When to add orange zest?

[ace0005]

So in a couple of weeks I plan on making a citrus imperial ipa based on a clone of Cigar City’s Jai Alai.
I wanted to add .5 oz orange zest to a 5 gallon batch during the last 10 minutes of my boil. But I’ve been researching on the interwebs, and noticed that some people steep their zest at flame out. I’ve made a grapefruit ipa with great results by adding the zest at the end of the boil, but I’m not familiar with this other technique.

My question: Is it better to add my zest at flameout and let it steep rather than adding to last 10 min of boil? If so, how long should the zest be allowed to steep?

Thanks in advance!

 

[tellyho]

So in a couple of weeks I plan on making a citrus imperial ipa based on a clone of Cigar City’s Jai Alai.
I wanted to add .5 oz orange zest to a 5 gallon batch during the last 10 minutes of my boil. But I’ve been researching on the interwebs, and noticed that some people steep their zest at flame out. I’ve made a grapefruit ipa with great results by adding the zest at the end of the boil, but I’m not familiar with this other technique.

My question: Is it better to add my zest at flameout and let it steep rather than adding to last 10 min of boil? If so, how long should the zest be allowed to steep?

Thanks in advance!

I'd be inclined to do post flameout. I just brewed a lime hefeweizen and did that.

 

[ace0005]

How long did you steep the zest?

 

[postalbunny]

Sanitizing is a function of time and heat. If you have less time, you need more heat... less heat, you need longer time. To some "degree"... eg, you can't go 5 days at room temp and think anything is going to happen.

The worry would be that the higher temp (boiling) could cause loss of aroma as it's boiled off. So with this addition you're not really doing anything with heat/time other than sterilizing/sanitizing. So if you want to throw it in at flame out you're fine... even with the best chilling rig you're going to spend 5-10 minutes between 150-212degF and likely kill anything that was living on the zest. Some of us are spending 30+ minutes trying to chill to pitch-able temps.

Some cowboys even just toss it in the fermenter...

 

[Cavpilot2000]

For what it's worth, I make a lemon-corander American wheat pretty often, and I make a tincture of the lemon zest (soak it in a few oz of vodka for a week or so) then strain the zest out and toss the tincture in secondary or even in the keg. Super clean, fresh lemon taste.
I don't see why it wouldn't work with orange too.

 

[enkamania]

I brewed an orange IPA and wanted a hint of orange. I put in the boil with 10 minutes to go and achieved my goal.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I've used it in the last 5 minutes of the boil which gave a strong, fresh orange-iness.
There's a big difference between grated zest and sliced (I got lazy once and used a vegie peeler to slice the zest off) - slices just don't seem to have the surface area to provide the same flavour. Go with the grated zest.