Adding Orange Zest post-ferment. Dry, Tea, or tincture?

[jpoder]

I brewed a split batch over the weekend; half is to become a saison and half a wit (sort of split the difference in styles in creating the wort). I want to add orange zest to the wit, but find little info online about post-boil additions of orange zest. Most of the info I have found is conflicting, or without any comparison to other techniques. So...does anyone have knowledge of what to expect from making a tea, a tincture, or just dry-zesting this beer? I'm still unsure of which variety of orange I will use for this and quantity, so I'm open to suggestion there too.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Typically Orange zest is best to be put in at flame out or during chilling.... Gives the most extraction while staying safe. However if you are looking to do post fermentation:


I've done this twice in my brewing as a post boil addition both after fermentation.

First time i did it i zested an orange peel and put it in the secondary... Bad idea. It was carrying baddies (I thought I cleaned the orange enough) and spoiled my beer. So I can't recommend that process

Second time, I zested and soaked in vodka and then put in the secondary... I didnt really taste a noticable difference in the taste...

If I could recommend anything on this, I would say try making a tea and putting it in the secondary... again, i don't really think that its going to be a HUGE difference but I would think that you would get better results than I did in my other results.

Good Luck

 

[kcbeersnob]

Another option that I used recently to pump up the orange flavor/aroma in a wit post fermentation: boil some orange zest in priming solution and add at bottling as you normally would (or add it to the keg as I did). If you're kegging, the obvious down-side is that you have to wait for your keg to carbonate, but I don't think this is a bad thing for a wit.

My keg has been conditioning for a couple weeks. I'll be able to report results back by this weekend after I've put the keg in the keezer.

 

[Toy4Rick]

I am drinking an Orange Blossom Saison now and the orange is very prominent
In fact my son said to not add any more. The aroma and flavor is just wonderful. With that being said I also added fresh ginger, this Saison is amazing

Fermented for 3 weeks then transferred to the keg for another 3 weeks, i rinsed 3 cara cara oranges very well then dipped them in starsan then I zested them and 2 tbls of ginger into 1 cup of vodka for 24 hours then added to the keg. The orange started off stronger and the ginger is now coming into its own

Simply amazing
Rick

 

[forcenc]

I am drinking an Orange Blossom Saison now and the orange is very prominent
In fact my son said to not add any more. The aroma and flavor is just wonderful. With that being said I also added fresh ginger, this Saison is amazing

Fermented for 3 weeks then transferred to the keg for another 3 weeks, i rinsed 3 cara cara oranges very well then dipped them in starsan then I zested them and 2 tbls of ginger into 1 cup of vodka for 24 hours then added to the keg. The orange started off stronger and the ginger is now coming into its own

Simply amazing
Rick

Did you notice any added booziness from 8 oz of vodka in the keg?