Summer Ale with WAY too much Lemon Zest Flavor...any Remedies?

[fknizner]

I brewed an American Hefe last week and added about 1 oz of lemon zest. I took my FG reading today (hit target, which was great...but) when I sampled my beer it was way too lemony. Its astringent; tastes like biting into a lemon peel almost. but for the over-zestiness this would be a delicious beer.

My question: I'm curious if anyone could suggest a remedy to over-lemon-zestiness in beer.

The solutions that come to mind are:

(1) Dilution - brew another batch of beer with the same grain bill, sans lemon, (either 5 gal or some smaller amount, suggestions?), let it ferm out, and then mix both beers on bottling day.


(2) Cover up -

​

(a) secondary over blueberries/kiwi/strawberries/any kind of fruit (suggestions?) in an effort to 'cover up' the over-lemon flavor

-or-

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(b) add some fruit flavor extract (suggestions?) during bottling

obviously the cover-up options would be easiest/cheapest, so if either of those two would work, id prefer doing that over brewing another beer and trying to dilute the zesty flavor.

Thanks for your help!

 

[roastquake]

A lot of times, when we taste something unpleasant in a gravity sample we want to do something to fix it. But in truth, the flavor will change as it conditions, your finished beer will likely be different. My suggestion is to let it ride and see how it tastes a few weeks after bottling, then consider bending with other beers in the glass, or adding flavor syrups in the glass. I've had some beers that taste astringent at sampling, but turned excellent after conditioning. Let me ask you this: when did you add the zest and what size is your batch?

 

[roastquake]

Just a side thought, I just had a kiwi for breakfast, and a kiwi summer ale does sound pretty good I'm gonna have to try that

 

[fknizner]

Thanks roastquake. Its a 5 gal batch, I added .6 oz at 5 min and .4 at flameout. I think I'm going to let it ride for at least another week. However, I did just rack ~1 gal over 1lb of strawberries in a 1gal carboy as an experiment. After that secondaries i'll give it a try to see if it had any effect.

Regarding Kiwi--it's a great addition to any hefe. I racked 1 gal of an american hefe over kiwi last year and it was a delicious beer; I regret not racking the whole 5 gallon batch over it. I'd also highly recommend blueberries (if you can deal with the pink/purple beer that results).

 

[roastquake]

I think the lemon will fade enough to be tasty, since the additions where late boil and flameout. I will probably try blueberries and muscadines since my family grows a lot of both, kiwi is just one of my favorite fruits. I was discouraged to do any fruit beers after my initial attempt at peaches failed with an infection, but it's been a couple of years and I'm more confident now

 

[ericbw]

Just wait.

 

[Brutus Brewer]

Did the overly lemon flavor fade as the beer aged?