Wheat Beer / Lemonade Shandy thoughts...

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Rob2010SS

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Jun 16, 2017
Messages
3,401
Reaction score
1,363
Location
Spring Grove
Looking to do an American Wheat to turn into a shandy and serve at a party. I will be adding the lemonade to each keg and pre-mixing the beer and lemonade at some ratio that I believe will be between 25% lemonade/75% beer and 50%/50%. I'll be doing tests before kegging to determine the correct mixture. For now, my questions relate to the recipe itself.

Here's what I'm thinking for grain bill...

45% White Wheat (7.09#)
30% Pale 2 Row (5.11#)
25% Pilsner (4.14#)

This puts me around 1.056 OG and a 3.9 SRM. Depending on the mixture of beer/lemonade, this should put me right around 2.8% ABV to 4.2% ABV after dilution.

For hops, I'm thinking along the lines of Magnum FWH for bittering and I'm also thinking of trying out Lemondrop on this. Lemondrop would only be used lightly towards the end of the boil but looking to enhance citrus flavors and possibly pull some lemon out of it. I haven't calculated amounts yet but I'm thinking of shooting for 17 IBUs which puts me at a BU/GU ratio of 0.3.

Questions
1. Any other suggestions for bittering hops? I always go magnum or warrior and was thinking of changing it up. I was almost thinking of going Nugget, or Hallertau or Willamette just to change it up a bit. Although I suppose with the low amount of IBU's I'm targeting, it won't make a whole heck of a lot of difference...

2. Anyone have good experience with lemondrop? What was your experience with it? I've read it's more like a super cascade...

3. I wouldn't want the beer to get too light when mixed with lemonade. However, I feel like lemonade probably wouldn't lighten up the beer from the 3.9 too much. Anyone think it needs to be darker in color to combat the color change from the lemonade?

4. Any recommendations for yeast? Was thinking WY1007 or WY1010...

Thanks in advance.
 
I made a 5g wheat beer with two ounces of lemondrop dry hopped and one ounce of lemon peel @ 60 minutes. Tasted like lemonade. I lost the lemonade taste after two weeks due to oxidation, since I'm new and don't do closed transfer yet.
20210323_135320.jpg
 
Last edited:
I might put 1.5 ounce next time. But it was exactly what I wanted. Tasted just like a shandy, but without diluting the beer! It lived up to its name!
 
Fwiw...
Have you considered just brewing the wheat beer by itself and mixing the shandys on the day of the party?
That way you have beer for non-shandy drinkers, and you could have a choice of juices for the shandys? Or even just one- lemonade. Maybe make pitchers throughout the party?
 
I have considered that. I was leaning towards pre mixing kegs so that we didn’t have people trying to mix their own. They could just go right to the kegerator and pour a glass and it’s already measured out for them.
 
The issue with shandys is that you may start fermentation up again by adding sugary lemonade. Without filtering, pasteurizing and/or treating it with potassium sorbate you’ll end up with a foamy, over carbonated mess. I could see you getting away without treating the beer, if each keg was ‘mixed’ and finished the day of the party and kept cold.
I’ve made a beer that featured lime zest in the boil and the Simply brand’s limeade. I added the limeade during fermentation, as to not worry about carbonation issues in the keg- tasted great. However, it lacked the “sweet” flavor of a shandy you may be desiring. Personally I dont like my beer too sweet, so I shy away from shandys- usually.
Check out this thread if you’re interested in what I was describing:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/adding-lime-juice-to-beer.577645/Cheers, and Good luck with your brew!
 
The issue with shandys is that you may start fermentation up again by adding sugary lemonade. Without filtering, pasteurizing and/or treating it with potassium sorbate you’ll end up with a foamy, over carbonated mess. I could see you getting away without treating the beer, if each keg was ‘mixed’ and finished the day of the party and kept cold.
I’ve made a beer that featured lime zest in the boil and the Simply brand’s limeade. I added the limeade during fermentation, as to not worry about carbonation issues in the keg- tasted great. However, it lacked the “sweet” flavor of a shandy you may be desiring. Personally I dont like my beer too sweet, so I shy away from shandys- usually.
Check out this thread if you’re interested in what I was describing:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/adding-lime-juice-to-beer.577645/Cheers, and Good luck with your brew!

Thanks man. Yeah, I've had luck in the past with the combination of potassium sorbate and campden tablets. I know there's debate on whether or not that works but I have a couple of left over bottles from one I did 2 years ago where I used PS & campden and added maple syrup to the keg. Never had an issue with fermenting out. That was my plan with this as well.
 
I’m curious on people’s thoughts here...

The NB summer shandy kit uses crystallized lemon as opposed to diluting with lemonade. We use true lime all the time at home for Coronas. It’s crystallized lime. Same company makes this...

6EE73804-295A-4056-8F58-F5C7892564B4.jpeg

While I know “better” is subjective, anyone think this might be a better route to go instead of lemonade?
 
I've changed my plan here.... I will not be diluting with lemonade. I've kept the grainbill the same but reduced it to an OG of 1.044. We'll be using Amoretti's Lemonade flavoring in the final product for this one. We'll still use Lemondrop hops late in the boil but kept to a minimum. I think this will be better than diluting the beer with lemonade.

1616770082584.png
 
I think this is the recipe we're going with. What are everyone's thoughts here?

Title: Lemon Shandy Wheat

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American Wheat Beer
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 9 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Boil Size: 10 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.040
Efficiency: 75% (ending kettle)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 4.41%
IBU (tinseth): 14.45
SRM (morey): 3.51
Mash pH: 5.34

FERMENTABLES:
3.47 lb - Barke Pilsner Malt (24.9%)
5.94 lb - White Wheat (42.6%)
4.28 lb - Pale 2-Row (30.7%)
0.25 lb - Acidulated Malt (1.8%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Willamette, Type: Pellet, AA: 4, Use: First Wort, IBU: 10.56
0.75 oz - Lemondrop, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 3.36
1 oz - Lemondrop, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.5, Use: Boil for 1 min, IBU: 0.53

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Strike 164.8 F, Temp: 152 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 4.5 gal
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.31 qt/lb

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
4 oz - Amoretti Lemonade Flavoring, Time: 0 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Kegging

YEAST:
Wyeast - British Ale 1335
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 74.5%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 63 - 75 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F
Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / deg P)

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: 31514
Ca2: 51
Mg2: 6
Na: 8
Cl: 73
SO4: 53
HCO3: 16
 
Honestly if i had enough taps I would keg a lemonade and just let people or myself do a half n half. I have a chest freezer that is getting really close to becoming a keezer, but I wont wanna mess with it.
 
I think this is the recipe we're going with. What are everyone's thoughts here?

Title: Lemon Shandy Wheat

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American Wheat Beer
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 9 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Boil Size: 10 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.040
Efficiency: 75% (ending kettle)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 4.41%
IBU (tinseth): 14.45
SRM (morey): 3.51
Mash pH: 5.34

FERMENTABLES:
3.47 lb - Barke Pilsner Malt (24.9%)
5.94 lb - White Wheat (42.6%)
4.28 lb - Pale 2-Row (30.7%)
0.25 lb - Acidulated Malt (1.8%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Willamette, Type: Pellet, AA: 4, Use: First Wort, IBU: 10.56
0.75 oz - Lemondrop, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 3.36
1 oz - Lemondrop, Type: Pellet, AA: 5.5, Use: Boil for 1 min, IBU: 0.53

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Strike 164.8 F, Temp: 152 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 4.5 gal
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.31 qt/lb

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
4 oz - Amoretti Lemonade Flavoring, Time: 0 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Kegging

YEAST:
Wyeast - British Ale 1335
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 74.5%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 63 - 75 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F
Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / deg P)

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: 31514
Ca2: 51
Mg2: 6
Na: 8
Cl: 73
SO4: 53
HCO3: 16
How did this turnout?
 
How did this turnout?
Turned out ok. The amoretti flavoring sucked. We went with Crystal light packets which made it a bit too sweet. After the fact, found a Meyer lemon extract that I think would have been perfect. Next time that’s what we’ll be doing. Other than that, the base recipe was pretty solid.
 
Back
Top