Blue Moon Clone Very Bitter - .25oz of extra Bitter Orange Peel

Hey Fellas,

I brewed the Blue Balls Belgium Wit recipe a few weeks back. When dumping the Bitter Orange peels in I accidently dumped a full OZ in verses the .75 the recipe called for. Because of efficiency issues, i probably only came out with 4 - 4.5 gallons on a 5.5 gallon recipe. After the entire process and being in the bottle for about two weeks, the beer tastes great but it is bitter. Not as bitter as when i bottled it, it tasted like eating an orange peel first. Now its more like peeling an orange and smelling the bitterness of the white stuff of the orange.

Will the bitterness settle? This is my first time using bitter orange peels so i am not sure how much of an impact .25 more ounces has on the overall product. The after taste tastes great after getting hit in the face with a fresh peeled orange.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Used BierMuncher Recipe listed below....

Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.50 lb Pale Malt Crisp (UK) (3.0 SRM)
4.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min)
0.75 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min)
0.75 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min)
1 Pkgs Belgian Witbier (White Labs #400)

the bitterness may be from the beer being so young. the orange may have helped too. give it some more time and the green beer taste will be gone, and the orange should fade a bit.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

the bitterness may be from the beer being so young. the orange may have helped too. give it some more time and the green beer taste will be gone, and the orange should fade a bit.

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Thanks NB77. I am amazed about this green beer tasting stuff. There are so many different tastes that relate to "green beer". Watery, bitter, tart, etc. I am still trying to wrap my head around to identify the differences.

whoops; well that sucks but there isn't anything to be done about it now but put it away and let the orange dissipate.

In the future-- overspicing a beer can mess it up, big-time. It is better to go light on spices in the boil, then add more later (spice tea) to secondary, bottling bucket or keg.

0.75 oz (~4.5 tsp) seems like a lot. I have not brewed Bier's recipe and I know he gets a lot of good feedback, but people have different tolerances and likes/dislikes for spices.

I have only brewed the Wayne1 Blue Moon Clone recipe (a brewer at Coors). He has scaled down the orange spicing for 5 Gallons to be 0.33 teaspoons of ground Valencia (sweet) orange peel.
The base recipe is also different from Bier's so that could account for different spicing needs.

good luck!

I've used 1oz of bitter orange peel with 1oz of coriander plenty of times with no ill effect. However, since moving to AG my first belgian wit came out great but has just a tad too much bitterness, it's very slight. I'm thinking I just need to ease the hop addition down, treat it more like a hefe hop-wise. I've come to this conclusion as a second Wit that I've done as a base for my White Peach Wit had no orange peel and only .5oz of Coriander and I still tasted the same slight bitterness and I used the same hops (Hallertauer 4.3%) and recipe otherwise. I'm thinking it would be best if I brought down the AA to 3.8% or so on the one I've done.


Rev.

I'd say to let it mellow but you might have a sensitive pallete...maybe consider navel oranges or nectarines for a sweeter finish and similar aroma and taste

adkins220 said:

Thanks NB77. I am amazed about this green beer tasting stuff. There are so many different tastes that relate to "green beer". Watery, bitter, tart, etc. I am still trying to wrap my head around to identify the differences.

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no prob. yeah, there's a few things that give beer the green taste, yeast make it tart or yeasty, undeveloped flavor gives it a watery feel, i've noticed things like spices and fruit zest really show up in a young beer, but mellow as the malt flavor develops, i've also have young beer that tasted too smooth, almost creamy. you get used to all these green flavors pretty quick, and when you taste young beer you just know.

Calichusetts said:

I'd say to let it mellow but you might have a sensitive pallete...maybe consider navel oranges or nectarines for a sweeter finish and similar aroma and taste

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i think this is a good idea. a milder fruit with a similar taste may make it less bitter, if it's the orange peel that's making it overly so. i may have to try this in a wit to keep it nice and balanced, but with a nice fruit flavor. someone buy Cali a brew!

Maybe my taste buds are numb but I use two oz of bitter orange peel for the last 20 of the boil. I don't notice anything too bitter or "orangie".

I doubt the extra .25 oz for 5 mins is gonna make that much difference.

I had to let my first beer with bitter orange mellow for many months before I could drink it to my liking.

Put some away and forget about it for a while.

Same deal with me... My belgian wit needs to mellow for awhile.