Adding citrus zest to keg - sanitation / amounts?

[bergman1118]

I've seen a few threads regarding this topic but never found any answers to my questions..

I'm planning on adding the zest of an orange or 2 and a lemon to my american wheat in the keg. Anybody have any experience with putting the zest in the keg, and if so, how much have you used? I don't want an overpowering orange/lemon flavor/aroma, just a hint to spice up the beer some. I was thinking of just using the zest of one orange and one lemon. I know, I can add that and wait it out.. see how it goes and add more to taste, but I'm trying to have this ready for a party tomorrow and would like to do it right. I figure I would start with less first so as not to be overwhelming.

Another question for people who have added the zest in the keg - did you sanitize the zest or fruit itself at all? I was just planning on washing the fruit w/ some soap and water, rinsing really really well, zesting and tossing in. I could pick up some vodka to soak them in.. but I'd rather not if I don't have to. I don't know whether this keg will be kicked after the party or not - I've got several other beers on tap that people may enjoy more (that, and I don't know how many people will show!) - so I don't want it to spoil if it's going to live on past tomorrow (if I KNEW it were to be kicked after the party tomorrow, I wouldn't worry about sanitizing at all). I'm pretty confident that this will work fine as the beer is finished and the alcohol will inhibit bacterial growth (as will temperature), but I just want to see if anybody has had a bad experience with this method.

Anybody with experience that can comment on sanitation of the zest and/or the amounts used (with results) when adding to the keg?

 

[frogman]

Did you use any zest in the boil? The problem lies in your short time frame to achieve the flavor you want. I think I would use more zest maybe from 3 or 4 oranges worth soaked in vodka. The reason I would use more is so you can get the flavor quicker and then pull it out before it becomes over powering. Put them in a bag and attach a string from the bag to the lid of the keg so you can pull it out tomorrow. I made an american wheat a few months back and used 4 oranges in the boil at 5 min and 2 in the secondary for a 10 gal batch. It had a nice very lite citrus flavor. I would soak them in the vodka, one it will help sanitize them and two it might help pull some flavor out of the zest quicker, then add the zest and vodka to the brew.
Hope this helps.

 

[bergman1118]

That does help. I am intending on using a large tea ball attached to some unflavored dental floss so that I can take it out when the flavor is right.. and I see your point - I probably need to blast the keg full of orange to achieve the flavor I want in 24 hours. I just don't want to do too much and have it be overpowering.

To answer your initial question - no, I did not use any zest in the boil.

 

[bergman1118]

Well, I ended up using 2 orange zests and 1 lemon zest. It was pretty overpowering after less than 12 hours, so I pulled it out and vented the keg some. By the time I was serving it, the aroma/flavor had dissipated some, but it was a bit more than I, personally, wanted. People did enjoy it b/c it was different, but next time I would halve the amount of orange used. THe lemon seemed just right.