Orange Apple Cider

[Edcculus]

I've been knocking around ideas of what to brew next. After having pumped out 3 beers in 3 weeks, I'm looking to change it up a bit.

I had this idea while sitting at work:

Orange Blossom Special
5 gallons apple juice
2 lb orange blossom honey
zest of 5 oranges
zest of 1 lemon
champagne yeast

Heat apple juice enough to dissolve all honey. Boil zest in a cup of juice for a few minutes. Dump all ingridents (minus zest) into fermenter and pitch yeast.

Ferment for 2-3 weeks, or until gravity is stable.

Rack onto more orange zest and 1 lb of oranges for 2 weeks. (minus rind and pith).

Rack to tertiary for 1-2 months for bulk aging.


My olny concern is that racking onto oranges might produce weird flavors. I'm also considering adding a small bit of fresh ginger in the secondary and playing with the yeast. I'm intrigued by the thread talking about using wheat yeast. I'd probably knock out a pound of honey if using ale yeast so it won't end up too sweet.


Thoughts?

 

[Yooper]

That seems like way too much zest to me. I'd start with less in the boil, and add more in secondary if it's not enough. I'm not sure that the fresh oranges will be great- but I use them in the Joe's Ancient Orange Mead recipe (along with the peel- they are just quartered).

 

[jameswardpeterson]

you shouldn't have a real problem with an ale yeast leaving that too sweet with just 2 pounds of honey. even though beers arn't too high in ABV, the yeast can still keep on going if sugar is available. yooper's probably right about the 5 oranges. I would start with around 3 and test it when racking to secondary.

Yooper, +1 on the new avatar, I love that show.

 

[Edcculus]

Just put this in the fermenter:

4 gallons mott's
1 gallon unfiltered natural apple juice (...cider)
2 lbs orange blossom honey
boiled 2 cups of juice with the zest of 1 tangerine and 1 orange. Added the honey off the boil to the hot liquid (pseudo pasteurization).


I want this dry, and LHBS only had Pasteur Champagne yeast. We'll see how it goes. I'll add orange extract at bottling if it lacks a distinct orange flavor.