Fruit peels in secondary?

[Nate]

Anyone tried this in a summer wheat beer? Lemon, orange, lime, etc? The beer below is surprisingly good... big citrus flavors.

http://www.anheuser-busch.com/news/springheatspicedwheat_022706.htm

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I'm thinking about doing a lemongrass hefeweizen this summer (sorry Kaiser). It will have both lemon zest and lemongrass in the secondary, and is inspired by OBX Brewing Co's Lemongrass Hefeweizen. But I've never tried it before.

I have made limoncello before (Italian lemon liqueur) which involves soaking lemon zest in vodka for several months, and it's very effective at extracting both the color and the flavor of the zest.

 

[DeejayDebi]

I'm sure you know this but just in case ...

You don't want to use the whole peel of citrus fruit to brew (or cook) you only use the zest ... that is the very thin outter layer with the color. That's where all the citrus oils are. The white part is VERY bitter and will not add a good fruit flavor.

 

[cweston]

Kaffir lime leaves could be pretty interesting in addition to the lemon grass.

It's starting to sound like a spicey Thai dish: maybe throw some chiles and some fish sauce in there, too.