Orange Cream ale - Orange zest leaves mild bitterness once inside keg

[brewd00d]

So i made an orange cream ale. Zested about a softball size amount and put it in at the end of the boil. All if fine at this point. Aroma was awesome, just what i wanted. Tasted it once it cooled down before transferred to the fermenter, it tasted awesome. Everything fermented fine. Sat in secondary for three weeks. Did a little taste test again. Smelled and tasted just as it did on brew day. The cream part is vanilla extract. I put that in, and the brew into keg for cold storage to let it clear up. At this point, still, with the vanilla in there, i had the exact amount of orange and vanilla to give the orange cream ale effect.

After about a month of sitting, i decided to taste it again. This time, there is a mild bitter taste to the beer. I dont WTF would have caused this bitter flavor.

Sanitation was done exactly as i have for the last hundred or more batches. So was everything else. Im a little puzzled as to what caused, and at what point, the beer started to get this bitter flavor.

Has anyone else ran into this situation? What can i do so counteract this? Maybe sweeten with something. I also found this on the net - http://morebeer.com/products/cascade-beer-candi-syrup-blood-orange.html and i am thinking about giving it a try. I know its supposed to be put in during fermentation but, i know flavorings go in during kegging too and since its sweet it might balance out this bitter flavor i have going on.

Any insight would be super helpful!

 

[brewd00d]

no one at all?? its been sitting at 36 deg. F for about 40 days, still no change.

 

[webby45wr]

I've had some bitterness when using lime before. I thought it was due to getting some of the white pith while zesting. I added my zest during bottling. Since you added yours during the boil, I would have thought you would taste it earlier than now if you were having the some issue. Sorry I can't be of more help!

 

[JR_Brewer]

I haven't been on the forum much recently, but hopefully I can help.

I brewed a lemon saison with a friend over the summer and we had a similar experience. The first taste was after ~3 weeks in the bottle. At that point, it needed to carb up a little more, but otherwise it was what we expected.

We just tasted a second time last night, it's been about 6-7 weeks in the bottle now. There is more bitterness, and we are guessing it's related to the lemon zest.

If you're looking to balance it out, you could reduce the amount of bittering hops you're using. Otherwise, experiment with how much zest you use. However, it's a fine line between too little (and no citrus flavor) and too much (too bitter). Good luck!

 

[brewd00d]

Thanks for the replys guys. The bitterness it has is a different kind of bitterness you would find in hops. Maybe more of like a tartness aftertaste. I think I might have to dump. This was my second attempt at this beer. The first time i brewed it used orange extract and it actually had the safe tart after effect but it was a lot more intense. Maybe I'll dump half and put the rest in bottles and let them sit for a while and see what happens in six months or so.