Fifth Season Gardening

Curbside Pick Up, Nursery, Garden Center

DIY Hard Seltzer: A Trend Worth Trying

by 30 Comments

-Kristin Weeks-

Summer is the busiest season of the year nationwide for beer sales, and over the past several months, the adult beverage industry has witnessed a major rise in popularity of a new kind of boozy beverage, hard seltzer. This light, low-cal, low-carb alternative to beer is attractive to consumers preferring more health-conscious drinking habits and an active lifestyle. Hard seltzer offers that with its sessionability (low ABV, 5% typically) and convenient packaging. Both national and regional brands have jumped on the bandwagon with Miller-Coors’ launching their hard seltzer line, Bon & Viv; Oskar Blues with Wild Basin; and smaller names like NC-based brewery Mother Earth Brewing’s Sercy Spiked & Sparkling this year.

When I first tried a hard seltzer, I inevitably had some questions: Where the heck does the alcohol come from? Is it some kind of weird powdered alcohol? Is it full of fake additives? The answer is that the alcohol in hard seltzer comes from a completely natural process of fermenting sugar, or dextrose. The difference with beer, of course, is that the sugar needed for fermentation comes from extracting sugar from malted barley and other grains. As someone experienced with making kombucha, jun, mead, and other fermentables, I was intrigued by the process of brewing my own hard seltzer at home. Could it be as tasty as those on the store shelves? First, I had to deepen my understanding of the process.

Blending vs. Sugar Wash

There are essentially two ways to make hard seltzer. One way is to literally blend your seltzer water with a grain-fermented spirit such as Everclear or Vodka. Obviously this method doesn’t involve brewing methodology so much as mixology. It will yield similar results but it lacks the convenience of a premixed beverage. Also, we promote homebrewing, so in the spirit of DIY, we’re going to focus on the second method, the sugar wash or sugar ferment.

A sugar wash is simply a mix of sugar, water, and yeast. When yeast strands come into contact with sugar, it feeds on the sugar and over time converts the sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide (CO2). The process is quick – within a few hours, the yeast colony begins to grow and feeds rapidly on the sugar. The process ends when there are no more sugars for the yeast to feed on, usually within 3-7 days. You then add water back into the sugar wash before bottling or kegging.

Flavoring – Extracts vs. Cold Steeping

I’ll be honest, some of the hard seltzers on the market are a bit too much for my pallette, bearing a slightly artificial taste. The most common and easy way to add flavoring is with a natural flavoring extract. This is what is most common in the commercial market, but there are a lot of options out there (especially with more folks having home carbonation machines such as Soda Stream). Look for those without added dyes, or that are derived from actual fruit, herbs, bitters, or even hops. Remember, a little goes a long way, so go easy! Another method for flavoring your hard seltzer is to cold steep some fruit in alcohol (called an infusion) before adding it to the sugar wash. Choosing fruits that might complement a wine such as pear, peach, or melon are a good way to go. Extracts and cold-steeped fruit are good options for  doing the sugar wash method; if blending, you can always go with a flavored spirit.

So, you want to make hard seltzer?

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

*It is strongly recommended to use distilled or reverse-osmosis water to make hard seltzer. This is because the extra minerals in tap water can bring out a slightly white-wine taste which is not consistent with hard seltzer.

Brewing Instructions:

  1. Fill your brew pot with approximately 2.5 gallons of water, bring to boil, then turn off.
  2. Add 4 lb bag Dextrose (corn sugar) and Yeast Nutrient to the warm water in the brew pot and stir until dissolved.
  3. Bring the sugar-water mixture to a boil. Set a timer for 5 minutes.
  4. When 5 minutes is up, turn off the heat – the boil is now finished.
  5. Cool the sugar-water mixture with a wort chiller (if you have one) or by putting the covered brew pot in an ice bath until no longer warm to the touch.
  6. Pour the cooled mixture into a sanitized fermentor and add water to bring the volume up to 5 gallons.
  7. Carefully cut open the pack of Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast and sprinkle over the surface of the mixture, then seal the fermenter and move to a quiet, dark location that is approximately 70°F.
  8. The yeast will convert sugars to alcohol and CO2 gas – this will usually start within 24-48 hours and finish in about 3-7 days.
  9. Once fermentation is complete, add the DualFine clarifier to the fermented seltzer in the fermenter. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for adding the DualFine. Wait 12-48 hours before proceeding to bottling.

Bottling:

  1. When fermentation is complete, sanitize your bottling equipment, as well as approximately 2 cases of pry-off bottles and enough bottle caps to cap them (if bottling).
  2. Prepare a priming solution by mixing 5 oz priming sugar with 1 pint of boiling water.
  3. Mix the priming solution and flavoring of choice with the fermented sugar-water.
  4. Fill the bottles with primed hard seltzer and cap.
  5. Store the bottles in a dark place at 70°F for 10-14 days to carbonate.
  6. Chill the bottles, drink, enjoy!

* Instructions adopted from the TrueBrew Hard Seltzer Homebrew Kit.A similar process is followed for making a sugar wash using Turbo Yeast and sugar. Plenty of recipes are available.

Of course, you could always take the guesswork out of it entirely and snag up one of our new limited-edition Hard Seltzer Kits from True Brew. These come with everything you need to make your own hard seltzer of approximately 4.3% abv (equipment not included) and will be available as soon as this week. Check your local store for availability or shop online here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. U don’t say whether or not when fermentation is complete. Other than that , what about cane sugar? All else looks great am soon going to try it.

  2. I attempted this and after weeks my alcohol content is very low still. Do you know why this could happen?

  3. Sounds like your yeasts did not convert enough sugars into alcohol. That could be because you had old/inactive yeast, or maybe the temperatures were too cold where you were storing your batch for the yeast do do its thing. Those are the most common reasons for non-conversion.

  5. I brew beer and I am going to try this as well. With beer, if I want to increase the abv, I just add more malt. Is that the same with the seltzer? Do I just add more sugar?

  6. Hi Duane,
    Yes, the process of yeast converting sugar to alcohol is the same as in beer brewing. Just make sure you use enough yeast to convert the extra sugar you add. Have fun with this new project!

  7. I would also suggest making a yeast starter using priming sugar. Also after fermentation and adding flavor I would run through a micron or charcoal filter to remove any unwanted nasties. Then add appropriate flavoring then keg and carb. I make 40 to 50 gallons of this stuff at a time and keg and can it.

  8. The “yeast nutrient” you linked is actually a distillers yeast/nutrient mix. Ingredients listed on the packaging are Yeast, Yeast Nutrient, Antifoam, Vitamins, and Trace Minerals. Is the ec-1118 necessary and we are just using the ferm-fast turbo yeast for the nutrients or do you think that we can just use the ferm-fast turbo yeast and not the ec-1118 since the “nutrient” has yeast in it?

  10. You touch briefly on adding flavors. I want to do a spruce tip flavored spiked seltzer. Do you think I could first steep the water (basically make a strong spruce tip tea) and then proceed with your instructions or will that mess w the fermentation process? I’m not sure how to otherwise get a good strong spruce flavor in the water.

  11. Hi Emily,
    Spruce tips won’t interfere with the fermentation, as spruce tips are used in beer fermentations without issue. Your method looks sound. That process is one used by some other folks to make spruce beers and things. You could also add a little bit of lemon to lift the spruce. There are also all natural spruce extracts available that would allow you to add Spruce flavor more incrementally. Cheers!

  12. I tried this recipe over 2 weeks ago. My alcohol content is very low. I believe it was due to the temperature where I was fermenting at the start which was slightly below room temperature. I am now at room temperature around 68 degrees and still have slow fermentation. Any ideas on how to speed it up?

  13. Hi Pat, We re-did the math and it comes out to 3.68% abv max for this recipe. The abv is not a function of low temperature or anything like that. The yeast has simply exhausted the fuel for producing more alcohol. We would recommend increasing the sugar or decreasing the water volume in order to increase the density of sugars/alcohol source. We just edited the blog to include 5, not 6 gallons of water. Hope this helps!

  14. When I brewed beer, in the past, I use a champagne yeast to yield higher abv as well as increasing the sugar slightly. I imagine that you’d get the same result here, plus the extra fizzyness. Any concerns or thoughts against this?

  15. Yes, increasing sugar will potentially increase the abv in the seltzer, just like in brewing beer, as long as the sugar is consumed by the yeast and converted into alcohol. Champagne yeast does allow for higher alcohol levels, but most yeast strains should be able to go into the double digits, so unless you’re looking for super-high alcohol in your seltzer, champagne yeast isn’t necessary. But if you’re looking to experiment, go for it!

  16. So when you mention 2 tsp of yeast nutrient per gallon – if you’re brewing a 5 gallon batch, that would equate out to 10 tsp. That sounds awfully high & potentially dangerous/gross. Or do you mean 2 tsp per gallon at time of boil which would be roughly 4 tsp?

  17. 2 weeks and no visible femintation. Tastes like sugar water. Does this mean that the yeast is inactive? My houses is always at 71-73 degrees. Should I add another packet of yeast?

  18. For CO2 though, you need to not maximize your yeast limits otherwise you wont get any carbonation unless you do forced carbonation. You also will get potentially unwanted sweetness

  19. Yes, sounds like your yeast never activated. You can try re-pitching. Or, at this point, start over with a new batch. Sorry not to respond sooner, reader messages were getting trapped in spam for a bit there!

  20. Yes, that refers to the volume at time of boil, not final volume. Sorry that was confusing!

  21. HEY, I tested this recipe but it didnt go as planned. Can anyone say, why it tasted like yeasty.

  22. Hi Matthias, here are some possible reasons for your results: If you made a smaller batch than the full 5 gallons but used the full amount of yeast in the 5-gallon recipe, or if you made a 5-gallon batch but used more than the recommended amount of yeast; If you used a different strain of yeast than was recommended; If your sugar was not fully dissolved; or if you didn’t let the fermentation go long enough. Those are the main reasons we think would result in a yeasty taste in your brew. Hope this helps!

  24. Hi Nick, Yes, you can use cane sugar in place of the corn sugar, but you should use slightly less, as cane sugar provides slightly more fermentables per lb. than the corn sugar. Cheers!

  25. Reading over the directions above and I noticed that you say to add 2 tsp per ga of Nutrient after the boil when the water has cooled to 86 deg, but on the Wyeast pack, it says to use 1/2 tsp per 5ga and to add it 10 mins before the end of the boil. Is that due to the difference in usage?

  26. Thanks so much for pointing out that discrepancy! You’re absolutely right, those instructions should be altered a little bit. The nutrient addition will be different from the manufacturer’s instructions due to the fact that the recipe is for a seltzer and that yeast nutrient is designed to serve wine/cider/mead, and those start with a higher nutrient content than the sugar water we’re working with. So, you should add the yeast nutrient when you add the corn sugar and we recommend using the Yeast Nutrient at twice the rate recommended on the bottle or 1 tsp/4.4 grams per 5 gallons. Cheers!

  27. Can I use US-05 or S-33? I live in Mexico and its difficult and expensive to buy EC-1118 yeast.

  28. Hi Alex, US-05 should work fine. We wouldn’t recommend the S-33 for this application because it will produce some esters, which will compromise the flavor. Cheers!

  29. i started a batch a week ago using confectioners sugar. I am using D-47 yeast.
    It has been gassing non stop and is still at seven seconds.
    To get a lemon flavor, what volume extract do i add to the five gallons?

  30. Hi Barron, with adding flavorings, it depends on which specific kind of extract you are using and what your specific taste preference is. The best we can suggest is just experimenting, starting with a very small amount and increasing from there until you reach a flavor you like. Sorry we couldn’t be more prescriptive in our advice on this one. Cheers!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow by Email
Facebook
Instagram