Hi All,
I’ve been having limited success with adding citrus peel to my recipes. I’ve tried tangerine and sweet orange peel, adding too early in the boil. I’ve tossed around the idea of making a tincture and adding just before bottling, but am curious if this might effect the carbonation. Has anyone ran into this or can anyone point me in the right direction to make he most of my citrus?
Tincture should not be a problem unless you add an enormous amount.
I use a lot of citrus peel in my beers without issue. I generally add them at whirlpool temperatures (180F) as I cool making sure I have had a fair amount of contact time between 180-150F. At those temperatures it is warm enough to extract the flavor oils but not so hot it is boiling them away.
Tangerine and sweet orange are probably the two worst choices because they are soft flavors that are easily lost by themselves. More acidic citrus fruit stand out more and sour orange works really well for orange flavors if you can find them in local shops. Otherwise a mix of sweet orange and some grapefruit will help the orange flavor stand out. Something like 2:1 sweet orange:grapefruit.
Quick and to be point! I really appreciate it - Had no idea that I might be using the wrong citrus for the job. I will course correct in the next batch. Thank you!
I usually add my citrus peel in the secondary, now in the primary after the fermentation is complete since I am moving away from using glass carboys as a secondary and am trying to further eliminate any O2 pickup that can occur during a transfer between a primary and a secondary.
I have made my summer lemon-wheat beer many times and prepare a tincture of the lemon zest with some Everclear or vodka and add it to the fermenter. I use just enough alcohol to cover the zest to sanitize it and dump the whole tincture into the fermenter. Although I have done both methods (in the boil and in the fermenter), I feel that the alcohol in the finished beer will do more to extract the flavors of the fruit zest than putting it in the boil or whirlpool IMHO. Although I have not tried it, I am sure you can use a tincture of dried orange peel in the same manner in a secondary.
As Matt posted, more acidic fruits like lemons and limes will give you more flavor character than sweeter fruits like oranges so you would have to add more zest.
Tangerine peels added directly to the beer in secondary or in keg produces a lot of aroma and flavor in the finished beer. Tangerine has an artificial quality to me so I prefer to use it in small amounts with another citrus peel.
I’m still fairly new and bottle condition my beer. Any concerns with the tincture affecting the carbonation?
You should be fine. You are not adding that much additional alcohol (maybe an ounce at most) to the batch of beer and the yeast should be able to handle it with no problems.