Blood Orange Pale Ale

[mike240z]

Just legged a blood orange pale. Color and flavor are good, just not much (if any) orange flavor. I used one can of Vintner’s Harvest Blood Orange Purée into secondary. My FG was constant at that point. However, it dropped 0.04 after the addition. So, obviously it reinvigorated the fermentation. Question #1 Would that drop account for there not being any real orange flavor? Question #2 if I added another can to the keg,would that cause a issue? Worried about restarting fermentation in the keg, albeit it will be cold....... Just want more orange flavor. Ideas are welcome!

 

[balrog]

Adding sugar will make yeast go to work. No way arund it unless you kill the yeast or remove it. Even when cold, it will still chew some sugar, albeit slowly.

The best way I ever added orange flavor was to a lackluster Blue Moon in the keg I had. I zested a couple of oranges, poured about 2 oz vodka on it to make a tincture, let it sit in the fridge 3-4 days, then poured through a hop sock to filter out the zest. It was a big hit. It was also **WAY** too over the top. 1/2 orange would like have been better.

 

[mike240z]

That’s what I figured. I will try your technique with 1/2 orange. Thanks!

 

[Sammy86]

My usual practice is to throw orange peel into the boil...last 10-15 minutes. I've also added orange peel siting in vodka with a dry hop and got some nice flavors as well.

You could even go crazy and let some oranges sit in your mash water before mashing but then you'll need to adjust for PH and sugar.

 

[VikeMan]

Question #2 if I added another can to the keg,would that cause a issue? Worried about restarting fermentation in the keg, albeit it will be cold....... Just want more orange flavor. Ideas are welcome!

I have back-sweetened kegs with juices/concentrates before. It's not a problem as long as the beer stays cold. With a puree though, I'd make sure it's one without solids to get clogged in the diptube/poppet/etc.

 

[KDogg]

My usual practice is to throw orange peel into the boil...last 10-15 minutes. I've also added orange peel siting in vodka with a dry hop and got some nice flavors as well.

You could even go crazy and let some oranges sit in your mash water before mashing but then you'll need to adjust for PH and sugar.

Do you remove the orange peel before fermentation or leave them all in?

 

[Sammy86]

Do you remove the orange peel before fermentation or leave them all in?

I've done both. My palette couldn't taste a difference.

 

[Brooothru]

I have back-sweetened kegs with juices/concentrates before. It's not a problem as long as the beer stays cold. With a puree though, I'd make sure it's one without solids to get clogged in the diptube/poppet/etc.

Couldn't you also dose with sorbate to prevent refermentation?

 

[VikeMan]

Couldn't you also dose with sorbate to prevent refermentation?

I'm not really sure. I've used Potassium Sorbate in non-beer beverages, simply because that was the common practice. But I think there's some debate about whether it actually reliably prevents yeast from eating. (It does prevent them from budding.) I think winemakers (at least some) combine Sorbate with K-Meta when they back-sweeten.

 

[Brooothru]

I'm not really sure. I've used Potassium Sorbate in non-beer beverages, simply because that was the common practice. But I think there's some debate about whether it actually reliably prevents yeast from eating. (It does prevent them from budding.) I think winemakers (at least some) combine Sorbate with K-Meta when they back-sweeten.

That's what I was thinking, ala sorbate and NaMeta to stabilize a wine fermentation after terminal gravity is reached.

 

[Jag75]

I use metabisulfate and sorbate in mead. Ive never tried in beer . Personally if the beer is kegged and cold it shouldn't be an issue . Ive back sweetened a peach ale in the keg and it worked fine with zero issues.

The sulfate and sorbate addition to wine and mead works because the mead or wine is left at room temp while the sulfite rids o2 and sorbate keeps yeast from growing .