I am working on a grapefruit Pale Ale where I want to get flavors from grapefruit as well as the hops. I am curious as to the best way to add the grapefruit is. I was thinking of adding the zest to the boil and then fruit into the secondary but I don't know how much to add.
Grapefruit
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EmeraldTab
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Depends on the size of the batch, I would use orange zest to give it a citrus note, grapefruit zest tends to be super bitter, and then make add grapefruit juice/pulp that you've heated to 170 to either the bottling portion or into secondary. If its a 5 gallon batch you're doing 3-4 should do the trick, make sure you remove as much of the white pith from the outside of the grapefruit as possible as that will also lead to bitterness.
I just tried a single hop that used Falconer's Flight 7 C's and it was a pretty grapefruit explosion to me, so that may be a hop to consider.
I just tried a single hop that used Falconer's Flight 7 C's and it was a pretty grapefruit explosion to me, so that may be a hop to consider.
Citra is the hop I would use. I would dry hop with it as well. There was an AHA first place award winning beer (Belgian Strong) in this month Zymurgy that used grapefruit. He took pink grapefruit, removed the membranes, and added it to primary at 60 hours along with 4 oz of brown sugar. Hope this helps!
purplehaze
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A while back I made an ale with home grown Cascade hops(bitter, flavor). I used SO4 for yeast and it had a strong grapefruit flavor.
Tomcat0304
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I made a grapefruit ginger blonde at the beginning of summer that came out really well. I used grapefruit zest as a 5 minute addition in the boil and more zest (and fresh grated ginger) as a whirlpool addition. I cooled the wort to 170*, added the grapefruit zest (and ginger) and held it there for 20 minutes. I also added the juice from the grapefruit (18 oz) after fermentation was complete. For the record, the gravity of my grapefruit juice was 1.054.
When I do it again, I'll omit the zest in the boil. When I added it, I think it just vaporized the oil in the zest. I don't have any way to scientifically prove this, but it boiled and splattered as if you just dripped water into hot oil.
During fermentation and gravity samples, I noted that there was a huge grapefruit nose from the zest, but barely any flavor until after adding the juice from the grapefruits.
When I do it again, I'll omit the zest in the boil. When I added it, I think it just vaporized the oil in the zest. I don't have any way to scientifically prove this, but it boiled and splattered as if you just dripped water into hot oil.
During fermentation and gravity samples, I noted that there was a huge grapefruit nose from the zest, but barely any flavor until after adding the juice from the grapefruits.
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