Adding grapefruit to a Wheat beer?

[vast_reaction]

Hello! I was thinking about brewing a wheat ale with some grapefruit added, sort of a McMenamin's Ruby clone. I was wondering what people's opinions were on using 100% grapefruit juice in the secondary as opposed to the actual fruit. Or maybe someone knows of a good recipe for McMenamin's Ruby? I am only set up to brew Extracts. Thanks in advance for any advice or input!

-Matt

 

[Cybershadow]

sounds gross

 

[Mirilis]

I woould think that would make the wort too acidic for the yeast to do their job well but I've never used anything other than a ton of grapefruit zest so I can't say for sure.

 

[cactusgarrett]

You might be better served finding the most citrusy hops you can in place of the actual grapefruit juice. Something in a "C" perhaps...

 

[ArcaneXor]

What you will want to do is add the fruit or juice to the keg and keep it cold - you definitely don't want to ferment it. Grapefruit zest would be an alternative if you are looking for the aroma rather than the acidic flavor.

 

[prosper]

Zest or essential oil and (perhaps) some food colouring is probably where I'd go. I don't care for sweet beers too much, nor for acidic beers.

 

[Mairoa]

I'm in the process of doing a wheat beer and the 1 TBS/gallon of grapefruit zest added a really nice grapefruity nose. Sort of like if you'd squeezed some grapefruit into the glass. It left everything intact otherwise. I'll see how it is when it's done, though.

 

[TKOriginal]

In Germany they have a Radler that uses grapefruit juice instead of lemonade. It's an awesome summer drink. 50/50 or so, post fermentation mix obviously.

 

[JDFlow]

I've brewed two Witbiers with grapefruit. Add the fruit in secondary. Use two large grapefruits for 5 gallons, 3 if you want the flavor to be in the forefront. Zest both grapefruits, you want as little pith (the white membrane under the zest) as possible. Pith is very bitter and it will come through badly in your beer. Put the zest in a pan and juice both grapefruits on top of it. Then boil the zest in the juice until you have a syrup. Put the syrup and zest in the bottom of your secondary. Rack your beer onto it and leave it for at least one week. Amazing results.

 

[DrHop]

If you were worried about the grapefruit juice being too acidic wouldn't it be pretty easy to just add some potassium carbonate or calcium hydroxide to the juice to bring the pH up to a more reasonable value around pH 4?

 

[BrewLou]

I've brewed two Witbiers with grapefruit. Add the fruit in secondary. Use two large grapefruits for 5 gallons, 3 if you want the flavor to be in the forefront. Zest both grapefruits, you want as little pith (the white membrane under the zest) as possible. Pith is very bitter and it will come through badly in your beer. Put the zest in a pan and juice both grapefruits on top of it. Then boil the zest in the juice until you have a syrup. Put the syrup and zest in the bottom of your secondary. Rack your beer onto it and leave it for at least one week. Amazing results.

Hit it on the head (pun intended!) Any time I have done a style of fruit beer I will always wait until it is in the secondary before adding anything to it. One exception was my watermelon wheat. I did a VERY small amount of blended watermelon up front in the last 10 mins of the boil. Watermelon is no where near as acidic as grapefruit though, so I felt it was plenty safe to do this. pH of 3 vs 5+ pretty much.