Lemon Zest addition

[andruss15]

Afternoon, fellow brewers!

I thought I would head back to the threads because you guys have been extremely helpful to me. This weekend I will be brewing a partial mash witbier following a recipe from my local HBS. I've been making slight tweaks here and there to these recipes as I go and wanted to get peoples opinion.

This particular witbier has hints of blueberry and coriander and I was planning on adding the coriander to the boil (approx 10 mins left) and the blueberry added to the fermenter before bottling. I was thinking of adding a slight hint of lemon as well and wanted to know what would be the best way to do this. My thought was to zest 1 or 2 lemons and add with 5 mins left in the boil or flameout. Does anyone have success with this and could offer up any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!

 

[WarmGas]

You run the risk of extracting bitterness from boiling citrus peel. I have had good success using grapefruit peel by grating it using a cheese grater and letting it steep in a cup or two of vodka for 24-48 hours. That extracts the oils and sterilizes everything at the same time. Then dump it in your primary and let it soak for three days before bottling/racking. Makes a huge difference and you'll like it. A lot!

 

[Hammy71]

I use a "zester" tool from the kitchen store to zest my lemons and throw them in the boil with 20 minutes to go. Zest from two lemons won't do a whole lot in my opinion, doubt you will notice it. You may want to shoot for a couple more to get just a hint in five gallons.