biohazzardbrewing

Recipes 

I am making a Heffe and I was going to add a little orange zest to complement the citrus aromas from the yeast. The problem is that on brew day, I realized that I forgot to buy oranges and I had already started (yeah yeah yeah, I know). So I came up with the idea of "dry hopping" with the zest wrapped in a cheese cloth when I transfer to the keg. Should I sanitize it in some way? I was thinking about boiling it in a small amount of water for just a few minutes and adding both the liquid and the zest to the beer. Is that necessary or can I just add it to the beer? Any other suggestions?

pickles

Recipes 

I steeped the zest for about 20 min in 170F water and cooled then added to secondary. The flavor wasn't what I was looking for, however. It was a bit too lemony?? I used the zest from two lemons in a 5 gal batch

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Gaptooth Brewhouse

oberon567

Recipes 

I am planning on doing this with a brew I am actually brewing this afternoon, though I will be using orange, not lemon. From what I have read, when you add zest to your secondary you get a strong aroma and flavor for a few weeks and then it mellows out almost entirely.

Also, I have read about people steaming the zest or doing what pickles did above, though 20 minutes is way longer than needed, I think 7 minutes in 160 degree = sanitized, but dont quote me on that... I am sure someone else here can correct me

pickles

Recipes 

20 min was to extract more flavor as I dumped the "lemon zest tea" and zest all into the secondary. It also sanitized.

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Gaptooth Brewhouse