use of Oleo Saccharum in homebrew?

[thejob]

just wondering if anyone has used foodsaver bag version of oleo saccharum in their homebrew to add a citrus punch and to extract extra oils out of their orange peel/hops.

what is foodsaver bag version of oleo saccharum is probably the question? a process thought up by jeffery morgenthaler to extract oils from orange peels by placing the orange peels and sugar in a foodsaver bag and extracting the air and letting it set, thus pulling the oils from the peels more aggressively over time.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...UwsxfelhcUsxDDFpg&sig2=bTdejEPt6ptI_wSS1awCdQ

my thought was to take this concept and add hops into the mix with belgian sugar to extract the oil from the peels and the hop leaves.

i have done this with a an ounce of citra hops and five blood orange peels and placed it into a lightly hopped kolsch to see what affect it will have on the end product.

any thoughts?

 

[Revvy]

Does a standard foodsaver pull enough vac to do it?

I use, as I just outlines in THIS response, Nitrogen Cavitation to make infusions. That's what I use for citrus extract. I've done it with lavendar, hops, cocoa nibs, a lot of things. It's my primary infusion method these days.


Funny you posted this today while I was writing up my method.

 

[thejob]

it definitely does pull enough air to extract the oils. About an hour after vacuum sealing the bag the oil was visible. next time i do it i'll have to take pictures and post on here for an update. if it works out well in the brew that is.

appreciate the way you extract the flavours too. it really is amazing what we can do when we dive into other areas for inspiration.

 

[Revvy]

You got me interested in trying your method.

Orange is a really tricky flavor to get right. I've been playing around with various methods for as long as I've been brewing. Nitrogen Cavitation seems to be the best so far, but not straight cavitation, but a mixture of cavitation AND straight infusion by soaking in a jar with more peels.

I think we need to clarify in the method you posted, SUPERFINE sugar is NOT the same in America as Powdered sugar (a lot of people think it is, I used to too) powdered sugar has anti-clumping ingredients added to it, IIRC something like a cornstarch, you don't want that in your beer.

If you can't find superfine sugar, I make it in a food processor. I put regular table sugar in a small food processor and pulse it about a minute, shaking it every now and then so the particles hit the blade.

Hmm, you know. I wonder if instead of superfine sugar, how it would work with lactose or maltodextrine instead. something that wouldn't ferment out and would leave a bit of residual sweetness.

I've done a lactose "simple syrup" before and did cavitation with that stuff before. It worked great for making a "Sweet" infusion added at bottling.

 

[thejob]

i'm really glad i posted this on here. i'll have to try out some of the ideas in the future. i may taste at bottling and see what i have, and if i want a lil more of the flavour then have some of the lactose method for half the brew and see what the outcome is. i was thinking about doing it with the priming sugar by itself at first, but now i think the lactose would add that little bit of sweetness if it is needed.

i really think this might work well with an imperial ipa more than what i'm currently using it for in the kolsch, but it should give me a good baseline to work and play with.