Pairing Citra and Orange Zest

[vincentAlpha]

I plan on brewing a Citra - Two Row SMaSH IPA and realize I have a good few ounces of frozen orange zest on hand (any time I had an orange I'd wash and zest it then add to the bag I kept in the freezer for cooking/brewing with). Never brewed with Citra but heard good things, so while I want to really get what Citra is about through the SMaSH the experimenter in me wants to add some orange zest at flameout. Thoughts?

 

[Sippin37]

Don't add any orange zest, plenty of orange and tropical flavors from Citra alone. If anything take a bottle after it is carbed up, pour a few ounces in a french press, add some orange zest, let it sit for an hour or so, then pour that into a glass with the rest of the beer. You can do this with any ingredients to see how they may play in a certain beer. But, you don't have to sacrifice an entire batch of beer on it.

 

[wildactbrewer]

I would skip it at first. You would be surprised by how much citrus flavors you get out of the Citra hops. After primary is done you could always taste it and see for yourself. If it's not where you want it you can rack on top of some of the orange to impart the flavor then. I did this with a blonde ale and it came out great. Just make sure you sanitize the orange peels in some way beforehand.

 

[vincentAlpha]

Holy wow, glad I decided to skip the orange! I just got to keg it now since all my kegs were full and I had one that I thought was busted(turns out it wasn't anything a few love taps with a hammer couldn't sort!). The beer tastes super strong of grapefruit and other citrus and I'm not complaining. Just a hint of bitterness but loads of citrus aroma and flavour.