Batch 172: Bad Cake II

Another hard lemonade, since our first batch was so successful. We're calling this Bad Cake II.

Ingredients in this batch

• A honey starter, begun on 4 June 2019:
  • 16 oz. Kirkland clover honey.
  • ½ tsp. Fermaid O.
  • ½ tsp. Fermaid K.
  • untreated tap water to approx. 1 gallon.
  • 1 pouch (5g) Lalvin EC-1118 wine yeast, rehydrated in ¼ c. untreated tap water at 100℉.
• 12 lb. C&H pure cane sugar.
• Parker tap water to a total of 6 gallons.
• 3 liters Volcano Lemon juice.
• 3 tsp. Fermaid O.
• 3 tsp. Fermaid K.
• ¼ c. potassium carbonate.
• Addition of 10 June:
  • 3 tsp. Fermaid K.
  • 3 tsp. Fermaid O.
  • 1 tsp. Valley Brewers wine tannin.
• Addition of 1 July:
  • 1 liter Volcano Lemon Juice.
• Addition of 8 July 2019:
  • Batch 172A:
    • 8 oz. (by weight) dried elderberries, added in a hop sock.
  • Batch 172B:
    • 5 lb., 9 oz. frozen sliced peaches.
  • Batch 172C:
    • 3 lb. frozen mixed berries (raspberry, blackberry, blueberry).
• ¼ tsp. LD Carlson pectic enzyme, each, to batches 172B and 172C, on 9 July 2019.
• ½ oz. fresh terragon, frozen overnight, added to batch 172B on 10 Sept. 2019.
• ⅔ oz. fresh Osage Gardens terragon, not frozen, added to batch 172B on 22 Sept. 2019.
• Priming sugar, added on 13 November 2019:
  • 1 cup C&H white table sugar for batch 172A.
  • 1 cup C&H white table sugar for batch 172B.
  • 1 cup C&H white table sugar for batch 172C.

Sanitized. Mixed honey, yeast nutrients, and water, then agitated repeatedly and pitched rehydrated yeast. Let the starter ferment until fermentation started to slow.

Mixed the sugar and ½ c. lemon juice in enough water to bring the total volume to 190℉. Held between 190℉ and 195℉ for a half-hour to produce invert sugar in the mix, then poured into sanitized thirty-liter bucket holding lemon juice, yeast nutrients, and enough water to bring the total volume to a gallon and a half. Added potassium carbonate, then let cool, covered, to room temperature for several hours. Whipped surface with wire whisk several times, then again before before pitching starter. Measured gravity and put on broken lid to allow some oxygen exchange over the first few days. After several days, made another nutrient addition, added tannin, and threw out old lid, replacing it with another.

Brew day: 7 June 2019
Original gravity: 1.104 (but later addition of lemon juice waters this down to an as-if O.G. of 1.101)

Bottling date: 13 November 2019.
Final gravity:

• batch 172A: 1.011
• batch 172B: 1.000
• batch 172C: 0.996

Calculated ABV:

• batch 172A: approx. 12%
• batch 172B: approx. 13.5%
• batch 172C: approx. 14.5%

Yield:

• batch 172A (bottled with purple caps):
  • 12 x 12 oz. beer bottles
  • 1 x 7 oz. beer bottle
  • 1 x 750mL beer bottle
  • approx. 4 oz. hydrometer tube/leftover
• batch 172B (bottled with flag caps):
  • 14 x 12 oz. beer bottles
  • 2 x 500mL beer bottles
  • 2 x 22 oz. beer bottles
  • approx. 4 oz. hydrometer tube/leftover lemonade
• batch 172C (bottled with black caps):
  • 8 x 12 oz. beer bottles
  • 4 x 22 oz. beer bottles
  • 2 x 500mL beer bottles
  • 1 x 650mL beer bottle
  • approx. 4 oz. hydrometer tube/leftover

Total yield: 674 fl. oz., or just over five and a quarter gallons.