On a recent trip to Florida I picked up a large bag of Navel Oranges. I made delicious organce juice from them, but before doing so I zested each one. I saved the zest in a zip lock bag and froze them.
I decided to make a Witbier. This isn’t your typical recipe, I skipped the usual coriander so I can see just how much the orange zest contributes.
- Grist:
- Weyermann Pale Ale Malt – 48%
- Avangard Wheat Malt – 38%
- Flaked Oats – 10%
- Briess Carapils – 4%
- Hops
- East Kent Goldings – 3.5 IBU – T-60
- Saaz – 4.7 IBU – T-30
- Saaz – 3.2 IBU – T-15
- Lemondrop – 1 IBU ? – Whirlpool below 180F
- Misc
- 260 grams of orange zest at flameout
This was for a 5 gallon batch. It turned out to be nice light, refreshing, and at 4.6% very session-able. I was hoping for more of an orange flavor and aroma. It’s there is a hint of it on the finish.
Maybe adding the zest at flameout drove off a lot of aroma/flavor I was looking for? Not sure, but I did that to kill off any bacteria/yeast. Next time I do this I’ll probably go back to soaking zest in vodka and adding the mixture during fermentation. It will be interesting to see whether that contributes more aroma/flavor.
Here’s a look at the beer (click caption for untapp’d entry)
