I tried to do a search for this but didn't find it. I am planning on brewing a belgian pale this coming weekend and I had a co worker bring in some fresh lemons from her tree. I was already going to add in 1 oz of orange peel at 5 minutes, and thought I could add in about .25-.5 oz of lemon zest as well at 5 minutes. Would I need to dry the lemon zest, or if it shill has moisture would that be fine? My orange peel came dried. If I do need to dry it, what is the most effective method to get it done in about 4-5 days.
I made a beer that came out so bitter that it was basically undrinkable. I had used a new German hop (I live in Germany) that's over 17.9% a.a.. Herkules. My solution was to get the zest of 2 limes & 2 lemons, boil them for 10+ minutes, then toss the cooled down water into the beer post-fermentation. The beer tasted "Wow!" It was originally supposed to be an IPA, so with the C-style hops, it ended up smelling and tasting like a 7-up, but beery and malty instead of being a super-sweet sugary drink. One of the best beers I've ever made, and it was all because I was desperate to save 10 gallons of horribly bitter beer.
I recommend using fresh peel only (orange and/or lemon) . . . easy, quick, and effective. My experience with dried peel is poor. And nothing to zesting any type citrus, just zest away and toss in fresh. One large orange will yield 0.4 - 0.5 ounces. Sweet orange should deliver a true orange/citrus flavor, sour orange ends up being non-orangey . . . more of a herbal/spicy flavor. Either should work for a BPA although a total of 1.5 ounces of anything citrus'y (for 5 gallons) will be pushing it.
This is my first time with anything added that isn't hops, malt, water and yeast. Would you recommend I cut the orange down to .75 and the lemon to about .25-.3 or so?
I have not used lemon zest, expect it would give true lemon/citrus notes but will yield to others who have done this. I routinely toss 1 oz of sweet orange in my witbier with good results. Some have posted about making a tincture with vodka and adding to fermenter but I haven't done this. Don't be afraid to experiment . . . one of the joys of homebrewing. If you are wild about citrus flavors then shoot it high.
Lemon zest works good in beer. The zest (without the pith) from two small lemons works fine as a starting point. It's enough to let you know it's there, but not enough to be a lemon bomb. Not sure what that weighs since my units of zest are in terms of pieces of fruit. The dried orange you have has the pith and that can be unpleasantly bitter. Consider using a fresh orange and the zest only.
Will do. The orange was fairly cheap (under $1.50) so I wouldn't mind wasting it, or maybe giving it to my wife so she can use it in a potpouri or something like that.
@OldSock has written about using lemon zest a couple of times, once in a Belgian ale and once in a Berliner weisse beer. I would think the Belgian ale is more relevant for you. It looks as though he added the zest at flameout for the Belgian ale and after fermentation for the Berliner. I would advise reading the posts and the comments for some good discussion about his processes and results. [Edited to add: and a couple of posts on using orange zest, in a dark orange rosemary saison and a funky dark saison.] [Edited - again! - to add, why the hell not, a grapefruit American pale ale recipe. One thing to note is that I think at this point @OldSock uses a potato peeler and not some kind of fancy zester.]
It's hard to believe Oldsock doesn't have a blog post about using kumquat zest. I'm sure it's in the pipeline.
Dried product loses moisture ... flavor ... and essential aromatics to evaporation. Fresh beats dry any day.
