Bittering Hop amount for Grapefruit Blonde

[tbiamuoetrhy8]

I am planning on doing a Grapefruit Blonde next weekend for, you guessed it, the SO. I plan on steeping 1oz of GF peel for 10min of the boil, 1oz at flameout, and 1oz "dry hop". I plan on using cascade hops throughout, but was thinking that I should use half the amount for bittering to compensate for the bitterness of the GF peel. Would 1/2oz of cascade be a good amount?

also, should I incorporate the grapefruit meat to any phase of the grapefruit additions?

Prost! and happy Brewing!!

 

[thomasjr16]

If you don't want to account for the bitterness of the peel (zest and pith), just scrape the zest off with a peeler and leave all the pith behind. All of my wits have either orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit or a combo of the above and I've always had great results with the zest only. I follow the IBU guidelines on Beersmth for wits and have never had an overly bitter result, just fruit/citrus aromas and flavors.

I generally add the zest with 5min to go or at flameout and whirlpool for 10 minutes.

 

[mageac]

Since you've had great success with zest in, what amount do you typically use for a 5 gallon batch you've made?

 

[thomasjr16]

Since you've had great success with zest in, what amount do you typically use for a 5 gallon batch you've made?

In a 5.5 gal batch (so 6 gal into fermenter) with a total grain bill of 8.75lbs, 17 IBUs, and 0.25oz coriander seed (5mins), I made two separate tangerine zest additions: 0.5oz @ 5mins and 0.5oz @ flameout.

For my "Zesty Wit" I used a grain bill of 8.5lbs, 19 IBUs, and two separate zest additions again: 0.25 oz of orange and 0.25 oz grapefruit @ 5mins along with the same amounts again at flameout. (no coriander in this one and my preference of the two)

Both brews utilized cascade hops only: 0.5oz @ 90mins and 0.5oz @ 5mins.

WL Belgian Yeast (WLP400) was used in both as well

One thing I noticed it that the citrus aromas and flavors continued to become more and more pronounced for about 6 months, after that the flavor and aroma started to diminish