Beer Forum

Has anyone ever used orange peels in the brews. I am starting a blonde ale I designed using malt extract and I would like to add a little citrus flavor to it.

Thoughts on fruit peels?

my set-up currently is a partial boil with top off, 5 gal primary fermentor.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

They sell dried citrus peels (sweet and bitter orange, lemon, lime, etc), I haven't use them but have zested a variety of citrus peels that went into a wit. I've heard people say that the pithy white part on whole peels can lend a bitterness to the beer, which is why I went with the zesting...

+1 to zesting. It took 3 tangarines to get any flavor into a wit, but it was very nice. I used a very fine, standup cheese grater and zested until I fully exposed the pith. If the cheese grater is fine enough, it will only take off the outer skin(the part that tastes good).

Purchase a real citrus zester ($5) and you will get the best zest with it and you will have it for the rest of your life. With that being said, I like to blend citrus fruit zest to get the best results when I add them to beer. For example, think grapefruit, clementine, and navel orange zest. You could even try a small bit of lemon zest to kick the beer's aroma/flavor up a notch too!

Awesome responses! Thanks guys. I'll see if I can pick up a zester for a couple bucks at a kitchen supply store.

Happy Brewing!

I have used bitter orange peel in a wit and it wasn't bad. I went a little overboard so use it sparingly. Using fresh zest is great too!

you can manipulate temp and choose the yeasts to get citrus notes.

Cliff wrote:you can manipulate temp and choose the yeasts to get citrus notes.

Can you explain a little more? I'm intrigued....