Fruit and Spice Beer Lemonparty (Citrus Blonde)

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Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
24
Reaction score
4
Location
Portland
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast 1056 (any clean yeast will do)
Yeast Starter
If you want.
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.25
Original Gravity
1.050
Final Gravity
1.010
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
28
Color
4
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
21 @ 65
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
Nah
Tasting Notes
A crisp kind-of wheat with a lot of citrus tones, especially from Sorachi Ace hops.
This is my house summer beer, I've modified it since the first time I made it but it's been a crowd pleaser. I originally made it with Citra hops but I've grown not to like them as much, and moved to Amarillo. However, the Sorachi Ace is the real star of the show, with it's lemony character that many casual beer drinkers have not encountered yet, and are shocked by. Despite being only around an ounce of it, it is still extremely present. It's a simple grain bill, the only hard part is the citrus additions (still not hard, obviously).

You may use 100% flaked wheat if you would like, I went with 50/50 flaked/malted wheat to keep the lauter simple.

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Batch Size: 5.25
Boil Size: 6.50
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 28
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Mash: Single-Step Infusion Mash, Batch Sparge, 150F for 60 mins. I went lower temp for a crisper, refreshing beer.

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Ingredients:
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5.00 lb US Pilsner Malt (1 SRM) (I use Great Western Superior Pilsen)
2.00 lb Flaked Wheat (1 SRM)
2.00 lb Malted Wheat (4 SRM) (I use Great Western White Wheat Malt)
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal 10L (10 SRM)

0.50 oz Amarillo [11.0%] (60 Min)
0.50 oz Amarillo [11.0%] (5 Min)
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace [10.1%] (5 Min)
0.50 oz Amarillo [11.0%] (Flameout)
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace [10.1%] (Flameout)

-The following are added with the 5 Min Hop additions-
0.75 oz Coriander (crushed)
1.00 oz Dried Lemon Peel
0.50 oz Dried Bitter Orange Peel
Zest of One Lemon
Zest of One Orange
Whirlfloc Tablet
5960264154_104e832195.jpg
 
It was not the original name, but I have a lot of sick internet-savvy friends who named it this after trying it and it just stuck.

Sure gets the attention of people :)
 
Recipe looks good. What yeast did you use?
I used 1272 (American Ale II) and 1056 (American Ale) the last couple times, as my goal with it was a cleaner beer rather than a wheat beer. I've had a couple people say they were going to make it with a wheat yeast, which would probably be good as well. I would guess something like American Hef would be a better fit.
 
I would love to see a picture of the end product if you get time. Sounds interesting.

Would also love a tasting review.
 
I would love to see a picture of the end product if you get time. Sounds interesting.

Would also love a tasting review.
I don't know how many pics of the finished product I took, mostly it was just drank heavily. I'll look around - just picture yellow, with a big head because of the wheat :)

As for a tasting review, here are my notes from the first batch, yoinked and cut/pasted from my homebrewnotes.doc -

"Wow! It's cleared out well, I can see clearly through it, even with the wheat. It smells like kind of a funky lemon...doesn't have much "hop" to it, but the citrus definitely comes through - probably used right amount of fresh zest?
Taste is...yeah, awesome! Dominated by those Sorachi Ace, kind of a lemony and musty blast. Just a lot of citrus in general.
Not bitter, pretty smooth but with a bit of carbonic bite - maybe overcarbonated? Refreshing but not TOO thin.
Time to make this again."
 
This is a great recipe DT! My SWMBO prefers chardonnay to beer, but loves this brew. I've brewed it twice now. The first batch I dried my own lemon and orange peel. The aroma turned out a bit strong so I left it out of my second batch. Tastes great. Will be a staple brew for me too. Thanks!! :mug:
 
I think this will be my first AG, it will be a BIAB so hopefully I get my water amounts and temp estimations correct.

Shouldn't this be a 90 minute boil since it's using Pilsner malt?
 
Brewed this this morning. I did BIAB and as I expected my temps didn't cooperate but now I have an idea of what to expect.

Mash temp ended up being high at 158. My OG reading was only at 1.038/1.039. I used Ommegangs yeast and there's not much info on how flocculant it is so we shall see how far down this gets chewed. If it gets down to 1.005 it'll end up about 4.5% abv which isn't bad, I wanted something sessionable anyway.

My hydro sample tasted, for lack of a better term, strange. I would say mostly like hops but since I have never tasted straight hops hard to say for sure. Was kind of grainy as well, but that could be due to picking up too much trub. It was also very light colored, is that normal? If this clears up I would say it'll be about as light as most macro light beers.
 
I checked on after it was in the fermenter for about 1.5 weeks and it was definitely green, very strange flavor to it. I may get to check it this coming Monday and if I do i'll post back how it's tasting and what the gravity is at. That'll also be three weeks so I may move it to a secondary or just let it sit for another week or two then bottle it.

I'm really hopign the green taste mellows and the citrus comes out. At 1.5 weeks the gravity was at 1.012 so I'm hoping that has come down as well, otherwise I'm looking at a 3.5% blonde, but it should be better than any BMC :)
 
After a month I was going to bottle, but tasted the hydro and most of the strange flavor has gotten subdued. I didn't add any if the zest and am not wondering if maybe I should have. There's not much flavor to it, could be I just didn't get good malt extraction given my low OG.

If anybody has any advise on whether this is normal or if I should add something into a secondary I would greatly appreciate the guidance.
 
I used 1272 (American Ale II) and 1056 (American Ale) the last couple times, as my goal with it was a cleaner beer rather than a wheat beer. I've had a couple people say they were going to make it with a wheat yeast, which would probably be good as well. I would guess something like American Hef would be a better fit.

Any feedback from using an American Wheat yeast?
 
I'm going to bottle this today. I had my wife taste a sample from my thief yesterday and she said if it was cold and carbonated she thinks it will taste like Leinenkugels Summer Shandy, which is awesome cause that's what I was aiming for.

I used Ommegangs yeast and fermented at an ambient temp of 68 and let it free rise. At this temp and with this brew it doesn't have the belgian funkiness that some yeasts impart, which is good because I didn't want it.

As far as using an American Wheat i think the only thing you might get is a little tartness, possibly a little dryer mouth feel. For my personal tastes and given the pretty clean grain bill I think it would more interesting with a Witbier yeast.
 
Just wanted to update this since I was very close to dumping over a case of this. I would refer to this as a Pale Wheat rather than a Blond, especially if you use an American Wheat yeast. It lacks the spicyness that comes from a Witbier like yeast or hops that would provide that.

I made mine with the intent to take on a vacation in August, but should've brewed it about 1.5 - 2 months before I did. It initially had a strange after taste, I equated it to bologna but nobody else tasted that, just that it tasted grassy or earthy. At this point one of my IPA friends likes it very much, but it's far from an IPA.

If I remember correctly I used all Sorachi Ace since I couldn't find Amarillo hops. If anybody shows interest I'll look for my notes to verify this. But, it has a clean citrusy, subdued lemon, taste to it. Not bitter, not malty, just a good session, light citrus, wheat beer, with smooth wheat mouthfeel. I'm looking at making one or two Witbiers this year, this may or may not make the list since i'm still figuring out what I want to make on a regular basis.

Main lesson learned, don't dump the beer, give it time and you will get something that is better than you think it will be.
 
I've made this three times, with the most recent being today's brew. The first time, I followed the recipe, exactly, and it was an excellent summer beer. It was the kind of beer that made people want to say" I love your Lemon Party!", to which I would just snicker.

The second time, I added too much fresh rind, trying to kick it up, and it was bitter and astringent. It didn't help that I left the boxed bottles in the sun and the constantly changing heat screwed them up. That one was a dumper.

Made it, again, today, adding a pound of Irish Stout Malt, and then another 1/2 ounce of Amarillo and Sorachi in a 20 minute hop-steep post-boil. I wanted to keep the BUs/GUs pretty close to the default recipe, so my hope is that the extra pound of malt will help. I'm also trying the WLP cream ale yeast, plus I may dry hop with Aurora and Styrian Goldings because, hey, why the hell not? I'll let you guys know how it turns out in a month, or so, but this is a recipe well worth your time.
 
Do you strain out the peels when transferring from boil pot to primary?

If the peels are left in the primary, then will it cause unwanted bitterness?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I did when I made this and I have used peels in others and always take the peels out in those too.
 
Okay, warning: follow the recipe exactly, otherwise you will end up with a Lemon Pledge / dill pickle explosion. The BU/GU ratio really doesn't seem to matter; my latest batch is still a bit too overwhelming on the Sorachi Ace / lemon rind flavor. I'm cold-conditioning the bottles, in an attempt to mute the flavors, but let it be known: the recipe, as written, is excellent -- don't try to improve upon it!
 
Okay, warning: follow the recipe exactly, otherwise you will end up with a Lemon Pledge / dill pickle explosion. The BU/GU ratio really doesn't seem to matter; my latest batch is still a bit too overwhelming on the Sorachi Ace / lemon rind flavor. I'm cold-conditioning the bottles, in an attempt to mute the flavors, but let it be known: the recipe, as written, is excellent -- don't try to improve upon it!

Wow, I walked away from HBT for a couple years and missed a lot! Thanks to all the people who took a chance on my recipe and gave it a shot.

To those saying "follow the recipe exactly" - I don't think you NEED to do that, every recipe is up for modification for personal preference. The last batch I made, I skipped the 5-minute hop addition and did it all at flamemout, and got a bit more of a clean hop character to it.

To jcp - thanks for making my beer! I think it's one of the more easy-drinking homebrew. It's got a lot more character than, say, Centennial Blonde, but it's really easygoing for the casual drinkers. I haven't had anyone drink this and say they hated it, worst I've had is "I'd rather have an IPA!" from the "beer snob" buddies of mine who think any non-IPA is garbage.

To the rest - I've made this about 5 times over the years, and plan on making it again this spring. I'm back around to answer questions, but this is a fairly simple beer. Straightforward, easy, and balanced. If you want to fiddle with the recipe for your own tastes, go for it - especially by changing the yeast, you can get a LOT different beer (this recipe would work EXACTLY for a mild wit if you threw some coriander in and used WLP400, for example) - in fact, I just made almost this identical recipe as a wit with some grapefruit zest added :)

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/wit-lives-matter-64143c

Cheers!
 
Made this over the weekend. Stayed true to the original except I had to use S-04. LHBS was out of 05. Kind of disappointing. We will see how it turns out.
 
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