Adding grapefruit concentrate after-the-fact

[tpoulsen]

I tried brewing a NE IPA and kinda missed the mark. There's very little of the grapefruit aroma or taste I wanted. The LHBS didn't have the hops I wanted nor the yeast I wanted. I made some substitutions, but I don't think I picked well. And I got the dry hops in a bit too late. It's under-carbonated, nearly flat after about 3 weeks in the bottle.

I'm wondering if I could add some grapefruit concentrate at this point. I'd have to un-bottle it all, mix it, and re-bottle it. But, I'm thinking it might help with the flavor and maybe the extra sugar would add a bit more carbonation too?

 

[madscientist451]

Sure, you could un-cap all the bottles and add grapefruit concentrate, but I'm not sure that is going to give you the flavor profile you are looking for.
Get some frozen grapefruit juice concentrate at your local store and do some blending trials to see how much you have to add.
Is there a chance the bottles just didn't carb up yet? Did you use a priming calculator to figure how much sugar to add to the batch?
What temp have the bottles been sitting at for 3 weeks?

 

[tpoulsen]

Thanks. I guess I realize that the end result would not be as good as brewing the right recipe with the right ingredients. But, I've got two cases of rather bland beer that I'm hoping to make a little more enjoyable to get through.

I did use an online priming calculator. But I didn't write down the amount of priming sugar I added. It would seem that either I calculated wrong or mismeasured. The bottles are in my basement, where it's about a constant 60 degrees (I could go measure, I'm just guessing).

I guess a shandy is just beer + juice so it's not like I'm inventing anything new here. I'll pick up some juice and give it a try.

 

[Morrey]

Going forward: I followed a popular recipe by Braufessor for his NE IPA. It turns out to be an amazing beer, but I do suggest you follow the recipe closely. Citra/Galaxy/Mosaic hops give his IPA a look and taste that is darn near just like grapefruit juice, but with a rounded softness that is devine. At some point, it may be better to look to the future while remembering lessons from the past.