Belgium Wit with Orange zest?

[g2rnewton]

I am interested in making a Belgium Wit for my summer beer. Want to add orange zest for flavoring. Love taste of Blood Oranges, but not sure if that will pair with Wit. Looking for Advise. Help please?

 

[dawgmatic]

This is very common actually. Belgian witbiers, aka Belgian whites, are often spiced with orange peel and coriander. I'm sure blood orange zest would work great as long as your careful not to get any of the pith in there. Just throw it in at the end of your boil

 

[Gitmoe]

You can also do a secondary with cut up blood oranges. We just did a saison with blood oranges in secondary at work. It was also aged in a whiskey barrel. The flavor ended up being really unique.

 

[g2rnewton]

Thanks for the tips. I also saw on an older thread that Seville oranges work well too but I have never heard of them. Any advise on that. Otherwise I think blood orange will be choice. Thinking of adding at end of boil and put in an herb ball and add during secondary.

 

[dinnerstick]

i love blood oranges, i've used their zest in quite a few brews. personally i don't think the zest is hugely different between varieties, or at least it's not as variable as the sugar content and acidity of the juice. i'm curious if anyone has a different opinion. i have used seville, blood, mineola, others in a wit and they're all good!

 

[MusicalBrewer]

I did a Whit last month and used Tangelo zest in it. I read somewhere it would be sweeter than orange zest. I put it in the last 5 minutes of the boil. I strained my wort so nothing was in the primary. Bottles have only been conditioned 2 weeks so it's still a young beer, but I've cracked open a couple and they have a nice hint of orange.

The biggest question I had was how much zest to use. From the threads I read people were using the zest of 2-4 oranges for a 5 gallon batch. I used 24 grams of zest (.85 oz) for a 1.75 gallon batch. I'd probably use a little bit more next time.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

I made a Belgian wit and used the zest of 4 oranges, 6 limes, and 4 lemons, as well as 1/2 oz of coriander.
I put half in at the last 5 mins of boil, then the remainder once I transferred to the carboy for clearing in a hop bag.
Very nice taste.

 

[dinnerstick]

i go big on the orange zest, 12-15 oranges for a 20L / 5g batch. a lot of the flavor ferments out, or at least doesn't make it through to the final beer. i buy oranges for a week or so before i brew, zest them, freeze the zest, and then use the oranges for breakfast juice. then add all the frozen zest just before the end of boil, along with fresh zest and even some (~10g) dry sweet orange peel. and of course chamomile, coriander, and even star anise. never tried lemon or lime. hey what about kumquat!? maybe too bitter...?

 

[g2rnewton]

Never thought of using orange, lemon and lime with coriander in wit. Was it more of a saison taste?

 

[Toecutter]

I have a couple of recipes I perfected in the wheat beer section. I live in the Orange belt of So California, and have a dozen orange trees on my property. Oranges really are great in a Belgian Witt, and make sure you use White Labs WLP-400 yeast. I always keep 10 gallons of Belgian Orange Witt on hand kegged . its a great easy drinking beer and my wife loves it

 

[AbandonedDog]

I have a couple of recipes I perfected in the wheat beer section. I live in the Orange belt of So California, and have a dozen orange trees on my property. Oranges really are great in a Belgian Witt, and make sure you use White Labs WLP-400 yeast. I always keep 10 gallons of Belgian Orange Witt on hand kegged . its a great easy drinking beer and my wife loves it

If I was to use sweet orange peel in my Honey Kolsch brew today what would be amount in 5 gallon batch???

 

[g2rnewton]

Toecutter...liked my orange Belgium wit so much I have adopted your idea. I plan on having that in stock year round, not just seasonal. Brewed another batch this past Sunday. Thanks for tip.

 

[Toecutter]

Toecutter...liked my orange Belgium wit so much I have adopted your idea. I plan on having that in stock year round, not just seasonal. Brewed another batch this past Sunday. Thanks for tip.

Try it with WLP410 Yeast if you can find it. Normally its a seasonal yeast. I used it and it improved the flavor, so I have some in the cooler that I washed. I'm going to brew another 10 gallon batch this weekend.

 

[g2rnewton]

Made another version of the beer this month. Put 5 Naval Orange Peels in primary and then another 2 Cara Cara orange zests during secondary. Curious if I notice the difference between Cara Cara and Naval. Last batch was all Naval peels. Has anyone used Cara Cara before?

 

[Tommyb52]

I have this (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/el-segundo-grado-witbier-87679/) fermenting in my basement now. It uses Seville orange marmalade which is easy to get but not the actual oranges themselves in the US. Blood oranges are tart imho but not sure how their rind will turn out in a wit. I tasted the marmalade and it's bitter but most of the wit recipes say to use them if you can. I also found a lemon,orange,grapefruit marmalade at Pathmark i will use next if it turns out good. Good luck brewing.

 

[g2rnewton]

Thanks for tip. I was looking for Seville, but didn't think of marmalade. I also looked for blood orange too. I can see me making a batch of this every year, so I will try Seville next.

 

[Toecutter]

Made another version of the beer this month. Put 5 Naval Orange Peels in primary and then another 2 Cara Cara orange zests during secondary. Curious if I notice the difference between Cara Cara and Naval. Last batch was all Naval peels. Has anyone used Cara Cara before?

I have a tree full of ripe Cara Cara's and have 10 gallons of this fermenting right now with them in it. The difference between them and Washington Naval in the beer will be negligable. The Cara Cara's have a pink flesh, so they might affect the beer color slightly. They are a cross between the Washington navel and the Brazilian Bahia navel