Grimsawyer
Well-Known Member
I plan on brewing a big Honey Hef and using lemon zest. I don't want there to be a lemon flavor, just a suttle hint of lemon. To Taste the beer and say this is good, what's that, I think I taste lemon, but I'm not sure, is my intent. In my 5.5 gallon batch I am using 7 lbs of wheat extract and 3 lbs of honey(going to heat 1 gallon of water to 150 dump the 3 lbs in and just keep the temp steady for 15 min, and add to fermenter with wort, want to try and keep some honey taste... good luck, right?) 2oz of Hallertau hops (bittering) and .5 oz Mt Hood hops at 15 min 10 min and 2 min also going to dry hop .5 oz. For my hint of lemon to almost be noticable how much zest should I use. One average lemon's worth (average size, as average as Fred Meyer's can get anyhow), half a lemon's zest. 2, 3? Or will the flavor be gone after the 6 months to a year it takes for this big Hefe to age? Will my finishing hops completely obliterate the chance of any lemon kinda showing through? What do you guys think oh, also going to prime with 5.5 oz (net wt.) of honey. LOL! every honey beer I've ever tasted the honey flavor never shines through. The guy at my LHBS suggested not boiling the honey and priming with it and maybe honey will be tasted. *crosses fingers* Going to use clover honey. Anyhow, I'm interested in what all of your opinions are on this lemon thing. Hope to hear from some people who have played with it.