Orange zest

[man_beach]

I've made Seymour's 'Citra Gold' a couple of times and it's come out well, but the orange zest is a bit of a pain. I buy 'easy peel' oranges regularly but they have a wax coating (it says on the pack 'Treated with wax (E904), pyrimethanil, thiabendazole & imazalil'). I have washed them in hot soapy water before zesting but obviously have no way of knowing if I have removed the wax properly. Also, the amount of zest I get is variable - and it depends on the variety of orange as well. So I wondered if anyone had tried using a culinary orange oil such as this for example instead of orange zest in any of their beers? If only to provide some consistency in the end product?

[f00b4r]

You can buy both sweet and bitter dried peel but if you look in this thread the recipe changes to a recommended extract towards the end:

viewtopic.php?t=80814

Maybe someone can comment that has brewed both or tried both methods?
By the way if you buy organic oranges they are usually unwaxed, although more costly and have a shorter shelf life; I tend to buy organic lemons/limes for cooking for that reason, although use the hot water trick if they are not available.

[alexlark]

I tried using the peel from grapefruit in the past. I found it a right pain, not a big yeald, and not much taste in the final product either. I've brewed the Sunshine Marmalade using dried orange peel and the hit was instant, not to mention easy to add! It's worth mentioning that there isn't that big a difference in price between the dried peel and Mandarina Bavaria hops, so you could just use a big dry hop and maybe a whirlpool addition of them instead of the peel to get that orange kick.

[soupdragon]

There's always

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/61493/nielse ... ge-extract.

It's simply orange oil in an ethanol base with water. It's mentioned briefly in the above linked thread but I'm sure it has its own somewhere. Link to the label below....

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/content/docu ... abel_1.pdf

It used to be available in Asda but I've not seen it for a while, Sainsbury's seem to stock it though. It's very strong, I've read 8ml to a 20 litre brew is about right.
Some of the other orange oils I've seen are mixed with rapeseed oil.

Cheers Tom

[MashBag]

I use dried bitter orange.

You can also use quality marmalade. Allow for the extra sugar and add to the fermentation.

[man_beach]

Yes, I've seen marmalade suggested in Mosher's 'Radical Brewing' - just never had the nerve to try it!

[MashBag]

Yes, I've seen marmalade suggested in Mosher's 'Radical Brewing' - just never had the nerve to try it!

It really is on my list.. Probably next up.

[Northern Brewer]

Dried orange varies a lot so you need to tailor the amounts to the precise version you use - it's discussed a fair bit in this thread about cloning Blue Moon with contributions from a Coors brewer, albeit using orange that's available across the pond :
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/bl ... st-3163141