additive. I’m thinking of a regimen like this:
<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">1 Gallon Hard Lemonade[/B]
<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">[/B]
Mix together following ingredients with water tempeture about 104 degrees and sprinkle yeast on top.
7 - Cups water
2 # - White sugar for a SG of 1.080 [after Realemon addition]
1 - Tsp nutrient
1/8 - Tsp energizer
1 - Packet <?amespace prefix = st1 ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficearttags" /><st1:State><st1lace>Champagne</st1lace></st1:State> yeast

Let sit for 12 hours and when yeast shows good activity add:

1 cup Realemon Lemon juice [total] at the rate of 1/3 cup every 12 hours, so at the end of 36 hours you will have added the total of 1 cup of lemon juice. 

Ferment to dryness SG &lt; 1.00, rack to settle for 2 or 3 weeks, then stabilize and back sweeten to taste. Then find a likely victim to taste before you do!





Any thoughts on this procedure..............

Stevo


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## Stevo1 (Oct 3, 2005)

Follow up to above post............


Couldn't resist testing my theory, so I started a two gallon batch. I deviated from procedure by adding a can of IGA whole berry cranberry sauce at initial mixing. [so much for scientific controls



]


So far has worked great....... about sixty hoursfrom pitching yeast, all ingredients added and bubblin' along fine with SG dropping from 1.080 to 1.039as measured thisAM. The addition of the two cups of Realemon would drop SG a bit, but not that much. Iset it on top of refrigerator for extra warmth and so I could keep an eye on it. Has been interesting to ferment in a clear container and see how volatile the fermentation is at bottom of container.











One interesting thing was how horrible the color looked when I first put cranberries in must, an ugly purple drab color. As I added acid [lemon juice] the color returned to a nice reddish color as in photos.


I'll update when ferments to dry.............


Stevo


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## MedPretzel (Oct 4, 2005)

Yikes,





Sorry about the late reply!





I will post soon. I've been having major DSL "issues" and have been zoning in and out of DSL-land for the past week. Just nerve-racking and terrible and horrible and just plain awful this week. 





I will get back to you on this.





Stevo is right about the difficulties in fermenting the hard lemonade. I've had mixed results this year...





I will give you a starter recipe, which may help you:





3 cans of frozen lemonade concentrate (make sure no sulfites)
water to 1 gallon
1 tsp nutrient
1.5 tsp energizer
sugar to a starting SG of 1.085 


I've had good luck with Montrachet yeast.





I'd make a yeast starter (make about 2-2.5 cups of it) a day before you mix in the must. Add a little OJ, sugar and nutrient/energizer to it to give it a kick start. Add about 2-4 cups everyday to it, until you get a good fermentation going with a lot more lemonade than OJ. And then add a couple of more cups to be sure that the yeast can take the acidity.





Sorry about the late and short response, but I think Stevo's got you on the right track already. 





Martina


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## Stevo1 (Oct 4, 2005)

My first Hard lemonade is doing great........ SG 1.032 today, it is slower than I thought but progressing nicely. I started another 2 gal batch following the same guidelines, but this time I found pound of sweet cherries in the freezer........ so in they went. It is bubblin' away just fine. I do believe the plain must for the first 12 hours really helps get around the stalled lemonade fermentation.






Stevo


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## Hi In The Pines (Oct 4, 2005)

Thanks to both of you, Martina and Stevo. These ideas are very useful. I originally started with the frozen lemonade concentrate. I finally used 3 packages of yeast to get it going. I think that when I diluted the mix to give me the lower S.G. and I left the yeast for 3 days without stirring it, it finally took off!! Before, I would stir it good every day or 2x daily, then it would just die off. Now that its going good, every thingis working out better now. Thanks again.


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## Stevo1 (Oct 5, 2005)

Howdy...Hi!


I too had the same experience with frozen concentrate. My hunch is that the frozen concentrate was loaded with SO2 [sulphate's] and it takes a few days for the levels to come down to reasonable levels. That's just a guess though, not fact. All my research has indicated that a period of 3 or 4 days from pitching yeast and the start of good fermentation is normal with frozen concentrate. Glad to hear your is going good for you now. Let us now how you like it after the yeast settles out and you imbibe.






Stevo


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