Orange Peel

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crusher

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Hi guys,
I am going to be brewing a belgian wit on the weekend & am after some advice on drying your own orange peel. I did a trappist like beer about 12 months ago with some dried orange peel from an asian store. & it turned out really nice. But I have been told by a good authority that I should use freshly dried peel & with a bit of green in it. Roughly how many oranges will I need to give me an ounce of dried peel. Will getting a bit of the white be a problem on the peel.Also should I air dry or in the oven.
Any help appreciated.
Crusher.
 
Crusher,
I've used the zest from 1/2 a fresh orange added to the boil 5 - 10 mins before flame out (along with 15 - 20g cracked corriander seed). Not authentic but quite nice.
Can't talk for kits that aren't boiled though.
Avoid the white pith - it's really bitter and not the nice kind of bitter either.
 
crusher said:
Hi guys,
I am going to be brewing a belgian wit on the weekend & am after some advice on drying your own orange peel. I did a trappist like beer about 12 months ago with some dried orange peel from an asian store. & it turned out really nice. But I have been told by a good authority that I should use freshly dried peel & with a bit of green in it. Roughly how many oranges will I need to give me an ounce of dried peel. Will getting a bit of the white be a problem on the peel.Also should I air dry or in the oven.
Any help appreciated.
Crusher.
[post="53062"][/post]​
You really want bitter oranges - Seville/Curaco - which are easy to get in Europe but (for whatever reason) much rarer here.

Not sure why your friend said 'with a bit of green in it'. Green indicates completely different things in different oranges - Navels shouldn't have any green in the skins where as Valencia's turn slightly green when they ripen.
 
I read over on Grumpy's board that around half an orange's worth of peel is sufficent for a batch. It's a good idea to avoid the pith as it can supposedly transfer not-nice bitter flavours to your beer, but avoiding the pith altogether probably isn't feasible.
 
Oh, don't forget that if you buy your oranges from the supermarket (or anywhere else except straight from the farm gate) the skins have been waxed (for appearance and increased shelf life).
 
Sean said:
Oh, don't forget that if you buy your oranges from the supermarket (or anywhere else except straight from the farm gate) the skins have been waxed (for appearance and increased shelf life).
[post="53099"][/post]​

Where would be ideal places that arent out of the way too much to buy decent oranges for brewing? Markets?

If a supermarket fruit is bought should it be treated in any way because of the wax coating?
 
Hi
I purchase dried orange peel from a local Asian food store. I think most asian stores stock it. Sometimes its labled dried Orange peel and the type of orange it came from and some are dried Mandarine peel. Cheep as chips.
I cut it up and put it through a coffee blender (and blender will do) and usually have the coriander seeds blending at the same time.
I have cut down the amounts now from 10g to 15g per batch and add it in the last 15minutes of the boil.
Cheers
Ray
 
rodderz said:
Sean said:
Oh, don't forget that if you buy your oranges from the supermarket (or anywhere else except straight from the farm gate) the skins have been waxed (for appearance and increased shelf life).
[post="53099"][/post]​

Where would be ideal places that arent out of the way too much to buy decent oranges for brewing? Markets?[/quote
If you're not lucky enough to live in orange growing territory then you're pretty much guaranteed it will be waxed whereever you buy it.

If a supermarket fruit is bought should it be treated in any way because of the wax coating?
[post="54197"][/post]​
Presumably yes - no idea how.
 
The wax might either melt out during drying or settle out during ferment anyway. Think of it as a fining agent :)
 
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