I want to add Lemon for Summer Shandy

I have been home brewing for a while and use extracts/ steep-extract recipes. I would like to add lemon as a flavor to a brew, to resemble my favorite beer of all time... Leinenkugels Summer Shandy. Can anyone help me. I realize there may not be a clone, but I at least want to try adding lemon or lemon-ade flavor to an Ale or even a lager . TIA

I would recommend simply adding a slice of lemon to the beer after you have poured the glass.

Checkout my recipes. It's the only one I posted so far.

A "true" clone would be difficult, because if I recall right, the beer is actually force-carbed and blended with real lemonade - to replicate this, you would have to use Campden to kill the yeast, sweeten, keg, and carb, so you couldn't do it with bottles.

You could always fill bottles with a BMBF after forcing it though. FWIW.

Heres what I tried. I made a 5 gallon hefeweisen recipe but used Nottingham dry yeast instead for (cleanness) and added lemon zest to secondary (from 10 small organic lemons) and then bottled with 4 packets of lemonade Kool-Aid (just the dry mix, not mixed up with water) + 2/3 cup corn sugar. Its not exactly like the "Shandinator" but it was close and was really good!!

Hey, Kool-Aid is a great idea, sorry I didn't think of that!!! Cheers mate!

Having tried that beer after attempting to make it myself (didn't even come close), it defenitley has a slight bananna flavor to it like a bavarian heffe, yet the strong lemon flavor masks most of the yeast flavor. I'm not sure about the kool-aid, but adding lemons to the secondary gives it more of a tart/bitter flavor vs. actual lemon flavoring. Maybe try to use lemon extract when you bottle? I even recall the label describing it as a Weiss beer, which usually has that bananna/clove flavor to it.

A shandy is a lovely drink on a hot summer day, but I find they're best when mixed fresh rather than Leinie's interpretation.

LK's Honey Weiss has no esters to it, it's a pretty plain-jane honey wheat beer... Pretty clean. I've never noted the banana taste to the Summer Shandy though. I don't think LK uses any "real" hefe yeasts...

Bringing back a very old thread but in case anyone is interested: I did a side by side of an "organic" lemon option and a Kool-Aid option.

I brewed one Hef batch and ran it through primary fermentation, and then racked off half to the bottling bucket with 2 packets of the concentrated (unsweetened) lemonade Kool-Aid. At the same time I added juice from 6 lemons and about 4 oz of dehydrated lemon rinds to the remaining half and left it for a week before bottling.

I had a few people try them side by side a few weeks later. The general consensus was that the kool-aid version had a more distinct and sharper lemonade flavor, the 'real' version was more subtle and generally still enjoyable, but perhaps a little "vegital". Everyone liked both, but it was about a 80/20 split on the preference for the Kool-aid version. Seemed like a win for me, it was way easier, faster, and about 10% of the cost.

So I brewed up another batch, but this time for kegging. Brewed, fermented for 2 in primary, racked to keg with 4 pkts of Kool-aid. Conditioned in the basement for a week. Hooked up in the keezer. --
Guess what? ....
I dumped the first half pint of phlem.
Next pint was sour. Really strong.
Next pint the next night, still sour, starting to wonder if I actually made a sour beer, not happy.
Next pint a few nights later, it was great, actually what I was looking for.
Shared with a few friends for awhile and was met with smiles.
Then the lemon started to fade.
Now it is just another wheat beer. Nothing special at all, and my 4th of July jewel is just going to be wheat beer.

So what did I learn?
1) If you are bottling Kool-aid is perfect - 4pkts in a 5 gallon batch seems great, just add it along with priming sugar. - enjoy.
2) If you are kegging - Kool-aid is not a good option. It settles out in the bottom of the keg and you get a few pints of Lemony toxic nasty, and then after that you get very little lemon action at all.

I am actually going to add one more pkt of Kool-aid on the 4th assuming that it will not all settle out immediately and will give a bit of shandy for a day. I just hope we finish the keg that day. I will add it in some hot water and hope that it mixes in as it settles.

That's it for tonight. Enjoy the holiday.

Do you add the kool-aid to the boil with the priming sugar, or straight to the beer without boiling?

When I bottled I boiled the priming sugar in the microwave and added the koolaide to that solution as it cooled. - that worked well.
In the keg I heated water, added koolaide allowed to cool to 150 or 120, and dumped it in the keg. Not as good.

I am going to bottle so hopefully I get the same results you did. I am putting it in a fizzy yellow lawnmower beer I just made for some friends. I might just do it for half the batch just in case it doesn't turn out. It seems like most go with a wheat beer for the shandy. Truth be told, it's for a girl I'm trying to impress. Her beer pallette is pretty much for BMC so I think it should probably work out pretty well.

Good luck with the brew and the girl ;-).

Several years ago, I made a beer and then added 1 bottle of lemon flavored torani syrup to the secondary fermentation. I was new and used a kit. I don't remember which one, but probably some basic amber ale kit. I used 1 cup of honey when I bottled it and let it sit for about a month in the bottles. The result was very good for one of my first batches ever. Had about the right amount of lemon flavor to be enjoyed sitting under a nice shade tree on a hot summer day.

manortc said:

Several years ago, I made a beer and then added 1 bottle of lemon flavored torani syrup to the secondary fermentation. I was new and used a kit. I don't remember which one, but probably some basic amber ale kit. I used 1 cup of honey when I bottled it and let it sit for about a month in the bottles. The result was very good for one of my first batches ever. Had about the right amount of lemon flavor to be enjoyed sitting under a nice shade tree on a hot summer day.

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I have the idea of making a 2.5 gallon batch of beer, then after the yeast did it's job neutralizing it with campden. After the yeast is good and dead I'm thinking about kegging the beer with 2.5 gallons of organic lemonade.

Do you think it'll work/taste like the real deal? Or even taste ok?

Not sure how that would work. But to give it a try, just take a beer similar to the one you plan on halving with lemonade and pour yourself half a glass. Top off with organic lemonade and see what you get. I think for me it would be too much lemonade, but I'm not a fan of lemonade, just a hint of lemon.

manortc said:

Not sure how that would work. But to give it a try, just take a beer similar to the one you plan on halving with lemonade and pour yourself half a glass. Top off with organic lemonade and see what you get. I think for me it would be too much lemonade, but I'm not a fan of lemonade, just a hint of lemon.

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I could be wrong but isn't summer shandy a 50/50 split of beer and lemonade?

To each his own. .
When I started my deal I wanted a 5% beer with the lemonade flavor added so i went with the dry Koolade.
If you are mixing 50/50 and want a 5% beer you would need to brew a 10% beer.

This year I just need to figure out a way to keep the lemonade flavor from settling to the bottom of the keg.

Never used camden tablets. I assume that is to kill the yeast from further eating? Instead of lemondade packs or kool aid, any thoughts on crystal light lemonade that is artifically sweetened?

Anyone look at the lemonade flavor of the Lorann Oils. Unilke others in its lineup, that one is NOT soluble in water. Any idea how that would result if it isn't soluble?

sfrisby said:

Never used camden tablets. I assume that is to kill the yeast from further eating? Instead of lemondade packs or kool aid, any thoughts on crystal light lemonade that is artifically sweetened?

Anyone look at the lemonade flavor of the Lorann Oils. Unilke others in its lineup, that one is NOT soluble in water. Any idea how that would result if it isn't soluble?

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Campden tablets don't kill yeast. Well, they kill wild yeast and microbes but are amazingly tolerant of wine yeast and brewer's yeast, that's why winemakers use them. I'm not sure why people think campden tablets will kill yeast.

I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners, but that should work. Any non-fermentable sweetener (truvia, lactose, etc) should work also.

I'd rather just make a cream ale and a pitcher of lemonade and mix them at the tap.

I don't think that my dry Kool-ade version needed to be any sweeter, just constantly mixed so the lemon did not all sit at the bottom of the keg, so I would not worry about adding the artificial sweetener.

great thread and thank you for all the great info, I was thinking about adding kool-aid to my batch but was hesitatant because I didnt want it messing with the yeast but since Ive read this Ill feel a lot more confident about it. I just made a lager and processed 4 pounds of limes. Im wondering what its gonna taste like.

Now that summer is back I am going to dig up this thread. I tried adding crystal light to a keg and it was okay. Nice strong lemon flavor that lasted but the splenda tasted awful (I am extra sensitive to it). On my latest I tried to had some lemon soaked vodka and it added a tiny bit of lemon but nothing really noticeable. On my next attempt I was going to make a honey wheat with lager yeast and I plan to crash the yeast out with gelatin then rack to a keg. I will then add campden and add some lemonade. I know this will not kill the yeast but the tiny amount that I have in the keg should not be able to ferment out the lemonade. Thoughts?

I'm very new to brewing (just brewed my second batch) and I have this batch of Cream Ale (a Brewer's Best kit) thats siting in my primary right now. I'm interested in possibily adding somethign else, like lemon, and I came across this thread. Do you have any suggestions on this? Can I add a few packets of lemonade straight into the batch before bottling? And what about some honey, will those flavors work with this type of beer? And I'm really concerned (possibily without reason) that I'll get too much carbonation if I add those in with the priming sugars..... Any thoughts?

Waboom!! said:

Heres what I tried. I made a 5 gallon hefeweisen recipe but used Nottingham dry yeast instead for (cleanness) and added lemon zest to secondary (from 10 small organic lemons) and then bottled with 4 packets of lemonade Kool-Aid (just the dry mix, not mixed up with water) + 2/3 cup corn sugar. Its not exactly like the "Shandinator" but it was close and was really good!!

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Kool-Aid, what an awesome Idea!

You might want to add sorbate too. Wine makers "stabilize" with K meta (campden) and sorbate, then backsweeten with sugar/ flavored. The k meta stops the yeast from reproducing. Sounds good if your keggings.

Good thread - Wife and I went to a micro brew fest in Parkville, MO last weekend and McCoy's public house was serving a ginger shandy. So, of course I want to try and brew it. McCoy's uses fresh lemon juice and juiced ginger. I can't keg, so I may go with the koolaid option and just secondary on some peeled ginger chunks. Here are is all the info I could find on McCoy's website:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/i-want-add-lemon-summer-shandy-51548/index3.html

McCoy’s version of a Shandy

This is a light, refreshing beer made with real Ginger and Lemonade which imparts an interesting citrusy-lemon aroma and ginger bite. Super Secret Recipe.

4.5%

Malt:
Pale 2-row malt
Munich malt

Hops:
German Magnum
German Hallertaur
American Cascade

Other ingredients:
Fresh juiced Ginger
Fresh squeezed Lemon
Pure cane sugar

Original Gravity (OG): 11 Plato

My guess is that they are kegging, not bottling at all. They are probably killing off the yeast at the end, adding the juice and back-sweetening with the cane sugar. But, I am going to try some different techniques since I can't keg. Koolaid sounds like a good option. Maybe add some honey malt and lactose.

For those that have tried kegging with the lemonade, I make a hard tea, and I will hook up the co2 to the out post and mix the contents of the keg with the CO2 as I carb it up. I have been happy with the results.

In case anyone stumbles in here preparing for summer 2013, I thought I'd add this...
The lemon coriandor weiss kit from Midwest (which would be easy to clone) really made a nice "summery" beer. If you want stronger lemon I would not hesitate to 2x, 3x or even 4x their "zest of one medium lemon in the secondary" instructions. I followed their recipe and you had to concentrate on the thought to actually say you could taste lemon....but it was absolutely there. Don't fear the coriander either...it "works". Almost by accident a couple bottles found their way to my "let it age for 6-12 months" bin. About or 10 months after bottling this was a very different beer. Crystal clear and a little sour (almost belgian-y sour...imo). I really liked ti still but very different from the fresh beer. Any of the more experienced Weiss brewers who real this might be able to tell you what happened in the mean time! Last word...this is NOT a shandy, but it was a great summer beer and with more lemon might be just what some of you folks seem to be looking for.

Thanks Brewsday.

I might pick up that kit, although if somebody can post a "clone" that would be cool too, give a little flexibility. I have been leaning towards getting their Lawnmower Saison, might get both and start brewing for my summer stock now.

My wife loved Sam Adams Porch Rocker last year so if I can make something that's close I think she would love it. Especially since Porch Rocker, if they release, only has a short amount of time that it's available.

One of the things I like about Midwest is how open they are about their kit contents and instructions. You really get sense of what you're buyin before you pay...not just a "Peterman-esque" description. You could pull a "clone" recipe just by copying their info....but that leads to another thing I like about Midwest...their prices are quite reasonable...might as well just use their kit as copy it...unless you are into bulk purchasing...then you could probably shave a few $$$ off.

I can +1 in support of the kool-aid lemonade packets at bottling time. 3 packets for 2.5 gallons was perfect in my 8.5% abv beer. Great tart lemon flavor.

I would like to "clone" Midwest's recipe but they don't list what they use for the specialty grains. Does anybody have any input as to what could be used for those? I already have the extract so I would just need to get the grains and yeast.

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

it calls for 1/2 pound carapils...just hover on the box on their site and you can read the contents.

Hey kool-aid people...are you adding unsweeten koolaid packets?

I currently have a carboy secondary of all-grain Lemon Weiss with the zest of 2 big lemons presoaked in vodka in it. I did sip the smidge of vodka left in the jar and it was pretty "lemony". So I'm hoping that's enough but...I want to be ready to add more on bottling day if that's insufficient.

does anyone know the size of the kool aid packs used above?
are they the small packs where you would normally add sugar if you were making juice?
Or is it the "just add water" packs?

Thanks for the help

Just the rectangular ones near the Crystal Light section at the supermarket. I don't know the oz.

Hi. Brewing noob here. Have you tried the lemon Kool Aid trick with anything other than a Hef?
Thanks.

Bump. I'm actually bottling the Lemon Coriander Weiss kit from Midwest (AG). I didn't do the lemon zest thing.....I'm going with the Kool-Aid option. I'll let you all know how it turns out. Hopefully good....it's for my wife, but of course I'll drink a few. More of a stout/porter/IPA kinda guy.

Awesome. I'm looking forward to hearing how it comes out.

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