Author: Marshall Schott
It was a characteristically warm afternoon during summer of 2016 in Fresno, CA. The neighborhood families had all convened at the Jersey Bar where cold beers were flowing from 3 taps and iced Moscow Mules were being whipped up. My wife, Laura, isn’t much of a beer drinker and wasn’t really feeling the gingery flavors of a mule, so she requested a vodka soda made with flavored sparkling water. It was at this point Jersey excitedly claimed, “I’ve got something you have to try!” and fetched Laura a slender can with a large wave logo.
Despite some initial skepticism, my wife’s first experience with White Claw was quite positive and she began buying multi-flavored 12 packs to keep on-hand at our place. As everyone’s concern for laws began to wane and the popularity of this rather simple beverage grew, Laura the accountant commented on how the price of what is ultimately water mixed with booze and flavoring seemed exorbitant, pointing out that $16 per 12 pack puts each can at $1.33. While this may not be a bank breaking fee, she posited that her cider and beer brewing husband ought to be able to produce a larger volume of a similar tasting product that not only costs markedly less, but would have the badass feature of being on tap.
Thus began my dive into homemade hard seltzer. I discovered that all of the commercially available hard seltzers are produced using a process whereby sugar water is fermented with a clean yeast to achieve a desired alcohol content, typically around 5% ABV, at which point flavoring and other agents are added. Since that summer in 2016, my wife and I have sampled various versions of hard seltzer made in this manner, from the popular “big” producers to smaller craft and homebrewed examples. Without question, our favorite is White Claw, the primary reason being it’s the only one we don’t perceive as having an odd earthy flavor.
Given my experience using various yeasts over the years, it seemed the likely culprit for this weird flavor was fermentation. While I considered methods to reduce these undesirable flavors such as using a clean lager yeast strain and fermenting cool, it seemed to me a futile effort when I could more easily rely on a notably clean distilled spirit. It’s true that this is a no-no on the commercial scale, as there are laws in place restricting brewers from blending spirits with beer. But unlike commercial breweries, I can do whatever the hell I want in the comfort of my own garage.
| Making BrüClaw Berry Hard Seltzer |
My first order of business, which was the only minimally complicated part of this process, was determined the amount of booze to add to water to achieve my desired ABV. Aiming for a full 5 gallons/19 liters of finished product, I determined that blending 2.6 liters of 80 proof vodka would get me right around 5.5%, slightly more than most commercial hard seltzers, but no laws, baby!
BrüClaw Berry Hard Seltzer
INGREDIENTS
4.25 gallons/16 liters filtered water
0.75 gallon/3 liters 80 proof vodka
2 oz Blackberry fruit flavoring
2 oz Blueberry fruit flavoring
1 bag of ice (optional)
PROCESS
As a quarantine necessity, my wife has been making sure to keep plenty of vodka around and snagged a couple extra bottles on her weekly Costco visit. All I had to do was order some fruit flavoring and prep a keg.
About the ice– knowing that CO2 absorbs in cool liquids better than warm, I had the idea to displace some water with ice with the hope I’d be able to carbonate and drink it quickly. I started by adding about 10 lbs/4.5 kg of ice to a sanitized keg.
Next, I added 2 oz/60 mL each of blackberry and blueberry fruit flavoring, which was determined per the recommendation on the package to use 4 oz/120 mL per 5 gallons; this may be different depending on the type of fruit extract used.
With each Costco American Vodka bottle holding 1.75 liters, I determined 1.5 bottles would get me to my 2.6 liter target. After adding one entire bottle, I eyeballed half of a second.
At this point, I attached my carbon filter to a potable hose and filled the keg to the 5 gallon/19 liter mark.
In hopes of being able to start drinking this concoction immediately, I hit the filled keg with 30 psi of CO2 and gave it a good shake for 10 minutes.
Oddly, my experience with the crank-and-shake method on beer didn’t hold true with this seltzer. Despite ensuring it was cold by using ice and shaking it for 10 additional minutes, it had barely any fizz. So, I opted for the burst carbonation method and placed the filled keg in my keezer on 45 psi of gas overnight. This did the trick, as when I returned 15 hours later, the water had a nice sparkle and was ready to crush.
| IMPRESSIONS |
Being mostly water that’s sparkling, flavored, and hard, I’m perfectly comfortable referring to this BrüClaw as a hard seltzer, even if I didn’t ferment the alcohol myself. Making this was as easy as it gets, requiring about 20 minutes in total, and it cost significantly less than our favorite commercial hard seltzer at just $0.53 per 12 oz serving. But did it taste good enough to be worth it?
Hell yeah, it did! The blend of blackberry and blueberry imparted this BrüClaw with an aroma that reminded me of a Rocket Pop, and while it carried through in the flavor, it wasn’t so strong as to be cloying. The weird character I get from certain commercial hard seltzers, which I presume is a function of fermentation, was completely absent in this BrüClaw, making it more reminiscent of a White Claw. Once in my mouth, it was pretty evident vodka was present, particularly after swallowing, but it was nothing at all like taking a shot or even drinking a vodka soda.
My wife’s first words after initially sampling this BrüClaw– “Wow, that really worked, this is great!” I mentioned that commercial examples tend to have acid on the ingredients list and offered to dose the keg with some lactic acid, but she instead squeezed some fresh lime into her full glass and loved how it made the flavors pop. The one issue I have with hard seltzer is the acidity, they all seem to give me heartburn, so I appreciated the idea of leaving it alone. I provided growlers of this BrüClaw to my neighbors, Jersey and Tim, to enjoy while quarantined, and both had nothing but good to say about, same with their wives.
Without a doubt, I will be making more BrüClaw and already have some grapefruit flavoring waiting to be used. In future batches, I’ll be leaving out the ice, as it didn’t have the intended effect of hastening the carbonation time. Other than that, I can’t think of anything I’d change, the ABV, flavor, and overall drinkability were spot on. The beauty of BrüClaw is that it can easily be adjusted even after it’s ready– if the flavor isn’t pungent enough or you want more booze, remove the gas and toss more in the keg. Laws? Pssh, what laws…
If you have thoughts about this recipe or experience making something similar, please feel free to share in the comments section below!
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60 thoughts on “Brü It Yourself | BrüClaw Berry Hard Seltzer”
How did you figure out how much alcohol is in this beverage?
I did a quick napkin calculation then checked it against a alcohol dilution calculator I found on the web.
https://www.distilling-spirits.com/tools/calculations/diluting-alcohol/
This is what I used, and set it up for 190 proof everclear, so 1L of everclear gives me around 5%
Honestly, to make it yourself I feel just mixing in hard alcohol makes the most sense.
The only reason these producers are fermenting it is due to US liquor laws. If you go north of the border, all the wine cooler brands (seagrams, smirnoff, etc) are bottled mixed drinks, rather than a fermented beverage.
Funny thing is that Vodka is expensive here (would be close to $2 per serving) north of the border so I’v been making it by fermenting sugar instead of this method.
It is more expensive to use alcohol, but when single flavor packs of claw cost around $2 a can you’re still saving boatloads. There’s always a flavor in those mix packs that nobody wants and sits in the back of the fridge until it’s the only thing in the house left to drink
This is great. My wife loves White Claw as well. I can’t wait to try this.
What did you set the serving pressure to after burst carbonating?
14 psi
Hi Marshall,
Thanks for this! All set to “Brew” a grapefruit seltzer for my wife this weekend. Already have the ingredients so will try fermenting first and then your method second for a comparison. Quick question for you. I just switched up to brewing full 5 gallons on propane (from the humble stove) so much better! On the hose carbon filter setup – is it fine regular garden hose into the Carbon filter then potable hose out? Or do you run two potables? Thanks so much. This website is awesome I have learned so much!
Tom
Double potables to not risk any nasties is my opinion. I have very little chlorine in my water, so just splashing it in the pot/keg is pretty much enough to knock it all out.
PS… I also found that adding a bit of salt (table salt) to the keg helps with the finished Seltzer’s flavor. Not much, like a half – 1 teaspoon per 5 gals is all.
I always add a tiny pinch of K Meta to knock out the chlorine
What is your gas setting for serving this? I’m glad you posted this because I have been going over ideas how to do something like this and assumed it couldn’t be so easy!
Serving at 14 psi.
This is exactly how White Claw is made. They mix an alcohol base with sugar and flavorings and carbonate it. I tried going the fermentation route and all I got was a pink water that smelled horrible. It’s really hard to keep yeast healthy in a solution of straight sugar water, and adding yeast nutrient ruins the color and flavor. Next time I’ll be going the vodka route. Nice write up!
They don’t, at least in the US, its fermented. They couldn’t sell it at the grocery store in most states if it was a mixed beverage with a distilled spirit.
I saw on AIH they have “cocktail kegs” with an added diptube on the gas side to keep the beverage mixed as it dispenses. Do you think this is necessary? Notice any separation in your seltzer?
Also, what would the lactic acid impart?
I haven’t noticed any separation at all.
The lactic acid would simply add acidity to “brighten” the flavors and add an element of crispness.
How much lactic acid were you considering adding?
I have recently brewed a couple of batches for my wife with RO water, some light salts to get it roughly to a Voss profile, white sugar, yeast nutrient, some citric acid and fermented with my house Hornindal Kveik culture.
Fined with Biofine Clear.
All up costs only a few dollars per keg. It does ferment slowly though.
We then add flavour to the glass. Cold steeped fruit teas work really well and don’t add any sweetness.
Do you have the exact amounts of salts and citric acid you use?
I’ve been doing this for my Fiance all the time for about 6 months now. I initially tried the ferment your own alcohol method but it’s so much extra effort for the only real gain of being a little cheaper. Rhubarb is our go to flavor at the moment since it is nothing like what you can buy commercially.
Instead of Vodka, I use Everclear (or whatever cheap high ABV grain alcohol is on sale). I think the lower volume of spirits mixed in with the water cuts back on the liquor taste in the final product. We also add acid blend too which really makes the flavor pop like you described.
I keep mine in the kegerator at 20PSI after letting it sit over night at 45 – 50 PSI. 20PSI might be a little high but we like it very fizzy. I still need to balance my taps though because it’s hard to not get a foamy pour without cutting the flow control all the way down and taking forever to pour a glass.
What is your acid blend/amounts?
We have a big bag of generic acid blend from our local brew supply store that we have left over from wine making. It is a blend of Tartaric, Malic and Citric acid. We add 2 Tablespoons per 5 gallons and that works pretty well for us.
Pat – I use about 15g of citric acid, and about the same of sugar. The sugar works out to be about only 0.4g per pint, but does a good job of masking any liquor taste
I just kegged a seltzer mix tonight with something like 4.23 gallons of water and the rest berry and lemon flavored vodka. I was concerned about the lever of fizzy as well. I’m bursting it at 40 overnight, but I know to have the right balance for the taps to hold it as high as 20, I’d need bigger lines or 20ft of line roughly. I’m still running a single regulator, so I’ll probably keep it on about 12 psi to serve alongside my beer, but if it needs more and ends up being a hit with the poolgoers this summer, I might have to invest in that regulator for a higher PSI and maybe more tubing.
I did this for a root beer keg I keep on tap for my kids and it really works. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/the-cure-for-your-short-hose-troubles.100151/
I can keep the root beer at 25-30 psi but still serve from a short 6ft line (party tap inside the keezer). I bought the mixing tubes from McMaster Carr and the 3 slid down the outlet dip tube work great.
We have a very popular product called Lonkero in Finland. It is carbonated mix of Gin and Grapefruit soda. I think it is finally gaining some popularity outside of Finland after almost 70 years of marketing. Never tried to mix it myself, but I assume it would be pretty straight forward.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonkero
The original lonkero: https://www.originallongdrink.com/en/
White claw has a slight sweetness to it to make the flavors more palatable I imagine. Did you add any sugar?
What’s next? Maybe make your own ginger beer and keg your own Moscow Mules 🤔 Brüscow Brüles???
Anyone ever try just using a flavored vodka for this?
Yes. Raspberry Smirnoff came out well. It has that little bit of sweetness
Anyone know a good black cherry flavoring to use?
We had been trying several different flavoring brands and hadn’t come up with one my wife really liked. (lorann was one she didn’t) .I found this company while searching the web. We have raspberry, black cherry and mixed berry and my wife likes them all. A big win for me!! They claim they supply hundreds of brewery, wineries.etc…. They have a huge selection of flavors. https://www.apexflavors.com/Beverage-Industry
Thanks, Ron.
Stephen – try One on One Flavors (https://www.oooflavors.com/collections/flavors). I haven’t tried them yet, but just placed an order. Apparently it’s so concentrated, maybe 1ml per 5 gallons. So a potential 10 batches for $4.
Thanks, Chris
Olive Nation or Apex flavorings are good sources. https://www.apexflavors.com/
Not to be a dick, but how is this even remotely related to brewing?
Happy wife, happy life.
Thanks for another great suggestion. Unfortunately I can never find “Marshall’s garage” as a water profile 🙂
Can you share your water report? (I know you have in the past but I’ll never find it)
You are lucky to have good water. I expect many are like me and start with RO water and adjust to the desired profile.
I remember you also said you carbonate straight water to mix. What do you mix it with the most? Thanks for all you do!
Tim
It may not be “brewing” but I’m glad you posted this. Thanks Marshall,
I’ve been thinking about doing this for a little while now. I’m glad you posted this. I will probably adjust the acidity with some TrueLemon/TrueLime/TrueOrange/etc. in mine. That’s something I’m glad you mentioned, because I probably would have overlooked that and I think I would feel that something is missing if it wasn’t there.
I made this with the flavorings in the link provided and ended up with a good smell, but next to no flavor in the final product. I used twice as much with the same result. Ordered some lorann flavors to see if they work.
I hate that Costco can’t sell hard liquor here in Texas!
I just whipped some of this up! While its still carbonating, I gave it a taste and found that the vodka flavor massively overpowers about 2.5oz each of Brewer’s Best lemon and blueberry flavorings. Im going to bleed it and pop the lid to ad at least another oz of each.
Update on this. I ended up using both of the full 5oz Brewers Best flavors. It was not good or flavorful at all. BUT! I added 4oz of lemon juice and 2 cups of simple syrup directly to the keg and re-carbonated and its now amazing. I am glad to have 5 gallons of it now. I think next time I will still try another method of flavoring, but at least this one isnt a bust.
I am doing a Lime Seltzer right now with brewers best and I hope this isn’t the case. However, I am looking for a low sugar/carb seltzer to drink at home.
Do you find you have to mix up the keg from time to time to keep the extract from settling? Or did you notice the flavor consistent throughout the keg?
The flavor was consistent the entire time.
Perfect, thx!
Having problems serving this type of beverage from a party/portable type set up – Tried high PSI, low PSI, 10ft tubing, faucet connected to ball lock, flow control faucet…. nothing but foam! Seems to take away from the overall “sparkle” after the foam settles – Any ideas for portable serving ?
I had no issues at all. Hmm.
I’ll add one more point frustration – I keep a carbonated water in my keezer at all times, make it the exact same way except without the vodka, and I have no problem serving that. I cant imagine the alcohol would cause this type of interaction…. I’ll try transferring to a different keg to rule out some diptube/o-ring issue
Used a set of jumpers to transfer it to a new keg and its pouring fine…. must be something in the Out Post. Cheers!
While I’m not much of a hard seltzer drinker, all four other family members at home are so needless to say, it only makes sense to put this on tap! We spent stupid money buying Truly and just about any other seltzer out there. This process is so simple and turns out great according to my clan. They say hands down better and doesn’t have that weird aftertaste. I basically followed the recipe, but threw in a couple pinches of salt, a tiny bit of lactic acid, and a liter of Ever Clear. Top with water. Done. Carb’d at 50# for about 14 hours.
Thanks for this! I don’t know why anyone would want to actually brew a hard seltzer knowing how easy and clean this turns out.
Has anyone tried back sweetening? I was thinking about trying a similar keg but basing it on White Claws 5g per 12 oz serving of sugar. Thoughts?
I added 5 oz. of simple syrup to a 5 gallon batch. A little more wouldn’t hurt. My recipe below came out great if you’re looking for some direction. Cheers!
have you tried Press seltzers? if not, i highly recommend trying them. super unique flavors, very flavorful, nothing like it. theyre getting easier to find now too, my local total wine carries them. i think they are a big step ahead of the rest.
Absolutely Killer recipe! Same vodka, same flavoring….the Wife loves it! Here’s to hot Central Valley Summers!
I made a batch of this for Independence Day and the guests loved it!
-1.25 liters grain alcohol (151 proof); adjust accordingly if you can find 190 proof
-17.7 liters (4.7 gallons) filtered water from the fridge
-1.5 tablespoons of generic acid blend from HBS
– approx. 5 oz. of simple syrup
-2 oz. black cherry flavoring from Apex Flavors (I tried Brewer’s Best the first time and could hardly get any flavor)
– I seemed to have issues with the carbonation. I set it at 40ish psi and checked it every 24 hours and after 3 days it had some carbonation but not what you would expect from a hard seltzer. With a little more time it should carb up more.
The flavor was great and so much better than spending over $40 for a case of White Claw or the like.