Lemons in beer

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thebigtwist

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What would throwing a few lemons in the fermenter do? Thinking halved skin on quick squeeze to break some of the cells open.
Throw in and leave duration fermentation process.
 
I tried it once years ago, pretty sure the beer got an infection. It was undrinkable, even the unemployed alcoholic guy up the road couldn't stomach it. The only beer I've ever made that went down the drain.

Maybe you need to do a small boil to kill the nasties or just put a slice of lemon in your beer before you drink it.
 
Don't put the white pith in under any circumstances.

Peel/zest and/or juice only (I wouldn't add juice).

Probably best to santisie the peel/zest by either making a tincture/extract (ie sit peels/zest in vodka for a few days) before adding, or having it sit in a hot water bath at a particular temperature (I dunno exact temp off top of my head that'll kill germs without stripping away aromas, but suspect 75C for 20 mins might do the trick).
 
Tried it. In last minute of the boil. Zest and juice and definitely not the white pith as mentioned. Or tincture into the keg. It seemed good in one beer I made with ginger and spices. Other than that lemon doesn't go with beer generally in my opinion. Contrary to the Corona yups. I use orange zest in a chocolate ale that's nice.
 
kaiserben said:
Don't put the white pith in under any circumstances.
Why?
I made the Cooper Mex tin once and squeezed a lemon and a lime into the fv and threw the fruit in.
The beer was quite nice.
Smurto's Ginger Beer has boiled lemon in it and is good too.
 
I have been putting whole limes cut in half in the Coopers Mex for years and never had a infection.
 
[SIZE=12pt]Hi All,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Here’s my experiences. I've been playing with various citrus the past few months in my brews. I’m an extract brewer as well. All my brews are generally 23 litres batches.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Originally did a pale ale recipe using 2 x oranges + 1 lemon very late in the boil, which was OK while it was young – then the citrus taste disappeared after about 1 month, though the aroma was still there a little.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Then did my Grapefruit IPA, which has been my best citrus experience so far. I did my usual IPA recipe and added the zest of 5 ruby grapefruit very late in the boil. I’ll be doing this again real soon, as I’ve nearly run out of stock. Grapefruit and the IPA bitterness just work so well together.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Then did my Tangerine Dream Ale, which I used the zest & the juice of 6 tangelos in my pale ale recipe, which I added late in the boil. The colour was magnificent but again the fruit flavour dissipated about 1 month after bottling but the aroma lingers.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]My next brew will be a Mexican Cerveza and I’ll try doing my first Tincture using the zest of 4 small limes. I made it up yesterday – put the zest of 4 limes in a sealable jar and added enough vodka to cover the zest and sealed the lid and hid it in my dark brew room. I’ll strain the liquid into the brew 3 days out from bottling. If this goes well, I’ll use this technique in my next couple of recipes, which will be: (1) Grapefruit Pale Ale and (2) Grapefruit IPA recipe.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]I’ve also just bought some of the Grapefruit Experimental Hops, which are 16.6%AA. I’ll use some of these in the 2 grapefruit brews as well.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Cheers,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Pete[/SIZE]
 
Jeff T said:
I have been putting whole limes cut in half in the Coopers Mex for years and never had a infection.
Good on you Jeff.

I did my mex brew on Saturday and the tincture has been going 6 days now. I'll introduce it to the brew in another 10 days. Looking forward to the result.

Cheers,
Pete
 
indica86 said:
Why?
I made the Cooper Mex tin once and squeezed a lemon and a lime into the fv and threw the fruit in.
The beer was quite nice.
Smurto's Ginger Beer has boiled lemon in it and is good too.
One of Gigantorus' links mentions it, but adding pith leaves you susceptible to far too much bitterness apparently. (I've never added pith myself, so only going from what I've read).
 
kaiserben said:
One of Gigantorus' links mentions it, but adding pith leaves you susceptible to far too much bitterness apparently. (I've never added pith myself, so only going from what I've read).

Yes, keep the white pitch right out of it. Not good. Makes the brew REALLY bitter. It's worth investing in a zesting tool (see attached pic). It makes your job some much easier.

Cheers,
Pete

zesting tool.jpg
 
An update on the ti8ncture I used in the Mexican Cerveza. I used the zest of 4 limes and just covered with vodka for 2.5 weeks and added the strained liquid into the FV 3 days before bottling.

The Mex brews have been in the bottle now for 4 weeks and I'm not a big fan of the vodka thing. Am getting a real harsh alcohol back flavour, which I don't like. Also the Coopers Mexican brew is not winning me over either. So needless to say the 2 key aspects of this brew (the tincture and the mex can) just not doing it for me. Maybe it will get better in a month or so?

Was going to use the tincture in a the marmy pale ale, which will now not happen. Don't want another 30 bottles of foul tasting crap. :)

All future zest brews will see me add zest/juice at flame-out stage only.

Cheers,

Pete
 
I've used lime wedges in a berliner weisse with great affect. I wiped them down with starsan, then cut and dumped into fermentor. Made the beer awesome I thought. I'm guessing that lemon would have been nice too. I have a lemon tree in my yard, but oddly have never used them in any beer (G&T though :) )

While I agree with the sentiment regarding the pith, I'm not sure that's an issue if you're not boiling (i.e., if you're just adding to the fermentor). I zest oranges for the boil on some American wheat beers and B. wits.
 
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