Orange Blossom Amber

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Brewsmith

Brewsmith

Home brewing moogerfooger
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
7,172
Reaction score
2,383
Location
Torrance, CA
I buddy of mine at work has a favorite beer, one of the few that he will drink, that is the Orange Blossom Amber Lager from Indian Wells Brewing near Mojave, CA. I have never had it but from what he has told me, there is basically no bitterness and there is the flavor and aroma of oranges to it. The brewery's website says the recipe started as a test brew experiment with real orange peels. I've come up with a basic recipe for this "contract brew" but I don't know how much orange peel (or zest) to use.

5.5 Gallons

9 lb 2-row
1.5 lb Munich
0.5 lb Crystal 60
0.5 lb CaraPils

1.5 oz. Hallertau 60min

OG: 1.057
SRM: 8
IBU: 15
5.5% ABV at 75% attenuation

I will probably use either a Ca Common yeast or a German Ale/Kolsch since I can't do lagers.

Please help with the orange zest. Could I add orange to the secondary as well?
 
Brewsmith said:
Could I add orange to the secondary as well?
Click to expand...
Maybe just the zest in the secondary would be good since you're already going to add hops and the pith is the bitter part.
 
I don't want any of the pith in the brew anyways. I'm just curious on how many oranges.
 
Isn't the pith the zest? isn't the zest the peel? isn't the peel the bitter part?

What in God's name is Pith? Excuthe me I have to take a pith?

- WW
 
The pith is the white part of the peel that is bitter and tastes nasty. The zest is the outer part that is orange, contains orange oil, and tastes and smells like oranges.
 
Consider an orange peel. One side is the color orange, the other is white. All the stringy white stuff, that's the pith. Tastes like crap, bitter but not in a good way.

What you need to do is to get the outer orange layer - that part that's actually the color orange - off from the orange without bringing any of the white pith along for the ride. You can buy a zester for a couple bucks to to this, it's going to scrape and gouge the fruit just enough to get the zest but not the pith. The zest - the orange bit - is where all the good flavor is. I have a sharp, serrated steak knife that I use to scrape off the zest from the fruit.
 
I brewed up a wit bier and just used the dried orange peel from my LHBS. If you're going that route, I'd recommend 1/2 oz sweet orange peel and 1/2 oz bitter orange peel; then I'd break up that combo and add half at 10 min and the other half at 5 minutes. I've never used fresh orange peel, so I'm not sure how that correlates. Good luck.

Marc.
 
My guess was the zest of a couple oranges near the end if the boil. I'll see how much 1 orange is.
 
Brewsmith said:
My guess was the zest of a couple oranges near the end if the boil. I'll see how much 1 orange is.
Click to expand...

I think adding it to the secondary would be better. That way you can taste it every so often and when it tastes the way you want it to, thats when you'll know its done and you rack.
 
I think I'll do both. Some near the end of the boil and more in the secondary. I was just curious if anyone had made an orange beer before, not just one where orange was part of the spices added.
 
I read on another board fresh orange will carry the taste of Sunkist, I don't know personally just thought I'd mention it.
 
In the "Brewing with Limes" thread (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=11843) cweston says that he thinks boiling the lemon zest added a harsh lemon flavour...I can only imagine that oranges would behave similar to lemons and limes....so, you might consider only "dry hopping" the orange zest, or else you might have to wait a while for the orange to mellow in the bottle.

Cheers!
-Rick

Primary: Honey Amber Ale
Secondary #1: Oatmeal Stout
Secondary #2: empty
Bottled/Aging: Octane IPA
Bottled/Drinking: American Amber Ale
 
I was only thinking of adding some within the last 15 minutes, maybe just a bunch at 5 and 0, then adding more to the secondary.
 
Update: I found an extract recipe for this one and it did not use orange zest or peels, it used orange blossom honey. Here's the info:

Of all of the beers that I have shared with friends, this is almost unanimously the favorite. I should note that it is very important to use Orange Blossom Honey, I made this once with Clover Honey and it had a "grassy" after taste. I have noticed this "grassy" after taste in every beer recipe in which I used Clover honey, USE ORANGE BLOSSOM HONEY, it provides a residual sweetness that I find very appealing in an amber ale like this.

Ingredients:
6.6 pounds, Northwestern Amber Extract
2 cups Orange Blossom Honey (boil)
0.5 pound, crystal malt
1.5 ounces, Hallertauer hops (boil)
0.5 ounce, Hallertauer hops (finish)
1 tsp. Irish Moss
M&F ale yeast
5/8 cup Orange Blossom Honey (priming)

Procedure:
Steep crystal malt while bringing water to a boil. Remove crystal malt and add extract, honey and boiling hops. Boil for 15 min., add Irish Moss, boil for another 30 min. Add finishing hops for 1-2 min. boil. After fermentation is complete, bottle using 5/8 cup of honey with one pint water for priming.
Click to expand...
 

Similar threads

S
Amber lager with corn and orange peel
Replies
17
Views
2K
sgreene820
S
M
Judge my mead recipe
Replies
2
Views
367
meadfromthebees
M
H
Citrusy Pale Ale to clean out the freezer
Replies
7
Views
883
lumpher
lumpher
hiphoppotamuss
Orange Creamsicle Ale
Replies
13
Views
3K
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
F
will this work for a smash pilsner?
Replies
1
Views
617
JohnSand
JohnSand

Latest posts

Back
Top