New here but been brewing for a while!

[bluebuzzard]

Hi everyone,

I've done a few quick searches and not found what I'm looking for (yet) so forgive me for asking a question that may already be well answered.

I've just completed my first couple of all grain brews, after several years of kit brewing, and have been more than pleased with the results. So far a standard IPA and an Oatmeal Stout have been brewed and now I want to start experimenting a little. I have a recipe book which is great for giving me styles and types but there's a few things I'd like to try myself but it's how I introduce other flavours to the brew that I'm not sure of.

Any advice on how and when I should introduce extra flavours would be appreciated. For example if I wanted to add an Orange flavour to a light ale for a more summery feel what would be the best thing to use and where should I add it? Would I add orange peel to the Mash, would I add it to the boil or even after the boil and in the fermenting bin itself?

That's the sort of thing I'm trying to get a feel for so I have rough idea where to begin and then I can go from there.

Many thanks for any help or hints.

Jason

[Frothy]

Interesting question... & very ambitious already The quest for new and exciting flavours is constant and highly varied, the wide selection of yeasts, hops and speciality malts will keep us all going for a good life time of experimentation alone. My first recommendation would be to experiment with a few hop varieties, Halleratuer to me have a wonderful orangey flavour/ aroma whilst Challenger are often described as blackcurranty. Pitching a good quantity of these hops i.e. 25g+ in a 19-23L brew anwhere between the last 5minutes of the boil or for a 15minute-1/2hr steep after turning the burner off, will maintain much of that fresh flavour for you. Dry hopping in the keg can and will rescue many a duff beer Using peel and coriander in the boil isn't uncommon in wheat beers and comes down to much the same theory as the late hopping try <1g/L crushed coriander seed, 0.5-1g/L dried peel, try Nethergates Umbel Ale in Tescos at the moment - amazing. Mash hopping was discussed somewhere on here recently.

Frothy

[brewsters millionths]

if you're going to use orange peel just grate the outside of it off, none of the pith which is very bitter. make sure it's clean first as you'll want to add it late in the fermentation. too early and the vigorous fermentation will blow off the subtle flavour.

[bluebuzzard]

Excellent stuff and thanks for the various tips there. I had a feeling it would be a case of adding such things towards the end of the boil or afterwards so that's got me settled on that.

Now to hunt through the recipe book for a base for my first experiment!!