American Wheat Beer Zest Bomb - Citrus Wheat Pale Ale

The inspiration for this beer was my first taste of Ithaca 13 (info can be found here http://ithacabeer.com/category/beers/excelsior/). I absolutely loved how the citrus zest interacted with the Citra and Sorachi Ace hops, so much so that I think I've bought more bottles of 13 than all other beers combined this past year. It didn't take long before I decided that I had to develop a recipe based on the same ideas. It came out so well that it's something I'll be making regularly.

I wanted it to be something I could have a few pints of so kept the ABV to around 7%. The defining feature of the beer is a massive 5min addition of fresh citrus zest (edit: I usually go with flameout and a 15min rest before chilling nowadays for the zest). I zested the entirety of 17 pieces of fruit (listed below) and wound up with a tennis ball sized ball of zest, all of which went into the beer. It seems like a LOT of zest... well, it IS a lot of zest!


(the fruit to the left was extra, it has not been zested)

The bitterness in this beer is very smooth as it is derived entirely from a small first wort hop addition and late additions. Citra provides tropical fruit notes while Sorachi Ace complements it with lemoney and slight peppery notes. Palisade works to enhance the pepper and a bit of tropical fruit. The actual zest can be varied depending on what is available and to your tastes. The recipe as written below will come out with a distinct orangey flavor.

From my experience, I've found that I really love the flavors of this beer when it's as fresh as can be. The hops and citrus work really well together. As it gets a bit older it naturally loses a bit of brightness, but at 4 months or so a new balance of flavor develops when the zest flavors are more prominent.

Any clean ale yeast should work great.

Oh, and don't let all that delicious fruit go to waste! If you have no other use for it, squeeze it all for juice! It goes great with 'breakfast for dinner' after brew day!

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Recipe: Citrus Wheat Pale Ale
Style: American Wheat/Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 4.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 59.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type %/IBU
7 lbs 8.0 oz - Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) - Grain - 62.5 %
3 lbs - Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) - Grain - 25.0 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz - Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) - Grain - 12.5 %
0.50 oz - Palisade [8.00 %] - First Wort - Hop - 13.9 IBUs
1.25 oz - Citra [12.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min - Hop - 24.1 IBUs
0.50 oz - Sorachi Ace [10.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min - Hop - 8.3 IBUs
1.25 oz - Citra [12.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min - Hop - 9.7 IBUs
0.50 oz - Sorachi Ace [10.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min - Hop - 3.3 IBUs
0.50 oz - Palisade [8.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days - Hop - 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz - Sorachi Ace [10.80 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days- Hop - 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz - Citra [12.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days - Hop - 0.0 IBUs

a lot - Citrus Zest (Boil 5.0 mins) - Spice - (See Notes)


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs
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Mash @ 152.0 F - 60 min

Notes:
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Fermented at 62*F

Citrus zest: 3 minneola oranges, 3 blood oranges, 2 limes, 2 honey tangerines, 3 lemons, 3 navel oranges, 1 white grapefruit.

Just a little update, I did another batch of this with commonly available citrus fruits: 3 navel oranges, 3 lemons, 3 limes, 4 tangerines, 1 white grapefruit, 1 red grapefruit (15 pieces total). The aroma and flavor are just as amazing. It's a little less orange-focused and more towards the grapefruit, not surprisingly. It's quite a bit closer to the profile of Ithaca 13. So if you want to try it out, all these fruits are available all the time most everywhere, just hit up your local supermarket.

It makes for a fairly pricey beer with all this fruit but if you ask me, it's totally worth it. This is something I'll be making at least 3 times a year in various forms. Thankfully I bought a pound of Citra before it sold out everywhere

Looks good. And it's funny that your session beer is 7% abv!

I'm a citrus lover. I'm gonna have to try this, sounds great.

robtotten said:

Looks good. And it's funny that your session beer is 7% abv!

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Haha well it's not really supposed to be a session beer persay, just more sessionable than the beer that inspired it

kevokie said:

I'm a citrus lover. I'm gonna have to try this, sounds great.

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Awesome, hope you enjoy it. It's fun to brew and fun to drink!

will be attempting this beer this weekend it looks amazing, I love Citrus.
I may increase the Citra Hops a little, love Citra Hops too

Thank you for the recipe!!!!

moonpig said:

will be attempting this beer this weekend it looks amazing, I love Citrus.
I may increase the Citra Hops a little, love Citra Hops too

Thank you for the recipe!!!!

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How'd that go? Def post how how it turns out

2.5 months out from brewday my latest batch has developed a distinct lemony characteristic. It's fun how this beer goes through stages like an IPA but nice how when the hops start to fade it reveals another layer of flavor as opposed to just falling flat.

Kegged last night first taste today and it tastes fantastic will be stocking up for the summer!!!!!
Thank you again for a great recipe

Will be looking forward to tasting this beer as it ages

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: https://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

bryman79 said:

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: https://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

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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.

bovineblitz said:

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).

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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.)

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.

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.

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.

DMace said:

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.)

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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.

moonpig said:

Will be looking forward to tasting this beer as it ages

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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?

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....

jmd1971 said:

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....

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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.

Wow - I brewed this & might be one of the best beers I've brewed in 7 years of homebrewing! I recently switched to BIAB from a 5-gallon MLT setup & this is one of the first batches. Excellent efficiency, very little trub in the fermenter. I tapped the other night & I am amazed by the abundance of hop/citrus flavor & aroma. Tropical fruit galore! This is tropical fruit lovers dream - papaya, mango, etc.

Very, very tasty - I highly recommend it! Thanks to bovineblitz for sharing - this will definitely be a staple in my recipe book! Only downside was zesting all that stuff...

Nice! It's great to hear that you had success with it as well. I'm curious as to what fruits you used, I'm having fun varying them slightly with each batch. I have a couple cases that are just about ready as well and am excited to have it around again.

Cheers!

I used 4 navel oranges, 1 red grapefruit, 2 lemons & 2 limes. Next time around I may buy a micro zester to minimize the pith in the zest. Last time just used an old school pyramid-shaped grater & grated the hell out of it down to the fruit.

This is definitely now a staple- really impressive results!

Round 4 is in the fermenter! I came across blood oranges in the store at the end of December so bought them immediately as I totally missed out last year. Found minneolas a few days later and I was in business. The character of the zest makes a pretty big difference in this beer, so I'm excited to have the same fruits as the original.

The fermenter is in my living room, smells great!

What kind of yeast??

nightrider069 said:

What kind of yeast??

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Anything with a clean profile. I use s05.

Been looking forward to trying this recipe. I'm normally not a huge fan of wheat, but this one just speaks refreshing. Thanks.

Anyone see any problems with dropping the ibus and the abv on this one to please the masses?

reinstone said:

Anyone see any problems with dropping the ibus and the abv on this one to please the masses?

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I think you could drop it down a bit but it's kinda reliant on an IPA-like balance. If you melded it with a lower ABV hoppy pale ale recipe I think it'd work fine.

I just brewed up a 10gal batch of this partially because I was excited that blood oranges are still available. Half is getting WLP001, the other half is getting Brett B Trois. It should be an interesting experiment. Here's some cool pics of the fruit and zest:

bovineblitz said:

I just brewed up a 10gal batch of this partially because I was excited that blood oranges are still available. Half is getting WLP001, the other half is getting Brett B Trois. It should be an interesting experiment. Here's some cool pics of the fruit and zest:

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Wow!

Brewed this (slight variations to citrus based on what was available) as my first all grain batch, opened bottles last weekend and it is incredible! Great recipe!!

Anyone try this recipe with a Kolsch yeast?
Also, what does the Vienna add to this recipe besides some color? Thinking of just going with 2 row and wheat to keep it on the "light" side.

This recipe looks awesome so I think I'm going to brew it this weekend. However, my LHBS is sold out of Sorachi Ace. Does this hop make the beer or do you think there is a reasonable subsitute?

dachbach said:

This recipe looks awesome so I think I'm going to brew it this weekend. However, my LHBS is sold out of Sorachi Ace. Does this hop make the beer or do you think there is a reasonable subsitute?

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There's not really a great substitute for it. Monteuka would work nicely and I wouldn't hesitate to sub that, but it's generally even harder to find. Now that I think about it, Monteuka/Sorachi might be a cool thing to try.

You could do it with Glacier or even Tettnang and I think it'd turn out nicely, but it wouldn't be quite the same.

dachbach said:

This recipe looks awesome so I think I'm going to brew it this weekend. However, my LHBS is sold out of Sorachi Ace. Does this hop make the beer or do you think there is a reasonable subsitute?

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Personally I used Zythos in mine since I couldn't get Sorachi. How I wound up at this substitute I don't really recall, I'm still a brewing newbie. But I can say this, the brew turned out amazing. Everyone I have shard it with has loved it and I've forwarded the recipe to two other home brewers..

I just wanted to point out that this recipe is essentially written assuming you will be bottling. A friend made it and treated it like he does his IPAs and it was a little bit rough coming out that soon. It tastes to me like the bitterness is too high. I generally find it to be ready after 5 weeks in the bottle and still at peak (possibly even better) around 8-9 weeks.

I thought I'd add this note in case keggers want to make it, you may want to reduce the bitterness a bit or simply sit on it a little longer than you normally do. Has anyone on here kegged it, and if so what was your experience?

I started an extract version of this beer - used 3lb wheat dme and 5lb light dme. I "steeped" the vienna malt at 150-160F for 40 mins, which I think should work (though I might skip it next time). Unfortunately, I couldn't easily get ahold of citra, so I substituted in Centennial, figuring the roughly similar alpha acid and the citrus notes would work with the beer. My OG was a bit high - ended up closer to 1.080, probably because I didn't notice that the recipe was a 5.5gal batch (oops, maybe I'll add a bit of water when I re-rack). I pitched a 800ml starter of American Wheat (1010), which seems to be going strong.

The fruit I zested was: 3x minneola orange, 2x navel orange, 3x moro (blood) orange, 1x white grapefruit, 2x lemon, 4x lime.

beezhive said:

I started an extract version of this beer - used 3lb wheat dme and 5lb light dme. I "steeped" the vienna malt at 150-160F for 40 mins, which I think should work (though I might skip it next time). Unfortunately, I couldn't easily get ahold of citra, so I substituted in Centennial, figuring the roughly similar alpha acid and the citrus notes would work with the beer. My OG was a bit high - ended up closer to 1.080, probably because I didn't notice that the recipe was a 5.5gal batch (oops, maybe I'll add a bit of water when I re-rack). I pitched a 800ml starter of American Wheat (1010), which seems to be going strong.

The fruit I zested was: 3x minneola orange, 2x navel orange, 3x moro (blood) orange, 1x white grapefruit, 2x lemon, 4x lime.

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Sounds (and looks) quite tasty. Mini mashing the vienna was a good idea, it needs to convert. Your gravity is a lot higher than intended but it's possible that the beer will stand up to it just fine, it might be drinkable sooner because of that.

bovineblitz said:

Sounds (and looks) quite tasty. Mini mashing the vienna was a good idea, it needs to convert. Your gravity is a lot higher than intended but it's possible that the beer will stand up to it just fine, it might be drinkable sooner because of that.

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Yeah, I'm thinking I'll roll with it and see where it ends up. I'll let you know how it came out in a few weeks (or when I snag a hydro sample). It smells delicious...

Re-racked a couple days ago. The hydro sample was very tasty, but appears to have stalled out at around 1.035. I'm thinking I may pitch some 1272 if it hasn't budged today (I have a starter for a beer I'm brewing today anyway).

Edit: re-checked the SG, down to 1.025 (2 days since I last checked), so it looks like it slowed down but didn't stop. Think I'll just let it coast, see where it ends up.

Bottled about a week ago, FG was 1.014 (so ~9%ABV). Snuck an early bottle tonight, I think it'll be great once the hops smooth out a bit, maybe 2-3 weeks.

A picture of the pre-bottling hydro sample (cleared up a bit in the bottle):