Citrus beer recipe?

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Budgie

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So I've finally mate the leap to AG. Did my first 10 litre batch yesterday. I have a kilo of Marris Otter and some Goldings left over so I'm going to stick a 5 litre batch on next week.

I've had a couple of 'citrusy' beers recently and I'd like have a crack at making one. I've read a few things about adding orange and lemon peel to brews but I'm not sure exactly what I'd need to do.

If I could knock something up from the grain and hops mentioned above with the addition of some kind of peel/zest/juice that'd be ideal.

Alternatively, does anyone have a recipe for a zesty/citrusy beer?

Cheers.
 
I stick to grain, hops and yeast. There are plenty of citrusy hops. It's a bit of a noob thing, it seems, to want to bung all kinds of fruit and stuff in beer. Nothing wrong with fruit beers, or using citrus peel, but you can get citrus on a large scale from hops. I think new brewers are best sticking with grain/extract and hops. And you can add slices of lemon, lime and orange to a glass of beer, which I tend to think is better than a lot of beers that are made with them, if you just want a citrus fruit zing in a lager for example.

Just my opinion. But Amarillo hops will give you orange, First Gold too, to a lesser extent. Chinook and plenty others will give you grapefruit, Sorachi Ace gives lemon, Wakatu and Motueka give you lime. And there's Citra of course, amazing citrusy hop. Way better than adding fruit IMO.
 
I knew someone here would have the answer. I'll pick up some different hops and see what I come up with.

Cheers
 
It's not a big deal to add some orange peel to the boil. I just like working with grains and hops, adding other flavours can work great but it can also spoil brews I think. You need to know exactly how and when to use them.
 
It's not a big deal to add some orange peel to the boil. I just like working with grains and hops, adding other flavours can work great but it can also spoil brews I think. You need to know exactly how and when to use them.

Knowing how, when and what I'm doing is often my downfall!

I know how to lift a glass though :drink:
 
I made a 10 litre ag witbier last week, using just saaz hops. I also added some crushed coriander and a teaspoon of orange essence at the end of the boil. it's been in the FV for eight days, and the orange aroma and flavour is currently quite subtle and very pleasant. I expect it'll fade a bit once bottled, and I'll add a slice of orange in the glass rather than put any more essence in, but as an experiment it seems ok so far.
 
That sounds great Harrow. I had a bottle from a mate last week that was a wheat beer with dried orange peel in the boil it was lovely. I just keep things simple myself. Everyone is free to do what they want, obviously, and my tastes are still pretty simple, I oike pale ales, brown ales, porters and stouts mainly, made from grain and hops.
 
I made a 10 litre ag witbier last week, using just saaz hops. I also added some crushed coriander and a teaspoon of orange essence at the end of the boil. it's been in the FV for eight days, and the orange aroma and flavour is currently quite subtle and very pleasant. I expect it'll fade a bit once bottled, and I'll add a slice of orange in the glass rather than put any more essence in, but as an experiment it seems ok so far.

Sounds interesting. Would you let us know how it turns out?
 
Sounds interesting. Would you let us know how it turns out?

I bottled it tonight, its had about twenty days in the FV, the orange flavour was much fainter, but I'm pleased with the rest of it. I added another half teaspoon of orange essence as I batch primed, hopefully that won't overpower it. Looking forward to a test in a few weeks.
 
I've had a few of these now, I'm very pleased with it as a beer, very zesty and different to those I usually brew. The orange taste is very faint, so if I did it again I'd possibly use more orange essence as a later addition, or get my hands on some of the dried orange, which I suspect would have a stronger and more lasting presence.
 
You might want to try Pioneer hops added late for a nice British citrus. I'm playing with Minstrel hops now. Just coming out of primary and tasting 'orange peel'.
 
I'll give that a try, thanks for the tip. Mine is improved greatly by a generous slice of orange in the glass. It makes much more difference than I expected.
 
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