Orange wheat?

[DatsyukianDeke]

I have a good, basic wheat recipe I like and I'm thinking of adding orange for the summer. Would the zest of 3-4 oranges give me enough flavor? What about zesting a lemon to brighten the flavor? I'm assuming after primary fermentation or in secondary is the time to add these ingredients?

 

[mdindy]

I have used the zest of 2 oranges in the last 15 of the boil with decent results.

 

[Hello]

I've used the zest of a single orange and an ounce of orange peel in a honey orange hefe with good results. 3-4 oranges and a single lemon will be an orange blast. I can totally get behind that.

My recommendation, zest an orange 5 minutes before flame out and after krausen drops, zest 2 more oranges and one lemon. You can wait a couple of days, taste, and then see if you want more zest. Zest the fruit into some vodka, just enough to get it to coast the zest. Pour it all in.

 

[bobbrews]

Boiling destroys the delicate, aromatic oils. If you really want to add the zest to the kettle, then wait for the wort to drop to about 160 F. You could also toss in a hopstand addition at this time.

Assuming a 5 gallon batch, use the zest of 5 large oranges (1 per gallon), excluding any white pith, in the secondary, along with a 2 oz. dryhop with a hop that has some orange characteristics, like Ahtanum, Summit, Pilgrim, or Cascade. This is the step that will really give you that orange character.

You can float some orange segments in the secondary as well. You could even bottle or keg with a bit of fresh squeezed, orange juice.

 

[ahariton]

I'm doing something similar this weekend with tangerines, although adding to a keg instead of secondary.

My plan is to zest and peel the tangerines, steep the zest and fruit in a bag in a 1/2 gallon of water at 170, let cool, and add it all into the keg before racking the beer onto it.

 

[DatsyukianDeke]

Boiling destroys the delicate, aromatic oils. If you really want to add the zest to the kettle, then wait for the wort to drop to about 160 F. You could also toss in a hopstand addition at this time.

Assuming a 5 gallon batch, use the zest of 5 large oranges (1 per gallon), excluding any white pith, in the secondary, along with a 2 oz. dryhop with a hop that has some orange characteristics, like Ahtanum, Summit, Pilgrim, or Cascade. This is the step that will really give you that orange character.

You can float some orange segments in the secondary as well. You could even bottle or keg with a bit of fresh squeezed, orange juice.

Interesting. Thanks.