Maltodextrin

ok I am looking for a non fermentable sugar that will add sweetness to a malt based beverage but not raise the ABV.

How sweet is Maltodextrin and will it do the trick?

Basicly what I am doing is trying to make a clone of Mikes Hard Lemonaide. After talking to a brewery rep I think I got the basic concept down. It kinda shocked the hell outa him when I told him my plans and he said I was real close, but the sweetness factor is kinda stumping me.

So far this is what I have come up with . . . I havent worked out the amounts

• 2 Row mashed and fermented
• Real Lemon Lemon Juice/ maybe with a couple actual lemons for the hell of it
• a sweetener - I'm sure lactose would work but then I would be farting up a storm so I'm looking for another alternative

FWIW, I don't believe malto-dextrin adds any perceivable sweetness.

MD just adds body and mouthfeel, it really isn't sweet. This comes up frequently and I've run across something called xylose - "a sugar extracted from wood or straw; used in foods for diabetics" Further reading says it is absorbed in the small intestine and isn't fermentable. I haven't tried it, since I don't have a lactose problem (oddly enough I do seem to have a problem with fructose, so best I ferment it).

Stevia

Its very sweet, and a nice herbal sweet. I would recommend you taste some before you dump it into a batch of beer. It was banned from the U.S. at one point in time... I think it had something to do with the fake-sugar industry "pursueding" the FDA.

I love the stuff myself, its great in tea.

http://www.herbshop.com/stevia.htm

If you do end up brewing with it.. I would love to know how it works with hops. I imagine it would pair with hops just as good as malt, if not better.

Another reason to go all-grain. You can adjust the mash temp and add sweetness, and not worry about screwing with any of that additional stuff.

All grain . . .

Hmmmm

I was planning on doing this batch as an all grain now that you mention it. . .


So if I wanted something pretty freeking sweet (has to balance out the lemons) what temp you think I need to mash at?

Let me see if I can put together a temp recipie, I'm at work tonight and dont have acess to promash so will have to see if I can spell recipator correctly

LupusUmbrus said:

FWIW, I don't believe malto-dextrin adds any perceivable sweetness.

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I used it in my wheat beer. There is certainly not much sweetness in it, so I woud agree with this statement.

Pumbaa said:

• Real Lemon Lemon Juice/ maybe with a couple actual lemons for the hell of it

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I would use frozen lemonade for a variety of reasons. First you would get some sugars from it, but most important is you would not risk bitterness from the rind. You could also add some citrus blend from the winemaking section.

First you would get some sugars from it, but most important is you would not risk bitterness from the rind.

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Yeah I thought about frozen vs real leamon lemon juice but I can get plenty of fermentables from the malt. I'm not worried about too much bitterness from the rind. I wouldnt be using very many whole leamons (maybe 2 for 5 gallons) and I actually like a slice of leamon in my leamonaide when I make it.

I'm thinking of doing a higher temp mash now but am wondering if I mash at lets say 160 what kinda of a ratio am I going to end up with of fermentables vs unfermentables.

I'm also thinking I could just throw in a camdian tablet b4 I bottle and add some sugar to it gets to the sweetness I am looking for. As I remember it Mikes Hard Leamonaide isnt that carbonated if at all.

Pumbaa said:

I'm also thinking I could just throw in a camdian tablet b4 I bottle and add some sugar to it gets to the sweetness I am looking for. As I remember it Mikes Hard Leamonaide isnt that carbonated if at all.

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Trying to remember what it tasts like myself. I love the stuff. As I recall it taste more wine like then ale like. What kind of yeast are you thinking to use? Wondering what a cider yeast would do... doesn't cider yeast come out more on the sweeter side? You thinking to use any hops?

One way to help out with the bitterness, is to use just the "zest" of the lemon. The zest is the yellow part of the exterior of the lemon. Most people try to simply peel the lemon, but this adds bitterness, as the white part, ( the pith) is very bitter. You can buy lemon zesters, ( or zestors ) not sure of the spelling, at any place that sells kitchen gadgets. It will be a little more work, but it will be worth it. HTH, Jeff

It pretty much tastes like leamonaide with a bit of a kick. It's a brewed malt base with what tastes like to me just add leamon aide. The brewery rep said they added a "liquor" (sp?) to help balance out the harshness of the alchohol but told me I pretty much had the basic recipie down

• 2 row
• lemon juice
• sweetner (seemed to hint that this was the liquor part)

I'm not going to be adding any hops. If I did it would be more of a lemon beer then a hard lemonaide
thinking of maybe Wyeast Kolsch ale yeast

Have you treid Sam Adams Summer Ale? It's an Ale with a nice hint of Lemon. This is why I am concerned that if you use ale yeat or much malt, you wont get the Mikes HL taste, but more of a SA Summer ale taste. Spent the night acually wonderin if Mike HL fortify the stuff with something to rase the alcohol up....

the ABV in Mikes aint really that high, like maybe 5%ish. I do know they use the liquor and I am guessing it's a very sweet one but have no clue what it could be, maybe I should spend a hour or so at my favorite store and go poking around . . .

They probably use a lemon liqueur like limoncello. I've made limoncello and it's relatively easy, but quite time consuming. Involves steeping lemon zest (no pith!) in vodka for several months and adding some simple syrup. I've never looked, but there must be commercial varieties available in the US at the liquor store.

I'd bet the lemonade has very little malt. Table Sugar is cheaper than malt, and the lemon will cover up any fruity flavor.

My neice has a tree looaaaded with Mandarin Oranges, so I looked up some recipes for fermented citrus, both wine and beer. They use very little citrus, lots of sugar. Too much acid in citrus juice I guess. So I went with a Strawberry ale...

I'd bet the lemonade has very little malt

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yeah from what I read it only has like 30% malt so it can avoid some regulations of being beer. I will have to try and find that source I found it last night at the fire house so I cant check the history on this machine, and to make matters worse it wasnt even my normal firehouse so I doubt I'll go back there to find it.

Hey Pumbaa, just found this and thought you might be interested.

http://www.stoutbillys.com/stout/recipens/(Flat)/0154198F.htm

Here is a Pete's Wicked Summer Ale clone. Just uses juice from two lemons here.

http://www.stoutbillys.com/stout/recipens/(Flat)/4A76C113.htm