Super Hard Seltzer

[rugbrod]

After making the cheapest attempt at a hard seltzer possible, my next project is to make a 12-15% hard seltzer. Ambitious, I know; but it's an experiment that may pay dividends.

I'm hoping to basically make similar to a 'wash' to which I can add some flavours or extracts to the bottles (not a kegger yet), but in general I'm just kinda keen to see how far I can push the champagne yeast.

 

Recipe (10L batch):

3kg Dextrose

15g Yeast Nutrient

EC-1118 Champagne Yeast

 

Method:

Boil 3L water on the stove

Add Dextrose for a 10min boil

Add to fermenter (with cold water already in there)

Pitch yeast at 25C or below

 

Thoughts? Prior knowledge? Advice? Anger?

[Quack Brewer]

No expertise here but will watch with bated breath as to how you go with this....

I'm going to make my first Seltzer this week, but looking to make it about half as strong as you are planning because my wife may be drinking some.

I was planning to use about a kilo of Dextrose plus some bottled mineral water (10 Litres) plus Safale US-05 yeast but I guess the champagne yeast may be a better option if you are going for higher ABV.... I'm wondering if Mead yeast may be a better option than Champagne Yeast though... anyone got ideas on this?

I have read that using yeast nutrient, diammonium phosphate and adding electrolytes (minerals) may assist in this process.   I've also been looking for Gypsum but can only find it is Bunnings so don't consider it "food quality" so not sure what to do about that.

 

 

 

[rugbrod]

@Quack Brewer I used US-05 on my last batch, with yeast nutrient and white sugar but I also added lemon juice so it wasn't a 'true' seltzer in the end. Still tastes good.

Yeah as it's not malt it doesn't particularly have much food for the yeast so that's where you need the nutrient and DAP potentially.

[Quack Brewer]

12 hours ago, rugbrod said:

@Quack Brewer I used US-05 on my last batch, with yeast nutrient and white sugar but I also added lemon juice so it wasn't a 'true' seltzer in the end. Still tastes good.

Yeah as it's not malt it doesn't particularly have much food for the yeast so that's where you need the nutrient and DAP potentially.

I think I might follow your lead on the EC-1118 Champagne Yeast - just watched a youtube video and they used it - do you know the optimal temperature for that yeast? 

I was thinking about piggy backing in the fridge with a brew I currently have going at 18 degrees, but I read that it seems to like lower temperatures - ie 15 degrees or so

 

[rugbrod]

14 hours ago, Quack Brewer said:

I think I might follow your lead on the EC-1118 Champagne Yeast - just watched a youtube video and they used it - do you know the optimal temperature for that yeast? 

I was thinking about piggy backing in the fridge with a brew I currently have going at 18 degrees, but I read that it seems to like lower temperatures - ie 15 degrees or so

 

It's got a wide temp range (10-30C I believe). I had a 15 litre batch of a spicy lemonade that absolutely took off sitting around 25 degrees (I don't have temp control and it was a bit of a heat wave). It went from 1.053 to 0.995 in 5 days.

I think I will try a simple 5% one to start with too, to see how it compares with the white sugar / US-05 batch I made.

10L batch size

1kg Dextrose

5g Yeast Nutrient

EC-1118 Champagne Yeast

I also bought some flavour essences from the cake ingredient aisle, so I'll mix a few of those in during the bottling process.

[Quack Brewer]

6 hours ago, rugbrod said:

It's got a wide temp range (10-30C I believe). I had a 15 litre batch of a spicy lemonade that absolutely took off sitting around 25 degrees (I don't have temp control and it was a bit of a heat wave). It went from 1.053 to 0.995 in 5 days.

I think I will try a simple 5% one to start with too, to see how it compares with the white sugar / US-05 batch I made.

10L batch size

1kg Dextrose

5g Yeast Nutrient

EC-1118 Champagne Yeast

I also bought some flavour essences from the cake ingredient aisle, so I'll mix a few of those in during the bottling process.

That recipe looks great, I'll head down to the brew shop tomorrow to get the stuff, and will hopefully have time to do it sometime over the weekend

I agree with doing the flavours at bottle time (not sure what they might do during fermentation) I was thinking about adding something "citrusy" from sodastream.

Let us know how you go with yours.

 

[rugbrod]

On 12/9/2020 at 9:39 PM, Quack Brewer said:

That recipe looks great, I'll head down to the brew shop tomorrow to get the stuff, and will hopefully have time to do it sometime over the weekend

I agree with doing the flavours at bottle time (not sure what they might do during fermentation) I was thinking about adding something "citrusy" from sodastream.

Let us know how you go with yours.

 

Bad news unfortunately. I don't have temp control and the mercury has been around 25+ inside my makeshift fermentation area, which has sadly resulted in needing to send this batch down the drain. It absolutely stank of sulfur so there was no chance of saving it with flavourings.

The current plan is to wait until the weather is a bit warmer again for a few days in a row and try it with kveik.

[Quack Brewer]

On 12/17/2020 at 6:18 PM, rugbrod said:

Bad news unfortunately. I don't have temp control and the mercury has been around 25+ inside my makeshift fermentation area, which has sadly resulted in needing to send this batch down the drain. It absolutely stank of sulfur so there was no chance of saving it with flavourings.

The current plan is to wait until the weather is a bit warmer again for a few days in a row and try it with kveik.

Sorry to hear that yours did not go well, there is always the next batch! I think is a good recipe. I made exactly the same recipe (although I increased the Dextrose to 1.5kg) and it is going well,

I just took a gravity reading and it is square on 1000 from an OG of 1053.  It tastes clean (slightly like a wine) and is a bit cloudy. I've been using Diammonium phosphate (6 grams when I pitched the yeast, and another 6 grams the other day)

I think you are correct in that it is the temperature control - I have kept mine at 18 degrees.  I recently started using an upright freezer I am running with an Inkbird (wifi) and a heat belt and it has been a game changer for me. I have it in my fridge with an Ale I am making and plan to cold crash both in a few days (waiting for my dry hops in the ale to leach into the crew).

I have tasted the sample and I don't think it needs bottle conditioning (just carbonation). I'm hoping the cold crash will clear it up a little bit. I don't want to use finings...

I have two more batches in the freezer too as a control. I am experimenting with 2 x 10 litre mineral water cubes, each with 5 litres of mineral water, and using the EC-1118 yeast. I am keeping the cubes sealed to see what happens without an airlock - there is a lot of pressure in their and the hydrometer samples are heavily carbonated. I'm considering whether it may be possible to avoid the need for bottling this way. I figured there is much less chance of a terrible mess as I am dealing with water and not a beer wort in the case of an explosion!

Can I ask what you mean by Kveik?

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Quack Brewer
Added some details, corrected the OG as I used the incorrect number

[Shamus O'Sean]

12 hours ago, Quack Brewer said:

Can I ask what you mean by Kveik?

You've probably googled it by now.  It's a bit of a super yeast.  Ferments at high temperature around 35°C for ales and 25°C for lagers.  No off flavours at these temperature.  Ferments quick because of the high temperature.  Even quicker under pressure.

[Quack Brewer]

On 12/20/2020 at 12:14 AM, Shamus O'Sean said:

You've probably googled it by now.  It's a bit of a super yeast.  Ferments at high temperature around 35°C for ales and 25°C for lagers.  No off flavours at these temperature.  Ferments quick because of the high temperature.  Even quicker under pressure.

Yes I did Google the word Kveik and found that it means "yeast" in Norwegian...

Funny that whomever makes high temperature yeast has used a term from a country with an average annual temperature that you could brew Lager at!

 

 

[Aussiekraut]

You should get yourself one of those high ABV kits that make 20% alcohol. I used them back in the day to make liqueurs. If you use that as a base to fizz up in the soda stream, you should be sweet.

[ben 10]

On 12/7/2020 at 5:25 PM, rugbrod said:

but it's an experiment that may pay dividends.

Especially if you get locked up!

[Quack Brewer]

On 12/19/2020 at 11:56 AM, Quack Brewer said:

Sorry to hear that yours did not go well, there is always the next batch! I think is a good recipe. I made exactly the same recipe (although I increased the Dextrose to 1.5kg) and it is going well,

I just took a gravity reading and it is square on 1000 from an OG of 1053.  It tastes clean (slightly like a wine) and is a bit cloudy. I've been using Diammonium phosphate (6 grams when I pitched the yeast, and another 6 grams the other day)

I think you are correct in that it is the temperature control - I have kept mine at 18 degrees.  I recently started using an upright freezer I am running with an Inkbird (wifi) and a heat belt and it has been a game changer for me. I have it in my fridge with an Ale I am making and plan to cold crash both in a few days (waiting for my dry hops in the ale to leach into the crew).

I have tasted the sample and I don't think it needs bottle conditioning (just carbonation). I'm hoping the cold crash will clear it up a little bit. I don't want to use finings...

I have two more batches in the freezer too as a control. I am experimenting with 2 x 10 litre mineral water cubes, each with 5 litres of mineral water, and using the EC-1118 yeast. I am keeping the cubes sealed to see what happens without an airlock - there is a lot of pressure in their and the hydrometer samples are heavily carbonated. I'm considering whether it may be possible to avoid the need for bottling this way. I figured there is much less chance of a terrible mess as I am dealing with water and not a beer wort in the case of an explosion!

Can I ask what you mean by Kveik?

 

Hi all,

An update on the Hard Seltzer as per the post above.

I decided that the OG had remained stable at 996, which from an OG of 1053 brings it to an ABV to 7.35% prior to secondary.  It tasted neutral with a slight wine cooler taste to it.

I wanted to try Soda Stream flavours, and was hoping for an "old lemonade" flavour, however it seems that the Sodastream ranged at Woollies have now wed themselves to the Pepsi/Sevenup/Mountain Dew softdrink conglomerate so being in a hurry, I chose Seven up.   I also looked at the Bickfords range of cordials, which in hindsight may have been a better choice, I don't know...

I had a bit of a dilemma as I couldn't workout the sugar content of the 440ml Sodastram Mixture...  It said sugars were XXgrams per serve, and per XX grams 100ml, however that was would have been based on mixing it in a quantity of "up to 9 Litres".  My Batch was 10 litres, so I kind of guesstimated......  

I was adding it slowly (to taste) to the fermenter, and then thought "what the heck: and tossed the whole lot in.....

I then used carbonation drops at the rate of 3 per 1.25 litre, as I suspected that there would have been some sugars from the SodaStream.

They have been in the bottles for three days. It's been mild in Sydney the last few days so have been secondary fermenting for this time.

I cracked one open this morning for a taste.  It's a little too sickly sweet for my liking so I think it was too much flavouring (although at 10 Litres it should taste like Sodastream Sevenup).

I think that 200ml of Sodastream mixture may be a better option. 

There is a reasonable amount of carbonation for three days in the bottle too. I'm going to leave them for another two weeks and try another one - I'm hoping the yeast will chew through a bit of the sweetness.

 

What's next?

I've just done another 10L batch exactly as per the recipe.  Next time I'm going to be more conservative with the flavouring.

This is a very cheap drink to make

Costs:

1.5kg Dextrose $3.75 (at $2.50 per Kg)

EC-1118 Yeast - $2.50

Wine Nutrient - $0.70 ($7.00 per 100 grams (I used 10 grams)

Mineral Water Cube $3.80 (Aldi - 10L) - I used mineral water as opposed to tap water due to the chloride/hardness in Sydney's water 

Total: $10.75 for 10 Litres. 

 

Post note: In regards the small cubes experiment - the gravity did not drop at all (they went from 1039 to 1035), but are well carbonated which I'm putting down to the cubes being sealed off. I'm going to chuck them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Quack Brewer]

Update:  Just tried the Seltzer again after another two weeks in the bottle, looks like to 440ml Soda Stream flavouring was not grossly excessive at all. 

Seems the yeast has eaten the extra sugars, and it's no longer sickly sweet..... It's still sweet, but I reckon somewhere between 1/2 a bottle (210mls) and the full bottle would be about right.

I'm going to keep an eye out for a traditional lemonade flavour though - the Seven Up Sodastream flavour is not the best..

I'm going to try a bickfords for the next batch and see how that goes.

 

[Lettucegrove]

Has anyone done the mangrove jacks seltzer? If so what temp did you run it at?