Christmas Ale, Problem with Orange Peels

Hey fellow homebrewers!

I'm having a problem with an over abundance of citrus flavor to a beer that I added orange peels to. It's in the very first days of carbonation in the bottles, but I'm curious if anyone knows if the overpowering citrus flavor will go away with time in the bottle during carbonation. (or if there is a way to balance out the acidity)

I opted to brew up a Christmas Ale in the middle of November, and in doing so, picked a recipe that called for the following:

5lb LME
1lb Clover Honey
.5 lb Crystal
.5 lb Dark molasses
.25 lb black patent
.25 chocolate malt

I added in 1/2 tsp Cinnamon and nutmeg for spices.

1.5 oz cascade hops
.5 oz willamette

1 oz. orange peels I used the recommended orange peels from a medium sized orange, and tried to get as much of the white off as possible.

I added the orange peel and the willamette during the last 15 mins of the boil. I did leave the orange peel in the primary fermenting bucket, which may be the reason why the beer tastes like stale oranges .

I allowed one week of primary fermentation in the my five gallon bucket with air lock. I then racked into a secondary glass carboy for 13 days. The beer has now been primed and bottled, and will be in the bottles for 2+ weeks. Any help with this would be great ! Thanks!

The orange flavor will mellow, but 2 weeks won't be enough.

are you thinking I'm probably going to need about a month in the bottles? I probably shouldn't have given the secondary 2 weeks in the carboy....but oh well. Thanks for the input.

Two things--

First, you did the right thing leaving it in the secondary for two weeks. Beer takes time and the 1-2-3 suggestion is good to follow. While it may not be "ready" for Christmas, it will at least carbonate within two weeks. Put it in the fridge for a day or two prior to Christmas and it will almost certainly taste better than it does now.

Second, when a recipe calls for 1 oz orange peel, are you sure it meant fresh orange peel? Home brew stores carry what's usually referred to as "Belgian Bitter Orange Peel" and it's dried and packaged like a spice. Even if you use fresh orange peel in your beer, I believe you're supposed to use a "zester" to just scrape off a bit of the outside of the orange-- probably a teaspoon would do. Putting in whole peels with the inside scraped off as well may have given your beer a much more intense orange flavor. That said, I'm sure your beer will mellow out and taste better two months after carbonation.

Thanks for the reply barnes. I used only the zest from the outside of the orange, and made sure that minimal to no white substance was contained on the zest itself. The next time I utilize orange peels in my beer, I will definitely use a smaller amount.

The orange it called for was from a medium sized orange, which is what I took as your average, supermarket supplied, sweet orange. I'll keep in mind the bitter orange peel option for the future.

I guess it's just comforting to know that the orange flavor will mellow out over time....I'll give it plenty of time to get where it needs to be....and start up a new batch in the interim. Thanks again!

I'm sure it will mellow out, but I don't know how long it will take. In a couple months or six or so, you might find it quite nice!


TL

I usually use 1/2 to 3/4 oz of orange zest in my saisons, and it usually calms down quite a bit.

One month minimum. 3 months, should taste just right. Maybe another month or two with that extra 1/4 oz, but it should be ok. Not sure where the orange zest idea came from in a recipe with roasted and patent malts. Not sure how well those would go together with orange...