orange you going to tell me?

[mr.jay]

Can anybody tell me how much orange to add to my Belgian Wit? I've heard 1 oz. per 5 gallons. How about per Bbl? When do you reccommend adding it? How about coriander?

[gitchegumee]

I have some suggestions: Buy cases of bulk-pack coriander. Try local restaurant supplies, food coops, grocery stores, Indian restaurants to find the perfect coriander aroma and flavor. I wasn't happy with the coriander I was getting from a large US brewery supplier. It was worth tracking down a superior alternate. The orange peel I use does come from a large US brewery supply, and it's good. I can't tell you whether one supplier is better than another. Buy the coriander whole and crush it in a blender just before adding--a finer powder is better than merely cracking. Try a blend of both sweet and bitter curacao orange peel. I don't presoak my orange peel. The wort rehydrates it quick at that temperature. Add both the spices right before knockout, preferably in a closed hopback. My dosing per 10 bbl is 60-40 bitter/sweet orange peel at 790g total, and coriander at 360g. This sounds high, but it is done through a pressurized hop-back and my knockout is 30 minutes, limiting some of the flavor pickup. I give a light hopping for aroma near the end of the boil. This gives a nice, delicate, complex aroma profile, and the flavor ain't bad either. It's our best seller. Be careful about the coriander, unground it is the perfect size to foul a small heat exchanger but quick. And the aroma and flavor just isn't there without crushing, anyway. Also be sure to discharge the trub from the wort soon after casting. My technique generates gobs of trub that don't add anything good after cooling. Good luck and let me know how you go about it! Cheers.

[beertje46]

http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/default.asp

[jason.koehler]

On a recent visit to Siebel, I got these awesome corriander and orange hop oil extract samples, made by Kalsec. The nice thing about these is that its super easy to test them out by just adding them to some standard draft you have sitting around, directions say 1 drop per 355 ml for starters on both the orange and the corriander, so I am sure you could do your tweaking on a liter or so, and go up from there to your total batch once you get the flavor you are looking for. Its some potent stuff, and super easy to use.


Dont have a phone no. for Kalsec right off, but I imagine you could call Siebel and get more info on them, the maker is on the staff there.

[zbrew2k]

For my 20 barrel batches, I used 15Lbs of bitter orange peel tied up in cheesecloth and tied into the bottom of the whirlpool. I added 1lb of McCormick ground Coriander just before the end, along with a 1 lb McCormick coarse ground Black Pepper at the same time. You could go higher on the coriander, it adds nice citrus flavors to the beer. I then knocked out the kettle on top of the orange peel and let it set 20 minutes (5 minutes more than the usual rest), and then started cooling the brew on top of White Labs Wit yeast. It was a popular beer & had more than enough orange flavor and aroma. Be careful with sweet orange peel, it will make your brew really bitter. There is a way of carefully sep. the outer orange part from the yellow pith, drying it on low heat, and using it also....I used commercial bakery type orange zest with horrible results--too bitter & no aroma.

Good Luck!
B

[Hophead78]

For 7bbls I've been using a blend of 1# bitter orange, 1/2# sweet orange, and 1# corriander, the stuff I got from a local Indain market was far superior to that from a large supplier and it needs to be freshly ground. I add 1/3 with 5 min left on the boil and the rest during the whirlpool. Not being blessed with a hopback on my system I opted for a large hop bag which keeps my HE clean and happy. These additions add a nice complex, yet balanced flavor/aroma and the beer is a house favorite. Cheers

[Jephro]

I had great results using McCormick whole coriander which I ground in a coffee grinder just before I pitched it @ whirlpool. Fresh ground coriander gives of an amazing citrus aroma. We had an orange zesting party that afternoon in the brewery, I recommend using only the zest the white part of the peel will give an undesirable bitterness. We pitched the zest for the full 60 min boil tied in loosely packed cheese cloth.

For a 7bbl brew we used zest from about 10 bags of oranges and I think about 17 grams of freshly ground coriander. Be very careful with the coriander, one year the owner wanted me to add more, I grudgingly complied. We ended up blending some of our house wheat to tone it down.
mmmm, wit beer
Jeff

[kugeman]

Has anyone out there ever used Granulated Orange Peel? I'm brewing a Belgian Grand Cru and was hoping to combine Bitter & Sweet Orange Peel along with some spices, but Granulated is the only product available locally.

I'm going to zest some fresh oranges as well, but can anyone give me any practical info on the Granulated stuff?

cheers!