TaxGuy
Member
I've always liked non-alcoholic Arnold Palmer drinks (1/2 ice tea, 1/2 lemonade), so I adapted the Light Lemon Mead recipe posted in this forum for this style of drink. Also, note that this recipe yields 4 gallons. You can certainly adapt this to make 5 gallons. If someone already posted a similar recipe, I couldn't find it. They can have all the credit.
Let's call this one the Freddy Couples
Ingredients:
1.5 gallons of organic (or all-natural) sweet tea. Target/Wal-Mart sells this.
3 cans (12 oz each) of all-natural frozen lemonade (i.e. minute maid)
40 oz of honey (I'm not picky)
1 pound corn sugar
1 tbsp yeast nutrient (optional)
Directions:
(I assume you know what and how to sanitize)
Heat 0.5 gallons of water to 170 and remove from heat
Add the lemonade, honey and sugar and stir
Heat the mix back to 170 degrees and then remove from heat
Let it cool down a bit
Pour the wort into a fermenting bucket or siphon into a carboy
Add the 1.5 gallons of sweet tea to the fermenter
Top off the fermenter to 4 gallons by adding water
Cover fermenter with a lid until the temperature drops to about 70-75*F (this doesn't take long in Minnesota during the month of January...)
When the temperature drops to 70-75*F, add nutrient if you so desire
Aerate the wort for a few minutes
Pitch the yeast
I'm a primary-only guy, so I let this one ferment in the primary for 3-4 weeks at 70*degrees as a rule of thumb. Let your hydrometer tell you when it is done.
When fermentation is complete (a steady FG of 1.010 or so depending on your fermentation), it's time to choose your own adventure.
Option A - Bottle/keg without backsweetening. This will leave you with a still beverage that is enjoyable over a glass of ice.
Option B - Backsweeten with 1-3 cans of Minute Maid frozen iced tea/lemonade concentrate depending on how sweet you want it. If you are going to backsweeten and bottle, be forewarned that you'll need to kill the yeast to avoid shrapnel. Do this by adding the appropriate amount of potassium sorbate prior to bottling (non-carbonated) or stove top pasteurize once the bottles are sufficiently carbonated.
I chose Option A. I figure I can always sweeten the drink if needed by adding lemonade/iced tea to my glass.
I have not tried Option B, so let me know how that turns out. If you want to bottle carb this, you may want to add some priming sugar as well.
Let's call this one the Freddy Couples
Ingredients:
1.5 gallons of organic (or all-natural) sweet tea. Target/Wal-Mart sells this.
3 cans (12 oz each) of all-natural frozen lemonade (i.e. minute maid)
40 oz of honey (I'm not picky)
1 pound corn sugar
1 tbsp yeast nutrient (optional)
Directions:
(I assume you know what and how to sanitize)
Heat 0.5 gallons of water to 170 and remove from heat
Add the lemonade, honey and sugar and stir
Heat the mix back to 170 degrees and then remove from heat
Let it cool down a bit
Pour the wort into a fermenting bucket or siphon into a carboy
Add the 1.5 gallons of sweet tea to the fermenter
Top off the fermenter to 4 gallons by adding water
Cover fermenter with a lid until the temperature drops to about 70-75*F (this doesn't take long in Minnesota during the month of January...)
When the temperature drops to 70-75*F, add nutrient if you so desire
Aerate the wort for a few minutes
Pitch the yeast
I'm a primary-only guy, so I let this one ferment in the primary for 3-4 weeks at 70*degrees as a rule of thumb. Let your hydrometer tell you when it is done.
When fermentation is complete (a steady FG of 1.010 or so depending on your fermentation), it's time to choose your own adventure.
Option A - Bottle/keg without backsweetening. This will leave you with a still beverage that is enjoyable over a glass of ice.
Option B - Backsweeten with 1-3 cans of Minute Maid frozen iced tea/lemonade concentrate depending on how sweet you want it. If you are going to backsweeten and bottle, be forewarned that you'll need to kill the yeast to avoid shrapnel. Do this by adding the appropriate amount of potassium sorbate prior to bottling (non-carbonated) or stove top pasteurize once the bottles are sufficiently carbonated.
I chose Option A. I figure I can always sweeten the drink if needed by adding lemonade/iced tea to my glass.
I have not tried Option B, so let me know how that turns out. If you want to bottle carb this, you may want to add some priming sugar as well.