Curacao?

[Tweek]

Anyone know what time of year I can get this fruit? And is it easy to get?

[Tweek]

ok for those who are interested I guess this is a common thing for HB shops to carry. All you need do is ask. They carry the peels in the fridge.

[Jeff]

How would you use it? In place of hops or with hops as a spice etc? What does it add to the beer?

[Tweek]

my understanding is that it adds a bitterness to the beer much like hops. It is essentially an orange peel so it would depend on when you use it what sort of effect you get out of it.

[mmmBeer...]

It is dried orange peel from a specific type of orange. There is bitter and sweet…if memory serves me…Curacao is the same as bitter orange peel. As for when it is in season and where you can get fresh Curacao oranges from…I have no idea. I have never seen then in the grocery store.

I used some dried Curacao in a Belgian wit I made along with some coriander it was very yummy! I used it in the boil. It lent some bitterness and a slight orange taste to it…it is kinda hard to describe…imagine biting into orange peel you get that bitterness and a hint of orange. But it really mellows in the beer, when combined with the coriander you get this nice slight bitter, orange and spice balance.

[Tweek]

o now you chime in. where were you when Iwas trying to figure this out :p

heh thanks I was trying to figure out what it was going to be like.

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by mmmBeer...
It is dried orange peel from a specific type of orange. There is bitter and sweet…if memory serves me…Curacao is the same as bitter orange peel. As for when it is in season and where you can get fresh Curacao oranges from…I have no idea. I have never seen then in the grocery store.

I used some dried Curacao in a Belgian wit I made along with some coriander it was very yummy! I used it in the boil. It lent some bitterness and a slight orange taste to it…it is kinda hard to describe…imagine biting into orange peel you get that bitterness and a hint of orange. But it really mellows in the beer, when combined with the coriander you get this nice slight bitter, orange and spice balance.

Recipe, please... sounds yummy!

[mmmBeer...]

Sorry about the delay Tweek…I actually had to do some work to justify my paycheck!

I have the recipe at home and will post it tonight or this weekend. The recipe is extract and specialty malts). I use this recipe as a base and built on it: Celis White Clone (http://www.byo.com/recipe/703.html)

One thing to note is that that it takes a while for the beer to mellow…it was pretty powerful for about a month after bottling (1 week primary and 2.5 weeks secondary) but the last few bottles were fantastic.

[mmmBeer...]

Okay here is the recipe:

3 kg (6.6#) Wheat dry malt extract
1 oz Hallertau hops (boiling)
1 oz Hallertau hops (aroma)
500 gm (1.1 #) Flaked Wheat
450 gm (1#) Quaker Oats
1 oz bitter orange (Curacao)
450 gm (1#) Light Belgian candy sugar
1 oz crushed coriander seed
1 tsp Irish Moss
White labs Belgian wit yeast (WLP400)

Bring 4 gallons of water to 155*F and steep the oats and flaked wheat for 30 min. Remove grains and add extract and candy sugar, then bring to a boil. Boil for 60 min. At 50 min add 1 oz of hops, at 15 min add Irish moss, at 10 min add orange peel and coriander. At end of boil turn off heat and ass 1 oz of hops let sit for 10 min. Cool and pitch yeast.

O.G. 1.053
F.G. 1.010