Priming with Lemon zest

[n87]

Hi all,

I have a ginger beer in the feremnter at the moment, and was planning on adding lemon to half at bottling time.

My plan is:
Boil up apropriate amount of dextrose
Boil up (seperate) lemon zest
Rack into bottling bucket (fermenter #3) on top of dextrose sollution.
Bottle about half of the ginger beer
Add lemon sollution.
Finish bottling.

My question... will the lemon zest sollution be fermentable, and as such, over carbonate? if so, how much?

Am i better racking a measured amount, prime, bottle then racking rest adding lemon and decreased dextrose?

Thanks.

~~~~~~~
For introductions, im a new brewer from NSW.
This ginger beer is brew #4, before this:
Amber ale (extract kit, Malt/Dextrose mix), tasting prety blah...
Belgian Ale (extract kit, DME, added aroma hops), only been bottled <2 weeks, trying tonight but was promising at bottling
Heffeweizen (un hopped extract, munich grain, hallatau(?) bittering and aroma) tasted prety good at bottleing, less than a week in bottles.

 

[TimT]

More usual to add spices like lemon zest to the fermenter before bottling but after the initial fermentation has started. It wouldn't need too long: a few days should be more than enough to add the lemon zesty taste. Adding spices while bottling is old-school style, I think - they used to prime their bottles with more yeast and spices.

 

[n87]

hmmm...

The main reason i was going to do it at bottleing was because i only wanted some of the batch to be lemoned... so i only have the oportunity of stuffing up half a batch at a time.
I just dont want to set of any grenades in my back room if the lemon is more than somewhat fermentable

 

[TimT]

You could just bottle half of it without lemon and then chuck in the lemon peel onto the rest to age for another few days.

 

[n87]

fair point, i might give that a shot. Thanks Tim.
planning on bottleing... atleast half this weekend.

if anyone else has any suggestions, i would be happy to read.

 

[Mardoo]

Try making a lemon zest tincture with rectified spirit or vodka. Pretty sure BYO had an article in it not long ago. I'll see whether I can track it down. No worries about fermentation in the bottle then.

OK, here's a good HBT thread on tinctures: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/any-advice-tinctures-265665/

 

[Rod]

I make some low alcohol (2.9 %) beer

and just to be different I add 1 lemon myrtle leaf to each bottle after bulk priming

like a carona

different

can do as many as you like

 

[n87]

I make some low alcohol (2.9 %) beer

and just to be different I add 1 lemon myrtle leaf to each bottle after bulk priming

like a carona

different

can do as many as you like

Thats a differnet idea, do you use fresh leaves? where do you get them from?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

You can grow lemon myrtle, also there was another section in HBT about adding zests, one more thing can you get your avatar to put the headphones back on her ears.

 

[n87]

You can grow lemon myrtle, also there was another section in HBT about adding zests, one more thing can you get your avatar to put the headphones back on her ears.

theres two problems i see with growing lemon myrtle:
1, Planning on bottling this weekend, dont think it will be very happy with me pulling all the leaves off it before it gets a chance to take up root
2, I can kill cactus' in 2 weeks flat...


I have been using this avatar for about 5 years now.... and thats the first time someone has asked if she can put the headphones on her ears... imagine all the batteries whe has wasted in her walkman.

 

[Bribie G]

Kitchen spice shops (the wanky ones that sell fifteen types of balsamic vinegar and verjuice etc) will have powdered lemon myrtle. I bought a pack last year for the ESB Aussie comp. Powerful stuff.

 

[Rod]

Thats a differnet idea, do you use fresh leaves? where do you get them from?

use fresh leaves from the bush out the back ,

just pick and give a good wash with clean water

i use a small leaf in a 475ml grolsh bottle

 

[n87]

Well for the start of some closure, i managed to find a hippy health foods shop that had lemon myrtle tea bags (only lemon myrtle). and bottled last night.

Primed my ~21L with 128g brown sugar with 250ml for ~2.3 volumes.
Bottled around half of it
Made 300ml of tea with 2 tea bags and carefully stirred into bottling bucket
tasted
bottled rest.

The lemon comes through, but at the moment its more like lemon lolly... might be because of the priming sugar... time will tell.

 

[n87]

to follow this up, i had a stubby of each last night, closing in on the magic 3 week mark.

keep in mind: this was just a goop in a can with dextrose version.

The normal ginger... well i guess i would liken it to bunderberg (off the shelf) ginger beer, but less sweet and with a touch more ginger heat.
Drinkable, but not gingery enough for my testes.

The lemon(ish) ginger. this was almost great. a little ginger and lemon mixing nicely, the ginger heat on the back end. it has become less of a ginger beer, and more of a refreshing drink with ginger and lemon in it... not a bad thing.
The main thing i would coment on, is that there is a taste on the back end from the lemon. i think i left the tea bags steeping too long. or just put too much.

but... live and learn. i will see if it mellows in time.


one question for the learned people out there:
Generally, how long does ginger beer last?

i know its a piece of string type of answer, but i know that beer has hops that act as preservatives whereas my fermented sugar does not.

 

[TimT]

Hops have some preservative effect but aren't a guarantee against infection. The best guarantee against infection is minimum exposure to outside influence during the time when you're racking and bottling, adequate cleaning, and sealing the product up when you're finished.

The flavour in your brew will change and deteriorate over time, but that's different to infection. Not sure how long ginger beer lasts though as it's been a while since I did a ginger beer brew.

 

[manticle]

Did you use any of the white pith or just the yellow zest?

 

[n87]

Did you use any of the white pith or just the yellow zest?

neither, ended up using Lemon Myrtle.

Well for the start of some closure, i managed to find a hippy health foods shop that had lemon myrtle tea bags (only lemon myrtle). and bottled last night.

Primed my ~21L with 128g brown sugar with 250ml for ~2.3 volumes.
Bottled around half of it
Made 300ml of tea with 2 tea bags and carefully stirred into bottling bucket
tasted
bottled rest.

The lemon comes through, but at the moment its more like lemon lolly... might be because of the priming sugar... time will tell.

 

[manticle]

Sorry you said 'back end taste from the lemon' so I presumed.

 

[luggy]

to follow this up, i had a stubby of each last night, closing in on the magic 3 week mark.

keep in mind: this was just a goop in a can with dextrose version.

The normal ginger... well i guess i would liken it to bunderberg (off the shelf) ginger beer, but less sweet and with a touch more ginger heat.
Drinkable, but not gingery enough for my testes.

The lemon(ish) ginger. this was almost great. a little ginger and lemon mixing nicely, the ginger heat on the back end. it has become less of a ginger beer, and more of a refreshing drink with ginger and lemon in it... not a bad thing.
The main thing i would coment on, is that there is a taste on the back end from the lemon. i think i left the tea bags steeping too long. or just put too much.

Hahaha

 

[n87]

Hahaha

not sure what the laughing is about... my ginger beer not being gingery enough?


or a red head joke?