Grapefruit IPA

Hello all,

I'm fairly new to brewing (but my father has recently opened a brewery). Anyways I've brewed with him and his recipes but I am trying to fly the coup and see what I can do without the master.

I love Sculpin's Grapefruit IPA and would absolutely love to make something semi-similar. As with most IPA's the grain bill isn't overly important. I will be doing an extract version this time, for time sake, until I perfect this recipe.

This is what I got so far for a standard 5 gallon batch:


Grain Bill:
8 lbs extra light DME
1lb Munich
1lb caravienna
1.5lb crystal 15L
1lb corn sugar
.5lb multidextrine

Hop Schedule:

Beginning boil:
2 oz Soracha Ace
.5 oz Citra

Mid-boil:
1 oz Amarillo
1 oz Cascade

Flame-out:
1 oz Nuggett
1 oz Centennial
1 oz Citra
1 oz Galaxy

Dry-hop with:
2 oz Galaxy & 2 oz Simcoe for 5 days.

I thought about adding grapefruit zest in the dry-hop bag, but thinking I might forgoe that because I'll get enough grapefruit in the hops Ive selected. I'm learning about hops and alpha acids now, I'm thinking this will be about 85 IBUs and about 8% ABV. But my calculations for IBUs could definitely be a little off.

I'm rambling now but I know my hop profile is a little unique when looking at others recipes so any kind of feedback or suggestions are welcomed! Thank guys!

AJ

Please let me know how this turns out I love that sculpin and want to make a clone of it too

thats a whole buttload of Crystal malts.....

Grain bill is pretty cluttered up. I'd just do your DME and a half lb of crystal, especially since you don't seem to be mashing the Munich. And the sugar if you want to dry it out, I guess.

What's with the Sorachi Ace and Citra for bittering? Maybe just bitter with something neutral, to simplify things. I would do an extended hop steep (30-40 mins at 190 degrees or so) with your flameouts, too.

Hi and welcome to HBT!

I'd reiterate the comments above about the grain bill - that's a lot of cara- and crystal malts. The sugar will dry out the beer quite a bit, if it were me, I'd consider dropping it from the recipe to0, until I know that the recipe needs drying out.

For your hops, generally, beer recipes talk about hop additions at particular times in the boil. So, if you are boiling the wort for 60 minute, the first addition bittering addition is 60 minutes. Then if you add hops with 20 minutes left in the boil (after 40 minutes have elapsed), you call it a 20 minutes addition.

For an IPA, you might consider adding hops at 60, 20, 15, 10, 5 and flameout. The dry hop after fermentation. Good luck with the batch, let us know how it turns out!

FYI, I've moved this from the recipe database (which is for tried-and-true recipes) to the recipe and ingredients forum, where hopefully more people will see it and comment.

OP, that's not what you want to do...

There are Sculpin clone attempts all over the internet. Consolidate what you know and incorporate grapefruit zest and juice.


1.065 OG / 1.011 FG
8 gallon boil / 5.6 gallon batch (to account for trub and dryhop loss)

88.0% Domestic 2-Row or Light DME
4.00% CaraVienne 20L
4.00% Caramel 10L
4.00% CaraPils (exclude if using DME)

^Some Lactic Acid or Acid Malt if you need it.

Mash Schedule:
-90 minute mash at 148F (if doing all grain)
-Chinook mash hop pellets added after 30-35 minutes
-First Wort Hop w/2:1 combo Simcoe/Chinook added after the 90 minutes is complete, but before the boil
-Be sure to use adequate Gypsum to boost Sulfates to acceptable levels.

Hop Schedule
Mash Hop/First Wort Hop around 90 minutes/60/30/0/Dryhop (all pellets)

The Boil

60 minute, full-rolling boil bittering charge w/2:1:1 combo of Simcoe, Chinook, Centennial

30 minutes left in boil, add 2:1 combo of Simcoe & Cascade

10 minutes left in boil, add Whirlfloc

5 minutes left in boil, add YeastEx

Post-Boil

Whirlpool with some combo of Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, Amarillo, Columbus

Primary Fermentation

Cool down to the low 60s(F) and ferment with a healthy WLP001 starter for 6 days

Secondary

Rack off yeast and add 4 oz. dryhops for 4 more days with the same hop combo as the whirlpool and the zest of 5 ruby red grapefruits, & possibly a few peeled, pith-free grapefruit halves.

Kegging/Bottling

Add fresh ruby red grapefruit juice to the keg/bottles. The juice has to taste good for your palate; it shouldn't be too bitter/pithy or too sweet.

Keg/bottle with moderately high to high carbonation. Stage 2 dryhop in the keg, if kegging.


^Much of this information was taken directly from a video interview of Ballast Point's processes for Sculpin.

I'd love to hear how this comes out if you try it