Bitter orange peel

I'm going to brew a belgian wit wednesday, and I've been playing with the recipe a lot. I keep going back and forth on using coriander and/or bitter orange peel. I've also thought about using sweet orange peel instead. But my question is, where do you get curaço oranges? They don't have them at supermarkets, do they? And I'm pretty sure my LHBS doesn't carry the peels or anything, but I haven't really checked. Anyone ever use them?

in the wheat i just did i used sweet and bitter orange peels and coriander. I got all of those from my LHBS in 1oz packages. I just transferred it to secondary yesterday and it already tastes awesome :rockin:

Edit:
I guess a recipie is in order

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Witbier
Brewer: Devon
Asst Brewer:
Style: Witbier
TYPE: Partial Mash

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.08 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 4.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.60 lb Wheat Liquid Extract (2.9 SRM) Extract 89.8 %
0.50 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.8 %
0.25 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 3.4 %
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (60 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00%] (60 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (15 min) Hops 3.6 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00%] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Bavarian Wheat (Wyeast Labs #3638) Yeast-Wheat

If your local doesn't have it you can get them here

Randy Mosher in Extreme Brewing suggests not using LHBS / grocery store dried citrus peel, as it usually contains too much bitter pith. Use 2 fresh sweet (normal) oranges and peel just the colored rind with a veggie peeler or grater, or use 1 sweet orange and 1/2 grapefruit as a substitute for 1 bitter orange. Add at end of boil, or a few minutes before. As far as coriander, he also suggests getting the variety available in Indian groceries - it is bigger and elongated. Supposedly a better flavor for beer. Have brewed twice with traditional LHBS orange peel and regular ground corriander with great success, also used orange flower water 1-2tsp at eob, 1 tsp secondary. Planning on my next one using fresh orange and Indian corriander and see how it works. You can also try fresh tangerine peel or whole kumquats. I might even try some Meyer lemon peel on my next wit. RDWHAHB. He said curaço oranges (not bitter orange, different type) are almost impossible to find fresh, as they are picked small and green and used almost exclusivly for processing.

Wow, thanks for all the great info. I was planning on using the coriander seed I have in my spice rack. I used sweet orange peel in my Christmas ale, and I just used a grater to scrape off the peel. I figure I'll do the same thing this time, although I'll definitely add it later in the boil. I think I lost most of the flavor last time.

Also, I thought whole coriander seeds were what people used for wits, but you said you used ground coriander. Is that typical? I have both already in my spice rack, so it doesn't matter to me, although I would tend to think ground is more effective, as the cinnamon sticks I used in my Christmas didn't seem to create as pronounced of a flavor as all the other ground spices I used.

the corriander I have used in the past has been crushed, about the consistency of coarse black pepper, not powder. With most dried spices, you get better flavor crushing / grinding them right before use. Just like with hops, mid boil will get you some flavor but no aroma, end of boil will get aroma also. I have added both times, with some more added at yeat pitch.

Well, I used ~1oz sweet orange peel and ~1tsp of ground corriander. I added the coriander 10mins before the end, and the orange peel 5mins before the end. I definitely got a lot of aroma and flavor from the orange, but I wanted to be conservative with the corriander, and I didn't notice it prominently when I tasted my SG sample. I'd rather underspice than overspice, however, and otherwise it tasted great!

Torchiest said:

I'd rather underspice than overspice, however, and otherwise it tasted great!

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Very true, A good beer will still be a good beer even if you don't get the addition where you want it....however...there is little that you can do to salvage something that tastes like you are chewing on a coriander seed or an orange peel :cross:

I think that most orange peels would produce a good result in general, sure it may not be bitter orange peel, but you can still produce something very good with regular peelings (as has been mentioned before, to remove the pith). I just dry mine, and then make an infusion which I add at the end of the boil. Kind of like making tea. I just use some wort from the brew, bring it to a boil, add whatever and then shut it off an let it steep for a few minutes and then strain. If it tastes good I can add however much I like. No extreme loss of volatiles, I control the flavor, and if tannins (in general with spices etc) or any other bitterness factor are a problem I know before I add it to the brew.

That's a pretty good technique. I'm still fairly casual. I get everything measured out in advance and ready to go, but I just throw it directly into the boil, hence the lowballing with the corriander. When I made my Christmas ale, it came out tasting great, but I went a bit heavy on the clove, unfortunately. It's still really good, but the clove stands out more than I'd like. Lesson learned; next year I'll use half as much.

Torchiest said:

That's a pretty good technique. I'm still fairly casual. I get everything measured out in advance and ready to go, but I just throw it directly into the boil, hence the lowballing with the corriander. When I made my Christmas ale, it came out tasting great, but I went a bit heavy on the clove, unfortunately. It's still really good, but the clove stands out more than I'd like. Lesson learned; next year I'll use half as much.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I have been getting in the habit of taking notes on all my excursions...be it homebrew or other foodstuffs. And I make comments like...this came out too strong...etc.