Homebrewing - Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider

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Does lemon peel kill fermentation? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've been brewing lemonade with a ginger bug and water kefir for quite a while. But whenever I try to incorporate lemon peel it seems to completely halt fermentation. I have tried normal and organic lemons without success. Currently I have a small batch of kefir with lemon juice going. Half of the batch is with lemon peel and that half shows no sign of fermentation after 30 hours (I have already bottled the other half because it was ready). Did any of you have similar experiences? I would really like to include peel for the taste 🙃

EDIT: Thanks for the many inputs! Summarizing the responses it seems like lemon peel doesn't inherently stop fermentation and the cause is more likely to be whatever pesticide the lemons were treated with. So I got myself a very expensive (supposedly) untreated lemon which I will use in my next brew (after washing it thoroughly) and continue from there.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

One more brewer here routinely making a lemon and ginger infused beer and no problems there. I typically have four large lemons sliced thin for 20 litres of wort. I infuse the lemons and ginger separately and add the infusion late in the boil. I always wash the lemons with hot water to get rid of anything they might spray them with.

Kefir might be different though (I don't know anything about that process). But maybe making an infusion vs. chucking the peel in the fermentation might help.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Thanks for your comment! Kefir might be more sensible to whatever treatment the lemons got, I guess I'll try washing with hot water :)