Summertime Beer

[NickD_1+]

Anyone out there have a recipe for a 'Summer Shandy' (very lemony) Beer?

[Beer-lord]

I did a quick google for Summer Shandy clone recipe and found a few:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/njrockp ... ck-425452/

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/summer-shandy-335148/

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2012/09/01 ... er-shandy/

[monsteroyd]

Isn't a true Shandy just beer and lemonade? That doesn't sound as good as a lemon flavored wheat beer to me. I'd just use some pilsner and wheat dme and add in the zest and juice from 3 lemons. I've had very good luck with limes and oranges doing this, so I bet a lemon would work too.

I did a beer with 1 can of frozen limeade concentrate vs one I did with zest and juice from limes, and I got more lime flavor from the zest and juice than I did with the limeade. YMMV

Monty

[Dawg LB Steve]

I think your correct Monty.
I am about to keg a 5 gallon Summer Honey-Lemon Wheat, I used

3.3 Lb Bavarian Wheat LME
3.5 Lbs Pale Malt mashed
.75 Lb Honey Malt mashed
.5 Carapils mashed

.5 oz Cascade @ 60
.5 oz Cascade @ 30
1.0 oz Cascade @ 5

Washed US-05

Racked to secondary @ 14 days and added Steeped to rehydrate and pastuerize 6 Grams Dried Lemon Peel ( Brewers best I think )
I have the sample in the Hydro tube watching the FG and it has a very nice taste. I believe the OG was 1.056 and supposed to finish @ 1.011 but its working its way down it's at 1.010 as of last night.

[philm00x]

The lemon-lime hef that Kealia is doing would be a good brew to make to appease the shandy cravings. Otherwise, I'd probably brew up a good and crisp blonde ale/cream ale/kolsch/faux lager and add a good lemonade to it. Or better still, grapefruit juice! Or if you're feeling real adventurous, brew up a true pilsner lager and add the juice to it.

[braukasper]

One option to keep in your arsenal are essential oils. These are not flavorings. A drop or three will have you thinking there is a fresh lemon in your glass!!

[Kealia]

The lemon-lime hef that Kealia is doing would be a good brew to make to appease the shandy cravings.

That was my initial thought, too. I just don't want to promote it without trying it myself. It does have over 140 pages of reviews on HBT to refer to, though.

[Trollby]

I was thinking of doing a Weiss and at bottle time add 1 pack true Lemon to bottle bucket



I have had good luck using this when making hard lemonade

[BeerRust]

This was from Brewing Bull, he posted a little back. Nice lemon wheat, looks real good....


I figure others might be interested. This is the original and so far the best version of this I have done.

Recipe Lemon Shark Original Style American Pale Ale
Brewer Carcharodon Brewing Batch 2.25 gal
Extract

Recipe Characteristics
Recipe Gravity 1.070 OG Estimated FG 1.018 FG
Recipe Bitterness 40 IBU Alcohol by Volume 6.8%
Recipe Color 7° SRM Alcohol by Weight 5.3%

Ingredients
Quantity Grain Type Use
3.50 lb Briess DME - Pilsen Light Extract Extract
0.25 lb CaraPils - [Body, Head] Grain Steeped
0.25 lb Crystal 10L - [Body, Caramel, Head, Sweet] Grain Steeped
0.50 lb Crystal 20L - [Body, Caramel, Head, Sweet] Grain Steeped
Quantity Hop Type Time
0.50 oz Citra - Musky tropical fruit and strong citrus make this a great flavor/aroma hop very fruity Pellet 0 minutes
0.25 oz Citra - Musky tropical fruit and strong citrus make this a great flavor/aroma hop very fruity Pellet 20 minutes
0.25 oz Citra - Musky tropical fruit and strong citrus make this a great flavor/aroma hop very fruity Pellet 10 minutes
0.25 oz Nugget - Bittering hop spicy-herbal Pellet 30 minutes

Quantity Misc Notes
1.00 unit Lemon Zest Yeast
1.00 unit Safale S-05 Dry Ale Yeast Yeast American: Temperature Range: 59°-75° F 11.5 GRAMS

Recipe Notes

add fresh lemon zest last 8 min of boil
add fresh lemon juice from 2 lemons after adding wort to the lbk.
These were 2 large lemons.

[philm00x]

Damn, didn't even think of that. I've tasted brewin' bull's Lemon Shark and it's fantastic. And I see that it uses Citra, so that will help me run my supply down! Added to the brew queue. Thanks, BeerRust!

[NickD_1+]

Thanks for your help, guys!

[mashani]

Although the lemon shark is tasty, I personally have a hard time thinking of a 1.07 beer as a "summer beer" lemon or not. It's not what I'd call a shandy, which is more for drinking after mowing the lawn on a 90 degree day.

[Dawg LB Steve]

I think your correct Monty.
I am about to keg a 5 gallon Summer Honey-Lemon Wheat, I used

3.3 Lb Bavarian Wheat LME
3.5 Lbs Pale Malt mashed
.75 Lb Honey Malt mashed
.5 Carapils mashed

.5 oz Cascade @ 60
.5 oz Cascade @ 30
1.0 oz Cascade @ 5

Washed US-05

Racked to secondary @ 14 days and added Steeped to rehydrate and pastuerize 6 Grams Dried Lemon Peel ( Brewers best I think )
I have the sample in the Hydro tube watching the FG and it has a very nice taste. I believe the OG was 1.056 and supposed to finish @ 1.011 but its working its way down it's at 1.010 as of last night.

For what it's worth, I think this came out nice and refreshing and had someone take a blind taste and tell me it tasted like Leinne's Summer Shandy!

[rlbthree]

I have the sample in the Hydro tube watching the FG and it has a very nice taste. I believe the OG was 1.056 and supposed to finish @ 1.011 but its working its way down it's at 1.010 as of last night.

Dawg
Not to get too far off topic here but I have a newbie question about your "sample in the Hydro tube..." It sounds like you've pulled a sample and are saving it in your hydro tube, is this correct? I've ditched my sample and drawn a new sample every time (sort of bugs me I hate wasting the beer). If you are keeping your sample in the Hydro tube, do you cap or cover the tube somehow?

[Dawg LB Steve]

When I pull my sample to monitor the FG, I pull what I would need in the tube to visually get a good reading, then wad up a paper towel and somewhat plug the top above the liquid, if it continues to "ferment" it just pushes it up the tube. Since I'm not putting it back in the fermenter but drinking it after its done, I don't star-san the tube or the hydrometer which I would if I was putting it back into the fermenter. Only have to worry about disturbing the fermenting wort once this way and only losing a few ounces of finished product. I was in your shoes only a short 5 1/2 months ago, so ask away, there are many more knowledgeable brewers here than me that are happy to help keep you brewing!