The recipe I am working on calls for 2 oz. of Sweet Orange Peel. I have Dried Orange Peel from a spice company. On the jar it says it is equivalent for volume measurements for zest (1 tsp.=1 tsp.), but doesn’t mention weight. Anyone have an idea of how much dried peel is equal to 2 oz. of fresh?
I understand that one can use Lactic Acid to lower pH, but that there is a flavor threshold, over which one begins to taste the Lactic Acid, so any additions need to be under that. But what I don’t know is the ratio. For a 5 gallon batch, what is the max I can use without affecting the taste of the beer?
I would guess that up to 90% of the peel’s weight is water. If that were true - 0.2oz dry = 2oz fresh. Most recipes that call for dry orange peel (although most are for bitter) use 0.5 oz.
Some people are probably more sensitive to the lactic flavor than are others. I make a lot of light German lagers and treat my mash using lactic (88%). On my German Pils, I use 5.2 ml of lactic to 11.5 gallons of mash water followed by 3.6 ml in 7 gallons of sparge. After boil off and losses, I end up with around 11 gallons to transfer to the serving kegs and don’t detect any sourness from the lactic in the finished product.
If you’re not using Brunwater or some other similar water adjustment software/spreadsheet, I highly recommend doing so. This will get you in the right ballpark for any necessary acid additions.
I highly doubt that the amount of lactic acid needed to get your mash pH down to the 5.2 range is going to leave a detectable flavor.
Just a follow-up here. I threw caution to the wind and dumped the whole bottle (1.9 oz.) of Spice Islands dried Orange Peel into the boil (at 5 minutes to the end of the boil) for my 5 gallon batch.
The beer is just now ready to drink and the orange flavor is good. Not too much - not too little.