Extra Ingredients added prematurely? (did I ruin :) )

Fairly new here (been a lurker for a while), I've read through quite a few threads, the wiki, and most of the did I ruin my beer sticky and haven't been able to find my answer, so I apologize in advance if it's right under my nose, I am just at about 2 1/2 weeks in to my fermentation, about to bottle, and want to make sure I am good to go.

I'm working on my second batch of brewing, and I am going with a Belgian Style Wheat. I read somewhere I could shave some orange peel into it to give it a little "orangier" taste similar to Shocktop.

Well I did, but I added it during the boiling Wort/Hop phase. It seems, just like at least 50% of the people on here that start out, I am currently a Mr. Beer Nub, and after I boiled the water/booster and added the wort, I added a couple tsp of orange peel shavings, and continued along with my process.

Although, while I was reading the wiki it stated I should be adding any extra ingredients during the 2nd fermentation / conditioning phase.

"In certain cases, the addition of adjuncts such as oak cubes, herbs, spices or other flavorings, as well as the practice of dry-hopping, takes place in the secondary vessel."

My biggest worry is that maybe adding it to early may have somehow chemically effected the primary fermentation phase after adding the yeast.

Anyone have any experience with this, or know if I am ok/non-ok to continue on to my bottling/carbonation phase tonight?

Thanks in advance for any help.

you didnt ruin it, but you may have lost some of the orange aroma. if you're still worried, id just pull a sample and find out for yourself.

It definitely isn't ruined. Just like the previous poster, you can taste it and see how the orange is after a couple weeks. If it isn't orange-y enough, add some orange zest (microwave the zest for 30 secs to kill any nasties) to the bucket and leave another few days.

Or, you can just serve the beer with an orange slice everytime you drink it.

Most of the threads I've read here that add fruit to beer add it in a secondary fermenter after racking off the cake. In fact, current practice seems to be that this is the only reason to use a secondary. Orange peel isn't fruit. I've used orange peel and it was added towards the end of the boil (to sterilize it) taste it and see if you like. If not, you can add more orange peel essence using the spiced tea method.

If you're worried about fermentation being effected, take a hydrometer sample. If your beer is at or near your target FG, it wasn't an issue. (it almost certainly wasn't an issue, but you should get in the habit of checking your gravity anyway)

The reason we usually wait for secondary to add "stuff" is that much of the flavor and almost all of the aroma will be lost during the first stages of fermentation because of the large amounts of CO2 that are generated by the yeast. The smells just float away with the gas.

Way to do your research, congrats on your new hobby, and welcome to the obsession!

Thank you all for the quick replies, the community really is great here. I'm glad to hear I'm o.k. where I currently stand. I'll give it a taste when I get off work, see how I feel about it and go from there.

It's crazy the amount of knowledge at my finger tips from stickies, the wiki, and the community in general that's available. I was originally hesitant to start the hobby, but all it takes is some reading on this website, and patience and it seems like I will be good to go.

Definitely plan on picking up a 5gallon starting kit in the next month or so, to take the hobby to the next level, I have enjoyed everything so far.

Thanks again everyone for the welcomes, and the advice. Nice to be part of a forum where people don't automatically jump on you for being new.