How long should I boil honey, lemon juice/zest, and ginger?

[HermeticHealer]

Or should I even boil them at all?

I have one pound of honey, a few lemons, and ginger root. Could anyone please give me some suggestions as the best way to add these to my boil or secondary?

Here are the specs for my all-grain:

12 lbs - 2 Row Pale
4 oz - Crystal 60L
4 oz - Honey Malt
4 oz - Red Wheat Malt

The hop schedule is set up to mimick that of a DogFish 60 minute clone recipe I have, but in this case I'm using Citra, Warrior, and Amarillo. I am using the Citra as my bittering hops.

I would like the beer to have a well-balanced flavor in regards to the intensity of the lemon, honey, and ginger additions.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[HermeticHealer]

Note: 5.5 gallon batch

 

[novafire]

I'd use the citra later in the boil and use the warrior for bittering.
I believe 60 minute uses Warrior for the first 25 minutes of the boil or something like that, then they switch over to a blend of amarillo and simcoe.

Honey can be added to the secondary to preserve some of it's subtle aromatics. If the ginger is finely chopped, I'd add it with the lemon juice at less than 5 minutes, if not right at flame out.

Ginger and lemon could also be infused in a neutral spirit like vodka or everclear and then that liquid can be added to secondary or at bottling/ kegging time as well.
In fact, you'll be able to adjust the flavor easier that way and if you add lemon zest instead of juice or pulp to the vodka, you'll get a more intense lemon flavor.

 

[LowNotes]

I'd use the citra later in the boil and use the warrior for bittering.
I believe 60 minute uses Warrior for the first 25 minutes of the boil or something like that, then they switch over to a blend of amarillo and simcoe.

Honey can be added to the secondary to preserve some of it's subtle aromatics. If the ginger is finely chopped, I'd add it with the lemon juice at less than 5 minutes, if not right at flame out.

Ginger and lemon could also be infused in a neutral spirit like vodka or everclear and then that liquid can be added to secondary or at bottling/ kegging time as well.
In fact, you'll be able to adjust the flavor easier that way and if you add lemon zest instead of juice or pulp to the vodka, you'll get a more intense lemon flavor.

This is all good advice. And just so it is clear, as far as my understanding of it goes, honey does NOT have to be boiled, and in fact that will likely ruin a lot of teh benefits of using honey vs. other sugars. In fact, honey has been known to still be edible after over 3,000 years in a jar from what I have read.

 

[unionrdr]

I'd use the lemon zest & ginger in a hop sack 10-15 minutes from the end of the boil. Honey in secondary or at flame out.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

From what I've read and a little of my own experimentation with ginger I'd add the ginger with 30mins left in the boil. This will give you less bitterness and bite but more ginger flavor. I recently made a ginger infused cider where I boiled the ginger in some apple juice for 15mins before adding it to the bottling bucket and all I got was that spicy bite and bitterness.

 

[tre9er]

be careful with ginger. It can take over a beer completely. I'd avoid using lemon juice, rather use the zest. Acidic juice can come out with a vomit-like flavor after sitting in a fermenter for weeks. I'd add the ginger and zest with 15m left, the honey at flameout

 

[HermeticHealer]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, this will help tremendously. Any advice on the quantity of ginger and lemon zest? Just a well-balanced, subtle ,yet noticable flavor is what I'm looking for.

Thanks again all.

 

[tgmartin000]

2 big lemons should give a pretty subtle flavor. I did my honey lemon wheat last weekend. Boiled the zest for 5 minutes. Has a nice lemon flavor.

Last time, I used 5 lemons, and it had really pronounced lemon flavor, it was good....but not subtle. THis time I did 2 lemons, 2 oranges, and a lime. Nice rounded citrus flavor.

 

[Toy4Rick]

I'm currently drinking an Orange Blossom Ginger Saison. 3 lbs of raw orange honey in the fermenter, after 3 weeks I added the zest of 3 large oranges and 2 tbls of zested ginger

It's fantastic. The aroma from the oranges is very present, the ginger is barely noticeable

Enjoy whatever you decide to do, maybe brew the same brew several times different ways

Rick

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I'm currently drinking an Orange Blossom Ginger Saison. 3 lbs of raw orange honey in the fermenter, after 3 weeks I added the zest of 3 large oranges and 2 tbls of zested ginger

It's fantastic. The aroma from the oranges is very present, the ginger is barely noticeable

Enjoy whatever you decide to do, maybe brew the same brew several times different ways

Rick

Did you do anything to the ginger first? Ginger root tends to have a lot of wild yeast.