Adding Orange Zest

I'm attempting my third Extract Recipe. The first two turned out fantastic in large part to this forum. Thank you! I'm making a Blue Moon Clone and I was wanting to add some orange zest to my boil . Does this sound doable and if so how much and when for a five gallon batch. Thanks Again.

Orange Zest still has some of the pith so will add bitterness to your brew. So you'll either have to cut back on your hops slightly or go to you LHBS and pick up some sweat orange peel. which ever method you use I have always added 1oz to the last 5 min of the boil.

Thanks alot. You guys make things alot less stressful. Have a great weekend!

You can get dried bitter peel at the LHBS for a few bucks, or you can buy a couple of oranges and zest your own. They do have a different flavor, just as a warning. I've always used fresh zest, personally.

I used to grate it, but a lot of it would end up in the dip tube after the boil and clog up the tube and CFC, so I started using a peeler to just get the zest without so much pith.

I use about .75-1.0 ounce per 5 gallons. Also about .75 ounce of crushed coriander and a clean American yeast for BM clone.

Good luck!

Here is what Jamil has to say about zest

Here's a quote from July/Aug 2007 BYO mag, Style profile (Witbier) by Jamil Zainasheff:

"The best way to add citrus character is with fresh citrus. The Petrified bits of orange peel often used bay be authentic, but fresh zest has a much brighter character. Select tangerines or oranges with a nice bold, fresh, aroma...Use a citrus zester to peel the very surface of the skin and avoid digging deep into the white pith as it si bitter and lacks citrus character. Measure the zest by weight, targeting about 1 to 2 ounces in a 5 gallon batch."

His recipe is in that article, as well. (calls for 1.5 oz of zest and .4 oz of crushed coriander.)

As for the coriander, he says, "I gently crush the coriander with the back of a heavy spoon to expose the inside of the seeds, which gives it a fairly strong, spicy character versus whole seeds. The level of coriander is probably the area most brewers overshoot, resulting in a really peppery beer. The desired result is a gentle background spicing not an overwhelming one. If you have fairly fresh coriander, start with .4 oz per 5 gallon batch during the last 5 min of boil."


Ive been researching zest as our club chose Grapefruit zest as our Iron Brewer ingredient. This seems to be one of the better snippets about using zest.

Just a warning...if you use dried orange peel use only 1/3 of an ounce as it is very potent! I only use 1/6 of an ounce in 5 gallons of my wheat beer and it is still citrus tasting.

Tangerines can be really tasty, I use the peels from 3 or 4 in my orange pale ale since they are smaller. If using regular oranges, the peel from 1-2 should be enough. Make sure you select the ripe ones, they have better taste/aroma.

I add my orange peels in the last 5 minutes of the boil. Since they are completely sterilized in the boil, its no problem if they transfer to your fermenter. I sometimes use crushed corriander too, about 0.5 oz gives me enough character.

I do as a practice try to remove most of the pith from the orange peels as you only want the fragrant orange part. I cut the peel into quarters and pull it off. I then use a cheese grater on one of the finer sizes to get down to the bare inside edge. But I still end up with 4 pieces. It takes a few minutes per orange to remove the pith.

I sterilize my zest in vodka and add it to the secondary. Helps retain more of the aromas. If added during primary (the boil) lots of those beautiful aromas escape during primary fermentation.