American Wheat Beer Zest Bomb - Citrus Wheat Pale Ale

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Is everyone zesting this on brew day or is there a way to do it ahead of time and store it.
 
Is everyone zesting this on brew day or is there a way to do it ahead of time and store it.

I've always done it on brew day, but in theory you could store it in vodka just fine (I'd probably put it in the fridge too). Might even get better extraction of the flavors.
 
Well the results are in - pun intended - this beer is the bomb! 15 gallons in one day at a bbq with my friends (there were a few but it was about a half-gallon/person) and there were two other beers on tap too!
 
Just kegged a modified version, brought it down to make a 5% beer and fermented with vermont ale yeast (conan).

Sample tasted retarded good, perfect summer beer.
 
Just kegged a modified version, brought it down to make a 5% beer and fermented with vermont ale yeast (conan).

Sample tasted retarded good, perfect summer beer.

Sounds really nice, did you just dial the whole grain bill/IBUs back a bit?
 
I'd be interested in a session version also. I might make this as an American wheat, dial down the hops and let the citrus shine through.

I have several gallons of homemade limoncello. I might add a pint of that to the fermenter also.
 
Hell yeah! It's 2015, about time for a session version I'd say, if you don't mind typing it up!

Hahaha awesome, all right here is my modified version.

Boil Size: 7.37 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.72 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG (I got 1.045)
FG: 1.006
ABV: 5.1%
Estimated IBU: 40.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 78.50 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.2 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Mash: 150F

Ingredients:
------------
5 lbs 5.4 oz Pale Ale Malt 2-Row
2 lbs 2.2 oz Wheat Malt, Pale
1 lbs 1.1 oz Vienna Malt
0.50 oz Palisade - Boil 60.0 min
0.50 oz Citra - Boil 15.0 min
0.25 oz Sorachi Ace - Boil 15.0 min
0.50 oz Citra - Boil 5.0 min
0.25 oz Sorachi Ace - Boil 5.0 min
0 g (see notes) Citrus Zest (Boil 5.0 mins)
1.0 pkg Vermont Ale (The Yeast Bay #)
1.00 oz Citra - Dry Hop 5.0 Days
0.50 oz Palisade - Dry Hop 5.0 Days
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace - Dry Hop 5.0 Days

For the zest, I took what I had, about 3 limes, 3 lemons (fairly big) and a grapefruit (REALLY big). From the uncarbed sample, upfront is the zest, very tasty. I get the lemon a lot, with some orange (safe to assume it's from the yeast). Not sweet, got some tart to it, that's pleasant and refreshing. Look forward to tasting the carbed beer!.

I pitched around 66F, let it free rise to 68-69 for 7 days, increased to 72-73F as I dry hopped, for 5 days and held it there, cold crashed for 2 days and kegged.
 
If you do decide to try this version, I'd love to hear what you think! :)
 
Hahaha awesome, all right here is my modified version.

Boil Size: 7.37 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.72 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG (I got 1.045)
FG: 1.006
ABV: 5.1%
Estimated IBU: 40.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 78.50 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.2 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Mash: 150F

Ingredients:
------------
5 lbs 5.4 oz Pale Ale Malt 2-Row
2 lbs 2.2 oz Wheat Malt, Pale
1 lbs 1.1 oz Vienna Malt
0.50 oz Palisade - Boil 60.0 min
0.50 oz Citra - Boil 15.0 min
0.25 oz Sorachi Ace - Boil 15.0 min
0.50 oz Citra - Boil 5.0 min
0.25 oz Sorachi Ace - Boil 5.0 min
0 g (see notes) Citrus Zest (Boil 5.0 mins)
1.0 pkg Vermont Ale (The Yeast Bay #)
1.00 oz Citra - Dry Hop 5.0 Days
0.50 oz Palisade - Dry Hop 5.0 Days
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace - Dry Hop 5.0 Days

For the zest, I took what I had, about 3 limes, 3 lemons (fairly big) and a grapefruit (REALLY big). From the uncarbed sample, upfront is the zest, very tasty. I get the lemon a lot, with some orange (safe to assume it's from the yeast). Not sweet, got some tart to it, that's pleasant and refreshing. Look forward to tasting the carbed beer!.

I pitched around 66F, let it free rise to 68-69 for 7 days, increased to 72-73F as I dry hopped, for 5 days and held it there, cold crashed for 2 days and kegged.

Nice, looks like a more or less linear dial-back. I'm guessing it's going to wind up really lemony, which should be nice for the hottest part of the summer.
 
You it the nail on the head. Leans towards lemony side, some grapefruit and you get some nice orange from it too, from the yeast safe to assume considering I didn't but any orange in it. Nice mouthfeel, I carbed to 2.6.
 
You it the nail on the head. Leans towards lemony side, some grapefruit and you get some nice orange from it too, from the yeast safe to assume considering I didn't but any orange in it. Nice mouthfeel, I carbed to 2.6.

Conan sounds great, seems like it'd give it a bit more body and add complexity to the fruity flavors as you said. I'm doing an IPA with B trois/conan mixed in the near future, maybe I'll save some of the culture to try it out on this recipe.
 
Just did this with 1 oz of Equinox @ 30 and 2 oz Citra @ 5 mins
Rind from 1 large grapefruit, 2 Lemons and one large Orange.

Was shooting for 1.050 and wound up at 1.056 - how much sugar comes out of the rinds?
 
Just did this with 1 oz of Equinox @ 30 and 2 oz Citra @ 5 mins
Rind from 1 large grapefruit, 2 Lemons and one large Orange.

Was shooting for 1.050 and wound up at 1.056 - how much sugar comes out of the rinds?

Basically none, sounds like you were just more efficient than expected. Was it a 5gal batch?
 
Sounds like a cool recipe for the Summer and I was looking for something to use up some Sorachi Ace on.

However I don't have any Palisades.
What would be a good sub?
I have Cascade, Willamette, Amarillo, El Dorado, Mosaic, Simcoe, Galaxy, Vic Secret.

Would preferably like to use Willamette as I have a lot.
 
So I did this recipe but changed it up a bit. I got lazy with the zest so I quartered all the fruit, and spread them out on sheet pans and roasted all the citrus at 425 for about 30 minutes until the fruits were carmalized. I put them all in a mesh bag and boiled it all in the last 10 minutes and squeezed all the juice into the mash. I'm thinking about subing the sorachi ace hops for Galaxy hops in the dry hoping. Should I do this? Or should I stick to the sorachi ace? Looking forward to this beer! Thanks for the recipe!
 
So I did this recipe but changed it up a bit. I got lazy with the zest so I quartered all the fruit, and spread them out on sheet pans and roasted all the citrus at 425 for about 30 minutes until the fruits were carmalized. I put them all in a mesh bag and boiled it all in the last 10 minutes and squeezed all the juice into the mash. I'm thinking about subing the sorachi ace hops for Galaxy hops in the dry hoping. Should I do this? Or should I stick to the sorachi ace? Looking forward to this beer! Thanks for the recipe!

That certainly sounds interesting, roasted citrus comes off a lot sweeter to me. Galaxy sounds good, it'll be a lot more tropical-fruity but that's certainly not bad. Def report back!

Sounds like a cool recipe for the Summer and I was looking for something to use up some Sorachi Ace on.

However I don't have any Palisades.
What would be a good sub?
I have Cascade, Willamette, Amarillo, El Dorado, Mosaic, Simcoe, Galaxy, Vic Secret.

Would preferably like to use Willamette as I have a lot.

You can really sub anything for that bittering charge. I'd use either the Cascade or the Willamette.
 
Just an update from this beer that I brewed with the roasted fruits.. It came out really nice I think. The roast of the fruits gives it another demention in bitterness and sweetness. As this beer aged some the bitterness of the zest comes out nicely...thanks for the recipe!
 
Just brewed this today. Was looking for a great summertime beer, and this looks perfect. Citrus season is pretty well past, so I had to settle for 9 heirloom oranges, 2 limes, 3 lemons and 2 red grapefruit. The wort smelled amazing after the flameout zest-rest.

Thanks for sharing the recipe!
 
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