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Grapefruit Juice IPA?

Discussion in 'Recipes/Ingredients' started by cheezydemon3, Feb 24, 2011.

 

  1. #1
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Feb 24, 2011
    You know like SNPA?;)

    Just wondering if anyone has tried this.

    Not serious about SNPA, but I taste grapefruit juice in it.
     
  2. #2
    BendBrewer

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 24, 2011
    Amarillo and Centennial hops. I don't get that from SNPA though, just a nice dose of Cascades.
     
  3. #3
    tagz

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 24, 2011
    Dryhop with some Somcoe and you might get what you're looking for.
     
  4. #4
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Feb 25, 2011
    I was too brief,;).

    I wonder what would happen if you used grapefruit juice as the bittering agent in place of hops.
     
  5. #5
    kanzimonson

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 25, 2011
    This sounds like one of those threads where there's tons of speculation but nobody every actually tries it.

    Grapefruit is tart, not bitter (except maybe the fibrous part of the skin). I made a peach wheat once that was horribly tart after the sugars fermented out. I can't imagine what adding grapefruit acid would do to a beer.
     
  6. #6
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Feb 25, 2011
    right on kanzi, and you are right, speculation, but not tons of it.
     
    Montanaandy likes this.
  7. #7
    kanzimonson

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 25, 2011
    Collect the speculation in a glass and weigh it... it's exactly 2000 pounds.

    Oh wait, some of that was my anger too.
     
  8. #8
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Feb 25, 2011
    I believe anger adds a pinch of bitterness in most cases, no?;)
     
  9. #9
    bruin_ale

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 25, 2011
    chinook hops taste like grapefruit to me. I don't taste grapefruit in SNPA or any of SN's ales for that matter.
     
  10. #10
    Double_D

    Supporting Member  

    Posted Feb 25, 2011
    You could try citra it has some grapefruit notes, or just throw some grapefruits in the secondary.
     
  11. #11
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Feb 28, 2011
    Grapefruit is bitter, once some sugar was fermented out, I bet it would be very bitter.
     
  12. #12
    Fastmetal

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 28, 2011
  13. #13
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Feb 28, 2011
    fastmetal:mug:cheezydemon3
     
  14. #14
    beergolf

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 28, 2011

    I second that. I brewed that recipe and it did have a nice grapefruit finish. It does diminish slighty with age so I may up the hops slightly next time I brew it.

    Of cours it did not get too much time to age because I am buring through it at a prett good clip. Tasty stuff
     
  15. #15
    mkling

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 28, 2011
    Have you ever had your orange juice or grapefruit juice sit too long in the refrigerator? Fermented orange juice or grapefruit juice is really nasty stuff. There's good reason why no one makes orange wine or grapefruit wine!

    I'll support what others have suggested -- if you want grapefruit flavor in your beer, use hops to get it, not grapefruit juice. If you really must put grapefruit in your beer, I would suggest using grapefruit peel (just the yellow part, no white pith). This works very well for orange peel or lemon peel. I've never used grapefruit peel, but I think it would have to work pretty well.
     
  16. #16
    no_borders

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 28, 2011
    ive used actual grapefruits in a pale before that came out quite good. you really have to go easy on the hops cause grapefruit can get pretty tart/bitter. i cut the peel off and boiled that, removed the pith from the fruit, than pureed the flesh and added it to the secondary, i think two grapefruits for a 5 gallon batch. it was nice and fruity and i will be brewing it again for this summer and baseball season
     
  17. #17
    CTownBrewer

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Feb 28, 2011
    I made an IPA with a bunch of Chinook & Amarillo additions late. It came out very grapefruity. Just add an ounce of either @ 20, 15, 10, 5, & at flameout. Or you could use a combo of the two. Only use 1 ounce of something like Simcoe or Chinook @ 60 for some bitterness.

    It seems like more work than it's worth to use actual grapefruit when you can get the same flavor by using the right hops in the boil.
     
  18. #18
    killowatt

    Member

    Posted Feb 28, 2011
    I just transferred my grapefruit juice ipa to secondary, tasted very good and had a nice rich red hue to it from the juice. I used 2 large ruby reds in primary but it wasn't quite enough so I added a 1/2 gal of juice. If the flavors can meld a little more this will be a fantastic beer.
     
  19. #19
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Feb 28, 2011
    That's what I was looking for! Maybe a blood orange or 2 for some more color?

    I knew I didn't just invent this, but everyone seemed to think I just wanted it to smell like grapefruit!;)
     
  20. #20
    killowatt

    Member

    Posted Feb 28, 2011
    I'll snap some pix of the color once I get home. originally I was going to prime using the juice but after trying it with just the whole fruit I decided it needed more flavor so I started adding juice until it got a nice flavor a little bit under what I figured was ideal, I figured this would still let me prime with juice as i had orignally planned. I used a 2 hearted clone for the base ipa and used .5 oz extra of dry hops.
     
  21. #21
    no_borders

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Mar 1, 2011
    anyone who says you can substitute hops for the flavor you get from real fruit is mistaken. the original test batch of grapefruit pale i did had no fruit, and the next one i used ruby reds, and it was night and day. fruit beers are a very hard style to perfect, and by no means do i think mine is perfect, matching grapefruits with hops is a bit tricky, but i loved the results i got. never thought to just use the juice though, not a bad idea as long as it doesnt have to much other junk in it besides juice(preservatives and that kind of stuff i wouldnt want to add to my brew)
     
  22. #22
    killowatt

    Member

    Posted Mar 24, 2011
    so an observation, if you use juice it will be super super cloudy and not want to clear even after crashing, however it is fantastic :mug: i will def brew this again but use gelatin to clear. this flavor is nothing like what you get from the hops at all.
    [​IMG]
    sry about the pix its a little more red irl
     
  23. #23
    drkaeppel

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Mar 24, 2011
    Looks great! Some buddies of mine brew a Troeg's Nugget Nectar clone that has a really strong grapefruit aroma and taste. Here is what they use for hops:

    1.00 oz 13%aa Nugget 60'
    0.50 oz 13%aa Simcoe 30'
    1.00 oz 16%aa Warrior 20'
    1.25 oz 16%aa Tomahawk 0' or hopback
    1.00 oz 8%aa Palisade 0' or hopback
    1.00 oz 13%aa Simcoe DH
    1.00 oz 8%aa Palisade DH
     
  24. #24
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Mar 24, 2011
    I'M DOIN IT!!!!

    I could care less about clear beer. I've perfected that, and it doesn't taste any better.;)
     
  25. #25
    killowatt

    Member

    Posted Mar 24, 2011
    if you prime with the juice be careful when you calculate how much to add, i almost added 2x what i needed :drunk:
     
  26. #26
    waldoar15

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Mar 24, 2011
    I did an all Summit hops IPA once and it tasted (to me) a lot like grapefruit.
     
  27. #27
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Mar 24, 2011
    I am going to try NO hops and lots of juice for bittering.
     
  28. #28
    killowatt

    Member

    Posted Mar 24, 2011
    how much juice are you planning on using? :eek:
     
  29. #29
    cheezydemon3

    Banned

    Posted Mar 24, 2011
    Maybe a gallon? How many IBU's is that?

    I seriously considered fermenting a gallon of grapefruit juice to see how bitter it is.
     
  30. #30
    killowatt

    Member

    Posted Mar 24, 2011
    iirc i added around a 1/2 gal to the primary and the rest at bottling time (it was a lot of juice to prime, ill have to check my notes for exact volumes)
     
  31. #31
    TStMartin

    Member

    Posted Mar 30, 2011
    Basic brewing podcast had an episode from august of 2009 about alternate priming methods. In the podcast the guest speaker said he used a half gallon of grapefruit juice in the primary, another half gallon in the secondary and 38 oz more to prime. He said he didn't use a lot of hops either
     
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