Brewers Best lemon shandy results?

Anyone tried the Brewers Best lemon shandy extract kit? Just picked it up for the wife and was trying to what people thought about it. Thanks in advance.

Is that the one that comes in a big pouch and you just add water and yeast? Just saw those in my lhbs yesterday. Interesting idea, don't know that I would make one myself though.

I saw the grapefruit shandy as well today and wondered the same thing.

Yep in the pouch. Boil a gallon or two of water with corn sugar. Add contents of the pouch and stir. Add water to make 5 gallons. Pitch the yeast and wait. Wouldn't call it brewing, but if the wife likes it, I'll be able to hit my LHBS more often. Giddy up!

Figured I would update, in case someone in the future should want to know. 2 weeks in the primary and 3 weeks in the bottle to condition, and the wife and sister in law love it. I tried it and it's definitely more on the lemon side for my liking, but all in all, an easy and delishioius kit. I've got the grapefruit shandy kit in the primary right now so she has some variety.

I have also bought the Grapefruit Shandy Kit as a trial for my buddies that love Grapefruit beer... I was surprised at how easy it was to do....and how STINKY it is while fermenting.... Can you give an update on how it turned out?

Mine is still in primary. I'll add the flavor pack in a couple days and bottle this weekend. I'll keep you posted.

Just ordered the grapefruit shandy for the father in law that loves gf. Seems more like a wine kit than beer but what the heck. Worth a shot right?

Happily bubbling away. I know this is an old thread but any results out there?

Just a follow up post on here. This turned out great. The F-I-L loves it.

Not exactly a report on the lemon shandy.
But I did brew a cider from a similar pouch product.
They included a sachet of artificial sweetener & although I was careful to use only half it ruined what might otherwise have been drinkable.
Yes dopey me! I should have known better.
My wife is a sweet tooth & I am not; so selecting one of these products may not be as simple as you might think!

LoneTreeFarms said:

Just a follow up post on here. This turned out great. The F-I-L loves it.

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Last follow up to this. Ended up scoring high enough for a gold ribbon in the state fair. Not 100% happy with the end result but it's a very drinkable beer.

I make a shandy frequently, long story short I do the following: Brew a 4 gal (yes, 4 gal. I'll explain later) blonde or a wheat (usually wheat) either all grain or extract (usually extract), shoot for an OG between 1.040-1.045, hops at 60 + flame with a varietal that emphasizes the lemon flavor like cascade or citra for example and keep the ibu between 20-30 depending on how much bitterness you want to taste, use a neutral ale yeast like 05 or 04 (I always use 04 but some people prefer 05, not much difference for this recipe), then when it is done fermenting per consistent gravity checks I'll prepare my "lemonade" and this is where it becomes a little unique- remember I said I brewed a 4 gal batch? Well I then make 1 gal of "lemonade" using 2 qts of "real lemon" juice, 2 qts of water, and whatever amount of sugar I would need to prime a total of 5 gal to reach my desired carbonation level (usually 2.7 vol). Basically I bring the 2 qts of water to a boil, pull it off the burner, dissolve the sugar, mix in the 2 qts of lemon juice (kept in the fridge, helps cool the solution), then add that to my bottling bucket and rack the beer on top for bottling. If you force carb in a keg via c02 then follow the same procedure as above however add a small amount of metabisulfite to your beer prior to mixing in the "lemonade" as to not promote over carbing.

Boom! Consistent, delicious shandy that is a "real beer" base and not a bag of juice. If you want to take it a step further, add a few bags of black tea to your beer post fermentation, prior to bottling (like a dry hop basically), then follow the lemonade procedure above and you'll have an "Arnold Palmer" beer. Of all 30+ recipes I have, even the ones I produce for my brewery, the above two are the ones that consistently make my wife the most happy and the only ones she ever actually requests I brew. If you go the route of wheat ale base and extract then I cannot highly enough suggest the Briess Bavarian wheat DME, it's fantastic. And don't be afraid of throwing 1/2-1oz of lemon grass along with your flame out hop addition.

Looks like a recipe to note & try.
Several questions, pardon my ignorance:
1) "shoot for an OG between 1.040-1.045"
2) "hops at 60 + flame with a varietal"
3) "keep the ibu between 20-30 depending"
4 "and whatever amount of sugar I would need to prime a total of 5 gal to reach my desired carbonation level (usually 2.7 vol)"
5) "rack the beer on top for bottling"
6) "add a small amount of metabisulfite to your beer prior to mixing in the "lemonade" as to not promote over carbing. "

I honestly don't get the above, for example, "shoot for a specified start gravity" - why not just suggest a suitable weight addition of either LME or DME (BTW which do you use).
Similarly how do I control the IBU, looks like you are using finishing hops for flavour but also to provide bitterness? What does "60 + flame" mean.
Dumb questions maybe, but I'd rather try this recipe confident I understood it.
Can you help further

peterlonz said:

Looks like a recipe to note & try.
Several questions, pardon my ignorance:
1) "shoot for an OG between 1.040-1.045"
2) "hops at 60 + flame with a varietal"
3) "keep the ibu between 20-30 depending"
4 "and whatever amount of sugar I would need to prime a total of 5 gal to reach my desired carbonation level (usually 2.7 vol)"
5) "rack the beer on top for bottling"
6) "add a small amount of metabisulfite to your beer prior to mixing in the "lemonade" as to not promote over carbing. "

I honestly don't get the above, for example, "shoot for a specified start gravity" - why not just suggest a suitable weight addition of either LME or DME (BTW which do you use).
Similarly how do I control the IBU, looks like you are using finishing hops for flavour but also to provide bitterness? What does "60 + flame" mean.
Dumb questions maybe, but I'd rather try this recipe confident I understood it.
Can you help further

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I can try and help with some of this.
Hops at the beginning of boil for 60 minutes and also at flame out.
Not a ton of hops you want to keep your IBUs low.
OG is the original gravity that you're shooting for roughly 7-10# of grain for all grain. Look for a conversion chart to convert that to either dme or lme depending on which you use.
Rack the beer onto the lemonade before bottling and add enough sugar to get your 2.7 vols of carbonation. Roughly 4 oz I think.
Cheers and good luck!

Thanks for the quick response.
Are you recommending a 4 gal x 60 min boil with (what, maybe 20grams) of bittering hops. Using Cascade or Citra with a 60 min boil would surely reduce any impact on flavour or aroma?
What is "flame out" is this some old brewery legacy term, does it apply to extract brewing?

peterlonz said:

Thanks for the quick response.
Are you recommending a 4 gal x 60 min boil with (what, maybe 20grams) of bittering hops. Using Cascade or Citra with a 60 min boil would surely reduce any impact on flavour or aroma?
What is "flame out" is this some old brewery legacy term, does it apply to extract brewing?

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Use cascade at the beginning of the boil. Boil for 60 minutes. At the end of the boil put in some citra. This is the flame out addition.

peterlonz said:

Looks like a recipe to note & try.
Several questions, pardon my ignorance:
1) "shoot for an OG between 1.040-1.045"
2) "hops at 60 + flame with a varietal"
3) "keep the ibu between 20-30 depending"
4 "and whatever amount of sugar I would need to prime a total of 5 gal to reach my desired carbonation level (usually 2.7 vol)"
5) "rack the beer on top for bottling"
6) "add a small amount of metabisulfite to your beer prior to mixing in the "lemonade" as to not promote over carbing. "

I honestly don't get the above, for example, "shoot for a specified start gravity" - why not just suggest a suitable weight addition of either LME or DME (BTW which do you use).
Similarly how do I control the IBU, looks like you are using finishing hops for flavour but also to provide bitterness? What does "60 + flame" mean.
Dumb questions maybe, but I'd rather try this recipe confident I understood it.
Can you help further

Click to expand...

Sorry for my delayed response, it seems like @LoneTreeFarms already answered most of your questions for me. I apologize for not being more detailed, as I mentioned previously I brew professionally so I have grown accustomed to more of a "short hand" then proper written recipes. Similar to how true bakers use percentages and not full on detailed recipes. Everything @LoneTreeFarms said is correct and matches what I was trying to say. From your quote above: questions 1, 3, and 4 are referencing using brewing software, free online recipe calculators, or even old school recipe math to figure out these final numbers in relation to what and how much ingredients you use based off of what flavor you want in the end. Question 2 means a hop addition at 60 mins and a hop addition at the end of your boil or "flame out" and the varietal part is just saying what kind of hop to use, I suggest one that emphasizes lemony flavors like cascade, citra, or lemon drop. Question 5 means to add your "lemonade" to your bottling bucket then transfer your finished beer on top of it, by doing it this way the two fluids will naturally mix together requiring little to no mixing therefor reducing (if not eliminating) oxygen pick up. Question 6 means to basically kill off your yeast with metabilsulfite (common wine ingredient, found at your LHBS) so when you package your beer the yeast does not continue to consume sugar from your "lemonade" leading to overcarbing. Only do this if you keg your beer and force carb, if you bottle condition (like many homebrewers) then skip this step and simply add the amount of sugar you need to bottle into your "lemonade". For example: if you need around 5oz of sugar to prime a 5 gal batch then that is how much sugar you make your "lemonade" with and that becomes your priming solution instead of making a simply syrup or dosing each bottle.

Hope this helps!

I'm loving the fact that a pro brewer takes the time to help usher in a new group of people trying to do different things with their beers! it's great, hat tip to you sir!

LoneTreeFarms said:

I'm loving the fact that a pro brewer takes the time to help usher in a new group of people trying to do different things with their beers! it's great, hat tip to you sir!

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I appreciate that and I try to help as much as possible. I've learned most of this on my own through having the privilege of working at several breweries, a distributor, and a homebrew shop. Long story short, I wish I had someone with my current knowledge base I have now to help me back then haha.