Lemon Coriander Weiss, peel, fresh zest, or both?

[theduplexer]

I'm going to be brewing the weiss after my Irish stout finishes (hopefully) next week since it's been fermenting for about two and a half weeks now. I bought 1 oz. of dried lemon peel from my local homebrew store. When I brew the weiss, would it be just as tasty using only the dried lemon peel, should I only use zest as according to the recipe, or should I use a combination of both? According to the reviews, it's beneficial to flavor to use zest of a whole lemon or half lemon/half orange rather than the 1/2 lemon according to the recipe.

Here are the ingredients:

6 lb. Wheat liquid malt extract, 3.3 lb. Pilsen liquid malt extract, 8 oz. Carapils specialty grains, 2 oz. of U.S. Saaz hops, 1 tbsp. crushed Coriander, zest of 1/2 lemon

Thanks for your input everyone!

 

[Balue]

We just did a lemon wheat and used 1oz dry peel at 15mins and 1/2oz coriander 10 mins, cascade was 1/2oz 60 and 1/2oz 5. so far 1week in primary on the first grav reading it has a nice citrus taste with no overpowering flavors. We may add the zest of one small lemon next batch to bring lemon out a bit more. But as is, it tastes like a very good refreshing brew.

 

[TomRep]

I made a lemon ginger wheat and used dried lemon peel. I forget all the amounts (notes are in the brewery), but I couldn't taste any lemon in the beer after fermentation. I then added fresh lemon juice and zest and threw it in the secondary to gain some flavor. Once again I forget the amounts, but I got a nice lemon flavor to go with the ginger in the secondary. In fact, I made that beer for my one buddies wedding and got rave reviews on it.
Tom

 

[theduplexer]

Thanks for your input guys I think I'll go ahead and use both since from what you've said, it sounds like using the dry peel results in a less noticeable lemon flavor. I'm looking for a more fruity taste, so I think I'll up the lemon. Tom, how much lemon juice did you use in secondary? One of those lemon shaped bottles or less than a whole one?

 

[evwoller]

Conventional wisdom leads me to suspect that a dried peel would be far inferior to a similar weight of fresh peel. (fresh weight to fresh weight comparison)

Shoot even peeling the lemon would cause the oil mist to leave the peel. I would hope that the dried product you bought had the fruit scooped out or something similar to preserve the oils in the peel.

 

[TomRep]

Sorry for the late reply. I looked at my notes and for some reason never wrote how much lemon I used in the secondary. I think it was kind of a rush deal cause when I kegged it, I only had like a week to get it carbed for the wedding. However, this is what I can tell you. I used 3.5 oz of dried lemon peel at 10 minutes for a 10 gallon batch. I also used fresh lemon juice and zest. If I remember correctly, I used 1 lemon's worth of zest and 2 lemon's worth of juice in each five gallon batch. Hope this helps.
Tom
ps. I also used ginger in my recipe which IMO is a lot more potent then corriander. You may have to drop the levels down a bit depending on what your looking for.