All-Grain - Zest Bomb - Citrus Wheat Pale Ale - Page 2

**bovineblitz** · 02-03-2012, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryman79

For those of you who added to the boil or at flameout, do you remove the zest before transferring to the fermenter? Some have speculated that the fruit may begin to rot in the fermenter. Has anyone had any experiences with this?

Also, some have mentioned a "citric flavor" in the resulting beer when adding zest to the boil (see here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/need-little-help-my-tangerine-wheat-experment-247633/#post2969358). Assuming that "citric flavor" is the flavor of citrus fruit, isn't that what we want?

Thanks,
Bryan

Both times I used that much zest I put it in a muslin bag @5min and left it in the wort until I drained it into the fermenter. If you just threw it into the boil without a bag I don't think you'd have a problem with the zest going bad though, my only concern was that some of it might make its way into the bottles. It probably wouldn't but it's easy to use a bag to be sure. A little bit escapes the muslin bag but I never noticed a problem at bottling or in bottles.

I think in that thread he was just referring to citrus flavor, 'citric' makes me think 'acidic' and that doesn't really apply to his recipe or to this one. And yeah the idea here is a huge citrus flavor to complement kind of a hybrid between a pale ale and an American wheat (or "American witte", if you will). I can't really speak to his experiment because I've never used fruit extract and prefer the idea of using zest anyways since that's where you find those delicious citrusy oils.

**DMace** · 02-16-2012, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bovineblitz

And yeah the idea here is a huge citrus flavor to complement kind of a hybrid between a pale ale and an American wheat (or "American witte", if you will).

Is this the way you're describing your version of Ithaca 13? I've never had Ithaca 13, but thats close to how I would describe Dogfish Head's Namaste - the beer that I'm going to attempt to clone next week. (And I'm talking only the grain profile and not the hops, yeast, or citrus - though I do plan on zesting my fruit peels. Thats the way to go.)

BW210 · 02-23-2012, 01:22 AM

This sounds really close to what i just brewed... less the zest. Inspired by a brew at my local brew pub, I managed to score 13 oz of Citra hops. I did all extract though. 8# of light, dark and wheat DME with 5 oz total hops. 1oz of Amarillo at boil, 1 oz of Centennial @ 30min, 1 oz of Citra @ 15min, 1 oz of Citr @ 5min and 1 oz Of Citra waiting to dry hops after 3 weeks. I used a washed WLP001 California ale yeast from my last pale ale. The smell is like a grapefruit flower in a wheat field. Color is a light Carmel. I have already decided to split the slurry after I rack and make another 2 5-gallon batches 1 with more and 1 with less wheat DME. Decide which of the three I like best and then get helping convert to all grain(haven't done yet). I can't even pass the carboy without giving a sniff. Going to be a long 6 weeks to my first tasting.

fuzzyglasses · 02-24-2012, 12:53 PM

This is just what I came here for… a replica of the 13 and saw it almost on the very top of the forum. Gracias. Had one cellared that we drank last week. Such a great beer. Scored some citra for something just like this for summer.

Just curious, the bottle mentions what seems to be the entire list of ingredients… oats being one of them. Did you omit those on purpose? I was thinking of using oats and Denny's Yeast for the big mouthfeel you get with that beer. Any idea how much? I haven't really tried formulating recipes.

**bovineblitz** · 02-24-2012, 03:44 PM

Well the beer in this thread isn't a 13 clone, it's just inspired by it. It has a lower starting gravity, uses an absurd amount of zest from a wider variety of fruits, omits the oats and raw wheat, and feels less like an imperial.

I didn't do the oats because I figured lowering the gravity while keeping the wheat at 25% would produce plenty of mouthfeel. It's not as thick as 13 but that's what I wanted, this is supposed to be more drinkable. Denny's yeast sounds like it'd be pretty good, it should accent the breadiness and zest flavors. I might try that out sometime.

This is pretty close in most of the flavor profile so if you wanted to do a clone you could up the base malts a bit, maybe increase the wheat %, add some oats, and only use the zests that they used on 13. I imagine it'd come out quite similar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMace

Is this the way you're describing your version of Ithaca 13? I've never had Ithaca 13, but thats close to how I would describe Dogfish Head's Namaste - the beer that I'm going to attempt to clone next week. (And I'm talking only the grain profile and not the hops, yeast, or citrus - though I do plan on zesting my fruit peels. Thats the way to go.)

It's how I'd describe this version, I don't think I'd describe 13 that way as it comes off as kind of a Americanized belgian style ale to me. Ithaca calls it a wheatwine, akin to a barleywine, but it really has no category that fits it well. In any case, it's delicious and I don't really care how it's labeled.

I found Namaste to be more like a typical witbier, the only twist is that they added lemongrass. I'd imagine that the grain profile is fairly close but I'd go with more of a standard witte profile... about 50% wheat, 50% pils for an OG of about 1.050.

**bovineblitz** · 05-03-2012, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moonpig

Will be looking forward to tasting this beer as it ages

How'd it come out?

I just finished up the brewday for another batch of this, it should be ready just in time for when the warmer weather really starts kicking in.

Think this is enough zest?

jmd1971 · 05-21-2012, 11:15 PM

Do you need to prepare the zest right before adding to the boil or can it be done ahead of time/night before? Just trying to maximize time, but if the zest will lose its 'zest'

I'll do it during the mash....

**bovineblitz** · 05-22-2012, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmd1971

Do you need to prepare the zest right before adding to the boil or can it be done ahead of time/night before? Just trying to maximize time, but if the zest will lose its 'zest'

I'll do it during the mash....

If you're going to do that I'd just pour a little vodka in it just to be sure it doesn't dry out or get otherwise funky. I was thinking about trying that next time anyways since it'd increase the extraction of zesty deliciousness.