Orange beer

[gclay]

well my first attempt at using fresh orange peel seems to have gone wrong. I used a cheese grater to grate the zest and mad sure I had no pith. I put 1.5 oz in at 10 mins left in the boil. I tasted it when I transferred and it was ok a little bitter. We ll I tasted it when I bottled and it was real sour, didn't really taste like orange. Will it take forever in the bottle to mellow out and taste like orange or did I screw up. I ask because I'd like to do a gingerbread beer for x-mas an am now worried about spicing a beer.

 

[grainstoglass]

I've only made a few beers using orange peels, but I think you really should give it three weeks or more in the bottle before you get too nervous about its taste. Orange peel does seem to add some bitterness even if you are careful about the pith in my experience. I think you need to see where you are at after bottle conditioning.

 

[Jsmith82]

I put 1 oz bitter orange peel and 1 oz crushed coriander in my last wheat, I usually drink wheats after 3 weeks in primary, 2 weeks in the bottle. This one took a couple weeks longer though, it was sour / green tasting, was also the first time I had ever added orange to the boil though I can't tell you if that was the cause, just the changed factor (I usually place my fresh zest and fruit in a muslin bag, steep it in a quart of water, transfer to the primary, then dump the beer on top of it before pitching my yeast - the blood orange hefe style). Anyhow, I had one last night and it was rocking. So good, I was completely forced to drink another.

I'd say hang in there, it will come around; the beer will mature and the bitter / sour should mellow.

I forgot to even ask, what kind of beer did you add this to?

 

[Revvy]

Except for wits, I've had a nearly impossible time getting a nice orange flavor in beers. For 5 years or so I was trying to develop a Ginger Orange Dortmunder. I tried everything, fresh peels, dry peels, orange marmalade, even a small amount of orange juice, and nothing was satisfactory to me.

 

[McGarnigle]

Isn't 1.5 ounces of zest a lot? Zest barely weighs anything. How many oranges is that?

 

[bluemoose]

G,

Hang with that beer. I did the wild dog days with 2 oranges and 2 lemons. It was not great after a couple of weeks. It has certainly mellowed since then. I don't have a great and true orange flavor, but that may be due to adding the lemon zest as well. It has definitly gotten better in the past couple of weeks. Sit on it a while.
On another note, did you wash the oranges really well before zesting? If not you may have gotten a bit of off flavor from any chemicals on the oranges from growing and transport.

Using the pith is ok. It does lend a bit more flavor. Don't fear the pith.

 

[Jsmith82]

Don't fear the pith.

This statement needs more cowbell.

If it helps in perspective, I generally use 4 oranges to brew with fresh zest, largest I can find.

 

[gclay]

I grated 2 oranges to get the zest. I made a light beer with 6# 2-row 1# munich 1oz tetnag (60min) and s-04.

 

[shanecb]

Isn't 1.5 ounces of zest a lot? Zest barely weighs anything. How many oranges is that?

I've put up to 3oz of orange zest in a beer before. I think that came out to about... 4 oranges? Something like that.

 

[bovineblitz]

Isn't 1.5 ounces of zest a lot? Zest barely weighs anything. How many oranges is that?

I used the zest of 17 pieces of citrus including one grapefruit in one 5gal beer. It came out citrusy and delicious, no sourness or extra bitterness apparent at all. I did use an actual zester, not a cheese grater. I'd imagine the cheese grater would take off more than just the outer layer of zest and it'd be pretty uneven.

I've found that mild oranges like navels don't really do much. You need something more robust like blood oranges. I used blood oranges, navel oranges, honey tangerines, minneola oranges, lemons, limes, and a grapefruit and got a pretty strong orange flavor.

 

[passedpawn]

I've weight my zest. 1 ounce per orange. And I use one orange per 5 gallons for my wits

 

[Fish826]

I usually place my fresh zest and fruit in a muslin bag, steep it in a quart of water, transfer to the primary, then dump the beer on top of it before pitching my yeast

I just brewed a Belgian Tripel on wednesday. It was an extract kit that had gotten good reviews, but said the orange flavors were very subtle if there at all. I planned to add some zest to the secondary to bring out these flavors more. Should I have done it prior to fermenting? And if I can still put it in the secondary should I do anything other than just washing the oranges first?