I am brewing a 3 gal batch Golden Strong (OG 1.090) using 96% pils, 4% corn sugar, Magnum for bittering 33 IBus, 1 oz. Sorachi Ace at flame out/ 1oz. dry hop with WLP550 this morning and I am on the fence about adding a lemon zest. My thoughts were to try to bring the lemonly character to the forefront, but not take over the beer. I zested about .3 oz.
Has anyone ever used lemon zest with Sorachi Ace hops? If so, how much? Any thoughts or feedback? Thanks in advance.
-Tony
I’d be curious to the answer to this too. I recently did an American Wheat lightly hopped with SA and 2oz of fresh orange zest added at 5 mins. I got zero orange flavor or aroma with that much, so I’m not sure how much .3 oz will provide, although I would suspect lemon zest might be a little more potent. However, the SA in my wheat did give me a very pleasant lemon note to the beer and I would use it again for sure.
There’s nothing wrong with giving it a shot, but I personally think that Sorachi + lemon zest would be much better in a saison, where a tart, sort of lemony character is often welcome. I think more of pear esters and pils malt character in BGSA. My $0.02 .
I love Sorachi Ace hops, although I’ll warn you that most people do not. I think adding lemon zest is a fantastic idea. However I would save it in some vodka and then just add the flavored vodka on bottling/kegging day several weeks away. It should keep okay in vodka in your refrigerator for that long.
Cheers and enjoy.
Agreed.
Thanks for the replies. I decided to toss the zest in at flameout, but am going to get a vodka tincture going as well.
-Tony
I’d just toss in the zest post fermentation if you’re determined to use it. No need for a tincture.
Coming up soon in the rotation is a blonde standard strength saison with sorachi ace and kafir lime leaves.
Try splitting the batch and doing half with lemon zest, half without. That’ll let you know what you should do for the next batch.