Lemon zest

[NdHuntsman]

I am making my favorite wheat beer and want to try something new. I want to add lemon zest to it. My dilemma is I am worried about getting bacteria into my brew. How can I add fresh lemon zest without infecting it. I have read some add it in the last bit of the boil and I have also read to drop it right before the secondary fermentation. Please help.

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[Hammy71]

I dump the zest in with 15 minutes to go. I use a zester on 1/2 a bag of lemons (about 5 lemons) for 5 gallons. A little bit goes a long way. Even after a 15 minute boil you get a pretty substantial lemon taste.

 

[ChrisVZ]

If you want to add it to secondary, just soak the peels in vodka/everclear for a few hours before adding them. I usually add the peels for my citrus beers at flameout.


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[boydster]

Last time I used lemon zest, I added it to the primary when the fermentation was done, almost like a dry hop. I boiled it for 10 minutes in a small amount of water and added the water and zest into the carboy.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

What's a good quantity, by weight? I'm thinking of adding lemon zest to a wheat IPA I'm about to brew...

 

[boydster]

I don't weigh it... Sorry. I probably should I used the zest from 2 large lemons in a wheat, and liked the result. For another, I used zest from one orange in the boil (last 10 mins) and then the zest of another orange and a lemon in primary like I described above.