Summer Shandy

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fatnoah

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A while back I was challenged by a co-worker to make a Leinenkugel Summer Shandy clone. I did some searching on this site and found two threads that were helpful. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/extract-sheries-summer-shandy-289981/
and https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/summer-shandy-recipe-co2-volumes-306522/

I based my recipe off of the information from those threads and I did just a 1 gallon test batch to start.

Extract
Ingredients:
1 lbs. Breiss Pilsen Light DME
4 oz. Breiss Bavarian Wheat DME
0.3 oz. Wilamette Hops (4.9%) @ 30min.
0.2 oz. Wilamette Hops (4.9%) @ 10min.
US-04 Safale Ale Yeast (5g)
OG=1.051

Added 1.25 gal to boil kettle heated it up, threw in the DME, brought to a boil and added the hops as described above. Let it sit in the fermenter for 2 weeks (watch it cause I needed a blow-off tube with the small head space in the 1 gallong jug). I bottled with 21g of table sugar and 4g of Kool-Aid lemonade mix (no sugar added). http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001IZI8FA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
FG=1.012
I wanted to use that TruLemon stuff, but couldn't find it anywhere.
Let it carb up for 2 weeks in the closet (over 70F). Got 9 full 12 oz bottles.

After 2 weeks I put one in the fridge for 12 hours and tried it. Very good! A little strong on the lemon flavor (will scale back the lemonade mix next time). But crisp, nicely carbed, very refreshing. Not a perfect clone of Leinenkugels, but I am very pleased with the results. The recipe is stupid easy, fast, and cheap. So mission success IMO.

Just thought I'd post this in case someone else is looking for a shandy clone.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had recently been searching and reading the threads you mentioned. Def keep us posted on how the lemonade taste comes through as it ages. I recall one of the threads saying that bottling worked great, but kegging all the lemonade flavor sunk to the bottom and was consumed in the first few pints.
 
Update on my shandy adventures this summer. In my second batch I followed the same recipe as above but only added 3g of the kool-aid lemonade mix at bottling. Then this weekend, my SWMBO and two friends got together and did a blind taste test of both of my shandy batch, Leinnies shandy, and shock top shandy. I was easily able to tell the difference between all 4, one of my friends confused mine for leinnies, and SWMBO was WAY off didn't get a single one right. We also ranked which ones we liked the best and my batch 1 (with 4g of the kool-aid) was the favorite for 3/4. So when I make this again I am going back to 4g of kool-aid. Maybe it mellowed from when I first tried it (but its only been aging a month) but I think 4g is the way to go. I am probably done playing with shandy for the summer, but next spring I am going to scale up and make a big batch with my recipe for some great shandy all summer.

I still need to try some other commercial examples (like porch rocker), but I am pleased with my product.

As for all the people who constantly post on these shandy threads "why dont you just mix beer and lemonade/sprite/whatever." Yes, you could do that. That is not the point. The point is I had a leinnies shandy and thought "that's refreshing, I wonder if I can make something like that." And the answer is yes.
 
As for all the people who constantly post on these shandy threads "why dont you just mix beer and lemonade/sprite/whatever." Yes, you could do that. That is not the point. The point is I had a leinnies shandy and thought "that's refreshing, I wonder if I can make something like that." And the answer is yes.

Im with you on this one. I too want something I can just drink out of the bottle, and not mess with mixing it. Of course you could mix it, but where is the fun in that :D

I just bottled a 5g batch of Cheri's Shandy recipe that you mentioned. I used the Tru Lemon like the recipe calls for. The samples I tested during bottling were not great, hope it perks up with a little carbonation!
 
As for all the people who constantly post on these shandy threads "why dont you just mix beer and lemonade/sprite/whatever." Yes, you could do that. That is not the point. The point is I had a leinnies shandy and thought "that's refreshing, I wonder if I can make something like that." And the answer is yes.

Well if you want to make it like Leinie and all the other guys do it, you'd have to make a regular 5% blonde beer, ferment it out. Sulfite or filter down to 0.5 micron (to remove all yeast). Add a 50:50 mix of water:beer (or less or more, to taste), add the appropriate amount of sugar, add the appropriate amount of lemon lime soda extract, mix well, force carbonate, and bottle from the tap.

I would never bother with kool aid. Tastes too artificial for me. Don't forget that you'll be committed to 5 or even 10 gallons of this stuff.

MC
 
I think the point is, we do not want to make it like Leinie. I would go buy a Summer Shandy if I wanted one. I want to make a good beer with the equipment I have, simple and easy. Not sure why some folks insist on looking down on others when they experiment or try something they dont personally like. RDAHB :)
 
Well I started drinking my batch this weekend. Its a good summer wheat beer, but the lemon did not come through at all! I used the 12 packets as instructed. Oh well, its still a fantastic summer brew! :D
 
any updates/improvements on your clone? personally i love the shocktop lemon though every rating on http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/79669
thinks its faulkn worst thing on earth - i just dont get it - just like lemon i guess...maybe lemon zest add to wort?

Update on my shandy adventures this summer. In my second batch I followed the same recipe as above but only added 3g of the kool-aid lemonade mix at bottling. Then this weekend, my SWMBO and two friends got together and did a blind taste test of both of my shandy batch, Leinnies shandy, and shock top shandy. I was easily able to tell the difference between all 4, one of my friends confused mine for leinnies, and SWMBO was WAY off didn't get a single one right. We also ranked which ones we liked the best and my batch 1 (with 4g of the kool-aid) was the favorite for 3/4. So when I make this again I am going back to 4g of kool-aid. Maybe it mellowed from when I first tried it (but its only been aging a month) but I think 4g is the way to go. I am probably done playing with shandy for the summer, but next spring I am going to scale up and make a big batch with my recipe for some great shandy all summer.

I still need to try some other commercial examples (like porch rocker), but I am pleased with my product.

As for all the people who constantly post on these shandy threads "why dont you just mix beer and lemonade/sprite/whatever." Yes, you could do that. That is not the point. The point is I had a leinnies shandy and thought "that's refreshing, I wonder if I can make something like that." And the answer is yes.
 
The only update is I found one last bottle in the back of my fridge from my second batch last weekend and opened it up and tried it. It was still drinkable, but not nearly as good as when it was fresh. I didn't think it would age well, and it did not. I don't think my version tastes much like the shock top lemon, but that is fine with me because I don't like the shock top lemon very much. I am going to make a 2.5 gal batch of my shandy in April/may for some summer drinking. My advice is to go with a pretty simple American style wheat recipe and add some lemon flavoring at bottling. I use the kool aid mix (the one without sugar). I can post the rest of the recipe if you want.
 
I bought lemon extract to bottle my sweet tea lemonade shandy. Did the Kool Aid ad any sweetness or just lemon flavor? I'm worried my beer may be too dry.
 
The Kool-Aid did not add a lot of actual sweetness. I would call it perceived sweetness because we are so used to lemonade flavor being sweet. Mine finished around 1.012 and I did not think it was too dry. Mostly just refreshing. I am brewing another version of this beer this weekend, so I should have an update in a few weeks.
 
Just drank the carb tester of my sweet tea lemonade shandy. At bottling I added a full 6.5g packet of unsweetened Kool Aid lemonade, 2 cups of sweet tea vodka, and two cap fulls of pure lemon extract. Not really a sweet beer but it tastes very good. I think I will mash at a much higher temp next time to keep some sweetness to go along with the tea and lemon notes.
 
I thought I would update this thread with the results of this year's shandy. I switched to a 3 gal BIAB all-grain setup in February, but decided to keep it simple with the shandy and make a 2.5 gal extract batch this year. Maybe next year I'll work on an all-grain version, but the extract version is just so simple it is hard to want to add another 2 hours onto the brew day.

Started with 3.25 gallons of tap water treated with 0.5 campden tab.
When close to boiling added 1 lbs. of Wheat DME (Breiss).
Once it hit boiling I added 17g of Willamette (4.9%) and boiled for 60 minutes. 15 minutes before the end of the boil I added 3.15 lbs. Pilsen LME (Northern Brewer) and 0.5 whirfloc tab. With 10 minutes left I added the rest of the willamette hops (started with a 1oz pouch) so it was about 11g.

I cooled it down to about 70F then I pitched a 1L starter of WLP028 (Edinburgh).
Note: I don't think I really needed a starter, and I would normally use US-05, but I wanted to harvest this yeast for a wee heavy so that's why I did that.

OG was 1.053

Fermentation was held pretty much right at 70F for 2 weeks and there was a significant amount of krausen. Fermentation didn't slow down until day 12, but on day 14 there was no krausen and it was pretty clear.

After 2 weeks in the primary I bottled with 1.75oz of table sugar and 11g of Kool-Aid lemonade mix (no sugar). I ended up with 32 12oz bottles.

FG was 1.012 so ABV was 5.4%

I let it carb at 70F for 3 weeks, and about 6 have been consumed (not all by me).

It is very light colored, but not very clear. Smells lemony, with other fruity notes coming through, and just a hint of hops. Tastes a lot like typical American wheat beers. Lemon flavor is there, but not very strong. My dad said he would prefer more lemon. I find it very refreshing, a perfect summer beer on a hot day, and it goes over very well with the BMC crowd particularly those that also like things like blue moon or leinnie's.
 
i like the idea or your recipe, but, I have one question. I am fairly new to brewing (5 brews) and i have never had a beer when you add the DME so late in the boil. Why did you do that this way? Just tring to decide if I want to make this beer. Thanks for an info.
 
What about the Lemon Coriander Weiss kit from Midwest? I'm torn between this and a few other kits for my second brew. Anybody tried this one?
 
I made a lemon wheat that I ended up having at a local beer fest a few weeks ago it was a big hit and I had a lot of comments that it tasted like a shandy. I have made a few citrus beers over the last few years and I have found if you steep the lemon peel at flame out before cooling for 10-15 mins the lemon really comes through. I have tried it with oranges and limes with the same results.
 
Though dated, what a great help this thread was! As a fan of the Summer Shandy, I thought I would take this and run with it. I modified the recipe for 5 gallons, and made a few tweaks, and wow, when I bottled it today, the half bottle that remained was VERY tasty! (Photo on bottling day in a chilled glass...) Can't wait for it to carbonate!

Sumer Shandy (Extract)

Modified Recipe:
Zest from 1x Lemon
5 lbs. Breiss Pilsen Light DME
1 lbs. Breiss Bavarian Wheat DME
1.5 oz. Wilamette Hops (4.8%) @ 30min.
1 oz. Wilamette Hops (4.8%) @ 15min.
US-04 Safale Ale Yeast (25g)

Started with 6 gallons of cold tap water in the brew pot (we have well water that has a high iron content). Added lemon zest to the brew pot as the water heated. Added DME and brought to a boil. Added hops as described above. Once boil was complete, I ran through a cooling coil ice bath (twice) to bring the temp down to 68 deg. F. Placed in a plastic bucket "carboy" to ferment for the first week (I only had 5 gallons glass carboys on hand and didn't want a ton of blow off). Reading after first week was 1.020. Moved to a 5 gallon glass carboy for secondary fermentation for another week. Temp ranged between 66-68 deg F. for fermentation.

Bottled with 3 cups water, ¾ cup corn sugar and 19.5 g. Kool-Aid lemonade mix (no sugar added) (3x packs of Kool-Aid lemonade (sugar free, 6.5 g packs) as listed in your original post). Added beer and took FG reading (1.017).

1.070 OG.
1.017 FG
7% ABV
 

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Bill:

Thanks for sharing the 5 gallon recipe. I intend to try your recipe...possibly this weekend if I can get it in between my part-time sports shuttle job! Almost done my keezer build, so this might be one of the the official Christening beers.
 
Though dated, what a great help this thread was! As a fan of the Summer Shandy, I thought I would take this and run with it. I modified the recipe for 5 gallons, and made a few tweaks, and wow, when I bottled it today, the half bottle that remained was VERY tasty! (Photo on bottling day in a chilled glass...) Can't wait for it to carbonate!

Sumer Shandy (Extract)

Modified Recipe:
Zest from 1x Lemon
5 lbs. Breiss Pilsen Light DME
1 lbs. Breiss Bavarian Wheat DME
1.5 oz. Wilamette Hops (4.8%) @ 30min.
1 oz. Wilamette Hops (4.8%) @ 15min.
US-04 Safale Ale Yeast (25g)

Started with 6 gallons of cold tap water in the brew pot (we have well water that has a high iron content). Added lemon zest to the brew pot as the water heated. Added DME and brought to a boil. Added hops as described above. Once boil was complete, I ran through a cooling coil ice bath (twice) to bring the temp down to 68 deg. F. Placed in a plastic bucket "carboy" to ferment for the first week (I only had 5 gallons glass carboys on hand and didn't want a ton of blow off). Reading after first week was 1.020. Moved to a 5 gallon glass carboy for secondary fermentation for another week. Temp ranged between 66-68 deg F. for fermentation.

Bottled with 3 cups water, ¾ cup corn sugar and 19.5 g. Kool-Aid lemonade mix (no sugar added) (3x packs of Kool-Aid lemonade (sugar free, 6.5 g packs) as listed in your original post). Added beer and took FG reading (1.017).

1.070 OG.
1.017 FG
7% ABV

Is the corn sugar for bottle conditioning? I would be kegging mine and just trying to figure out how to adapt.
 
It does look like the corn sugar is for priming and being that he used sugar free koolaid he is not trying to up the ABV.

so I would just leave out the corn sugar and add the koolaid right to the keg. But even if you did add the sugar it will just ferment out and up the ABV a bit.
 
So no grain bill was harmed in the making of this production? I guess judging from the picture you didn't really need it.
 
The lemon packets of koolaid say not to put these into a metal container. Kegs are metal...

I wonder if that would be an issue if it was diluted with beer.
 
After reading a bit further, the issue seems to be the citric acid reacting with the metal. My kegs are old pepsi co kegs that stored soda. Soda has plenty of citric acid in it so this probably isn't an issue at all correct?
 
So I edited the recipe from post 19 a bit, I only used 1 oz of hops at the 30 min mark. I also zested 2 lemons and added at 10 mins before flame out. I used my TILT hydrometer to get to a gravity of 1.065 with adding my water to the wort. It rested at 1.016 and got there in pretty much 2.5 days. 6.43 ABV. I ended up with around 4 gallons of beer after the secondary. I tasted the beer before I put any lemon packets in it. It didn't have much lemon flavor. I don't think I could have picked out that flavor if I didn't know it was in there. So I just added a straight koolaid lemon packet to my beer with no extra water straight to my keg. This gave a great hint of lemon flavor.
 
So I edited the recipe from post 19 a bit, I only used 1 oz of hops at the 30 min mark. I also zested 2 lemons and added at 10 mins before flame out. I used my TILT hydrometer to get to a gravity of 1.065 with adding my water to the wort. It rested at 1.016 and got there in pretty much 2.5 days. 6.43 ABV. I ended up with around 4 gallons of beer after the secondary. I tasted the beer before I put any lemon packets in it. It didn't have much lemon flavor. I don't think I could have picked out that flavor if I didn't know it was in there. So I just added a straight koolaid lemon packet to my beer with no extra water straight to my keg. This gave a great hint of lemon flavor.
I have heard that the koolaid settles out in a keg. Did you find this to be true so far? I am a couple days from kegging and debating of adding the koolaid packets or not... I may just mix lemonade and add that to the tapped beer once carbed up, but if it mixes well I'd rather just add to the keg.
 
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