Orange Blossoms in beer

[reinbrew]

Has anyone used actual orange blossoms in the boil? Would that give flavor at all? Thinking about using the blossoms from a buddy's tree after they bloom in a wheat beer. Thoughts...

 

[Stockspeed3]

I have no clue. But I do see that you live in AZ did you get this idea from Papago brewery in Scottsdale? They have a beer called Orange Blossom and it taste just like a Orange cream pop. You could always call them up and ask them if they use OB in there beer. Or just go down there and have a few and ask.

 

[Zamial]

My SWMBO Wheat is a floral beer. Not orange blossoms. I am waiting until I perfect the recipe and then I will share it. Living where I do I have never had the ability to smell an orange blossom. How strong is it's aroma?

I started off with about 1 gallon of picked flowers, rinsed and put in the boil @60 min. I still have some of that batch left, it was an extract. Between the "twang" and the over powering floral flavor, it is a "1 of" beer for SWMBO in the spring. I hate it.

I cut the recipe down to 4 oz of rinsed and frozen flowers, and did a partial mash. Still over powering but not AS bad. I dislike this one.

I am soon going to attempt an AG version with 1oz of rinsed and frozen @60 and also adding in sweet orange peel. I believe this version will be the "keeper".

Anyways the reason I had asked how strong the fragrance is, that is a decent base line for flavor strength most of the time. I will also be trying a non-wheat clone of a beer called Fraoch, that is a heather flower beer. They use ALOT of flowers in that one because the flavor is weak.

The other advise is only flowers, no green plant matter or stem/stalk and you should be golden. Let us know how it turns out!

 

[cuart682]

i was thinking about making a beer with an orange flavor i ordered 3LB of orange blossom honey from nb and was goin to boil it with 3lb or light lme. dont know if this will work but plan on brewing it on presidents day. hopefully im not goin to ruin a batch of beer.

 

[Sacdan]

There is a Brewery in Reno thta puts the orange blossoms in the mash.

 

[mcarb]

I'd think that boiling it would kill off any delicate flavors you might get and/or make it too strong. I'd add it in at the end of the boil or to the secondary.

 

[reinbrew]

I called Papago brewing co and they use extracts from a company (something like McCormick, I forgot the name) for the orange and vanilla flavors in that beer. I told him why I was asking and he actually suggested using coffee flavoring syrups if I want to replicate that flavor on a homebrew level. Never heard or seen that before, great idea. He also told me that Four Peaks brewing made a beer "many" years ago with orange blossoms. So I guess it can be done, doing more research at Four Peaks tomorrow. Will report.

 

[Revvy]

What a cool idea. A couple things you could consider doing, loosely based on things I've been experimenting with (though never with anything as delicate.)

The esters in those are probably very very volatile so tossing them in the boil is going to drive everything away. SO to capture the essence your going to have to try things like infusions and like dry hopping. Using them in ways that won't drive off those delicate aromas and flavors.

You could try infusing vodka, or grain alcohol with a lot of blossoms, and add them or just the extraction to the beer post fermentation like in secondary.

Another thing would be to steep them in your priming solution and strain them out and add that to your bottling bucket at bottling time. I've been experimenting with infusing my priming sugar boils with all manner of things, like spices, ginger, herbs, even chillies. Basically once you hit the boil for your priming solution turn off the flame and dump them in, AND put a lid on the pan to trap everything in, including the distillate at the top of the lid. (Hmmm, that's another thought. Creating and infused distilled water and suing that.Basically doing something similar to how ALton Brown makes distilled smoke on good eats (http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31533&sid=07d4f25fab7911c06206898044a6c0ff)

In fact I wonder if you could distill enough orange blossom water that way for the two cups of water you need to prime with.?

Another option might be to dry hop with them.

Also, you could try infuse dry sugar with them and adding that to something..like ssecondary or your priming solution.... I've infused sugar with ginger by peeling whole roots and sticking them in a jar and filling the jar with sugar and letting it sit in the fridge form months, then removing the ginger and letting the sugar dry out and using that on cookies and stuff. You might want to try that.

I also wonder how mashing them would work...but I wonder if the 150 heat would destroy the oils..but it might be perfect.

All these things though probably require a ton of blossoms to get enough of an impact.

But I think it might be cool to try.

Obviously you'd probably need a very low grav beer like a kolsh or a pale ale to use them in that wouldn't over shadow the blossom aroma or flavor itself.

Good luck

 

[Stockspeed3]

I called Papago brewing co and they use extracts from a company (something like McCormick, I forgot the name) for the orange and vanilla flavors in that beer. I told him why I was asking and he actually suggested using coffee flavoring syrups if I want to replicate that flavor on a homebrew level. Never heard or seen that before, great idea. He also told me that Four Peaks brewing made a beer "many" years ago with orange blossoms. So I guess it can be done, doing more research at Four Peaks tomorrow. Will report.

Thanks for calling. I always wondered what they did. Have you gotten the chance to go down and try it? Its very intresting. I would just ask for a sample and then order somthing else. I personally liked it, but no way I could drink a pint of it. Please let us know your findings with four peaks.

 

[JeffB]

Cool idea, being from Litchfield Park in the 70s and 80s, the smell of my dads orange blossoms on his ranch are one of the things I really miss. Please do try this if you can, sounds like Revvy has some good ideas on how to do it. If I had a source of blossoms Id try it for sure.

 

[reinbrew]

Still haven't heard from four peaks brewing. I tried making a tea of orange blossoms and didn't get much flavor. a few handfuls for a cup of water might not have been near enough. Putting this idea on the back burner for now, but not giving up on it totally.

 

[Stockspeed3]

Dang four peaks!

 

[Rob_B]

Have you thought about using orange blossom water? I would likely go this route at bottling and maybe a "dry hop" approach to take advantage of the fresh blossoms. Too bad I didn't catch this thread untill after all our blossoms are done blooming and fruit is setting. Maybe next year.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LQJ6DK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Hex]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_flower_water

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LQJ6DK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I have seen food products like orange blossom water and rose petal water in health and worldly markets. Make your own, should work like revvy said late in the game...

oops see above post!

 

[azscoob]

All this orange blossom talk makes me want to walk over to Papago for lunch today, I don't care for their orange beer, but they always have a crazy good selection of beers on tap!

 

[Stockspeed3]

All this orange blossom talk makes me want to walk over to Papago for lunch today, I don't care for their orange beer, but they always have a crazy good selection of beers on tap!

True that. I always get a sample of the OB but that is about all I can handle. Even my wife can't drink a full glass of it.

 

[Sacdan]

The best way to impart orange blossom flavor in beer is by putting them in the mash.

 

[unionrdr]

This discussion reminded me of a red crab apple tree (semi dwarf) I had in the front yard of the last house I sold. It had purple/red leaves & striking pink/red/light purple flowers that had a strong smell exactly like sweet tarts candy. Kinda like berry sweet tarts. I'd love to be able to try those in a Hefeweitzen. Just using them in the right way seems to be the real question here...

 

[IllWill]

I never tried orange blossoms but i have tried grapefruit. I pick an ounce of blossoms fresh from my tree for my spring seasonal. I flash boil them to sterilize, and add at bottling.

 

[beerbuff]

At Papago we get the extract from a company in Wiscoinsin called Northwestern extracts, http://www.nwextract.com/ You local homebrew shop can order from them. I don't think they do retail sales. Either get the Mandarin Orange and a Vanilla one if you want to control the flavor profile or just get their pre mixed orange cream. As mentioned alternatively for homebrewers I would suggest getting using the syrups you see at coffee shops, in my area Torani is the most widely available. I'd use the sugar free mandarin orange and sugar free vanilla. In a neutral flavored wheat beer you wont need a lot. Just a few ounces per 5 gallons.

As to using real orange blossoms. They dont have much flavor so boiling them is a waste. Use them as you would either aroma hops or dry hops. Four Peaks just a couple of months ago made 2 firkins, one with Orange Blossoms in it and the other with cherry blossoms that came out well.

 

[Stockspeed3]

At Papago we get the extract from a company in Wiscoinsin called Northwestern extracts, http://www.nwextract.com/ You local homebrew shop can order from them. I don't think they do retail sales. Either get the Mandarin Orange and a Vanilla one if you want to control the flavor profile or just get their pre mixed orange cream. As mentioned alternatively for homebrewers I would suggest getting using the syrups you see at coffee shops, in my area Torani is the most widely available. I'd use the sugar free mandarin orange and sugar free vanilla. In a neutral flavored wheat beer you wont need a lot. Just a few ounces per 5 gallons.

As to using real orange blossoms. They dont have much flavor so boiling them is a waste. Use them as you would either aroma hops or dry hops. Four Peaks just a couple of months ago made 2 firkins, one with Orange Blossoms in it and the other with cherry blossoms that came out well.

Thanks for the info.

 

[paytonsmith]

I brewed a saison last month using orange blossom tea from a company called teasource. It turned out great, only thing i would do differently is change the hops i used. The tea put a candy like orange taste to it, almost like an orange marmalade. it was very good, just a little sweet for my liking. Great summer beer, Ill end up brewing it again this summer for sure with a few tweaks.

(I brew 2.5 BIAB batched)

pilsner 90%
rye 5%
flaked oats 5%

idaho 7 hop hash
southern promise.
2oz orange blossom tea (Dry hop)

Belgian saison 1

 

[Dgallo]

If your trying to crush that flavor I’d also use orange blossom honey and Mandarina Bov. hops. This should really bump it up