Adding citrus zest to ESB

We were looking at trying the ESB and were wondering if anyone had tried adding any lemon or orange zest? If so, how much,and when is the best time to add it?

This is actually going to be brewing the ESB next weekend (i just started brewing in Jan) and was wondering if I could dry hop with a small amount of american citrusy hops. So i’m going to tag along in this thread.

American citrus hops are ok to use in an esb, but it will push it slightly away from what the ESB style is really defined as.

I can’t for the life of me think of a good reason to use citrus zest in an ESB though.

Thanks for the reply. We actually decided it might be better to dry hop. Maybe some centennials or cascades.

There you go. I find that Styrian Goldings give me an orange-marmalade type aroma. The classic C hops tend more toward the zest aromas.

Thanks Wahoo. We were at Great Lakes last November for an AHA rally and they had their Moondog ESB dry hopped with Willamettes and it was fantastic. Could have had something to do with the fact that they were serving it out of a beer engine too. We had thought about the Willamettes but then we wondered about something with more of a citrus nose and flavor for a spring beer. NB’s ESB has 2oz of Willamettes for bittering hops so we weren’t sure they would make a good dry addition for this beer.

For me, I like Willamettes as a cheap source of bittering hop, especially in beers that don’t have a lot of hop character (stouts, porters). When I make an ESB, especially for the dry hop, I try to get my hands on the very best british hops I can get. Fresh EKGs and Styrians are tough to come by, but it’s worth it.
I don’t see anything wrong with bittering with the Willamettes, but I wouldn’t dry hop with them. There are no rules though, and I am sure very high quality Willamettes in the right beer could be good, I just haven’t ever thought about using them that way.