Sanitizing Grapefruit Zest

[themangia]

Hello all,

It's the first time I'm going to use a fruit zest in the beer. I was going to add to the secondary for a nice aroma addition. My question is should I soak the zest in vodka for 2 weeks and leave in a mason jar in the refrigerator?

Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[katmeefer]

That wouldnt be a horrible idea, but ive had success with adding the zest at flameout. If the wort is hot enough you dont necessarily need to sanitize

 

[Skagdog]

I sanitize vanilla split and scraped vanilla beans in vodka and add them to the cold side of the brew. For two vanilla beans I just use enough vodka to keep them wet (NOT COVERED!). I shake the mason jar a few times to make sure they stay covered.

When you're done with the vodka soak, just dump your entire contents (vodka and zest) into your vessel. When you're looking at 5 gallons of beer, one cap full of vodka won't affect the taste. On the flip side, if you soak it in vodka, then strain the vodka off and just add the zest, when you taste the vodka you'll discover all the flavor you had hoped to put in your beer.

 

[Calder]

Yes, soak in vodka. Vodka will extract the oils better than the beer.

 

[Rcbandl]

Citrus comes out well added to the boil. 10 minutes or less. It seems to hold both taste and aroma through fermentation. I used 3 ozs of orange zest in an american wheat, peeled with a potato peeler being careful not to get too much of the white pith. It just hit two weeks in the bottle and it has a nice fresh orange aroma with a crisp orange flavor

 

[MrFeltimo]

i once added a shed load of lime zest to primary, after high kruesen.
it was the zest of 3 whole limes. my method was to bring a pan of water up to boil, then thrown the limes in whole only for a couple of seconds maybe 10 seconds, then zest and add to primary, it worked out fantastic, lots and lots of lime flavour.

 

[tturner77]

That wouldnt be a horrible idea, but ive had success with adding the zest at flameout. If the wort is hot enough you dont necessarily need to sanitize

Ive used this method twice and it works very well. Gives good flavor and reduces infection risk.