Brewing with lemon

[Soulshine]

How would you suggest getting a lemon flavor into a summer ale? Fresh lemon juice? Soak the rinds in vodka? And then do you add the rinds or the vodka?
And how much would you recommend for a 15 gallon batch?

Thanks for any suggestions..

 

[milldoggy]

For my orange hefe, I use a potatoe peeler, shave the rine of 2 orange, leave the white stuff, boil, cool dump all in secondary. Great aroma, and good taste. A fav of my friends.

 

[BenS]

I've used lemon zest in secondary before when I realized I didn't have any oranges in the house to zest. I just soaked the lemon zest, like I do with anything I put into the fermenter, in an ounce or so of vodka for 30 min before adding. It's a different taste than orange but was still very good. I used 1 ounce per 5 gal, just like orange zest. Took 2 lemons.

 

[Koduolu]

just the zest in secondary. I soaked mine in vodka for a bit then added it. Drink the Vodka. I use a zester that cuts little curls and only gets the good stuff, a grater or potato peeler will work well too. I used two lemons in a 5 gal batch and the flavor was noticeable and pronounced. It mellows with time in the bottle though.

 

[Soulshine]

Thanks for all the info!
And I like that orange hefe idea. That may be the next batch. I'd like to make something along the lines of a hoegaarden in the near future.

 

[Oldyote]

I make a wheat beer with orange and lemon zest. I throw the zest of three oranges and one lemon in the last 15 minutes of the boil.

 

[Boleslaus]

I used the zest of two oranges and two lemons, but used a little less than that. Then added that to the boil with 5-10 minutes left.

 

[jtakacs]

i did a small amount of lemon zest in an american wheat, late boil addition - frankly, i can't taste it at all... it was only 1.5 oz so it wasn't a lot. i think you'd have to have at least 5 oz to taste it... aroma might pop more from a post fermentation addition.