Orange peel and cocoa nibs in a quad

[carboywonder]

Hi all,

Planning on brewing up a strong dark belgian ale and was considering adding some dried bitter orange peel at end of boil and maybe some cocoa nibs to secondary. I know, not traditional, but with the holidays approaching I was thinking it might be fun to give it a shot.

Anyone use orange peel in a quad before? How did it turn out? Should I plan to add more than I would to a wit given the additional maltiness?

Thoughts on the cocoa nibs? Think it could play nicely off the dried fruit character of a belgian dark ale.

Thanks!

 

[sweetcell]

the nibs should be nice.

not sure that the subtlety of orange will cut through.

suggestion: those dried pieces of orange you get from the homebrew shop often have the pith (white part under the skin). pith tastes nasty. if you want to add orange, get fresh fruit and grate off the skin. be careful to only get the skin layer on the surface, stop before you get to the pith. add at the very and of the boil (flameout), then add again in secondary (sanitize the oranges first).

whatever you decide to do, let us know how it turns out!