Summer Shandy

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mblakely

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This is a beer (ususaly a lager) mixed with lemonaid or soda. It is particularly refreshing durring a hot summer day after working outside. It is with this in mind that I would like to make one. This is normaly a low alcohol (because of the mixing) beer, but I would like to make my end product be 4-5% abv.

First of all I have never attempted a lager. I do have the resources to do one, but it is a bit more of a hastle.

Second I would like to model mine like a pre-mixed version that I had in Chicago. I can not recall the name but I beleive it came out of Argentina.

My idea is to make a light style ale (or lager) and mix in lemon peel and/or lemonaid. I know that adding table sugar (found in Lemonaid) would have some cider effects. I could add the lemonaid durring conditioning or bottling.

Any idea's or recipies? Anyone tried this yet?

Thank you
Matt
 
All of this is news to me regarding the style. I would think that adding the lemonade when bottling could put you at risk for bottle bombs.
 
Do you keg or bottle?

I'm not sure of any way that you'd be able to safely bottle a beer that also included a sweet beverage - that's going to want to keep fermenting and cause bottle bombs. Kegging would be a lot easier/safer - although you might still be best-off mixing in the glass.

Are you familiar with the Berliner Weisse style? Might be of interest to you. It's a sour German wheat beer, made with lactobacillus in addition to ale yeast. Low-gravity, sour, often drunk with the addition of a raspberry or woodruff syrup for some sweetness. Might be in the vein of what you're looking for. Very few commercial examples in the U.S., though.
 
I'd brew a beer you could mix into a 'shandy' if you prefer, but not try to brew up a shandy-beer. Most of the sweetness will ferment out of any lemonade, etc. you might add, defeating hte purpose. Soda has preservatives that will not help the yeast, e.g. making it hard to carbonate if naturally carbing.

Stick to brewing beer... and mixing the shandy afterwards.
 
Citrus doesn't ferment well, either. I know there are commercial examples (Mike's Hard Lemonade, etc), but they are notoriously hard to duplicate. For citrus flavor, you can add some zest, but fermenting citrus juice can turn pretty putrid.

For an example you can try at home overnight, squeeze a few lime wedges into a glass of water, and leave it at room temperature overnight. The next morning, the flavor will be very reminiscent of vomit.
 
We made a drink like this when I was deployed to Turkey a few years back. We mixed frozen lemonade concentrate, 4 cheep beers, and vodka. This is a very drinkable concoction that will knock you over before you know it.
The drink is called "Hop Skip and Go Naked!"

Seriously, I'd suggest just mixing lemonade with a beer of your choice. It will probably be better than anything you could make.
 
When I was in Spain for a while, they had a drink that was very similar. They would mix their equivalent of a BMC half and half with lemon soda in the glass as they served it to you. I have to say it was very refreshing on a hot summer day, and it also had the effect of allowing you to forget that you were drinking a not so great beer. Long story short - i would mix the citrus with the beer in the glass.
 
they drink this in bavaria, in the beer gardens, called "radler" a link to the cyclists who allegedly got it started.

it's normal helles beer mixed with lemon soda (think sprite/7-up, not american style flat lemonade). that said, there are commercially available bottles, ready-mixed, but i'd wager any amount they mix when bottling and don't brew it like that from the off. i'd guess the ABV on this is 2.5-3, not 4+%

i've never seen it done with dunkel, but with hefeweizen it's called a russen (russian) for some reason. dunkelweizen is mixed with cola in a similar kind of way (tastes better than you might think).
 
So the consencus is to mix the lemonaid (or soda) when consuming because of the added sugar in the lemonaid for fear of bottle bombs and messing with the yeast/carbination. I would think that adding lemon peal to the batch would have a simmilar effect as adding orange peal to heffe's. I would like to do a bit more research and thought on the subject. I mean if I am just going to mix it durring consumption I may be better of buying cheap beer and creating a better batch of my own.
I will keep thinking on this.
Thank you
Matt
 
mblakely said:
So the consencus is to mix the lemonaid (or soda) when consuming because of the added sugar in the lemonaid for fear of bottle bombs and messing with the yeast/carbination. I would think that adding lemon peal to the batch would have a simmilar effect as adding orange peal to heffe's. I would like to do a bit more research and thought on the subject. I mean if I am just going to mix it durring consumption I may be better of buying cheap beer and creating a better batch of my own.
I will keep thinking on this.
Thank you
Matt

I think you are missing a pretty bold point here - lemon peel is not in the least bit sweet - or at least not when compared to the liquids you mix in a shandy. Lemonade and/or Lemon/Lime Soda have TONS of sugars in them...

You won't get the same effect as mixing lemonade/soda at consumption by adding lemon, orange, or whatever peel during the boil of a beer...
 
Side note, a shandy is made with an ale like Bass or Harp and is the English - Irish version of the Radler. The key to a good Radler or Shandy is to have a lemon soda which is tough to find stateside. Sprite will wort but tastes much worse and a lot more like mountain dew. You can find lemon sodas at higher end grocery stores.

Lienekugels makes some nasty swill that is premixed like you are talking about, but thats just nasty. In my opinion, the Radler is a better drink. Brew a good helles, then if you want a Radler on a hot day, just mix one up.

Now thats what I call a sports drink! :)
 
The mix that I've found, while not a traditional shandy, is really quite good IMO. I start with a dutch lager (Think Peters Brand) and mix with a lemon soda.

I'd suggest sticking with a nice crisp lager, then mixing.
 
I feel that if you can get hold of a concentrated syrup from a lemon/lime soda then you could add it at flame-out much like honey. Your ABV would go up because of the extra sugar but you may retain some light citrus notes. Just a thought.
 
i would make a smooth light normal lager and then after fermenting it out pasteurize it so the yeast is nothing to worry about and then mix with lemonade and force carb.
 
I've been kicking around the idea of trying to put together a summer shandy after taking a tour at Leinenkugels. I don't care for their summer shandy that much, but I think that given the correct recipe it could be a great summer beer. I have a honey wheat ale on tap right now so I poured about 25% lemonade and the rest beer and it actually tasted pretty good. It had just a slight lemon taste and aroma. I'm thinking about doing a batch. What is the best way to kill yeast? I would brew the wheat, kill the yeast, add lemon flavor, then force carb. Or force carb then add lemonade. Then if I wanted to bottle I could with a beer gun. Instead of adding mixed lemonade and lowering abv I'm going to figure out how much lemonade concentrate to add.
 
Are you talking about koolade? I would like to stick with real lemonade.

Not koolade, sugar free lemonade, they carry it at my local Sprouts store. Or make your own, lemons, water, splenda.

I was thinking of the folks who want to premix and bottle, I keg my beer, and I prefer to pour 'simply lemonade' into the glass, and pull a pint on top of it. simple to work out the ratios, it would suck to get too much lemonade into the bottling bucket, then you are stuck with over-lemoned beer, no turning back from that!
 
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