Adding Lemongrass to my Wit

[Nomad]

I've seen lots of posts about people adding lemongrass and having bad luck-- namely not being able to taste or smell it at all. Since I have little sense, I thought I'd try it myself. Disclaimer: I'm using WLP 550, so it's not a real wit yeast, but it's what they had at the LHBS at the time. The wheat yeasts they had on stock had "banana" descriptors, and I just didn't want that flavor profile in my beer.

For a 1-Gallon test batch: I took two stalks of fresh lemongrass, cut them up, and then mashed the snot out of them with a pyrex pitcher in a mixing bowl. 1 oz total. I made an infusion with boiling water, steeping on simmer for 3 minutes with .25 oz of fresh, crushed coriander. After straining out the stalks, I placed this in the fermenting beer on day 10. Nice fruit loopy, lemon aroma from the infusion. My fermentation was nearly complete at this point, clearing and Gravity of 1.010.

I'll report back about the outcome-- bottling this weekend (9/7).

 

[TheHairyHop]

Ah, you didn't chill some pre-carbonation? I guess I'm just greedy. I always pour myself a small glass

 

[petie]

I use lemongrass in a wit and a ginger and I've never had problems. I like it.

 

[Nomad]

Ah, you didn't chill some pre-carbonation? I guess I'm just greedy. I always pour myself a small glass

Nah. I have a five gallon batch that I added the typical orange and coriander too, and I tried that (yummy), but one gallon is too small to tamper with!

 

[Nomad]

I use lemongrass in a wit and a ginger and I've never had problems. I like it.

What's your technique on the wit? How much go you use?

 

[petie]

I used 1 oz at 30 minutes. That's what I've found is the best spot for me to avoid the funky taste you can get.

 

[Nomad]

Interesting. I tasted my hydro sample, but it was jacked up due to poor siphoning (using Papazian method of water filled racking cane) and I think it got diluted with water. I'm going to have one earlier than I usually do.

 

[Nomad]

I used 1 oz at 30 minutes. That's what I've found is the best spot for me to avoid the funky taste you can get.

I'll try that next time. Like the idea of really extracting flavor.

 

[daveooph131]

I've seen lots of posts about people adding lemongrass and having bad luck-- namely not being able to taste or smell it at all. Since I have little sense, I thought I'd try it myself. Disclaimer: I'm using WLP 550, so it's not a real wit yeast, but it's what they had at the LHBS at the time. The wheat yeasts they had on stock had "banana" descriptors, and I just didn't want that flavor profile in my beer.

For a 1-Gallon test batch: I took two stalks of fresh lemongrass, cut them up, and then mashed the snot out of them with a pyrex pitcher in a mixing bowl. 1 oz total. I made an infusion with boiling water, steeping on simmer for 3 minutes with .25 oz of fresh, crushed coriander. After straining out the stalks, I placed this in the fermenting beer on day 10. Nice fruit loopy, lemon aroma from the infusion. My fermentation was nearly complete at this point, clearing and Gravity of 1.010.

I'll report back about the outcome-- bottling this weekend (9/7).

I use 28g of dry lemongrass in my blonde ale and its great. Add it at flameout and transfer into fermenter you'll get a good aroma and taste

 

[Nomad]

Update: can't taste it at all. May try it again with a different yeast or method. Sigh.

 

[TheHairyHop]

Bummer that it didn't work. I wonder why the flavor didn't come through. It doesn't seem to me that yeast would eat those chemicals. They might be too volatile.

 

[Calichusetts]

Try adding your tincture to your bottling bucket. I tend to go a little overboard with my recipes (hop or malt bombs) and also have trouble with subtle additions like oranges or lemongrass. It seems no matter how much I add I hardly get the aroma or flavor from the bottle. Again, I'm also going crazy with hop additions, etc.

I have found that adding subtle spices/additions at flameout, then to a secondary (or day 10 like you said) AND a small tincture at bottling day is the way to go. I did a pale wheat lemongrass and noticed it came through remarkably. I'm guessing the more light and subtle the beer itself, the more additions like these can shine

 

[Nomad]

Calichussets that's a fantastic idea, kind of like multiple hop additions. I'll try that next time and change my yeast as well. I thought about sorachi ace hops, but I didn't want anything too strong to cover up the flavor of the lemongrass. This was as hopped with just a Hallertau bittering charge.