Adding Oranges to Secondary

I have a Belgian that's been in secondary, and is ready to be bottled this weekend. I just got the thought of adding some oranges to it and was curious what everyone thinks would be the best method.

I've read that people have peeled oranges and put the fruit/zest in a mesh bag and steeped it in boiling water to sterilize, then added the liquid/bag to the carboy. It seems this would probably be the best method for oranges.

I guess my question is, with it being ready to bottle, can I take it to a 3rd fermentation and let it sit for a week to pick up the orange flavor? Or is it too late, and I should try this on my next batch?

Thanks in advance!

I had great success with a Belgian pale ale and oranges. The flavor stuck around after it was in the bottle for over 5 months.

I first used a potato peeler to scrape some of the outer skin off the oranges. Note that you don't want any of the white inner part, that will only add an unpleasant bitterness. After I had about 2 small handfuls of rind (from about 3-4 oranges), I boiled them in about a half quart of water for 3 minutes at a light boil. The resulting liquid was orange in color. I then discarded the rinds, and used the remaining liquid to make my priming solution for the 5 gallon batch. If you are kegging, you would just dump this half quart of water in to your keg before adding the beer.

I like this method because it minimizes risk of any infection, and effectively captures the orange aroma and flavor immediately before the beer is packaged, thus there is no time for it to waft away or fade while in a carboy.

Just clarify, you just want to add zest, not the fruit part right? Adding the fruit would be very bad. Basically the yeast east the sweetness leaving a harsh acidic flavour. Adding the zest is the only way to go. I just soak in an ounce of vodka for 24 hours then dump right into the secondary. They float so no need to worry about them getting sucked up in a siphon.

And I also recommend only using organic as the rind picks up some pesticides that can't be washed of.

I would defiantly boil the zest. I a made 10 gallons batch of Hefewiezen last summer and my friend was insistent in putting oranges in his half of the batch. He peeled 2 oranges and threw the peels directly into the fermenter after fermentation was complete. It ended up contaminating the beer, it smelled like rotten fish.

yes don't add the fruit only the zest. I recently brewed a white IPA and added grapefruit and orange zest into the primary once fermentation was completely done. I am not a big fan of secondaries. I let it sit for about two weeks and the citrus notes are insane! Just be very careful not to use any of the white rind or it will add a lot of bitterness. I soaked mine for about 10 mins in a little vodka to sanitize it, then threw it in a hops bag and into the fermenter.

I have to admin, soaking for 24 hours is overkill. But I'm paranoid. Hmm. Grapefruit is something I haven't tried....

Thank you all for the feedback! I was a little impatient and decided to do this the same day I posted... so I didn't see the suggestions NOT to add the fruit. LOL!!

I boiled the zest/fruit for a good 20 mins, then ran the liquid through my filtered funnel, then put the zest and fruits in a hop mag and added them to my carboy.

I check it every day, and so far, no fishy smell!! So, I guess we'll see how it turns out! Hope it's fruity and not bitter/acidic!!

Thanks again! I'll let you know how it turns out!

Yeah, apparently the zest is where most of the flavor is. Some have just added straight orange juice and had harsh acid left over, but since you added both fruit and zest, I'm curious to see how it'll work out. Please keep us in the loop.

I bottled this batch last weekend and took a sample of it to taste and get a reading from it. It seems to have worked out very well, in fact. The beer turned out to be a little bitter, but that's due to the Columbus hops I used for bittering. It gave a pleasant, citrus flavor to it. I let the fruit/zest ferment for two weeks (one week longer than planned because I got busy over the weekend I was going to bottle originally).

I used orange blossom honey as the priming sugar as well. I'm not too sure I'll get any more real orange flavor from that, but it definitely wouldn't hurt. I'll update again once I decide to open them up next weekend... but might crack one open this weekend to see how it's progressing!

I opened a bottle last night, and am happy to report that it turned out fantastic!!! I think I might add some Citra for a dry hop next time though. The orange flavor turned out just right... not too strong, not too weak, but I wouldn't mind a little more hop kick to it!

Good to know, thanks for sharing!