Oranges or Orange Peels?

[TeiaMarcus]

Long time listener, first time caller


I've been looking at a Honey Weizen from NB. Thinking about kegging and having this for my yardwork beer this summer. Thinking about adding a little something to make it a little more interesting. Considering adding oranges or orange peels. If oranges are added to a 5gal batch at secondary, how many? I assume, quarter the oranges and soak in some cheap vodka for a few days...?

I do not want to end up with a sweet beer, but something that has a little something added vs a simple session beer. Would orange peels be a wiser choice? If so, I assume it is similar to adding whole oranges....peel a quantity of oranges and let peels soak in vodka....?

Any and all comments are welcome and appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[unionrdr]

Well, like in cooking, if you want more acid from the citrus, use the juice or fruit. If you just want some of the flavor, use the zest-the colored part of the skin. don't use the white pithy part, it's very bitter.

 

[IslandLizard]

When adding the juice from oranges to beer, the sugars ferment out leaving the acidic (sour) components in your beer. I've never tried it, but read it tastes like vomit. Now maybe a little bit may work fine, creating an interesting sour note, which goes well with wheat beers.

Typically the zest, the colored part of citrus fruit, not the white pith underneath which is very bitter, is used to flavor beer. 7 grams of zest in a 5 gallon batch, added at flameout or at 190°F, creates a subtle flavor/aroma. You can use more to taste. Some brewers add the zest to the fermented beer for a few days, right before packaging, just like a dry hop, to get more of the very fragrant (and volatile) high notes. Yummy! One zest should be fine. You can zest those a little deeper to make it easier to pull them out, or leave behind.

 

[solbes]

Most of the aroma and flavor should come from the peels. Use a cheese grater to remove most of the white pith from the inside. In my orange pale ale, I use the peels from 3 or 4 oranges. I add them at flameout to santize them.

I have not had any off flavors from squeezing some of the oranges either. I typically squeeze one or two of them and discard the rest of the orange.

I sometimes add orange peels to my keg with cascade hops too. I add them in my hop bag. The orange peels sit in just a little bit of water at 170 degrees for 10 minutes or so.

 

[TeiaMarcus]

Being new to this forum, I appreciate the replies.

So, tell me if this would work.... Honey Weizen from NB brewed to instructions, but during 2wk of secondary add orange peels (no pith) which have been soaked in vodka (just enough to submerge & in a covered container). Question, does is matter if orange peels "free float" in secondary or should they be in a sack?

 

[IslandLizard]

Add the vodka too.

Free float is fine. A bit of careful agitation a few times a day speeds up extraction. Submerging will extract more and faster. If you want to do that, use a suspended, weighted down sanitized hop sack (add a couple glass marbles).

 

[Teromous]

Have you considered adding the orange peels to the last few minutes of the boil? Traditionally people will add orange peel to the kettle and oranges to the primary or secondary. It's certainly not the only way to do things, but it is what I see most commonly. Here is a good example from a thread BierMuncher did with pictures using orange peel, and here is a good example of using oranges (it's mead but the concept is similar).

 

[Toga]

To get full flavor extraction from the orange peels add them during the last 15 minutes of the boil. Those who make candied orange peel boil them for 15 minutes to achieve full extraction . I make an orange wheat often and have experimented a ton with when to add, how much, and dried peel vs fresh zest. I like a combination of an ounce of dried with the zest of a couple fresh oranges. The Mrs eats an orange a day so I have started filleting the rind off of the pith and drying my own to save money. The end result is a way better product than the dried orange peel that has pith from the homebrew shop. If you are an extract brewer the recipe below is nice. If you are all grain pm me and I will give you an all grain version.

1 3.3lb can of light LME
1 3.3-4 lb can of wheat LME

1 ounce of haltertau or hersbrucker at 60
1 ounce at 15
Add orange peel at 15 min
add 1 tbsp yeast nutrient at 15 min
0.10 ounce whole coriander at 15 min
1/2lb honey at flame out (optional)

 

[unionrdr]

Hm, that recipe does give me an idea. Replace half the extracts with some 2-row & pilsen malt. Add some bavarian wheat DME & German wheat malt. Then proceed with the rest for a PM version..
OK, I worked up a PM BIAB version in case anyone's interested? Added German wheat & Bohemian pilsner malts for the mash.
2lbs) Bohemian Pilsner malt
2lbs) German Wheat malt
1lb) Plain Extra Light DME (US)
1.5lbs) Plain Wheat DME (US)
1oz) Hallertauer Hersbrucker-60 minutes
1oz) Hallertauer Hersbrucker-15 minutes
.1oz) Coriander seed-5 minutes
1.5oz) Sweet Orange zest-5 minutes
1 tube) Bavarian Weizen yeast-WL351
I'd say to mash in at 153F for the one hour mash. I like to pitch @ 65F & let it warm up slowly on it's own. Strange how BS2 puts in it's own times on Misc additions?

 

[Teromous]

I like a combination of an ounce of dried with the zest of a couple fresh oranges.

Have you ever used the stuff they sell in homebrew stores? I've tried both sweet and bitter dried orange peel that they sell in homebrew stores. I don't know what possessed me to to ever buy it from there. It never tastes or smells as good as the stuff I can just get off an orange myself.

 

[Toga]

Sorry for the delay. I have used the stuff from the LHBS. It is ok. Flavor seems to vary quite a bit though. If you eat a decent amount of oranges you should consider drying your own. Carefully remove the peel from the pith. I use a super sharp knife for this

 

[unionrdr]

Or a peeler for thin strips. I've also used the courser of the two smaller grating holes on the kitchen grater for fine little strips. Having done both, I don't think it matters too much which form you use?