All Things Orange

Grain bills and instruction for all manner of alcoholic beverages.

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Re: All Things Orange

Post by heartcut »

Did you ever try filtering through white felt? I read somewhere shiners used to do that for removing oil from corn likker.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by blind drunk »

Maybe try the freezer. My limoncello gets a lemon oil slick on top that can easily be scraped off. Even the lemon oil has that same bite like the orange you describe. It also harbors a lot of the lemon flavor tho. Might be worth a try.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by heartcut »

I let it sit for the weekend at room temp and it mellowed a little and sone orange precipitate came down. Put it in the fridge this morning, gonna rack off the bottom tonight and put it in the freezer. Thanks for the ideas- if this turns out tasting half as good as it smells, it'll be a winner.
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Re: All Things Orange

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Pulled the jar out of the freezer and there was an oily scum on the jar bottom and just a hint of a rainbow on the top. Blotted the top, then filtered (really
f%@&ing slowly) through some coffee filters, figured they'd adsorb the oils. She's back in the fridge in a clean jar- filter angels got 50mL or so. Couldn't bring myself to taste at 5:00am, but think I'll manage tonight.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by LWTCS »

So today I'll charge the boiler with my typical rum base along with feins from two other orange infused runs. I will add orange zest (peeled with potato peeler)from one orange to the thumper.
I'll evaluate the finish bite before I finish by steeping with the chared skins for color.
I am thinking that a more systemic approach may allow for the use of less skin //zest material on the finish product and as such less bite and and yet a good solid orange influence .
we'll see.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by heartcut »

Tried the orange mix tonight. At 30%abv, a little bite and a little flavor. At 40%, more flavor but a hot finish. Drinkable, but not much more than that. Looked cool in the glass, though. Maybe I'll squirt orange oil in everyone's eyes tomorrow and use those peelings.
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Re: All Things Orange

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Getting ready to go to bed, saw a bottle of Mathilde (left over from a party), poured a little in a glass and it has the "edzachary" same hot as the stuff I just made. Poured in some Rose's sweetened lime juice, about half by volume of the Mathilde, and there's this wild ride of opposing flavors. Damn, try that at least once.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by LWTCS »

Yes you can definitely blend or mix down that bite and make a pretty interesting Cocktail. I find this comforting and really helps me work though the emotional trauma that pains me every time I fail at rendering the perfect amount of orange luv with which to bathe my taste buds......see the orange,, be the orange. :D :D
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Re: All Things Orange

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The quest for the ring is quite a peeling.
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Re: All Things Orange

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Hahaha put thaton a tee shirt.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by LWTCS »

Kay,,,,,So trying to add the orange all in one fell swoop is a flawed methodology IMO....At present I am of the opinion that this orange installation needs to be done over two or three or four generations of infusions. The product gets a better full orange flavor with out the zesty bite by employing more systematic approach,,,,IMO. Similar to how the UJSSM gets "better" over a few generations. Or how ones rum gets "better" after a few generations of dunder installations.
My apologies for being a lousy note taker and can not say for sure how much of this or that should be installed to any given batch.
But the concept here is to stick with this thing and keep adding orange to the product and establishing an omnipresent orange note in any and all feins weather they contain heads or tails....Heads will have the most orange infused notes. The point is stick with it so that after each spirit run you only need to add a small amount of zest or chared orange peel to install some level of color or a small amount of orange flavor for that particular generation.
It is more like building or layering each generation with orange and then pulling back on adding the orange when closer to the keeper spirit run...... First and second generations are gonna be spicy and work best as mixers.
Possibly consider the first two generations as sacrificial lambs if you see my meaning?
But the infused feins will be the foundation that allows for minimal orange installation to the final product and that means less bite and more orange.

When charing the orange peel, I find that the peel has the best influence when it is chared enough to only allow for just a bit of orange color to remain on the exterior side. Can char the interior side up very well. BTW the Dunk the skins into the distillate just enough to install a light orange color....lots of vanillas, liquorice and very soft and light smoke come through. It is very good IMO. Too much char and the final product is too smoky or too zesty (depending on the degree of char) IMO..... Dunk it like tea till the desired color is achieved....Don't dunk too much or the bite will get installed.....recon a light barrel strength is good for duckin the chared skins. Test as you go to try and get a feel for how much is best for you.

This approach is not for those that require instant gratification. I am not yet sure if this "adding back" orange infused feins will continue to yield a consistent product or the orange build up will become to overpowering. But this latest batch is by far the most gratifying.
If you screw it up add a small amount more of orange and re run it and try again....or not.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by heartcut »

So you're saying infuse the feints then run them or rerun the whole batch? Sorry, stilling in the am after St Pat's didn't enhance my cognative skills.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by LWTCS »

Yes.
I did try and keep 10 or 12 liters (total) out of this batch or that batch as a reward. But the thing never really came out how I envisioned it should. Some batches mixed up very well and made nice cocktails but I felt they were far too spicy to stand on their own for sipping. I am not really a sipper so it is easy for me to be critical.
I dumped some last drops (ml) back to the thumper for rerun....added the zest of an orange to the thumper.... Added back the settled jelly fish ............all kinds of ways.

Just try and get your boiler charge to be fully infused with orange so that orange comes over as an adjunct. That way ya only have to add just a bit at the end and the bite does not take over... Its like building a rich sauce if you see what I mean. Almost how many sauces taste best after they rest if you see my meaning?...

If you are interested in this type of infusion,,,hopefully ya won't get sick of orange before ya can get it....I was starting to get disgusted but this last batch has given me a bit of fresh air.
Moving forward I feel better about a repeatable plan.......course I aint a gonna take notes either :mrgreen:
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Re: All Things Orange

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Got it. I'll try that.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by heartcut »

Found this paper- gives some insight on the retention time (which relates to distillation temp) of the various componens of orange oil. Don't know if it's light or a train, but still walking on.
http://www.chem.agilent.com/Library/app ... 6530EN.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by maheel »

Cointreau

Today, the liqueur made from a sugar beet distillate made off-site that is then re-distilled in one of eight identical pot stills with a combination of five different styles of orange peels. The original still sits to the right of the entrance just inside the distillery floor.

The Vallencia orange peels are either pulled from the orange in quarters or ribbons, and are either dried from sweet oranges or bitter green oranges. The fifth style of peel is fresh orange peel ribbons that have been macerated in the 96% abv sugar beet distillate for many months.

All these peels go into the still with a few hundred litres of distillate and are distilled another time to impart a massive amount of orange aroma and flavor. They pay very close attention to the heads and tails of the distilling process, omitting a large part of the heads to remove some of the more harsh alcoholic flavors and much of the tails to avoid excess bitterness. The heads and tails of the distillate are sent back into the first tank of the still to go through the process a second time. Once the distillation process is complete, the liquid is then diluted to bring the final proof down to 80, or 40%abv. Pre-dillution the liquid has a sharp & bitter orange flavour that is overpowered by alcohol heat

http://donnellygroup.ca/category/blog/food-drink/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
(bit more than halfway down the page :shh: )
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by LWTCS »

Thanks for that. Finally some bonafied input rather than flying around by the seat of my britches.

I think the thing that I had not concluded with out the help of that article was the
Much longer maceration periods they likely use compared to my o :wink: ne week or so.

Thanks for posting
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by heartcut »

Interesting article. So fractional distillation was the answer for controlling the different tastes. Figures. Gonna have to try that. Thanks.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by nuevo »

some info i found in the web

http://www.alcademics.com/2011/10/a-vis ... rance.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

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Re: All Things Orange

Post by DavidWatkins »

Gentlemen, I bring hope!

Now I rarely use orange in distilling (I use them to spice rum occasionally) but I do know a lot about removing bite and bitter from orange peels.

My favorite thing in the world about orange season is making candied orange peels. After juicing oranges I always chuck the hulls into a bag in the freezer and save them until I have enough to justify the effort of making a batch of candy. I do the same to lemons and grapefruit peels so save your skins no matter what variety they are.

To remove the bite and bitter from the peels, just toss them all in a stockpot, cover them with water and bring to a rolling boil. Hold for 10 minutes and then drain. While still hot take a spoon and scrape the white pith away from the skin. When you've done it right your skins should be translucent and thinner than a credit card. The initial boil water carried the harsh chemical bite with it down the drain and you're scooping out the bitter.

This is where I usually slice the peels into strips, boil with sugar to firm ball, strain and roll in sugar to dry, but you should feel free to add them to your spirits now. It's amazing how much flavor is packed away in those skins even after you boil them once.

(Also, if you do make the candy, once you've got the firm ball stage going save the syrup. Pour the hot candy into a stainless steel bowl and grab the hand mixer with dough hook beaters. Whip air into it as fast as possible before it cools, then slow it down as it gets cooler and let the dough hooks make fresh hot orange taffy... Waste not want not, great orange flavor in the syrup.)
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by LWTCS »

Excellent David. I can't wait to try that........
How do you mean " boil with sugar to firm ball"?
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by DavidWatkins »

In candy making, you start with a simple syrup 1:1 water sugar and boil the water out slowly. As the ratio changes, the boiling temp rises (the same thing we see in distillation essentially). At 230F, the mix forms threads of candy when you remove a spoon for instance. At 244F, when a dollop of candy is allowed to cool it forms a firm ball, think tootsie roll or starburst candy consistency. The usual quick test is a drop or two in a glass of ice water, it instantly forms a solid ball and sinks to the bottom. If you were making candied orange peels, I'd remove the orange peels from the molten candy at this point and dredge them in sugar. When they cool, you get the most potent, flavorful bit of the orange wrapped in a semi-crunchy semi-chewy candy shell. And the molten syrup, as I mentioned, makes a tasty taffy if pulled and whipped with a beater.

For brewing purposes, I'd just boil once, then scrape the skins clean of any pith with a spoon. Simple, no worries flavor infusion from there. I have on occasion used skins prepared to this halfway point to make an orange infused iced tea. One half skin in a gallon of tea for nice citrus flavor. Usually though I only do that when I'm already doing the candy. Everything in my house smells of oranges for a few days.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by Bushman »

Interesting info, I have never made candy but some of the transfer techniques to gain flavor in distilling seem interesting as I am trying to get more into flavoring through various means be it in the wash, through vapors, or infused after the fact.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by LWTCS »

Dayy-viiid,,,,,you might :) be my new best fray-yond . :D
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by Durace11 »

Sounds like it's time to make some sweet orange peel!
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by Stilman »

I tied skins of 4 mandarin oranges in cheese cloth and hung inside my alembic dome above the T500 boiler full of a stripped batch of rum, diluted back to 50%. Absolutely wonderful right out of the still. Perfect combination of flavor and no muss, no fuss.
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Re: All Things Orange

Post by The Baker »

sparky marky said, 'Today I have diluted it with some sugar syrup I made on the stove last week. It is currently at 38%....'.

You can calculate the alcohol content but with the sugar in it you cannot measure the alcohol percentage.

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Re: All Things Orange

Post by thecroweater »

Well you can actually providing you know the total volume and the amount of sugar added there is a formula around, hmm some french dudes name if I recall
Edit : darn it can't find it right now but I'm sure one kg of sugar equals and increase of .63 increase of volume so from that you could work out what increase in gravity the sugar added and deduct that to get your approx ABV .
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