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I was eating a panang for lunch today, and when picking the lime leaf chunks out of my curry, I came on the epiphany of using it in beer. A quick forum search revealed there are many before me. I have a friend with a tree, but also can access this easily in chinatown or whatever. Can anyone give any advice here?

Also can anyone report on using corriander/cilentro berries fresh off the plant? I think the juice of these may be great because they are so pungent.

I would add the lime to the glass, much better result in my experience.

As for corriander, I have used it in a few wit beirs and it is very nice. I put the crushed dried berries in though, not fresh.

Hey,

There is a chili and lime beer recipe over at AHB that is based on a Cerveza kit (IIRC) and includes some chilis and kaffir lime leaves. Tastes quite good by most accounts but I'd be tempted to make a smaller batch first.

BTW - if you like the leaves you can grow kaffir lime trees fairly easily (even in Melbourne). The only downside is the massive spikes/thorns on the tree if you have kids or pets.

Cheers,

Tim

I know bugger all about home brew but I am learning through this forum. I do have a kaffir lime tree though and have had it for 6 years now. It produced its first lime this year but they are virtually juice-less (useless?); better off with tahitian or west indian for sticking in a glass. The leaves are mainly what the tree is grown for. I am going to experiment with my last 6 bottles of my next brew (Coopers lager) by dropping a slice of thai chilli and a sliver of kaffir lime leaf in each bottle. At the end of a coopers brew last year I dropped a thai chilli into each of the last 6 bottles. Undrinkable; so spicy. And gushed big time when I opened the bottle. This time I'll use less chilli........................

Are you in Melbourne Bizier? Would love to get my hands on some Kaffir lime leaves, i make a lot of thai curries and they are key to authenticity.

I have added lime leaves to a ginger beer in place of lemons. A nice alternative. I boiled up half a dozen with the ginger. Added some to a cider as well. If you add them to the pint as Kev suggested, give them a light rub with your fingers as the oils in your fingers release the oils from the leaves much better.

And just to completely hijack this thread, if anyone in Adelaide has a kaffir lime tree i would be keen to grab a heap of leaves from them in exchange for a few bottles of AG beer.... the leaves freeze perfectly so i tend to stockpile them when i find a source.

Doc,

Asian grocers generally have packets of kaffir lime leaves in their freezer section. I pay a couple of bucks for a packet and it lasts for ages.

Cheers,

Tim

Cheers Tim, i realise this, i was after some 'free' leaves

drsmurto wrote:Are you in Melbourne Bizier?

No, Syd - the other Chinatown... and I think my mate's tree is 'well groomed' and not that big, so probably wouldn't have much in the way of excess.

I think I would like to experiment with some citrus leaves in very small quantities (1 - half leaf per batch). I remember as a kid that even some crazy wild citruses that don't have edible fruit, some have great purfume in the leaf and vary greatly between trees.

Anyone tried lemongrass?