Yep! They’re just people, and typically friendly and helpful people. I’ve gotten very helpful replies emailing commercial breweries with questions where I was trying to devise a semi-clone. It’s also consistently been my experience that commercial brewers have been highly supportive of my homebrew clubs.
i emailed moortgat to try and get some secrets all they gave me was they use soft water lol
Curious if there’s any reason other than ease to use cut up lemons instead of juicing them. Seems to me that the result would be the same except that you just need to buy more lemons.
Well yeah, may be somewhat dependent on the smallishness versus “we’re one of the big guys and guard our process as a secret” brewers.
It’s amazing because they are people! ;D
They probably get asked the same questions from PITA homebrewers like me ALL the time. Like the star player signing autographs night after night, it has to wear on them after a while. So yeah, I guess it does amaze me when people take the time to be thoughtful and courteous, especially when they really don’t have to.
Good question. Maybe the zest has something to offer?
You should contact John Rowley and ask him, see if he’s tired of signing autographs yet. ;) 
the terps/oils in the zest are gonna give you big lemon flavor in the mash but once boiled they are gonna volatilize right off but you are going for mash ph so it dont matter
The lemon oils will not boil away, and oil is a foam (head) killer.
really, the limonene does not boil off? i thought it was a highly volatile
They wax the lemons you get at the grocery store so I don’t know if you would get much from the rind without zesting them.
Good point. It’s pretty easy to take the wax off though. Hot water rinse and a wipe with a clean paper towel.
So …on a hunch, I took it upon myself…and mashed in with 1/2 pound of quartered lemons for my 2.5 gallon batch. (Sounds like a lot, but it was 2 lemons). This was a Saison. Don’t ask what my mash pH was, I didn’t bother. I didn’t want to know and I wasn’t going to make adjustments anyhow. I was on a mission. (I stuck a pH strip in there and it looked like they always do.)
The lemons in the Mash smelled absolutely wonderful!! For the first 45 minutes or so. Now I had it in my mind to mash this Saison for 90 minutes at 150 in order to create as fermentable a wort as possible. By the end of the mash, the lemon aroma had dissipated substantially. Pre boil gravity was on target so I discarded the spent grains and lemons and away I went to the boil. 90 minute boil. Uneventful. O.G. came in 1 point low, but I had a smidge extra volume so I call it a wash. Transferred and pitched.
The post boil sample I took had a noticeable but subtle citrus/lemon aroma. No “wow” factor, but a little something for the effort. I thought it also had a bit fuller mouthfeel, but I have no idea what that’s about. Whether any lemon makes it past the Belle Saison…Yeah, at this point, I highly doubt it. But…I think lemon-mashing could lead to something if the mash and boil were kept to reasonable times. Maybe 45-60 minutes max each. And probably not with an expressive yeast.
I’ll post back in a few weeks and let you know how it turned out. Visual signs of fermentation took off in about 3 hours.
But you don’t know if they did anything for pH?
Well I’m sure the lemons did something for pH, but like I said, I did not test the pH. (Unless you call a pH strip “testing.” I don’t.) I retired my pH meter and didn’t feel like buying new storage and buffering solutions to use for 1 batch.
Tsk, tsk. I know.
With all due respect, unless you tested you don’t knpw. So the initial question remains unanswered.
Sounds good.
Unanswered it shall remain.
damn it, wanted to know what happened, oh well, hope the beer turns out good
So I kegged this Lemon-mashed Saison yesterday.
OG was 1.056
Fermentation was 68 for 2 days, 72 for 5 days, rise to 80 for a week.
FG was 1.004.
Sample taste from the hydrometer was all clove and lemon-citrus. Quite promising. Pretty happy that the lemon seems to have made it through fermentation. Final results after carbonation and conditioning in a couple of weeks.
Just to tie the bow on this in case anyone was following…
The carbonated beer has a no doubt about it Saison aroma. The taste has the signature phenolic/spice/clove from Belle Saison and finishes all lemon/citrus. Nice foam with staying power and lacing throughout. Does the lemon belong in a Saison? Maybe, maybe not, but this is a great summer beer. Very happy with the results.
I hate Tapatalk (sp?), but if you are interested,
Hey thanks for posting a note about your results. Yes, I am interested in knowing where things landed on this. Glad you’re finding it to your liking.