Adding lemon flavor to a wheat

[Jackweird]

So I am planning a wheat beer and I want to add a lemon flavor but not so over powering where it will be all lemon. My plan was to add 1 Oz of lemon zest to the boil and flame out. Another 1 oz in secondary for a week and then finally the day before bottling take the juice of 10 lemons put that in and mix adding a capdem tablet to stop any wild yeast. Any thought suggestions or pointers any one could give?

 

[BrotherBock]

I imagine the lemons will contribute some fermentable sugars,.

Maybe add them to the fermenter, then bottle as normal later?

Also lemon juice can act as a preservative, is it really necessary to use a campden tablet?

 

[Jackweird]

I want to avoid any wild yeast that could cause off flavors in the brew so capdem was my way to prevent that.

 

[Chrisrapp0122]

I recently brewed a wheat summer ale with 2 orange zests throughout the boil. It's been in bottle for three weeks now and the orange flavor is spot on. I say this because I would be cautious when putting in that much lemon juice into the secondary and the day before bottling/kegging. It may be too overpowering.

 

[wysiwyg]

Planning the same thing! I made a plain wheat with no lemon that is sitting in secondary right now. Plan is to zest 1 lemon, microwave to kill bugs and add to secondary 1 week prior to kegging. I'm using Midwest's Coriander Lemon wheat recipe as a guide, but I didn't add coriander.

 

[PGEduardo]

How about using Sorachi Ace hops for a late bittering addition?

Would acidic lemon juice prevent carbonation if bottling?

 

[slym2none]

There is a relatyively new hop-variety out called Lemon Drop that, I imagine, has a lemony aspect to it.

 

[joshesmusica]

I just did lemon zest in a blonde. Wanted to go the lemon route and after reading and questioning a ton, I concluded lemon zest after fermentation is complete is the way to go.

 

[Jackweird]

So it seems less is better in this case. so i will try just zest and see how it comes out will keep every one posted thanks for the help !

 

[BrotherBock]

I want to avoid any wild yeast that could cause off flavors in the brew so capdem was my way to prevent that.

Yeah, I got that. Just questioning the necessity of it considering lemon juice can inhibit bacteria growth. Regardless, I assume if you're gonna hit them with campden you'll do it well before you add it the bottles? Otherwise, you might end up killing your yeast needed fro conditioning

 

[Jackweird]

you make a good point and i never thought of that. I am going to avoid the capdem and use less lemon thanks for the advice.

 

[rhythmsteve]

A great alternative is a type of mint called Lemon Balm, adds an amazing lemon aroma and taste without added sugars. Mash up leaves like you would for a mojito and add to secondary

 

[joshesmusica]

my advice is make a lemon zest tincture. basically soak the lemon zest in vodka for a couple of days before you put it in the beer. then leave that for a week. i just did 2 lemons zested in 25L and wished i would've had a bit more. but i wanted to take it easy this time as it was a summer blonde and was only meant to accentuate. then again, it was only the gravity test before cold crash. who knows what it will be like once it's carbed up. but i would think for a wheat you could go with 3 or 4 lemons. but i still suggest the tincture as the vodka will sanitize it, then no worries of infection.

 

[gwapogorilla]

Everyone has good ideas so far. I, myself, am leaning towards lemon grass in a future brew.

 

[-CHRIS-]

I have a recipe that uses true lemon powder at kegging. No sugar and I assume sanitary. I add 16 grams to 5 gallons of beer.

Chris

 

[phrinda]

I'm thinking that you have probably already put this beer into motion, but my 2 cents... I just brewed a pale ale about two weeks ago that had 7/8 oz lemon zest added at flameout. I was unsure of how much to add so i just guessed. After about 10 days fermenting i checked for gravity and flavor. The lemon flavor was very pronounced. Almost a flavor that i associate with the smell of floor cleaner. Don't misunderstand, it doesn't taste bad. It's actually quite good, though it is a little strong. I expect that the flavor will diminish with time. I put the beer in the cold basement to give it time to settle and clean up a bit until i have a chance to put it in a keg. This was in a 5-gal batch.

Edit: I also had a locally produced "Lemon Drop" pale ale. I am assuming they call it that because of lemon drop hops (waitress was unsure). If it was the lemon drop hop, it was a little underwhelming. It had plenty of lemon aroma, but zero lemon flavor.