In your face grapefruit

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ToddPEI

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I have usually stayed away from brewing IPA's in the past because of a bunch of failures when I started brewing. But, i've changed up my technique a bit, and I also got into kegging, so that's going to quickly change.

This past weekend I went to Cleveland for the long weekend, and got to visit Great Lakes brewery and Nanobrew. Both had delicious in your face grapefruit IPA/DIPA's (Alchemy Hour, and Citramax).

Coming from north-eastern Canada, i've never experienced intense citrusy flavours like that before. Are they typical of "west-coast IPA's"?

Has anyone tried brewing a clone of Alchemy Hour or Citramax? or know of a similar beer that has been cloned? I'm itching to try my hand at making my own.
 
Can be typical of West Coast IPA's. Citra based beers are often overdone over here, and many times carry too much passion fruit. For straight grapefruit, I think of Amarillo.
 
Cascade = grapefruit. Amarillo has it too but it also has a distinctly peachy flavor. Lots of cascade hops will make your IPA taste like a glass of grapefruit juice. Very hoppy beers are typical of the west coast, but they are not limited to that flavor profile, especially with all the great hops coming around.
 
Cascade and Centennial are what I think of, when I want straight Grapefruit in a beer. But, the citrus flavor and aroma are characteristic of most Pacific Northwest hops.
 
heyblinkin said:
Cascade and Centennial are what I think of, when I want straight Grapefruit in a beer. But, the citrus flavor and aroma are characteristic of most Pacific Northwest hops.

Centennnnnnnnnnnnniallll!!!

Equals grapefruit, no question about it. Cascade too, to a lesser extent.

Citra is citrusy, sure, but isn't the 100% grapefruit.

Try a Bells Two Hearted. Amazing. All grapefruit. All centennial.
 
Hmm, normally when I've brewed with Cascade I haven't experience that amount of grapefruit flavour, maybe I need more during my dry hop. Amarillo and centennial might have to be added to my next brew so I can taste it. I might not be able to find comet where i'm at.

I heard that citra has a strong cat urine smell. what are peoples experiences with that?

hmmmm.. lets try to figure out where that intense citra-sy hop flavor comes from...
No need to be snarky, I was just looking for help with a beer style that i'm not used to.
 
ToddPEI said:
I heard that citra has a strong cat urine smell. what are peoples experiences with that?

A little musky maybe, but not catty. Overwhelming peace and mango. Simcoe is catty, it smells and tastes of delicious cat urine.
 
A lot of aromas and flavors are relative. Just my opinion; dry hopping with Chinook tends to produce huge grapefruit notes. For the flavor, most stated above are fine.

bottlebomber said:
Simcoe is catty, it smells and tastes of delicious cat urine.

There are cheaper ways to get a good dose of cat urine flavors in your beer...
 
I would put Centennial more towards the "orange" category in the citrus continuum (especially when used late in the boil), while leaving Cascade in the "grapefruit" range.

That might just be my taste buds though. Both are fantastic flavors.
 
I would put Centennial more towards the "orange" category in the citrus continuum (especially when used late in the boil)

Agreed. I did a 30 min hopstand @ 190F with 2 oz of Centennial hops with my last IPA, and the post-fermentation sample aroma was a very fantastic and clear orange juice smell. This was before dry-hopping, even.
 
A lot of aromas and flavors are relative. Just my opinion; dry hopping with Chinook tends to produce huge grapefruit notes. For the flavor, most stated above are fine.



There are cheaper ways to get a good dose of cat urine flavors in your beer...

That's why we have 4 cats!
 

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