Freeze-dried orange peel?

[FedoraDave]

So yesterday I had The Mike sample some of the White Panama. This is a blonde ale that that I was trying to perfect years ago, and then just sort of gave up on it, but then decided to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch.

So the first batch isn't so bad, but kind of innocuous. In other words, it's beer, but pretty undistinguished beer. Now, I wanted to create a light, summertime session beer, but one that had more hints of....something. What I've got with this first batch is a good base recipe.

Now, The Mike tasted it, and acknowledged that it was a good base recipe, but that led to a conversation about beers like Blue Moon. That's not a bad white beer, by any means, but Mike thinks it's kind of odd that, in order to bring it up to its best, you have to add an orange slice. It's much better with the orange slice, yeah, but that means that, on its own, it's missing something, and why not add that something at the brewery?

So that made me think that an addition of orange peel might bump the White Panama up a notch or two. And Mike said that he's got some freeze-dried orange peel at work that's just going to get thrown out if it's not used, expiration dates being what they are, and all.

So is that something I might want to use? For instance, as a dry hop, maybe five days or a week before bottling/kegging?

Positives? Negatives? Thoughts?

[mashani]

It's pretty normal to put dried orange peel in Belgian white beers. Bitter and sweet orange are commonly used. Bit typically late in the boil, IE the last 5 minutes or so. I've never tried to "dry peel", but in theory that should work too.

[FedoraDave]

Yeah, I don't know exactly what manner of freeze-dried orange peel he's got. He works at an unnamed coffee shop franchise based in Seattle, if that's not too obscure a hint.

But I'm gonna seen them next weekend when I drop off my entries for the competition, so maybe I'll ask him to swipe a few ounces for me. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and if it doesn't work out to my satisfaction, at least I'll know what doesn't work.

[jimjohson]

I've used lemon peel and like mashani said, I added it the last 5 min.

[FedoraDave]

Also, this is far from a Belgian White. It's just a bunch of 2-row with a little Carapils and some Biscuit thrown in, and a balanced mix of Hallertau and Liberty throughout the bittering, flavor, and aroma additions. I used White Labs German Ale/Kölsch yeast, and I think that was a good choice. Like I said, not a distinguished beer, but a good basic Blonde. I was just wondering if a little orange flavor would kick it up a notch. Might be very tasty for summertime sessions.

[FedoraDave]

I've used lemon peel and like mashani said, I added it the last 5 min.

I've done that, too. And I'm not saying I wouldn't use that technique, either. I'm kind of wiping the slate clean on my previous attempts, and developing a recipe and a process for that recipe, so I'm open to all techniques until I find what I feel works best for this beer.

My main concern was whether freeze-dried orange peel was any different from the stuff I'd buy at the LHBS or the grocery store, or is it as broad as it is long? I also wonder if the dry hopping might make the orange influence any "softer" or more subtle than boiling.

[mashani]

If your getting a bag full of it, since it is of unknown type, I'd make a little bit of hot and cold steeped tea out of some of it and see what it tastes like, bitter, sweet, if it has any aromatics that I want to keep, or if it's more of a flavor thing. Then figure out what I wanted to do with it.

[FedoraDave]

Yeah, good idea. I'll pick some up next weekend, and give it a test run that way, and then make more tweaks on the process. I may add a little more Biscuit, too, since I wasn't picking up much of it in the original recipe.

[mashani]

The beers where I've use a good bit of bitter and sweet orange and a good bit of biscuit/Munich/Vienna types of malts and no finishing hops, or just a little bit of a hop like saaz or a citrusy hop and up finishing like orange marmalade on toast. Which I like a lot, but it depends on what you like.

[jimjohson]

finishing like orange marmalade on toast.

oooooo got my interest.

[FedoraDave]

The beers where I've use a good bit of bitter and sweet orange and a good bit of biscuit/Munich/Vienna types of malts and no finishing hops, or just a little bit of a hop like saaz or a citrusy hop and up finishing like orange marmalade on toast. Which I like a lot, but it depends on what you like.

That's actually kind of what I'm after.

I'll have to consider all these things carefully and rework this recipe using some of these suggestions.