'Dry Hopped' Fresh Orange Peel

[guskoff]

Hi everyone. So I’m working on an American-style honey wheat beer, and I’m thinking about brightening up the final product by ‘dry hopping’ some fresh orange peel in secondary. Does anyone have any experience with this? I’m thinking anywhere from the peel (no pith) of 1-5 oranges will do, but I’ve never attempted to do this before, so I thought that I’d put it out there for people to comment on. Right now I’m leaning towards the peels of 2 oranges for my 5-gallon batch. Thanks!

On Deck: American Honey Wheat Beer
Primary: American Brown Ale + Imperial Stout
Secondary: Irish Stout + Orange Blossom Mead
Drinking: Belgian Dubbel + Coffee Oatmeal Stout

[deadeye1]

I have tried this. I dried out Tangerine peels in the oven(this also kills any bacteria). Then i steeped them in some 170 degree water and added that to my secondary. About 5 tangerines gave it a nice flavor but more aroma.

[the_professor]

Should work fine. I’ve used them in both beer and cooking (Orange Beef & General Tso Chicken especially).
Just a note though…If your tangerines aren’t organically grown, just make sure you wash them very well before peeling them to get rid of the of wax and pesticides that will surely be clinging to the skins.
Those pesticides are definitely not something you really want to ingest.

[mrv]

The last wit I brew was with 2 oz of zest in the boil (10 mins) and 2 oz in the keg for 10 gals. I used fresh oranges, I think 1 oz per orange. The flavor came through nicely. Like the Prof. said, make sure you wash them well.

[a10t2]

I know that Lennie (tomsawyer) has done something similar a number of times. You might want to PM him if he doesn’t see this thread.