orange peel

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sheephrdr

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I added 1 oz of orange peel zest in my last batch of honey wheat, very strong smell at first but after 4 days I checked the Gravity (because all activity had stopped and I was a bit worried but everything is ok) anyhow I tasted and only a slight orange taste, well have to see how she turns out in a few weeks of secondary/bottles this may be an add 2 oz recipe next time. Anybody else have any experience with orange peels?

Thanks
 
I brewed a Hoegaarden clone a few weeks ago that I used bitter orange peel in (kind of a different substance--its dried, can pick it up at your LHBS), if you're interested, I can let you know how it turns out.

BREW ON!
 
how do you introduce it into the brew? boil and what time? after flame out? in secondary?
fresh grated zest?
 
First off, there are two different types of orange peel: bitter and sweet. Bitter orange peel imparts a herb tea kinda flavor and I've heard can give you a peculiar ham-like aroma if too much is used. Sweet orange peel gives you a more sweet, traditional orange aroma/flavor. Most recipes will use 1/2 of either one or the other, or both. Unless you are looking for a marked orange flavor, I'd stick with 1/2 oz. As with everything though, this all depends on what you want. The first time I was experimenting with orange peel I was making a wit bier with orange and coriander. Inadventently I doubled the amounts and used 1 oz sweet and 1 oz bitter. Surprisingly, the beer turned out pretty tasty with a very noticible, but not overbearing, orange flavor (and I never got a ham-like aroma). You can find my recipe for Nit Wit-Wheat Bier in my sig.
I've tried adding the orange at 15 minutes (with flavor hops), and I've tried adding orange staggered (half at 15 minutes and half at flame out); I can't really tell that much difference. My thought was that maybe the aromatics would be around longer if you added some at flame out (similar to adding aroma hops), but I'm not sure.
One side note, in my experience the orange flavor/aroma mellows with age. At bottling I had a much more noticible orange component and by 2 weeks in the bottle it was much more relaxed.
Next question, how would you decide what ratio of bitter to sweet to use? 50:50?
Marc.
 
Ok so can I just go to the market, buy a few tangerines and zest them into my boiler, secondary or both? OR did you use the commercially available peel product from a LHBS

Thanks
 
I've never used fresh orange peel. I always used the commercial packages of bitter and sweet orange peel from my local brewstore. Is it the same thing? :confused: I'm not sure. Has anyone tried fresh orange peel? and if so, how much fresh peel to use in weight vs. dehydrated commercial peels?

Marc.
 
Beermaker said:
I use orange peel in every batch of my hennepin, along with corriander seeds. Excellent.

After SwAMi's brew day for his wheat bear the other day, I decided I'll be using coriander in every wheat I do from here on out. I hadn't ever paid attention to the aroma of coriander before--it was straight lime. It was awesome.

I think coriander and orange peels (or even straight out orange zest) would be awesome.
 
I am a stickler like that - if I can use fresh grated I'll almost never use dehydrated. Its the same thing with hops. I just like to stick my nose into a fresh bag of whole hops MMM good. I know pellets work, but I like to play with the big flowers. I did use a hop plug the other day to dry hop, but the Brits say its ok so I say its ok. :)
 
Dude said:
After SwAMi's brew day for his wheat bear the other day, I decided I'll be using coriander in every wheat I do from here on out. I hadn't ever paid attention to the aroma of coriander before--it was straight lime. It was awesome.

I think coriander and orange peels (or even straight out orange zest) would be awesome.

Ive also got fresh coriander seeds - should I grind em up & toss em in?
 
Ok, I checked both of my local homebrew shops and neither can get bitter orange peel. I was hoping to support a local shop to make this brew. I would order from Austin but I dont want to buy 60 bucks worth of ingredients right now.

Anyone have any ideas on how to make this fresh from oranges? I am assuming orange zest would work best but what kind of oranges should I use. Also, would I need to dry the peels out? Overall I am sure the effect would be better with fresh peels. If I dont dry them out do I need to adjust the weight in the recipe to account for moisture/water weight?
 
chask31 said:
Ok, I checked both of my local homebrew shops and neither can get bitter orange peel. I was hoping to support a local shop to make this brew. I would order from Austin but I dont want to buy 60 bucks worth of ingredients right now.

Anyone have any ideas on how to make this fresh from oranges? I am assuming orange zest would work best but what kind of oranges should I use. Also, would I need to dry the peels out? Overall I am sure the effect would be better with fresh peels. If I dont dry them out do I need to adjust the weight in the recipe to account for moisture/water weight?

Keystone Homebrew Supply in Bethlehem, PA carries the stuff. If you are in NYC, or southern NY they may be worth the road trip, since they are in the same building as the Steelgarden & Breworks:mug:
 
The Chinese use dried orange/tangerine skins in their cuisine. The bitterness comes from the white 'pith' and the 'citrus' notes from the skin. I've zested and dried the skin of oranges easily (like drying chillies) by just hanging them in an airy (without too much direct sunlight) space to dry out.
 
Caplan said:
The Chinese use dried orange/tangerine skins in their cuisine. The bitterness comes from the white 'pith' and the 'citrus' notes from the skin. I've zested and dried the skin of oranges easily (like drying chillies) by just hanging them in an airy (without too much direct sunlight) space to dry out.

I have never dried a chili. Do you peel the orange and hang the skin...then zest after the skin is dried?

I knew that the dried orange skins were used in asian cuisine, but I was under the impression that it was different than the bitter orange peel
 
Bitter orange comes from the curacao ???? orange. It's a whole different animal than your supermarket orange.
If you can't get it at the LHBS, sweet orange peel is supposedly the same orange peels that you buy at the supermarket. I've made it before - just peel the orange, chop up, and dry it. Seemed to work ok.
 
i read on a site that if curacao orange peel is unavailable to try and find a green or semigreen orange (unripe) and to peel that and zest or chop and dry out. Gonna try and find the least ripe orange I can and do that I guess
 
you can use any fresh orange peel, in any beer, at any time addition, and the results are staggering
I have a very experienced brew friend of mine (wins alot of medals, sells his own beer) Who would not try my African Amber clone because of the orange peel add that I had. He said it would make it bitter. After alot of emasculating, and telling him to trust me, he finnally added it to the recipe. This beer has quickly become a favorite in his stable, as he always has 5 beers on tap. He has made this beer 3 times, and added different grains, but always dry hopped it.
What the orange peel does is to almost add another level to your hops. It's crazy, but added in the right amounts.( about 1 orange worth of orange peel, no pith per 5 gallon). After about a month the orange flavor dissapears, and you think it's the hops. For a stronger flavor use tangerine, those are my favorite. What orange you use is not important, this curacao add is good, but it's for wits, and grand crus. I think people get confused thinking this is the only orange you can add. Trust me add it whenever 30min, 10min, flame out. You will be astounded at how refresing this can make your ambers, and pale ales.
 
( about 1 orange worth of orange peel, no pith per 5 gallon). After about a month the orange flavor dissapears, and you think it's the hops. .

Yikes!! I just added the zest of 4 oranges to a 5 gallon batch. I thought it might too much when I did it.
 
Don't worry, it will be great. Might just notice the orange more, maybe more aroma, but it will be great.
 
I used 3/4 oz of corriander, and the peels off half an orange, half a lime, and half a lemon in my wheat beer. It gets bottled next week so it will be a while before I find out how good an idea that was
 
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