Lemonade Beer Mix: Help Wanted

[Chrisdon]

I have just been thinking of some potential brews that would be experimental and good for a summer brew. Today I remembered that my sister used to love mixing a light bodied beer with lemonade to make a unique drink. I was wondering if there was any way to make this flavor to be within the bottled product instead of having people mix it themselves.

I have thought of a few options but I am pretty new to brewing so I thought I should ask some other people.

I thought maybe I could brew a normal light bodied ale and add the lemonade at the bottling stage at a mixture that I thought would be good but then thought about bottle conditioning. Would this result in A LOT of yeast sediment because of the sugar from the lemonade being added?

I thought maybe I could also add some lemonade into the secondary of the brew but do not have much experience with adding to secondary fermenters.

ANY SUGGESTIONS ARE HELPFUL! Thanks!

 

[ak40kush]

im thinking that if your wooried about to much fermentation in the bottles than dont prime the bottles let the yeast feed off of the sugars in the lemonade. make sense?

 

[Chrisdon]

im thinking that if your wooried about to much fermentation in the bottles than dont prime the bottles let the yeast feed off of the sugars in the lemonade. make sense?

Yeah that makes sense to me for sure! The only thing I would worry about then is the kind and amount of sugar in the lemonade causing under carbonation possibly. Hmmm

 

[SenorD]

I'd be much more concerned about over-carbonation.

The standard carbonation amount is 3/4 cups sugar in five gallons, which comes out to about 3/4 of a teaspoon sugar per 12 oz bottle, or about 3 grams. Assuming your sister was mixing half lemonade and half beer and you attempt to replicate that prior to bottling, you'll wind up with 18 grams, or over four teaspoons of sugar per bottle. Kaboom.

Besides, the yeast would ferment out all the sugar you throw in there, leading to a very different, dry taste. You might try mixing a batch of lemonade using splenda or lactose, see if that tastes ok, and then throw it in with your beer before bottling with the standard amount of priming sugar.

Good luck!

 

[Chrisdon]

I'd be much more concerned about over-carbonation.

The standard carbonation amount is 3/4 cups sugar in five gallons, which comes out to about 3/4 of a teaspoon sugar per 12 oz bottle, or about 3 grams. Assuming your sister was mixing half lemonade and half beer and you attempt to replicate that prior to bottling, you'll wind up with 18 grams, or over four teaspoons of sugar per bottle. Kaboom.

Besides, the yeast would ferment out all the sugar you throw in there, leading to a very different, dry taste. You might try mixing a batch of lemonade using splenda or lactose, see if that tastes ok, and then throw it in with your beer before bottling with the standard amount of priming sugar.

Good luck!

That is very true! Ah I will definitely keep that in mind if I decide to do it that way! Thank you for the help!

 

[bad coffee]

why not just brew a lemon creme ale? Light bodied, and you could add lemon zest or even lemon extract at bottling. If you went with extract it would be completely controllable.

B

 

[Chrisdon]

B,

I thought about that too. I have used two extracts (Raspberry, and Peach) and both brews turned out very well so that is not a bad option either. Thanks!

 

[KCPyrate]

Try looking for a Shandy recipe, there are a few commercial versions out there but I'm not sure if these are mixed after fermentation & bottled/kegged or how the sweetness of the lemonade remains after fermentation.

 

[Chrisdon]

Try looking for a Shandy recipe, there are a few commercial versions out there but I'm not sure if these are mixed after fermentation & bottled/kegged or how the sweetness of the lemonade remains after fermentation.

"Shandy Recipe"? Is that just a name for the lemonade beer mix?

 

[jamest22]

The Weeping Radish Brewery in North Carolina makes a beverage they call 'Radler'. Its a blend of their Kolsch and lemonade. Its pretty delicious. While visiting the brewery, the brewer told us that the lemonade they use is sweetened with artificial (like Splenda) sweetener. That is how they get around post-fermentation sugar/carbonation issues.

 

[giligson]

A lot of folks who make non alcoholic (read less than 0.5%) pop with bottle conditioning use Splenda (sucralose) to sweeten their recipes. You might want to check out a soda pop discussion.

 

[bovineblitz]

I'd recommend Splenda as well. Maybe use some real lemons in the brew itself, let the sugars ferment out... add some powdered sugar free lemonade mix?

 

[KCPyrate]

"Shandy Recipe"? Is that just a name for the lemonade beer mix?

Yes, lemonade & beer mix.

Leinenkugel makes one called "Summer Shandy" which is available bottled, but from what I understand they add the lemonade after fermentation and force carb. A local brewpub here makes a Ginger Shandy Draft but I believe it is the same process with lemonade added to kegs & carbed.

There are several other threads here about making a shandy or lemonade beer, one recommended lemonade kool-aid packets.

 

[JonK331]

There used to be a beer called Saxer Lemon Lager. I'm not sure if it's still available but it might give you some ideas: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/saxer-lemon-lager/604/

I remember it being quite refreshing.

 

[throwbookatface]

I thought a shandy was ginger beer and a light beer (also an excellent combination! Butenberg is my favorite ginger beer for this).

 

[homebrewer_99]

Yes, a shandy is made with ginger.

As for Lemonade Beer, the German's call it a Radler...personally I just mix a half glass of each and viola!! A Radler.

 

[ak40kush]

or you could always make lemonade from scratch as well.

 

[mkling]

I've drunk this kind of lemonade/beer mixture many times. For me, it is a great lawnmower beer -- perfect for while working outside in summer. But my question for you is: Why would you want to "brew" this kind of concoction when you can just mix it at the time of drinking? To me, it seems like there's a good reason why this drink evolved as a mixture of beer & lemonade at drinking time -- because it tastes great that way. It's also much more flexible to have a great beer that also mixes well with lemonade. You get two kinds of drinks from one brew.

 

[BigErn]

I recently took on this adventure as well. What came out wasnt close to Summer shandy but it still turned out ok.

I recommend just trying a strait wheat beer with a lower OG. Rack only a few cup up lemons... 1 or 2 at most. After tasting and getting your FG you can add Crysal light lemonade mix to make up for sweetness lost.

 

[Chrisdon]

I've drunk this kind of lemonade/beer mixture many times. For me, it is a great lawnmower beer -- perfect for while working outside in summer. But my question for you is: Why would you want to "brew" this kind of concoction when you can just mix it at the time of drinking? To me, it seems like there's a good reason why this drink evolved as a mixture of beer & lemonade at drinking time -- because it tastes great that way. It's also much more flexible to have a great beer that also mixes well with lemonade. You get two kinds of drinks from one brew.

That is very true. I only want to "brew" it as this typ of beverage because I give out a lot of my homebrews to friends and even leave a stock at a friends house to have people try during get togethers there. I guess I could do the mixing myself but If I didnt then people would probably not do it themselves, which I guess wouldnt be a problem if the beer was good. I was just wondering though. Thanks for all the help though guys!

 

[Chrisdon]

I recently took on this adventure as well. What came out wasnt close to Summer shandy but it still turned out ok.

I recommend just trying a strait wheat beer with a lower OG. Rack only a few cup up lemons... 1 or 2 at most. After tasting and getting your FG you can add Crysal light lemonade mix to make up for sweetness lost.

Tell me a little more about how it came out tasting if you have time!

 

[QuixoticDevice]

Has has been said, in Germany they do a mix of beer and lemonade and call it a Radler. I've seen it in cans over there, but, in a bar, they'll generally just fill a glass halfway with lemonade and top it off with Spaten, or whatever lager or Bock they have handy. It's mighty tasty on a hot summer day.

I'd say brew up whatever kind of beer strikes your fancy and experiment! Try bottling a couple with straight lemonade (though, maybe store them in something enclosed in case of beer bombs), a few with a splenda lemonade (w/priming sugar then?), and just bottle some straight and try mixing them with lemonade at the time of drinking. For science!

 

[garretto]

I bottled a few bottles of half lemonade and half hefe for my buddy off of my tap. I filled the bottle halfway with lemonade then topped it off with kegged hefe. Gave him a six pack or so. Well buddy decided to leave the six pack on his counter during spring break and ended up having a few of them pop the cap of the top.
Figured I'd share this to let you know that the residual yeast will ferment the sugar in the lemonade if at room temperature. The fact that it was a cloudy hefe prolly didn't help but regardless, you may want to use some splenda

 

[BigErn]

My Lemonade beer came out with mixed results... Im really not a big fan of it but others Esp. SWMBO likes it. Start with a very basic low Abv wheat beer. I bumped up the hops with 1oz of Cascade to help balance it out a little.

I racked onto 3 cut up lemons but next time I would lower it to 1 maybe 2. It raised the acidity of the beer a little too much for my tastes.

at bottling I added one packet of crystal light lemonade mix. It added a nice lemonade flavor without it overpowering. You can add as much as you want for your tastes... I had my thief out with about 4 shot glasses and would sampled untill I felt I hit the right mix.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

I have been thinking of just making a batch of lemonade and vodka, then force carbing it. Wonder how that would do?

Probably try it in a two liter bottle first, instead of making a 3 gallon batch right off the bat.

 

[throwbookatface]

You guys tried Ayinger's Radler beer? I've never seen it in the states, but if there's a brewery I'd trust with one it's them.

I found an article praising some traditional radler-style beers, I wonder if any recipes for these have made their way into homebrewer's domain.

http://www.beerconnoisseur.com/node/871

 

[BigErn]

Bump with and Update. Everyone loves the Lemonade wheat beer I made... Ive been sluffing it off trying to get rid of it not knowing that after 3 months in the bottle its mellowed out nicely... now I wish id kept some of them.

It was an extract simple wheat beer

3lbs Wheat DME (60 Minutes)
3lbs Wheat DME (15 minutes)
1lb Extra light DME (15 minutes)

1oz Coriander (10 minutes)
2oz Lemon zest (10 minutes)
2oz Orange zest (10 minutes)

1oz Cascade (60 minutes)

Nottingham Yeast.

Secondary onto 3 cut up lemons

Add 1 packet of Crystal light lemonade mix at bottling.

Let it age in the bottle for atleast 2-3 months. Its more like a slightly malty Hard Lemonade.


Im going to try to put together an all grain batch of this in a couple days

 

[devilishprune]

This is a pretty good idea. I have 2.5 gallons of hard lemonade that has been in the primary for god knows how long. I don't want to drink the stuff straight, so I'm thinking that I can brew up a simple beer to add it to. Something simple like that wheat beer would work well.

Too bad it isn't summer anymore, though.

 

[nycbrew]

Saranac makes a "summer brew" which is a lemonade and lager mix.

Another thought is you could brew your batch to fg then pop a couple campden tablets in there to kill off any yeast and then mix your lemonade in and force carb without fear of over carbing from the yeast.

This of course assumes you have a keg setup, but would make for an interesting experiment.