fruit in an ipa

[bramptonbrewer]

Anyone here ever add a fruit such as grapefruit. If so, how did it turn out? How and when did you add it. Did the fruit flavors come through? or was it overpowered by the hops?

 

[pointcity-homebrew]

I have never added grapefruit to a beer, but I have used hops to give the flavor & aroma. I have an APA right now that I used Centennial, Cascade and Falconer's Flight, and the ferm chamber smells of citrus and tropical fruit. I cannot wait to get this in the keg.

 

[ong]

Grapefruit is such an easy one to get with hop additions that I've never bothered. Actually, come to think of it, I added fresh pomelo zest to an IPA that was already loaded with American hops (Ahtanum, Amarillo, Cascade), but I'm not sure it made a ton of difference.

 

[Vamptrump]

I've added cranberry to a Belgian-style IPA and I'm about to make a peach IPA this weekend.

The cranberry turned out fantastic, it added tartness to the beer that surprisingly paired well with the bitterness from the hops. I added the cranberries to secondary at the same time I did a dry hop. I wish I kept better records back then, because I would love to recreate the recipe. The hop profile still existed in the beer.

I agree with everyone else here though, there really isn't a reason to add grapefruit to the beer as you can easily get that flavor through the hops.

 

[douglasbarbin]

I've done satsuma in an IPA, as have a few other folks in my homebrew club. It doesn't come through much because the American hops already have so much citrus character.

 

[Vamptrump]

I just had to do research to figure out what satsumas and pomelos were. I live an exciting life!

 

[bramptonbrewer]

I was just wondering if the hop profile was too much for a fruit addition to come through flavor wise. the grapefruit was just an example. But I guess it would be the same for any other fruit such as apple or pear. If I was to plan for a fruit addition in a future batch, is there a certain type of hop and schedule that I should try?

 

[m00ps]

The best fruit would probably depend on what hops you select (or the other way around). Pick a fruit that is one of the primary descriptors for the hops you are using. For instance, Ballast Point came out with a grapefruit version of their flagship Sculpin IPA and it was voted as one of the tops beers released last year. I tried it and it was great. I'd say if you are using domestic IPA hops, anything citrusy would work fine. If you are going with AU/NZ hops, you may look into something more tropical like Pineapple or mango

 

[fijigus]

yeah, If I had the grapefruit sculpin recipe, that would be the next thing I would make.

 

[slym2none]

I was just wondering if the hop profile was too much for a fruit addition to come through flavor wise. the grapefruit was just an example. But I guess it would be the same for any other fruit such as apple or pear. If I was to plan for a fruit addition in a future batch, is there a certain type of hop and schedule that I should try?

Find a clone recipe for Bell's Two Hearted Ale. It's an IPA with nice, juicy citrus/grapefruit flavour.

 

[iijakii]

I haven't tried brewing one but there are quite a few commercial IPAs Ive had. Grapefruit/orange zest being the primary ones. They're fine. I find it all kind muddles together though. The hop and fruit flavors don't enhance eachother to me, even though they seem similar.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Well, I've not brewed it yet, but here is a blood orange IPA I'm currently working out a recipe for:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=526495

 

[Vamptrump]

This is the Peach IPA I'm doing this weekend. I'm still trying to refine the recipe. I used to hate fruit in beer, but now I just can't get enough of it. Probably has to do with the temperature.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=526903