Orange Peel in Belgian Wit

[Harrington]

Hello,

I have a question about the orange peel that these recipes call for. I asked the guy at the homebrew shop, and he didn't have any, nor did he use it himself. My question is...what exactly am I using? I bought some orange peel in a somewhat powder form from the spice aisle at the grocery store. Is this what I am using, or am I actually using the peel that I peel off an orange?

If this is a horribly stupid question..then my apologies!

Thanks.

[Harrington]

and by the way, I only found the sweet orange peel, not the bitter.

[roadhouse]

For a Wit you want to use the Bitter Orange Peel.

[DecoJuicer]

I use the sweet in my Wit. I've tried it both ways, and the sweet seems to be a bigger crowd pleaser.

[Saint-Thomas]

you could use either, but results may vary. If you are dead set on the bitter orange peel, I have gotten mine online. Most of the big stores carry it; morebeer.com northernbrewer.com etc

[Harrington]

But is it the stuff in the powder form (kind of like salt), or is it strips?

thanks for everyone's help :)

[Prankasaur]

I have used both forms, bitter and sweet. When I buy from Midwest, it is in the strip form. I am not sure about the powder form. I bag the "strips" and add them into the boil for about 5 minutes. In my opinion, the bitter strips are for beers that you are going to age, as they mellow out over time. As with any spice, less is more in my opinion.

As a side note, a friend and I were at Piece Brewery in Chicago and we had a terrific Belgian Wit/Saisson there. We asked the brewer what spices were used and he said none. He just fermented the Saisson yeast at a higher temperature, which yielded an orange/spicey character. Pretty interesting.

[TrickNick]

I've only made two Wits, but I used fresh Orange Peel the second time and I have to say there was a noticeable difference. Those oranges that are bitter were out of season, so I used about 3/4 Sweet Orange Peel and 1/4 Grapefruit Peel. Worked great.

[corkybstewart]

But is it the stuff in the powder form (kind of like salt), or is it strips?

thanks for everyone's help :)
The stuff I get from morebeer.com is in chunks. Definitely use some sort of bag to boil it in, those chunks rehydrate and plug spigots, siphons, hoses, etc. I usually use both fresh sweet orange zest and dried bitter in my wits, and a little lime zest works well also.

[BruceKey]

I am about to make an extract recipe Grapefruit Witbier:
http://www.hydrobrew.com/Grapefruit%20Witbier.htm
As you see it calls for fresh tangerine and grapefruit peels

The directions don't specify, so I'll make my first post now.

1) Should I strain the peels from the wort?
2) Should I add peels to the primary?
3) To what size should these peels be cut?

Thanks.

[corkybstewart]

Welcome to the site, BruceKey.
I'm not familiar with that site or that recipe, but I wouldn't put whole peels of any citrus in my beer. What I would do is to zest the fruit and add the zest to the kettle at flameout, or maybe a few minutes(2 or 3) before, but no earlier than that. Since it's zested it doesn't matter if some of it gets into primary, but normally I try to leave as much of that stuff in the kettle.
This is all just my method, others may have other ideas.
Corky

[BruceKey]

Thanks.
What negative effect does the whole peel have compared to just the zest?

[markaberrant]

Thanks.
What negative effect does the whole peel have compared to just the zest?

It is bitter as hell... in a bad way.

[corkybstewart]

The pith of a citrus peel, the white layer under the zest, is horribly bitter, and as Mark says, not in a good way. Experiment, take a piece of zested orange peel and taste the zest, then taste the pith. You'll pretty quickly understand why it's best to leave that out. In fact, that's probably why I only put half the amount of dried peels most recipes call for.

[darylM]

The pith of an orange or lemon is used to make Pith Helmets (or was). That should say something about putting it in your beer.

If you want helmet makings in there, thats cool with me. Just warn me before I pour :)

[BruceKey]

Thanks so much, I am glad I asked, I will be zesting, and with only have of what the recipe asks. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[BruceKey]

A Little Late I know, but here are the results:
I zested 1 grapefruit and 2 tangerines and added them along with the corriander for the last 5 minutes of the boil.

I wonderful floral aroma, with a subtle fruity undertone.

High marks from the locals ;)