Lemon/lime Infused Beer

[whompa1]

Just had a lemon/lime infused beer. Thinking about brewing one myself. Anyone with a recipe or idea about what stage of the brewing process to had the ingredients. eg. in the first brew or after bottling?
Cheers

 

[sinkas]

tried the search engine?

some geezer asked the same question a week or so ago

A lot of eye rolling ensued.

 

[rosswill]

Use Glacier hops. It is said to give a Lemony twist to the beer.
I have a Glacier pilsner in secondary at the moment.

 

[apd]

Search for radler - that is the name of the style you're after.

Andrew

 

[Swinging Beef]

Lime infused lager is a popular Mexican treat called Michelada.
Its normally lime or lime cordial added just before the drink is served, much like the scary lemon in a Corona.
Seriously, the best way to get that lemon lime flavour into a beer is to stick the lemon in the glass after it is poured, but if you are certain you want to make one, get a strong coctail grad lemon cordial and add it to your 2ndary.
Watch for sugar content as you may end up only needing to prime the bottles with the cordial.

 

[Rodolphe01]

Some ideas from a very inexperienced brewer...

You could boil up lemon/lime zest then add at some stage of the brew (fermenter or bulk priming), with lime in particular ensure you remove all white pith from the zest otherwise as it gets very bitter. A good way to get the zest without pith is use a vegetable peeler with light pressure and any pith that remains can be easily scrapped off with a knife.

Another option that comes to mind is you could buy a good quality lemon/lime extract/essence from a kitchen supply shop (such as executive chef in South Brisbane) and simply chuck that in at some stage, perhaps at bulk priming if you go that way.

I can't imagine that doing the boil of zest would give you a 'fresh' zing that I assume you are after though.

I have no idea what sort of quantities of zest or essence you'd need either.

And now for a quote from a wise German man in reference to Corona w/ lemon 'If beer was meant to have lemon in it, lemon trees would grow in Germany'

 

[reviled]

Use Glacier hops. It is said to give a Lemony twist to the beer.
I have a Glacier pilsner in secondary at the moment.

Apparantly southern cross can give off lemon characteristics... But theyre really high in the AA's, so may not be a good hop to use as it could easily bump up the IBU's...

 

[mynameisrodney]

I bottled a batch of coopers mexican cerveza about a week ago with lemon and lime in it. i juiced 2 lemons and 3 limes, boiled the juice with some water and added to the fermenter. i'll let you know how it is when i crack one.

 

[Katherine]

try throwing in some kaffir lime leaves into the fermenter... only 5 or 6 of them.... Couple of chillis also if you dare... 2 months in the bottle the flavours combine beautifully...

 

[mynameisrodney]

Ok i've had a few of my mexican cervezas now. The flavour of the lemon and lime is quite strong and overpowers the beer flavour substantially. Despite this, it is a really nice drink. It's definitely the most refreshing thing i have brewed and goes brilliantly with spicy food. Everyone that i have given one to try has also enjoyed it.

ingredients were:
1 coopers mexican cerveza
1kg coopers BE1
500g Dextrose
2 Lemons
3 Limes

 

[davidsmith]

Mynameisrodney
what was the %alcohol of your creation

 

[buttersd70]

Mynameisrodney
what was the %alcohol of your creation

At a guess, from the ingredients, ~4.5% post primary. But I'll let Rodney confirm that.

 

[davidsmith]

At a guess, from the ingredients, ~4.5% post primary. But I'll let Rodney confirm that.

thanks butters,
sounds like a good brew my brother would like!!

 

[mynameisrodney]

Good guess.
OG: 1.041
FG: 1.007
works out to 4.6 prior to bottling according to my calcs.

It's got me a little confused though, the brewcraft calculator says
OG: 1.051
FG: 1.012
5.8%

 

[reviled]

Good guess.
OG: 1.041
FG: 1.007
works out to 4.6 prior to bottling according to my calcs.

It's got me a little confused though, the brewcraft calculator says
OG: 1.051
FG: 1.012
5.8%

The coopers tin have less malt in them than the brewcraft ones (apparantly) so they give you a higher OG

 

[Benbrewer]

Ok i've had a few of my mexican cervezas now. The flavour of the lemon and lime is quite strong and overpowers the beer flavour substantially. Despite this, it is a really nice drink. It's definitely the most refreshing thing i have brewed and goes brilliantly with spicy food. Everyone that i have given one to try has also enjoyed it.

ingredients were:
1 coopers mexican cerveza
1kg coopers BE1
500g Dextrose
2 Lemons
3 Limes

My wife will only drink one type of beer, which is the lime infused type. A couple of questions if that's ok?
How much water did you add to the juice when it was boiled, and for how long did you boil it?
I'm planning to keg it so hopefully it will turn out.
What is the clarity of the brew? And did it keep a reasonable amount of gas and head?
Only ever added chilli to beer so not sure on adding extras.

Thanks in advance

 

[Adamt]

I can't speak for rodney, but I'd imagine no more than the 2L you should add with the kit?

Also, this thread is a few months old so don't be disappointed if you don't get any responses from the original posters.

 

[adraine]

Flame suit on h34r:

Citrus fruits such as lemons and limes were originally put in beer in Mexico to keep the flies away form the neck of the bottle.
Why on gods green earth would you spoil a decent beer by adding acid???? :icon_vomit:
Ahhh well whatever floats your boat.

 

[manticle]

..........much like the scary lemon in a Corona.

Slightly OT: I was under the (unconfirmed) impression that citrus was added to Mexican beers in Mexico to keep away the flies.
I'd be keen to know if someone with better knowledge can tell me if that's a load of horseshit as I've always found the lemon in Corona beer a bit of a **** (and corona a fairly unexciting beer).

 

[///]

Citrus fruits such as lemons and limes were originally put in beer in Mexico to keep the flies away form the neck of the bottle.

No flame suit - acid is a common sanitiser in brewing (Peroxitane) and also used to adjust water and wort for pH numerous reasons. (high pH's produce more dextrinous worts, consistency in the brew house etc).

Also, ascorbic acids can, and are seldom used, be used to avert oxidation (alcohol and co2 do this for us naturally). I reckon the easiest way to make this beer though is to back the donkey up (beeep ... beeepp... beeep), grab his slong and alleviate present liquor, bottle it and then cut a fresh lime or lemon wedge and add to it.

I just reckon that the fruit thing is a way to get some flavour into to what is some high quality crap. Can you imagine the effort it takes to make beer so clear and flavourless - it is what one would think as working against common sense and nature. I dare anyone to go out and buy a decent beer and knock out the co2. It would still be drinkable. Do it to a ceveza and well ...

Beer - it is meant to have malt and hop flavour in it!

Scotty