Flavor question

[Hotshots13]

I just did my first brew in 2 years. So to get back in the grove I decided to keep it simple and bought the Brewer's Best Summer Ale kit. I made it exactly as the kit comes- nothing special added.
I just took my first reading and taste after about a week in the primary at 65-70 degrees- 1.012 right where it should be...but it has very little flavor. I'm kind of disappointed I expected more citrus flavor. I'm wondering how to get some flavor into this. Should I secondary with some zest or extract? Let it sit in primary for a while? Warm it up and let it sit? I'm not quite sure.

 

[unionrdr]

The BB sumer ale kit comes with bitter orange zest,lemon zest,& spice mix. My wife brewed it,& put them in a hop sack,then into the boil the last 15mins,as instructed. I had her mix in the DME's after the grain steep/boil/hot break. But saved the LME for after the last hop steep addition.
Came out pretty good,with the citrus/hop flavors on the back. Besides the fact that it's a clone of a popular Belgian wit.
What did you do? More info...

 

[Hotshots13]

I followed the directions exactly as they are written. I was working in a new kitchen trying to keeps temps right and things organized. I didn't want to complicate things anymore.

 

[NyPDFustercluck]

You ought to be good then. You can always add a slice of lemon or orange to your glass when you pour the beer. That way you can control the citrus flavor without risking the viability of your entire batch

 

[ThePearsonFam]

You ought to be good then. You can always add a slice of lemon or orange to your glass when you pour the beer. That way you can control the citrus flavor without risking the viability of your entire batch

+1

I wouldn't do anything to this batch until it all done and in your glass. Just let it ride. I'd get the feel for brewing again before making changes to established recipes. Adding to the glass makes it an easy changes with minimal impact to the entire batch. Hard to undo something after it's done.

 

[unionrdr]

Personally,I think it needs more zest. Or maybe since it's all dried,more cooking time to rehydrate it before counting time for flavor. I'm seeing now that the instructions don't allow much for that. My wife's batch has been in primary over 3 weeks,& 1 week in the bottle as of yesterday.
The citrus is nearly gone,it's mostly clear (can't help it,I'm good at it),& just doesn't taste/look as good as when I did the 2 week hydrometer test.
even though steeping grains were used,it tasted worse than my OS Lager at one week. And that damn kit cost $52+. I'm seeing that a fast,clean,complete fermentation is needed to preserve flavor/aroma additions. Time seems to destroy these before they can even make it past primary in some cases. Let alone in the bottles till drinking time. Damn...