Question about adding orange zest to new brew.

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vhanley

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Good morning! I'm getting ready to start my second brew and since I've never been one to take things slowly I wanted to add some orange zest to it. I'm brewing a pale ale and wanted to know:

A) How much do I add?
B) WHEN do I add it?

Note: I'm really just trying to add a LIGHT citrus/orange hint to it. My first brew was an Irish Stout which came out GREAT but was too dark/strong for SWMBO, so trying to brew something she might enjoy as well.

Note 2: Extract brew.
 
i just brewed a beer with orange zest this past weekend. it was 2oz added at the last 10 minutes of the boil. everyone i talked to stressed that i only get the orange part of the rind to zest as the white part is too bitter. (this was about 6 oranges for me)
i plan to add about the same to the dry hop as well
 
I'd think you would want to add it at flameout, or the end of your boil. As for how much, looking on these forums and doing a google search, you may want to use more than you think, maybe 2-3 oranges worth? I'd search the forums and google a little bit to determine just how much orange flavor you are looking for.
 
I've added as little as 1/3 of an ounce of the dry orange peel to a 5gal wheat beer and it was strongly orange flavor! If you zest a fresh orange I'm sure you would need more. I would put it in right before you turn off the heat from your wort boil.
 
NewJersey said:
i just brewed a beer with orange zest this past weekend. it was 2oz added at the last 10 minutes of the boil. everyone i talked to stressed that i only get the orange part of the rind to zest as the white part is too bitter. (this was about 6 oranges for me)
i plan to add about the same to the dry hop as well
Click to expand...

2oz is what I thought I remembered hearing before as well. Thanks, I'll give that a try!

BTW- Did you just dump it in, or did you "teabag" it into the boil? Curious because zesting a fruit leaves pretty fine remnants and don't want that to transfer in when I rack to my bottling bucket.
 
You can go get 1 oz of dried sweet orange peel at your local whole foods store or sometimes even at the grocery store for under $2.00. The stuff from the whole foods store is MUCH higher quality than the stuff they sell as brew supply for pretty much the same price.

Add it at flameout. It gives your beer an orange flavor and nose without the citrusy bite of fresh zest, if that sounds appealing to you. It's much smoother, IMO.

The fresh zest works best when you are complimenting citrusy/fruity hops, the dried peels work better when the orange flavor has to stand on it's own, in my experience, if that makes any sense.
 
Outstanding! Thank you guys for the advice, I'll let you know how it turns out! Much appreciated! :mug:
 
+1 to using corriander instead of orange peel. Orage peel can be bitter and also seems to end up with a little bit of rotten fruit aroma. I used 2oz of whole seeds at the start of the boil and the orange arroma is very strong. (3 gallon batch) I would imagine for a hint of orange that is still strong enough to pick out 1 oz in 5 gallons would be good (whole seeds, they strain out easier when going into the primary.)
 
+1 on the rotten orange smell when using too much orange peel. In my blue moon type beer I use the zest of 1/4 a medium orange for 2.5 gallons and the orange is prominent without gettin the rotten flavor.

Earlier in the year I made a beer and wanted really strong orange flavor, added the zest of 3/4 a medium orange for 2.5gl and the rotten orange aroma and flavor was awful.
 
Okay, since we're talking orange peels in here.

How does that work without getting the bitterness of the peel? I mean, eat an orange peel. There's a good reason we don't. Does something happen when you cook it? Are we wanting that bitterness?

Zest was my search this morning, and that's turning out like I expected. :mug: The peel thing though, I just don't understand why we want that white part of it.
 
IMHO/IME
Peel = bitter
Zest and fruit = lambic
Coriander = orange flavor and aroma
YMMV

Zuljin said:
The peel thing though, I just don't understand why we want that white part of it.
Click to expand...
It adds a different kind of bitterness to the beer than hops do. It's used in quite a few Belgium Wit beers including Hoegaarden. There is a subtle citrus note that hangs on as well.

Here is my research on my Hoegaarden clone including some notes about orange peel:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-make-beer-recipie-clone.html

And my recipe:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/10/hoegaarden-clone-recipie.html

Orange zest is great for cooking or baking, but in my experience it adds a kind of rotten flavor to beer. During the month or so it takes to make beer the flavor seems to change from that fresh citrus zing to a old, musty, rotten flavor.
 
I keep coming across comments about zest flavor turning "old, musty and rotten."

What I keyed in on your site was,

Experience
When tasting Hoegaarden the citrus flavor jumps right out. There is also a fermented fruit flavor which makes me think they are using more than just the rind. There may be some pulp in this beer. The hop flavor is very subtle, but what is there has a distinct citrus flavor and very little bitterness. There are likely no bittering hops, and only flavor or aroma additions. My nose and taste buds say citrus, and the brewers website says Belgium. Glacier matches this criteria so it should work well

I've brewed with fruit and fruit juice before. Maybe I'll add juice in secondary. Wondering how orange and lemon juice will behave there.

Coriander is already in my recipe for a citrusy wheat.
 
Zuljin said:
I keep coming across comments about zest flavor turning "old, musty and rotten."

What I keyed in on your site was,

Experience
When tasting Hoegaarden the citrus flavor jumps right out. There is also a fermented fruit flavor which makes me think they are using more than just the rind. There may be some pulp in this beer. The hop flavor is very subtle, but what is there has a distinct citrus flavor and very little bitterness. There are likely no bittering hops, and only flavor or aroma additions. My nose and taste buds say citrus, and the brewers website says Belgium. Glacier matches this criteria so it should work well

I've brewed with fruit and fruit juice before. Maybe I'll add juice in secondary. Wondering how orange and lemon juice will behave there.

Coriander is already in my recipe for a citrusy wheat.
Click to expand...

Did you get to trying a brew with juice in it yet? I've been wondering if that would work as well as say adding the strawberries into the secondary for a strawberry blonde.
 

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