Why does my IPA taste like grapefruit??

I brewed an IPA on 4/4 and tasted a small sample. It tastes like grapefruit and there is little to no bitterness. This is the recipe for a 10 gallon batch:

Grain:
25# American 2-Row
1# Crystal 40
.5# Crystal 60
.25# Crystal 80
.25# Crystal 120

Hops:

2oz Magnum 60 minutes
2oz Simcoe continuously hopped from 30 minutes to knockout. Approx 13 pellets per minute
2oz Cascade Dry Hop 2 weeks.

Yeast:
Nottingham per 5 gallon batch

OG: 1.067

I'm thinking the Simcoe might be the reason for the grapefruit but why no bitterness? This recipe was about 70 IBUs if I remember correctly. 2oz of Magnum should produce some bitterness. Is it possible that the Simcoe is basically covering up the taste of the bittering hops? Or is it just green beer in which the bitterness will come out in a month or two?

It will be a different beer in a month. You only brewed it less than a month ago and it will change with time. As far as the grapefruit is concerned, that's definitely the hops, which will also mellow with time. What was your FG?

2 ounces of hops for 10 gallons of beer? That's not a lot of IBUs. Something like 50ish? I don't think you have a high perception of hops because that's not that high compared to the amount of beer you made and the gravity.

carnevoodoo said:

2 ounces of hops for 10 gallons of beer? That's not a lot of IBUs. Something like 50ish? I don't think you have a high perception of hops because that's not that high compared to the amount of beer you made and the gravity.

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More like six ounces and magnum is some pretty strong stuff, though i don't know all the math to calculate the IBUs

i can tell you from experience, your recipe is very similar to one of my favorite microbrews, they get a very flowery/grapefruit flavor by long dry hopping with cascade, as for the lack of bittering, i have no clue

According to beersmith (a quick and dirty version of this recipe) you should have plenty of IBUs if the magnum were %14. Is it possible that they were very old, like an '06 crop, and they have lost quite a bit of their AA? At any rate, let it age and see what happens. You can always call it a pale ale.

Here is what I got out of BeerSmith( after 20 min of adding hop additions)
looks to be fairly sound by the style guidelines. and the grapefruit flavor will fade after a while, I use simcoe in an IPA that I brew, good stuff, but oyu have to let it age a bit.

Your dry hop choice will also lead to a strong grapefruit nose that could confuse your tastebuds as well

are you useing ane brewing software?

here is what BeerSmith shows, I ahve also attached the recipe file for BeerSmith and a text file if you don't have Beersmith

-Jason

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 10.00 gal

Boil Size: 11.45 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 69.00
Ingredients




Measured Original Gravity: 1.067 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.53 %
Bitterness: 64.3 IBU
Calories: 304 cal/pint
Est Color: 10.4 SRM Color: Color

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 27.00 lb
Sparge Water: 2.88 gal
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE
Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).

View attachment recipes.txt

View attachment recipes.bsm

Remember that those are calculated IBUs and without specific testing, we can not be assured that we're hitting those levels. Age of hops, and a variety of factors make a difference.

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful responses. For my recipes I use Beer Calculus . homebrew recipe calculator. My gravity right now is about 1.014. The OG was 1.067 and the IBUs were 82 Tinseth. I'm not sure how old the hops were or potential loss of IBUs in aging. I will have to check with my LHBS. I think I'll just let them sit for at least a month before drinking and hope it settles out a little.

Or perhaps acquire a taste for the grapefruit.
Many folks like the American IPA's specifically for the Pacific Northwest hops you have listed - (many are citrusy). Cascade is most prominently grapefruit-citrusy.

If it's too strongly grapefruit for you, try dry hopping with something else next time. Most online suppliers will list the profile of the hops so you can pick something more to your liking (and you can ship me what you've brewed!)

I think the most effective method of analysis would involve you shipping out large quantities for taste testing.

Sounds delicious if you ask me! The grapefruit flavor and aroma is something that I specifically shoot for in my IPAs and double IPAs.

If you're not a big fan of the citrus, stay away from Simcoe, Amarillo, and any of the big American "C-hops".

Most European hops have more of an earthy, sometimes spicy, flavor and aroma. Not unlike an English Bitter. Perhaps this is the flavor profile you like?

Hang Glider said:

Or perhaps acquire a taste for the grapefruit.
Many folks like the American IPA's specifically for the Pacific Northwest hops you have listed - (many are citrusy). Cascade is most prominently grapefruit-citrusy.

If it's too strongly grapefruit for you, try dry hopping with something else next time. Most online suppliers will list the profile of the hops so you can pick something more to your liking (and you can ship me what you've brewed!)

Click to expand...

I'm OK with a citrus flavored IPA. I am just upset that there isn't any bitterness from the 14% AA Magnum to balance out the late hop additions & dry hop additions.

Did you have any boil overs? I made a brown and had a slight boil over when I put the hops in, the beer lost a substantial amount of bitterness, because half the the hops landed on the floor. Other than that I have no idea why there is no bitterness. Bitterness normally mellows with time, so drinking it early it should be bitter. I'm perplexed? Maybe you have mutant beer that will increase it's bitterness over time!

fixie said:

Did you have any boil overs? I made a brown and had a slight boil over when I put the hops in, the beer lost a substantial amount of bitterness, because half the the hops landed on the floor. Other than that I have no idea why there is no bitterness. Bitterness normally mellows with time, so drinking it early it should be bitter. I'm perplexed? Maybe you have mutant beer that will increase it's bitterness over time!

Click to expand...

I had a very small boil over. But it wasn't that much....

fixie said:

Did you have any boil overs? I made a brown and had a slight boil over when I put the hops in, the beer lost a substantial amount of bitterness, because half the the hops landed on the floor.

Click to expand...

C'mon there's the 5 second rule!

Keg or bottle?

If it is in a keg, you could consider adding a hop tea, but you'll have to use a lot of hops because to small volume of tea will only extract so much bitterness...Maybe someone with better hop utilization knowledge can jump in.

Just to provide resolution to this issue this IPA is now on tap in my kegerator. It tastes great. The bitterness is defiantly there. I'm thinking that maybe I couldn't taste it before because it wasn't carbonated? I'm not sure. It's well rounded and I am pleased with the results. I guess I should have RDWAHHB rather than worried about it....

Congrats!
Yes, with 2 oz of Magnum, you certainly should have some bitterness. One of my favorite recipes only uses 1 oz of Magnum for 60min and it's plenty bitter. One of the things about dryhopping is that the aroma and flavor are so strong initially that it may have masked the bitter you were looking for.

Glad it turned out how you like it.
Now go make another batch -

With your FG is around 1.014, you may have more balance than bitter in your IPA. Also, +1 HG for noting the dry hop. I've noted that many people will mistake the floral and fruity aromas from heavily dry hopped beers as sweetness.

Had to fake the constant addition, but I bet it's close.

Another case where 31 bucks of beer came out unsatisfactorily by not having 25 bucks worth of software.


Low IBU Grapefruit IPA
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 6/8/2009
Style: American IPA Brewer: michael.berta
Batch Size: 11.00 gal Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 13.14 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
IBU's 53.6 Color 9.8

Brewing Steps Check Time Step
6/8/2009 Clean and prepare equipment.
-- Measure ingredients, crush grains.
-- Prepare 16.38 gal water for brewing
-- Prepare Ingredients for Mash
Amount Item Type
25.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain

-- WARNING: Preheat Mash Tun - No equipment adjustments made!
2 min Mash Ingredients
Mash In: Add 33.75 qt of water at 165.9 F
60 min - Hold mash at 154.0 F for 60 min
-- Drain Mash Tun
-- Batch Sparge Round 1: Sparge with 3.97 gal of 168.0 F water.
-- Batch Sparge Round 2: Sparge with 3.97 gal of 168.0 F water.
-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 13.14 gal
-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.058 SG with all grains/extracts added
Boil for 60 min Boil Ingredients
Boil Amount Item Type
60 min 2.00 oz Magnum [12.00 %] (60 min) Hops
15 min 2.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (15 min) Hops

-- Cool wort to fermentation temperature
-- Add water (as needed) to achieve volume of 11.00 gal
-- Siphon wort to primary fermenter and aerate wort.
-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter
Amount Item Type
2 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) [Cultured] Yeast-Ale

6/8/2009 Measure Original Gravity: ________ (Estimate: 1.067 SG)
6/8/2009 Measure Batch Volume: ________ (Estimate: 11.00 gal)
4 days Ferment in primary for 4 days at 68.0 F
6/12/2009 Measure Final Gravity: ________ (Estimate: 1.016 SG)
-- Keg beer at 45.0 F at a pressure of 13.7 PSI
4.0 Weeks Age for 4.0 Weeks at 52.0 F
7/10/2009 Sample and enjoy!

Notes
Dry hop with 2oz of Cascade