Specialty Fruit Beer Red Grapefruit Wit

Red Grapefruit Wit

Grain Bill
4,40 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2,0 SRM) Grain 46,91 %
4,40 lb Wheat, Flaked (1,6 SRM) Grain 46,91 %
0,33 lb Oats, Flaked (1,0 SRM) Grain 3,52 %
0,25 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0,5 SRM) Sugar 2,67 %

Hops
1,00 oz Hallertauer [4,00 %] (60 min) Hops 16,3 IBU

Other
2,00 items Red Grapefruit Zest (Boil 5,0 min) Misc

Yeast
1 Pkgs SafBrew Specialty Ale (DCL Yeast #T-58) Yeast-Ale

Mash: 149F for 90 minutes. Carb @ 2,5 volumes.

Notes: I brewed this with the intention of having something on hand for guests and for my girlfriend who doesn't like malty, dark beers. The addition of grapefruit instead of the traditionnal bitter and sweet orange peel was a mistake, but it paid off. I didn't add coriander since she didn't care for it and the one from the supermarket had a vegetal/ham arma that I didn't care for.

Tasting Notes: Assertive citrus and wheat aroma that pairs nicely with the subdued spices the yeast brings to the table. Faint malt. Very light yellow color, cloudy in the glass, looks like a sparkling white wine with haze. Delicate carbonation that produces an ample head that vanishes rapidly, leaving a foamy ring and lacing. Taste is pretty much more of the nose: pleasant citrus, altough the tart and sweet red grapfruit character is more present, along with a bit of spices, vanilla and a mineral, dry finish. Again, the dryness reminds me of a good dry white wine, altough there is some of that wheat and malt sweetness to blanace it out. It is refreshing, light and elegant. We had a birthday party yesterday and the BMC crowd loved it.

Next time, I will ferment a bit higher though. There is not much yeast character in there and it could get some help in that department. Apart from it, it is a sure rebrew. My girlfriend liked it more than Blanche de chambly dued to very faint phenolic charatcer of the beer compared to the Unibroue offering. I concur, it's much easier to drink mine in quantity and the high attenuation helps in that regard. Not that it is better though, just different.

Two questions:

1) Do you keg, and if so, how do you get yeast into every pour? I'm brand-new to kegging, but I want to keep a wheat on tap and have yeast in it if possible.

2) Do you think the grapefruit peel added to the bitterness, so it's really more than 16 IBU? (Love the Hallertauer hops, though -- the best choice for wheats IMO.)

I don't keg (yet), but even with bottles the beer eventually clears out in the glass if left alone for too long, wich is a bummer. Luckily, it doesn't tend to stay in the glass for too long, but my girlfriend fell asleep with half a pint left tonight and you could see the yeats settle down. I will add some flour to the boil to insure proper cloudiness next time.

I bottled after three weeks. Next batch, it'll be 2 weeks if fermentation is complete and I will condition them a a higher temperature so they carb faster. You can always try a lower flocculating yeast. I went with T-58 because I'm a cheap basterd and it does flocc out nicely in the bottle (not so much in the carboy though).

The grapefruit adds some very slight bitterness, but it is mainly felt as a lingering bitterness that is inviting the next sip. It really doesn't taste bitter up front. My advice would be to disregard any added bitterness from the grapefruit if you plan on adding the zest from only two fruits to a 5 gal, you get more taste and aroma from it than anything else. Any higher than this, and I would think about lowering IBU a tad. Red grapefruits also tend to taste sweeter than the plain yellow ones, so it depends on what you are using.

Recipe looks great... I have always used honey in my witbiers but am planning on using some Clear belgian candi syrup next time. Have you noticed any cidery tastes at all? Just wondering. Thanks

No cidery taste, altough it did dry the beer. If you're looking for a chewy, traditionnal witbier, I'd skip the sugar. If you're looking for a refreshing beer that BMC drinkers will drink readily, this is a good recipe.

what is the purpose of adding flour to the boil?

It's done with witbiers to make sure they are cloudy and stay cloudy.

How much is an "item" of zest?

I'm curious about that too, does that just mean all of the zest you can get from one whole grapefruit?

ScottRMitch said:

I'm curious about that too, does that just mean all of the zest you can get from one whole grapefruit?

Click to expand...

yes - OP wrote:

"My advice would be to disregard any added bitterness from the grapefruit if you plan on adding the zest from only two fruits to a 5 gal, you get more taste and aroma from it than anything else." (recipe calls for 2 "items" of grapefruit)

sweetcell said:

yes - OP wrote:

"My advice would be to disregard any added bitterness from the grapefruit if you plan on adding the zest from only two fruits to a 5 gal, you get more taste and aroma from it than anything else." (recipe calls for 2 "items" of grapefruit)

Click to expand...

Thanks dude. We didn't get that far in the thread.

I know this is a 3 year old thread but just stopping by to say thanks (i think). Brewed 10 gallons of this up Saturday the recipe was just what i have been looking for to kick off the summer ...if it ever happens up here in MI. Went with white labs 400 instead as suggested by the lhbs guy and blew off both airlocks in 36 hr. Made a couple other slight changes but waiting for this is going to be damn hard to do. Thanks again (if it turns out ) and cheers!