"Dry hopped" with bitter orange peel

jheld00 · 04-12-2011, 07:04 PM

about a month ago I brewed a Wit. I racked to a secondary after after 2 weeks and added 1oz of bitter orange peel and a half oz of coriander to the carboy for 10 days I now have the beer force carbing. My question is, is the orange peel gonna give the beer a nasty bitterness?

**passedpawn** · 04-12-2011, 07:21 PM

It won't if you bought the peel at a homebrew shop. Or if you zested it yourself. The danger is if you peeled the orange and included the white pith that is under the aromatic orange layer. The pith can add bitterness, but probably only if you boil it.

Dry hopping with orange peel is an interesting idea (never done that myself), but I wonder if it will work. I think the peel contains oils that need to be isomerized by boiling in order for the oils to become soluble in your beer. But, I could be wrong, I often am. Let us know how it turns out.

**Captain Damage** · 04-12-2011, 09:52 PM

I've just started drinking a beer I "dry hopped" with bitter orange zest. I soaked the zest, in a hop bag in vodka overnight before adding it to the beer (I added the vodka to the beer too,it was only about 2 oz). It tastes great!

beeber · 04-13-2011, 12:59 PM

I agree with passedpawn. As long as the peel/zest is not boiled it should have a minimal effect on bitterness.

jj_doobie · 08-05-2011, 11:57 PM

how did this turn out? i'm thinking about doing the same thing.

cheers!

jheld00 · 08-08-2011, 03:46 AM

Oh yeah I forgot to post the results. It didn't add any bitterness which was my main concern but the orange aroma was all that came through(nothing from the coriander, malt/wheat, and or the yeast). Next time I experiment with this I going to use half as much of the orange peel. I did really like the "dry hop" aroma more than the aroma you get from late boil additions it was as if you had just zested an orange and took a huge whiff.

**JRems** · 08-08-2011, 04:11 AM

I did the same, gives more aroma than flavor but definetly noticeable in the flavor. I used the whole peel of a navel orange soaked in vodka for a couple hours.