Sugar-Free Shandy didn't work

[Weezy]

Just a quick report on a failed brew.

Someone, I apologize for forgetting who, had posted about using a sugar-free lemonade for building a shandy and not having to worry about secondary fermentation of normal juice. I was quite excited by this. I'm a big fan of Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, especially after a long, hot day of yard work.

So to test the idea, I brewed a simple beer with extract. The exact recipe not being important but it was a quick extract brew with sometinhg like 2.5lb Briess golden DME, 1lb Briess wheat DME, and ~10% Crystal 10 (3 gallon batch). Hops was just a bittering addition to 20 IBUs (Rager). The beer was quite un-complex.

I picked up a handful of sugar-free lemonade and fruit mixes. 4C, Crystal Light, Walmart house brand (Great Value), walmart strawberry mango, walmart pomegranate. I mixed these to the appropriate ratio with water in separate cups.

I kegged and carbed the beer. I pulled a draft of beer and separate cups of each sugar-free fruit drink. In a small glass, I dosed different ratios of beer to fruit drink...5:1, 4:1, 3:1, 2:1..using an eye dropper (essentially dropper full vs dropper full, building a 2 oz drink or so with each effort). I did this for the three lemonades and never made it to the fruitier options. My quick experience was anything less than than 3:1 was quite tart and less than appealing. The slight hop bitterness seemed to multiply with the citric acid, making the drink untenable. Going to 3:1 and higher seemed synthetic and not worth the brew time.

I imagine I could, perhaps should, try it again with maybe a 5-10 IBU beer and hope that the compounding effect of bitterness doesn't happen, but I wasn't at all satisfied with the taste I was chasing.

I did mix some of the beer with real lemonade, and it was enjoyable. If you're willing to pour and mix pitchers for guests, it will work fine. However, I'd much rather have something appreciable on tap, if not out of a bottle.

 

[unionrdr]

I used 12 packets of Trulemon in the priming solution of a pale ale the first time. Recipe for Sharie's Summer Shandy in my recipes. Now this time,I brewed a partial mash Berlin Wheat beer. 1oz Haulertauer @ 60 minutes & 20 minutes. The same 12 packets of Trulemon crystalized lemon juice. Mixed it in with the priming solution. But in 5 gallons of Berlin Wheat. It's been in bottles a couple days now,so we'll see if it works better than the pale ale version did. Hoping for a smooth spiced lemon kind of flavor with the natural sweetness of the wheat.

 

[speeddemon190]

my LHBS has a little vile of lemon flavoring, thats what i used for mine, I stirred it in with the priming sugar. turned out great!

 

[brewhunter65]

I have a wheat beer conditioning with 3 quarts of simply lemonade added 4 days into the secondary fermentation. I tasted it at bottling time and it is not so sweet like I had hoped. When you use try lemon, do you use the sweetened(I would think so) or the unsweetened?

 

[unionrdr]

This is Trulemon;
http://[URL=http://s563.photobucket.com/user/unionrdr/media/lemoncrstl.jpg.html] [/URL]
It's unsweetened crystalized lemon juice. There are no sweetened or unsweetened versions. they make Trulime & Truorange as well,but Giant Eagle doesn't carry them.

 

[Weezy]

Well, I'll have to give it a try. Thanks!

 

[unionrdr]

I can't wait till 7/31 when it'll be 3 weeks in the bottles to try my Berlin Leomweisse. I have high hopes that the same amount of Trulemon from the pale ale will work better in the lighter wheat.

 

[brewhunter65]

I can't wait till 7/31 when it'll be 3 weeks in the bottles to try my Berlin Leomweisse. I have high hopes that the same amount of Trulemon from the pale ale will work better in the lighter wheat.

Thanks for the advice. I found the truelemon at Kroger and bought 2 boxes for future use. My wheat beer that I added 3 quarts of sply lemonade to turned out pretty good. I would have liked more lemon flavor, but I have had a couple of people try it and they really liked it. I am very critical of my own creations. It gamers better after more time in the bottle.

 

[brewhunter65]

I can't wait till 7/31 when it'll be 3 weeks in the bottles to try my Berlin Leomweisse. I have high hopes that the same amount of Trulemon from the pale ale will work better in the lighter wheat.

Also, keep us posted on the truelemon pale ale.

 

[unionrdr]

The pale ale with Trulemon was the original brew I've been refering to. the Berlin wheat is the new attempt.