What do you think about this Grapefruit IPA?

So I made a grapefruit IPA about three weeks ago...
Went through 8-9 days of primary, 3 in secondary then added dry hops and grapefruit peels. HOWEVER, i didn't have vodka but my neighbor had completely flavorless moonshine. I filled the grapefruit peel glass up until it was just enough moonshine and soaked in for about 24-30 hours (Don't remember exact amount). I think did my two ounces of hops and grapefruit peels in secondary for about 6-7 days and cold crashed for 4 days.

Now, i just put into a keg and i tried it when i got to the bottom of the secondary when i put some in a glass. When i tried it it was either crazy bitter or way alcoholic. Can't really tell yet.

So...

With the 3/4 cup of moonshine roughly, did it pull way too much of the bitterness and oil from the grapefruit or can 3/4 cup moonshine really raise the alcohol level that much to where it tastes like that?

My plan so far is to let it sit two week and then carb up and try it out, maybe it will level out some or flavor up?

If it is bad, I was thinking of pouring some out and then pouring in some grapefruit juice?

Opinions would be fantastic!

Thanks.

So I made a grapefruit IPA about three weeks ago...
Went through 8-9 days of primary, 3 in secondary then added dry hops and grapefruit peels. HOWEVER, i didn't have vodka but my neighbor had completely flavorless moonshine. I filled the grapefruit peel glass up until it was just enough moonshine and soaked in for about 24-30 hours (Don't remember exact amount). I think did my two ounces of hops and grapefruit peels in secondary for about 6-7 days and cold crashed for 4 days.

Now, i just put into a keg and i tried it when i got to the bottom of the secondary when i put some in a glass. When i tried it it was either crazy bitter or way alcoholic. Can't really tell yet.

So...

With the 3/4 cup of moonshine roughly, did it pull way too much of the bitterness and oil from the grapefruit or can 3/4 cup moonshine really raise the alcohol level that much to where it tastes like that?

My plan so far is to let it sit two week and then carb up and try it out, maybe it will level out some or flavor up?

If it is bad, I was thinking of pouring some out and then pouring in some grapefruit juice?

Opinions would be fantastic!

Thanks.

jblank44 said:

I filled the grapefruit peel glass up until it was just enough moonshine and...Thanks.

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Opinions vary significantly on "just enough moonshine." If "just enough" was 20% of whatever your batch size was, that could cause an alcohol taste.



Whatever happens, adding grapefruit juice seems bad. Probably ruins the beer and perfectly good grapefruit juice.



What kind of hops did you use for cold hopping?

jblank44 said:

[...]Went through 8-9 days of primary, 3 in secondary then added dry hops and grapefruit peels.[...]

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Did you actually use the whole rind, or just the "zest"?

fwiw, I wouldn't expect a mere 3/4 cup of 'shine to affect the overall "boozy" nature of a five gallon batch - unless the recipe was quite lightweight to begin with, way lighter than an IPA, and the 'shine was quite potent.
I use almost double that much in dark rum soaking cocoa nibs for my chocolate imperial stout, and you can just tell it's there - though mostly by the flavor...

Cheers!

Singletrack said:

Opinions vary significantly on "just enough moonshine." If "just enough" was 20% of whatever your batch size was, that could cause an alcohol taste.



Whatever happens, adding grapefruit juice seems bad. Probably ruins the beer and perfectly good grapefruit juice.



What kind of hops did you use for cold hopping?

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No, probably around 3/4 cup of moonshine. 5 gallon batch.

hops in batch were chinook, cascade and amarillo. Dry hop was cascade and simcoe. Then cold crashed after dry hopping. Dry hop and peels added at same time.

day_trippr said:

Did you actually use the whole rind, or just the "zest"?

fwiw, I wouldn't expect a mere 3/4 cup of 'shine to affect the overall "boozy" nature of a five gallon batch - unless the recipe was quite lightweight to begin with, way lighter than an IPA, and the 'shine was quite potent.
I use almost double that much in dark rum soaking cocoa nibs for my chocolate imperial stout, and you can just tell it's there - though mostly by the flavor...

Cheers!

Click to expand...

It wasn't very light i would say. It was extract. 6 lbs liquid gold malt with a 3 lb late addition. Caramel 20 and cara 20 steeping grains... northern brewer grapefruit pulpin. Hope that it goes away in aging. I have read that the more alcohol present the more oil it will withdraw from the peel. This was dried peel, about 2 oz added to the 5 gal batch.

If it was exactly 5 gallons to the fermentor you're looking at a 7.8% IPA.
So, no, that's not a "lightweight recipe"

Not a fan of grapefruit peel, dried or otherwise.
Zest is ok, but frankly you can get so close to "grapefruit" with the right hops I rarely bother...

Cheers!

I've brewed a good number of grapefruit beers trying to clone Shiner's Ruby Redbird, I like to cut grapefruits up or use juice, and add that at the end of the boil. It takes a LOT of grapefruit to make a noticeable impact. I can find the link to the thread if you want, has lots of pics too, but I realize it's not an IPA.

It may be that it could have set in primary longer, and you could just age it a while and it could taste a lot better. I wouldn't loose faith, let it age a week or 2 and see where your at.

Good luck!

day_trippr said:

If it was exactly 5 gallons to the fermentor you're looking at a 7.8% IPA.
So, no, that's not a "lightweight recipe"

Not a fan of grapefruit peel, dried or otherwise.
Zest is ok, but frankly you can get so close to "grapefruit" with the right hops I rarely bother...

Cheers!

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It can raise it that much? WOW. Well at least I know I wont be using moonshine again lol. So far not a fan of the grapefruit peel either lol.

estricklin said:

I've brewed a good number of grapefruit beers trying to clone Shiner's Ruby Redbird, I like to cut grapefruits up or use juice, and add that at the end of the boil. It takes a LOT of grapefruit to make a noticeable impact. I can find the link to the thread if you want, has lots of pics too, but I realize it's not an IPA.

It may be that it could have set in primary longer, and you could just age it a while and it could taste a lot better. I wouldn't loose faith, let it age a week or 2 and see where your at.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

How much grapefruit/juice are you using and how big of a patch? I would like to make one after Ballast point grapefruit sculpin. That is a good one. But sounds good. I will let it age and see how it turns out. I HOPE IT MELLOWS OUT

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, here is the thread I spoke of:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=275145

So 3/4-1 gallon of grapefruit juice, or better yet, 1 lb/gallon of fresh grapefruit juice. I tasted the grapefruit Sculpin when I was in San Diego, perhaps even at the brewery but I tried so many beers that week I don't remember it very clearly. I really suggest using the fresh grapefruit, just sliced up the way I did. Less cloudy, not lowering your OG and having to add grain to make up for it, and it tastes better I think.

This is one of my favorite recipes. I have used 1oz of the GF zest with moonshine...it was bitter for just a short time and then awesome...then I wished I had added the entire 2oz of GF zest. I always used 2 oz. of zest with enough moonshine to fill a half pint jar... let it set for 2 days in the fridge and then add it along with the dry hopes at about 3 weeks of fermentation....as a matter of fact I did just that very thing today... I will cold crash in 5 or 6 days and then keg...