Ok, so up next is a lemongrass golden farmhouse. Not too far off from a Blonde but definitely using WLP 670 American Farmhouse yeast.
My question is this: How should I infuse with lemongrass? Should I dry hop with dried lemongrass? Or fresh lemongrass? OR I was also thinking a cold water infusion of lemongrass that I can add during fermentation, possibly to avoid heavy herb/tannin notes. Should I add during primary or secondary? How much? This is my first time using anything other than hops to flavor a beer. Here’s the grain bill:
Make a lemongrass tea (put a bunch crushed lemongrass in a pot of water and boil). See how it tastes. If you like it, add it near or after the end of the boil.
I know Lemongrass’ oil is extracted for a wide range of uses (even in making Citronella!). I am concerned about your head retention if you added fresh lemongrass. I’m not sure if this is a valid point. Have you found any commercial beers w/ lemongrass?
I wonder if you could test it out by just dunking a lemongrass stalk in a wheat beer and see if it killed the head?
I’ve never had any commercial examples. I went to an asian supermarket today and bought about 3 lbs of fresh stuff for $2.99! I’m going to test it in hot water before adding to the boil. If I like it I might even save it for a late fermentation addition. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks for the help!
I had a key lime mead last year that seemed to be lacking a little something, so I added some fresh lemongrass directly to it. I put the fresh cut lemongrass into my toaster oven on low for a few minutes to kill any bad stuff and then put the mead and the lemongrass into a plastic soda bottle and carbonated it with a carbonator cap. It added a nice acidity to the mead, made it pop a bit, kind of like adding a pinch of salt to a steak. It should be a nice addition to a farmhouse ale.
There are some small breweries producing lemongrass beers. Widmer makes a Lemongrass Wheat Beer and Free State Brewing in Kansas makes a Lemongrass Rye Beer. If you Google Lemongrass Beer or other variations you may find more examples. I have thought about making a beer with Lemongrass. My only concern has been the quantity to add and when to add it. I found a recipe on another forum a year ago but can’t remember where. I did copy it down and make some slight changes in Beer Smith. I plan on brewing in sometime this summer. Here’s the recipe I have:
BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Lemon Grass Rye Ale
Brewer: Sean Railing
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Wheat or Rye Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)
Recipe Specifications
Boil Size: 6.29 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.72 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.063 SG
Estimated Color: 6.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 65.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 3.3 %
8 lbs 9.4 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM) Grain 2 56.4 %
3 lbs 10.9 oz Rye, Flaked (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 24.2 %
2 lbs 7.3 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 4 16.1 %
4.40 oz Lemongrass (Mash 0.0 mins) Herb 5 -
14.96 g Magnum USA [12.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 22.3 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 7 -
4.40 oz Lemongrass (Boil 15.0 mins) Herb 8 -
20.00 g Cascade [5.40 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 6.2 IBUs
1.00 Items Servomyces (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 10 -
6.20 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 11 0.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast 12 -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 15 lbs 3.5 oz
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 19.01 qt of water at 166.0 F 154.0 F 60 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.22gal, 3.14gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
The recipe is similar to what I found in the other forum. I read the entire thread and everyone seemed to be local members of a homebrew club in Kansas. They all had tried the finished product and really liked it. Based on their comments I jotted down the recipe and tweaked it for my system and hops I have on hand. Hope that helps.
Right on! Thanks for the advice, everyone. I’m chilling the wort to room temp right now and will pitch in the morning.
After trying a hot infusion with water, I decided to wait until racking. It tasted a little grassy and vegetal so I’m hoping for a sweeter, brighter citrus flavor. At that point I will chop it up and throw it in the fermenter.
S rail’s rye lemongrass recipe above looks interesting. Spicy and exotic might be a good combo. Mine is going to be a surprise beer for my buddy’s wedding in July. Champagne bottles with corks and cages should be classy, eh?
i did a 5 gallon extract of lemongrass wheat a few years ago from austin homebrew and it called for 1oz of dried lemongrass at flameout. although i havent made it recently i really liked it and would make it again.