Drying Your Own Seville Bitter Oranges

[mfdes]

I have access to plenty of Seville marmalade oranges at the moment. Is it worth drying some peel for a Wit I want to brew later this year (when they won't be inseason)?
I have a food dehydrator. I'd be interested to know if others have used home-dried peel and what the results were like, as well as how you dried the peel.

Thanks!

MFS

 

[Steve]

I have access to plenty of Seville marmalade oranges at the moment. Is it worth drying some peel for a Wit I want to brew later this year (when they won't be inseason)?
I have a food dehydrator. I'd be interested to know if others have used home-dried peel and what the results were like, as well as how you dried the peel.

Thanks!

MFS

Definately....go for it....Last time I used them in a Wit I scraped (not peeled) the skin off 2 oranges with a potato peeler. You dont want any of the white pith from the orange hence the no peel method. Chucked them on a plate and put outside in the sun for a few hours. Dry as a nuns ahemm cough sorry. Easy as, they then went into the boil with the coriander 15 mins from the end of the boil
Cheers
Steve

 

[bconnery]

My folks dried mine for me using airing racks above their hot water heater...

Worked a treat.

Also, are Seville really sour and tart?

If so, and I've mentioned this in a few other threads, consider using them as a souring source for something like a belgian beer.

I've done so last year and it has been the best beer I've made so far I think.
(See link in my signature for the recipe...)
I'm currently finalising my AG version but it will look something like this:

I will caramelize some of the wort with some of the orange juice too...


Recipe: OrangeBruin
Brewer: Mooshells
Asst Brewer:
Style: Flanders Red Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 20.00 L
Boil Size: 35.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 17.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 120 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.50 kg Pale Malt (Barrett Burston) (2.0 SRM) Grain 54.9 %
1.00 kg Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) Grain 22.0 %
0.30 kg Caraaroma (Weyermann) (178.0 SRM) Grain 6.6 %
0.30 kg Melanoidin (Weyermann) (30.0 SRM) Grain 6.6 %
0.25 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (1.5 SRM) Grain 5.5 %
0.20 kg Caramunich II (Weyermann) (63.0 SRM) Grain 4.4 %
15.00 gm Smaragd [8.00%] (70 min) Hops 17.3 IBU
6.00 items Sour Orange Rind (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
8.00 items Sour Orange Juice (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Bastogne Belgian Ale (White Labs #WLP510) Yeast-Ale