Lemon Zest update

[cweston]

I started a thread about this a while back and there were a few other threads about it around that time.

I made This APA a couple months ago. I added the zest of one lemon with the flavor hops, another with the aroma hops, and then 2 more in the secondary with the dry hops.

I was concerned because the lemon flavor was a bit harsh and somewhat bitter.

Well, this is yet another "wait a couple weeks and all will be well" story. After about a month in the bottle, that harshness is about 99% gone.

The lemon is very pleasant--maybe a touch more present in the flavor than I had hoped. If I did this again, I might scale back the lemon a little. (I wanted it to be just barely detectable in the flavor.)

 

[teu1003]

Its a funny thing ... I havent been brewing all that long but have found that time is a great healer. I made what I thought would be a great wheat beer in May and it came up banana-y as hell. My daughter loved it and I started giving her a 6pack of it whenever she stopped by (not often enuf) ... anyway, I got back from vacation Aug 6 and opened one up (I needed the swing tops). Amazingly, the banana had all but disappeared, the color was a beautiful yellowy-hefe-cloudy and damn if it didnt taste really great with a squeeze of citrus. I told my daughter I ran out of the banana wheat she liked so much.

 

[Evan!]

Right on! My first experiment with random adjuncts was cinnamon-basil. Turned out fan-f'n-tastic, with less than a week in bottle. My whole family fell over themselves trying to "order" a case.

I'm currently dryhopping a lime-basil IPA w/ cascade and lime-basil leaves. Unlike the cinnamon-basil, which has standard basil (anise/licorice) characters and just a hint of cinnamon, the lime basil has almost no basil character, but is mostly lime. I threw some in (along w/ lemon verbena leaves) with the aroma hops at the end of the boil as well. When I tasted some during racking, it was way bitter, and the lime was in the form of a small hint of citrus. However, I think that with dryhopping and some conditioning in bottle, it will turn out very nice.

I dunno what I'm going to do in the winter, when my herb garden is no more. Dang. I'm an herb-brewing freak!

 

[Evan!]

Also, I wanted to ask you: where did you get the lemons that you used? I'm very weary of using garden-variety supermarket fruit with the rind/skin left on it, because I'm always afraid that, no matter how much I scrub it, it will still impart some of the wax and pesticides into my poor defenseless beer.

 

[Brewsmith]

I was wondering about something similar with orange zest. I think I'll go with the zest of 2 at the end of the boil, and maybe 2 more in the secondary. Thanks for the info. Nobody seemed to give me any real information when I posted my question about orange zest about a week ago.

 

[cweston]

Also, I wanted to ask you: where did you get the lemons that you used? I'm very weary of using garden-variety supermarket fruit with the rind/skin left on it, because I'm always afraid that, no matter how much I scrub it, it will still impart some of the wax and pesticides into my poor defenseless beer.

I used organic lemons and gave them a good soap & water scrubbing. Beyond that, I think the best thing is to RDWHAHB.

 

[ruppe]

I added the zest of 6 limes & 2 oranges to a very light ale with 15 minutes left in the boil. I can't rememer if i even washed them. Generally speaking, I never wash my fruit (you know what I mean, you perverts), with no apparent ill effects. I use honey in beer from time to time, and I find it hard to beleive it has no wax in it. Anyhow, after 1 week in the bottle (I can never wait), there was no bitterness at all. I wonder if the bitterness is coming from the addition to the fermenter. By the way, this brew also has 3 cups of tequila added at bottling, and it's a wonderful fruity summer beer.

 

[vcr5150]

thanks for relaying the info with your lemon experiment. I was wondering about limes as well - this helped finding some good info.

Ruppe: your brew sounds like it should be similar to "Tequiza" (which I really like.) Any other thoughts on your brew you would like to share? I've been planning on doing a Mexican style lager with limes, and now, I may try your tequila trick.

 

[ruppe]

I reviewed some of the other threads about zest, and realized that pith may cause the bitterness problem. I have a microplane grater (http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=3299) that will zest a lime in about 15 seconds, leaving all the pith behind.

I like Tequiza too, but haven't had one for quite some time. If I'm not mistaken, it's brewed with blue agave (the cactus used to make tequila), but I don't know if they add tequila, or if beer yeast ferments agave to give a tequila flavor. It also has lime. My understanding is, citrus flavor should only be added using the zest, and my limited experiance is that it works quite well. I made a Winter Warmer using lime instead of orange, and the lime added a layer of flavor to the spice that was very nice.

That being said, I made an ale because I don't have the facilities to properly make lagers, but I'm fine with that, I love ales. I don't see why a Mexican lager wouldn't work fine just the same. Just keep in mind that 3 cups of tequila will add almost 1% alcohol (if memory serves) to your brew. I cut back my extract some, and replaced 1 pound of extract with a pound of honey, for a little sweetness (I was actually looking for a marguarita flavor, hence the addition of orange zest), but it's really not sweet. Let your conscience guide you. The first time I made this, I used 2 cups of tequila, but I didn't get the full effect, but for a Tequiza flavor, you may want to cut back on both, this is a pretty fruity beer. But I did like the balance of the second brew.

I know summer's coming to an end, but I hope you venture into this craziness, and can enjoy one on the deck before the snow starts to fly. Happy brewing.