I get the sense that not too many craft beer fans would care too much about hard seltzers but these Brew Dudes are into fermenting beverages at home. With a little bit of knowledge and a recipe in hand, I “brewed” this libation and after a few weeks, it was ready. Here is the video where we examine the results of my hard seltzer experiment!

Hard Seltzer Tips

For me, there was some trepidation before trying out this type of fermentation. The simplicity of the fermentable was my biggest hang-up. I thought there would be many chances for things to go wrong with just a sugar solution.

With this experiment, I am convinced that champagne yeast is not fussy. If you’re going to make mead or seltzer at home, I don’t think you can go wrong with a yeast strain that has been identified for champagne.

Of course, my biggest tip for fermenting seltzer is adding yeast nutrient and energizer in a staggered manner. Add a little bit in each of the first three days of fermentation, and you’d succeed.

The fermentation was not robust, that’s for sure. It fizzes, mostly. Even without the visual cues, I knew that the yeast was doing its thing.

Wait until the seltzer clears before you package it. It should take a week or two after fermentation is finished. Once it’s clear, bottle or kegs as you would normally.

Hard Seltzer Tasting Notes

I went with a cherry and lime combination. Thanks to our friends at Olive Nation, I had high quality, clear extracts of those fruit for my seltzer.

I did some testing before I adding the extracts to my full volume. With a small bottle of non-flavored sparkling water, I used small amounts of the extracts to find the proper mix. Then, I was able to scale the amounts up for what I needed at kegging.

Mike thought this seltzer was clean with no off-flavors. There was no fermentation characteristics in the final product. He was happy with its refreshing quality and liked the flavors the extracts brought.

Overall, this is an easy and quick beverage to make at home. If you’re looking for a way to shake up your brewing routine or brewing for a crown, hard seltzer is an excellent choice.

BREW ON!