Cerveza with Lime Zest?

[Walker]

My sister-in-law's boyfriend is moving from El Paso, TX to Raleigh in about a month, and he's a Cerveza drinker; Dos Equis, Corona, Sol, Modelo, Pacifico, etc.

As a good future brother-in-law and homebrewer, I'd like to make a batch of beer for the two of them, and this gives me a perfect opportunity to try making a lager this winter without having to consume the whole batch myself.

Ramone (that's him) is BIG on adding lime to his beer. In fact, he pretty much puts lime, salt, and (when appropriate) hot sauce on just about everything he consumes. *

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has ever made a Cerveza and added lime zest directly to it in the fermenter? I don't want to go too heavy on it, because I'm sure a spash of fresh lime will be good when the beer is poured into a glass, but I'd like to add a little lime flavor to it so it comes out of the bottle headed in the right direction for his tastes.

Has anyone ever done this? If so, was it a good idea in the end, and how much zest did you add?

-walker

* = he poured a glass for me last night (he was visiting for a few days) that was a LARGE dose of lime in a Dos Equis with salt on the rim of the glass. It was pretty damn good, and I can see myself fully enjoying it on a hot summer day. He had a special name for this, but I can't remember it for the life of me.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I haven't done it but I did have a Lemongrass Hefeweizen at the brewgrass festival which listed lemon zest and lemongrass on the bill of ingredients. In talking to the guy running the booth he said, not surprisingly, that both were added at secondary.

I have made limoncello before and can tell you that you want to be extraordinarily careful not to get any of the pith from the rind in your zest due to the overwhelming bitterness of it (not good bitterness, I wouldn't say).

Back to your beer...a popular drink in Mexico is the surprisingly refreshing and regionally varying michelada. One variation of a michelada is some lime juice, hot sauce, beer such as Pacifico or Sol, ice, all served in a glass rimmed with coarse salt and chili powder.

 

[Walker]

a popular drink in Mexico is the surprisingly refreshing and regionally varying michelada.

that's it! that's what he called the beer he poured me last night, sans the spicy stuff. Thanks, BeeGee.

Also, thanks for the tip abotu avoiding the pith of the fruit. I wouldn't have even thought about that.

-walker