All Grain Lemonade

[larin1477]

So my 1st batch of Hard Lemonade...wasnt a success...it was way too bitter...
I brewed it as an extract batch....

But now that im brewin all grain...

What if I use some 2 row and a Ton of carapils!...(carapils have unfermentable sugars right?)...

What if I use...

4lbs 2 row
3 lbs carapils

.5 oz cascade (60)

1 qt lemon juice at flameout

2.5 gal batch

[corkybstewart]

I've got to respect your initiative, but this seems like one of those beverages best left to the pros. But if you do figure it out please let me know, it would certainly be something I'd try.
As for the carapils, it'll add body but not much else. It won't affect bitterness or sourness, it just give beer a better mouthfeel and helps with head retention. Bitter/sour issues are with the hops and the lemonjuice.
If you want something to balance the sourness of the lemon juice maybe a few of pounds of crystal 20 instead of the carapils.

[danno]

didn't you use lactose in your last batch? I'd still use some of that. like Corky said, the carapils won't do much for the sweetness, but it will help with head retention and body. I'd probably use a 1.5 lb lactose, 1.5 lb crystal 20, and 0.5 lb carapils.

[MrNate]

I'm not sure why, but I get the feeling that the pros start with a high-adjunct, very light lager with little or NO hops and add coloring/flavoring/backsweetening from there.

If I were trying something like this, I would probably start with a grain bill of 2/3 pils malt, 1/3 minute rice, and maybe .5 oz saaz at 5min. Let it go all the way through secondary and then backsweeten with splenda (if needed) and and add lemon juice (to taste).

Just a stab in the dark, really. I've never tried this.

[toneyc]

This was the Lemon Ale from St. Pat's:

Lemon Ale ................
OG 1.038 4% alc.
6 lb Moravian pale,
1.5 oz Northern Brewer,
1 oz Hallertau,
American Ale II yeast,
1 oz lemon flavoring at bottling,
1 cup corn sugar for priming.

Now, it isn't Mike's hard lemonade, but it was a real nice lemon flavored ale.

:)
Toney.

[HogieWan]

I'd skip the hops altogether. Wine is balanced by the acids from the grapes (or fruit, depending on the wine), and I would imagine the tart citric acid would be plenty to balance any sweetness left from the barley. If secondary tastes too sweet, you can add a few drops of beano to break down the unfermentable sugars to something the yeast can convert to reduce the sweetness. However, if you mash low, I doubt you'll need it. Note that lemons aren't really sweet to begin with and most sugar sweetness in there will be converted by the yeast.

[sittingcow]

If you want hard lemonade, then you'll probably want to make a bland lager and mix it with lemonade post-fermentation, or just ferment lemonade and re-sweeten after fermentation.

If you want a lemon beer, you can do whatever you want! (I'd go with some kind of white ale)

Like everyone said, balancing hops (especially citrusy cascades) and citrus sounds kinda hard. If you're making this for a non-beer-loving spouse, I can't see why you would want to add hops, and I wouldn't use much malt either.

Have you tried mixing lemonade with your (her) favorite mild (hefe, kolsch, lager...) beer, homebrew or otherwise?

[plantman]

What happened with this?

[Shaun Goeckner]

I do a Honey Lemon Lager, OG 1.048 with just 7.5 lbs pale malt, and a pound of hiney malt. I use Yerba Louisa ( available in many hispanic food stores) which is a lemon grass, at flame out and a bit of willamette for no reason.

Careful with the lemon grass, it has a TON of tannins, so dip it like a tea bag for a minute ONLY!

Experiment on the stove top to see where too much is to prevent ruining your batch!

[larin1477]

lol..sorry i didnt reply ...I scrapped this project...because ...as corky said ...its best left to the pros!...