Brewing IPA's with fruit? any suggestions

for my next batch i was thinking about trying a fruit IPA? maybe black cherry? any one have suggestions on what fruit would go well in an IPA and suggestion on the amount to use?

My gut is grapefruit.....maybe just because of cascade. Maybe because the bitter hop profile sounds gross with a sweet fruit. I am curious though. Sometimes great pairings come from unexpected places.

Jamil talked about the grapefruit IPA he made, said it was terrible. Just because two flavors sound like they will go together, doesn't mean they will.

There's a reason that virtually all fruit beers are made without many hops; any hop flavor is, best-case, going to drown out the fruit, worst case clash like hell.

This thread is blasphemous! IPA's are for hops, man!

Save the fruit for a light wheat.

I agree that fruit would not work in an IPA, they are so good that I don't know why you would want to add fruit. By the way, Jamil stated that he made a pineapple IPA and it was dreadfull.

+1 on all that. The only thing outside of hops that I've found is good to flavor an IPA with is basil. Fruit? No.

*ahem*...gentlemen...are we not forgetting Aprihop??

http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Seasonal_Beers/Aprihop/14/index.htm

Its a delicious fruit IPA...almost more like an american pale ale (sierra nevada) in terms of not-too-crazy hoppiness, but the fruit is also subtle and the pairing is, to quote the british announcers for soccer games, "absolutely sublime."

I suggest a little bit of a tart fruit...mess around, experiment!

IF you are to put any, it would be quite a small amount, as you don't want it to be too obvious. I think it could be done, not just as much as with a wheat.

joed123 said:

*ahem*...gentlemen...are we not forgetting Aprihop??

http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Seasonal_Beers/Aprihop/14/index.htm

Its a delicious fruit IPA...almost more like an american pale ale (sierra nevada) in terms of not-too-crazy hoppiness, but the fruit is also subtle and the pairing is, to quote the british announcers for soccer games, "absolutely sublime."

I suggest a little bit of a tart fruit...mess around, experiment!

Click to expand...

Ya, I was going to say apricot or peach.

I'm not Belgian enough to post in this thread.

And I'm OK with that.

joed123 said:

*ahem*...gentlemen...are we not forgetting Aprihop??

http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Seasonal_Beers/Aprihop/14/index.htm

Its a delicious fruit IPA...almost more like an american pale ale (sierra nevada) in terms of not-too-crazy hoppiness, but the fruit is also subtle and the pairing is, to quote the british announcers for soccer games, "absolutely sublime."

I suggest a little bit of a tart fruit...mess around, experiment!

Click to expand...

Absolutely, this is actually one of the best IPA's I've ever brewed. The addition of fresh (pureed) apricots to the IPA is outstanding. Along with a decent malt backbone, all three compliment each other very well. You get the apricot flavor right at the front end and it's slowly changes into the cascades flavor. They really enhance each other.

I would say add a few lbs of apricots to your IPA. If not apricots, you may want try a similar fruit.

By the way, Zymurgy ran the clone (given by the brewer) for Aprihop a few years back.

If you really want to use fruit in a beer, try either sour pie cherries or rasberries. Historically, I have brewed wheat beer with fruit; not an IPA. The rasberries have a much more pungent flavor with the rasberry tartness...not a lot of hops are needed. I have used many types of cherries, and the only one that has prevailed are the sour pie cherries. They can be hard to find depending on where you live. I bought an 8lb frozen bucket, and this was plenty...in a wheat beer.

joed123 said:

*ahem*...gentlemen...are we not forgetting Aprihop??

Click to expand...

For sure! After having the DFH Apricot IPA I made a couple of batches of my own last spring; differently of course than DFH (and in my opinion much better).

For a 5g batch, I made a simple, yet delicious, extract/specialty grain IPA, and let it do its thing in primary for 1.5 - 2 weeks. I then pitted 2-3 pounds of fresh apricots (about 20 apricots), pasturized them, and added them to an empty secondary fermentor. I racked the IPA from primary on top of the pasturized apricots, and let them sit in my fermentation closet for 1.5 months. Then bottled.

This beer was the favorite brew of every IPA fan in my community. It's a bit more pricey to make, but well worth it.

-5gB-

When I was at the GABF this year I met some brewers from a small brewery in Wisconsin who did an IPA with Mango. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I am going to try it.

Pirate Ale...

Really?! I was totally thinking about doing that too especially since apricots are not in season currently.

5gB

And it was good.

Use all amarillo and simcoe and dryhop with each. You'll get a nice grapefruit like flavor just from the hops.

It's not a fruit, but Alaskan Brewing Company has an awesome Jalapeno Imperial IPA on tap here. The spiciness really compliments the bitterness in that brew

One of the best beers I have ever brewed so far and it was a complete experiments was our blackberry IPA. we added almost 5 pounds of fresh picked blackberries to the secondary and let is sit for about 3 weeks. One possibility as to why it was so good was because we did not add our first bit of hops until 30 minutes into the boil.

mango and pineapple in secondary are legendary !!! Grab a frozen Lb of each and add a oz of your favorite leaf hop and let those suckers ferment In primary for a few days !!!!