How much tangerine zest?

[Rob2010SS]

Looking to brew a tangerine cream ale. I'm thinking tangerine zest, as that appears to be the favored method, as opposed to tangerine flesh.

Never done citrus zest in a beer. What is the general rule of thumb for how much zest? This will be 17 gallons into the fermenter with 18 gallons post boil.

 

[ehall]

I do a blood orange ale every year. I juice about 6 oranges and boil that down to about 1/2cup of syrup that gets added at the end of fermentation. in the end of the boil the zest of those 6 oranges go in. this is for a 5gal batch. its still a light flavor but I"m not looking for punch in the face citrus flavor.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Have you ever measured that zest to see how much you have?

 

[ehall]

no. but they are all medium sized.

 

[Rob2010SS]

So, tangerines are small, but if I stay with 1 tangerine per gallon (so 18 tangerines) do we think that willl be overkill on the zest? 1 tangerine gets about 1 tsp of zest.

Thoughts?

 

[Jag75]

So, tangerines are small, but if I stay with 1 tangerine per gallon (so 18 tangerines) do we think that willl be overkill on the zest? 1 tangerine gets about 1 tsp of zest.

Thoughts?

I use about 3 to 4 oranges if I remember right for a 5 gallon batch. I think you have the right idea

 

[Rob2010SS]

Looks like not a lot of people use tangerine zest. Everything I'm seeing on Brewers Friend is tangerine peel or tangerine extract....

Will the dried tangerine peel that you can buy at an LHBS contribute any bitterness, since it's the whole peel? Everything I've read says you want to leave the white pith out, but yet that's all contained with the dried peels...

 

[Jag75]

Looks like not a lot of people use tangerine zest. Everything I'm seeing on Brewers Friend is tangerine peel or tangerine extract....

Will the dried tangerine peel that you can buy at an LHBS contribute any bitterness, since it's the whole peel? Everything I've read says you want to leave the white pith out, but yet that's all contained with the dried peels...

Personally, I'd not use that stuff. Your correct about not wanting the pith

 

[ehall]

use the zest, you won't regret it.

 

[Rob2010SS]

use the zest, you won't regret it.

No doubt that I won't regret it. I'm just not looking forward to zesting that many tangerines!!

 

[Jag75]

No doubt that I won't regret it. I'm just not looking forward to zesting that many tangerines!!

I hear ya !

 

[Dgallo]

Do you want it bright or resinous. I always advocate for tinctures when wanting bright notes and if you want that pithy bitterness in the beer, in the boil.

Another reason I advocate for tinctures is you can add it to desired flavor. If you make your tincture a head of time and get a measured dropper, you can take a commercial beer that is the same base beer as the one you are brewing. Then you can add a measured amount of your tincture to the beer until you hit your sweet spot. From there you can scale up to your full batch.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Thanks @Dgallo for the advice. Not sure which way I'm going to go yet. We did zest 20 tangerines yesterday though and we froze it. So we at least have that once we decide the route we're going.