Toasted orange porter: Brainstorming session

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Providence, Jun 11, 2012.

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  1. Providence

    Providence Pooh-Bah (2,652) Feb 24, 2010 Rhode Island
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    When I was young my dad used to take orange peels and put them on the electric oven range. He'd then turn up the heat and ever so slightly burn the peels to give off a smokey, but citrusy aroma. That is the inspiration behind this beer.

    Unfortunately, that's where I get writers block. I need some help from my fellow BA's.

    I want it to be a smoked beer, maybe a smoked amber? But I don't want the smoke presence to be nuts (think Stone's smoked porter not Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock) but with a citrus punch. Smoke and oranges is perhaps a non-traditional combination, but I really think it would work.

    Of course, I am doing extract brewing, so that should be kept in mind.

    My questions to you are:

    1.) What do you think a good base beer for this would be, amber, porter, etc?
    2.) How the heck do I smoke malt? Do I buy it pre-smoked? Should I bust out my little Weber charcoal grill?
    3.) Thoughts on the orange peel? Flame out? Primary? Secondary? All of the above?
    4.) Are there any beers that you have had that resemble such an idea? If I could taste something similar to what I am thinking about it would help a bunch.

    Thanks in advance everyone! I think this could be a big winner! If you decide to do it yourself and make a million dollars on it just let me drink for free at your brewery! Ha ha ha
     
    #1 Providence, Jun 11, 2012
  2. afrokaze

    afrokaze Pooh-Bah (1,962) Jun 12, 2009 Oregon
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Sorry if I'm not much help specifically, but it sounds like a cool idea. I think a porter would work well with a light orange peel addition in secondary. I've heard of adding it near the end of the boil too, but you want to make sure that you remove as much of the pith (fleshy white stuff) as possible because that can make it intensely bitter if you're not careful. You could also go the citrus hoppy porter/black IPA route similar to Moylan's Orange & Black Congrats Ale, which has orange peel added as well and is a really good beer. You can easily buy pre-smoked malt; I'm not sure on the different types but you'd probably want to aim for 10-15% smoked malt for the grain bill. Hope it works out, cheers!
     
    #2 afrokaze, Jun 11, 2012
  3. Providence

    Providence Pooh-Bah (2,652) Feb 24, 2010 Rhode Island
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Cool, thanks for the input.
     
    #3 Providence, Jun 11, 2012
  4. Pegli

    Pegli Initiate (0) Aug 30, 2006 Rhode Island

    I did a weizenrauchbock (weizenbock with a few lbs of smoked malt) which worked nicely...a bit of orange peel sounds like a nice addition. You could even lighten it up to Hefe weight a/o pick a more neutral yeast to let the orange peel shine... I assume you can get the smokiness from just steeping ?

    On the other side of the spectrum, you could go with an Orange Chocolate Porter...I'm thinking like those Terry's Chocolate Orange candies that come out around the Holidays.
     
    #4 Pegli, Jun 11, 2012
  5. Providence

    Providence Pooh-Bah (2,652) Feb 24, 2010 Rhode Island
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Stone Vertical Epic from 2009 tasted like one of those Chocolate orange's in my opinion. I loved it, that was one of my all time favorite beers.
     
    #5 Providence, Jun 11, 2012
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